Hecho en Mexico
Contemporary Media
Levis Jeans
Who makes the jeans you wear? Are the workers being treated fairly or paid well? Does this matter to you? The global garment industry is worth about 2% of the world's gross domestic product, but the workforce behind major clothing brands, such as Levi’s jeans, get paid unlivable wages. A company’s mindset of profit over people causes a major humanitarian issue. Garment factory workers make less than $2.40 an hour, are unable to support their families, suffer serious health complications, and their lives hold little to no value in the eyes of their employers.
In Mexico, many women and children work in factories called maquilas. A maquiladora, or maquila, is a factory located in Mexico but owned and run by a foreign entity, like Levi’s. US companies take advantage of the country’s cheap labor and lack of policies/regulations on workers' hours, pay, and treatment. These overworked employees have no one to advocate for them and their employers, trying to keep costs as low as possible, do not want to better their working conditions or increase their wages. The women and children working in these factories are begging to have their stories heard. They hope that once the public knows the extent of their suffering, the government will create the proper laws for a better and safer work environment, laws such as: a set/higher minimum wage, providing the proper personal protective equipment (PPE), no forced overtime, etc.
Low wages enforce a cycle of poverty. The minimum wage in Mexico is 172 pesos per work day, which is equivalent to $8.18 USD/day— far from a secure living wage: “One maquiladora worker told Public Radio International that she spent half of her $7 a day wage on wood to keep her cinder block home heated.” Most garment factory employees work 10 hours a day, six days a week if not more. Often workers will need to take caffeine pills and drinks to stay up for these long hours and keep up with all the work. Sadly, for many people the factories are their only option.
When maquiladora employees try to register independent unions or go on strike, they are fired. They are seen as disposable and are quickly gone through once they are no longer of use or try to ask for better working conditions. Health risks like women's hands and faces stained, burned, and discolored by chemicals used inside garment factories. If a woman tries to report an illness as a result of her working in the factory, she can and will be fired. Women are required to take pregnancy tests and can be fired if they are or become pregnant because employers will not pay for maternity leave and believe replacing the employee is better for their profits.
The only way to help the garment factory workers is to get as much attention to their issues as possible. Through media attention and group advocacy projects, the necessary changes can one day be made.
(Process)
For this assignment, I chose to interpret and respond to the
motivations, goals, realities, politics, and practices of recycling by exploring
the possibilities of re-purposing wasted or cast-off resources.
I decided I wanted to target not only Levis, but many other garment companies like Polo for Ralph Lauren, Fila, Faded Glory, Dickies &, etc. I gathered 9 Levis jeans I found at goodwill and made sure they were made in Mexico. I then proceeded to take them completely apart trying to use as much material as possible. Next, I decided it would be best to cut up the jeans in 5”x8” squares, and hand sew them together. Once I sewed them together I set them in a tub with color remover/bleach and dyed them red or green accordingly. As I was waiting for the denim to dry I made screens to screen print the Virgin Mary onto the middle of the flag. I decided to use her image because she is a very common figure in Mexico, and gives hope to the people. La Virgencita reminds people that even the impossible can be done.
Finally, I sewed all the remainder pieces of the flag together, and screen printed her image onto the middle of the flag. I wanted to make the flag double sided, so I created two pannels and sewed the perimeters of each together. I added the beltline to the top of the flag, so people viewing the art piece could see that the flag was made of denim jeans, and finally added eyelets to the top corners to add a secure hold.
In the end, the world is becoming woke to the broken system behind our everyday goods. As consumers we can…
-Commit to buying less and make what we have last longer
-Invest in quality and ethically sourced/made goods and prodcuts
-Choose to buy from companies/brands that are sustainable
-Hold the fashion industry and our government accountable, boycott those that are exploiting their workers
-Research more!! Levi’s is just one example, there are many more brands out there
Feel free to repost and share this post. I would love to get my message across to as many people as I can.
𝒟𝑒𝒹𝒾𝒸𝒶𝒸𝒾ó𝓃 𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝓂𝒾 𝒶𝒷𝓊𝑒𝓁𝒶 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶 𝐿𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓏 𝒩𝒶𝓋𝒶
As always, ☮︎︎♥︎