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TikTokers List Red Flags That Show This $35 Target Crochet Sweater Is Horrifyingly Unethical
It’s not the first time Target’s fashion department is making headlines. You probably remember how these floral farm dresses from Target got roasted so badly online that there was even a #TargetDressChallenge. This time, however, a cute little crochet sweater is in the spotlight. You may wonder what’s wrong with it, and TikTokers have some eye-opening answers.
“Something’s fishy about it,” TikToker @seatrick said in a viral video adding that “everyone who’s ever tried to knit or crochet anything is gasping at that price.” Turns out, this boho piece will set you back $35. Sounds like a bargain? Well, the low price hides something much more sinister as, apparently, no industrial machines could replicate such a delicate pattern, @seatrick claims.
Meanwhile, another TikToker, @MattRose1312, calculated the amount of time it would take to crochet a sweater like that, and it’s a clear red flag of human labor. All the arguments stack up and you can see how sinister fast fashion can be.
This cute boho-style crochet sweater from Target raised very serious suspicions for what seems like a total bargain price, $35
![TikTokers List Red Flags That Show This $35 Target Crochet Sweater Is Horrifyingly Unethical TikTokers List Red Flags That Show This $35 Target Crochet Sweater Is Horrifyingly Unethical](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/target-crochet-cardigan-price-wage-debate-tiktok-seatrick-1-62022b8ec659e__700.jpg)
Image credits: target
Image credits: target
Image credits: target
To find out what experts have to say about Target’s infamous crochet sweater and whether it’s really possible to make one for a retail price of $35, we spoke with Danute Rasimaviciute. Danute is the co-founder of “The Knotty Ones,” a sustainable knitwear label that celebrates the Baltic craft of knitting and the people behind their clothes. They employ female artisans in rural Lithuania to produce their knits, giving them a living wage, financial independence, and a voice in their households and communities. Danute told us that they use natural materials only and put sustainability at their core.
When asked whether it’s possible to make a crochet sweater for a retail price of $35, Danute said that the short answer is no. “At least not without sacrificing the wellbeing of people making our clothes,” she said.
According to Tiktoker @seatrick, there are multiple reasons why this price tag for a crochet piece like this is impossible
Image credits: seatrick
Image credits: seatrick
Image credits: seatrick
Image credits: seatrick
Moreover, The Knotty Ones had a number of their artisans take a look at Target’s crochet sweater and they estimate that it would take roughly 24 hours of non-stop crocheting. “That is 3 full business days, assuming 8-hour working days,” Danute said. “There are multiple color yarns used for the cardigan, meaning that there would be a lot of loose yarn endings. All of these need to be nearly tucked and covered which is really time-consuming,” she added.
“You also have to take into account the cost of the yarn itself, labels, transport of all raw materials, photoshoots, transport to the stores, not even talking about Target’s margin,” Danute explained. “We estimate that there was roughly 600g of yarn used for this crochet piece. The price for a kilo of cotton yarn could range anywhere from $3.5 to as much as $100/kg for more premium, hand-dyed sustainable yarns.”
Danute argues that this definitely begs the question of how the cheapest yarns were produced and what people got paid there. “When you do the math, it’s pretty clear that people who crochet the piece, assuming it was done by hand, made even less than $1 an hour, so literally cents,” she told us.
Another TikToker @Mattrose1312 calculated how long it would take to hand crochet a sweater like Target’s
Image credits: seatrick
Image credits: seatrick
When asked whether it’s possible to make such a crochet sweater with an industrial machine, Danute from The Knotty Ones told us that without carefully inspecting the product, they cannot be 100% sure: “our production team, our partner factories and our artisans themselves are not familiar with a knitting or a crochet machine currently available on that market that could create these patterns.”
Danute continued that if The Knotty Ones had to take an educated guess, “we would say that it’s most likely crocheted by hand. Even if some parts like cardigan cuffs could be made using a knitting machine, you have to remember that there are still real people sewing all the pieces together.”
Then, @Mattrose1312 figured out the wage that Target would pay for a person to make it and the results were shocking
Here is the full video that @Mattrose1312 shared on TikTok
@mattrose1312 #greenscreen Also that 25min? Ive been crocheting for almost 5 years now. I have speed on my side. #target #DIYwithBlock #DuetDoWet #28DaysOfEucerin #crochet #knitting #fyp @target ♬ original sound – Matt Rose
Meanwhile, @seatrick continued to break down the problematic aspects of the crochet sweater that didn’t just end there
Image credits: seatrick
Danute warns that with so many fast fashion options on the market, it’s easy to get a wrong sense of what certain items should cost. “If Target or any other fast fashion retailer is selling a piece of clothing for $35, it sets the bar for the market. Why would you buy something for $200 when you could pay $35 for a similar item, right?”
It’s no secret that not many of us ask ourselves ‘at whose expense?’ we’re buying such a cheap piece. “The reality is that it often comes at the expense of garment workers, the most vulnerable people in the supply chain,” she added.
Here is the full video from @seatrick that calls out Target for selling the sweater
@seatrick Thank you @mattrose1312 ♬ original sound – SeaTrick
The author later added some more details to it
@seatrick Reply to @seatrick ♬ original sound – SeaTrick
Yet another person pointed out that shockingly, Target admitted the sweater is hand-crocheted
@erstell.knots #greenscreenvideo @target admits that these are hand crocheted and can’t be made on machine. #crochet #target #handmade #fiberart #fastfashionsucks ♬ original sound – April – Crochet Designer
“I always say that we vote with our wallets. i.e. each time we consume a product or service, we support certain values and encourage certain behaviors,” Danute explained and concluded that everyone should try and “buy quality pieces that will last for many years, if not decades.”
People had a lot to say about this whole issue as they shared their thoughts in the comments
That’s why when your aunt or grandma gives you a crocheted baby blanket for your newborn you value the heck out of it. She may have only spent $10 on materials, but she spent hours making it.
All empires are raised and maintained on slave labor. Modern times are not the exception. They should teach this in schools.
But that might hurt the pwecious tender feewings of many of my fellow 'Merkins. Heavens to Betsy, we can't have that. Racists and neo-Nazis would be dying of the vapors here.
Load More Replies...The irony that the people who make these "cheap" jumpers could never afford to buy them on the wage they would be being paid to make them.
They can't even afford to eat on the wages they are paid.
Load More Replies...It's cute to see that some people still believe that the ones making our clothes are getting paid 1$ per hour. It's likely closer to 1$ a day or even 0 in some cases.
I hand knit and crochet. It's very time consuming, but I'm good at it, and I like it. People have seen me wear things I've made and asked how it would cost for me to make them one. They want what I'm wearing, not acrylic. Natural fibers, wool, silk,cotton etc. when I tell them the materials are going to start at around $200, and then discuss labor (knit is just going to cost way more than crochet) they go nuts. They think I'm going to cut them some slack because we're friends or something. I make gifts occasionally, but I don't do commissions. I did one ONE time, and I did cut her a price break, and resented almost every single stitch. Never again.
Yup. NEVER do commissions. You only ever make that mistake once. I agreed to make a set of 3 hand blown glass bowls back when I was still doing glassblowing. The person had agreed to a price of $300 for the set, which was a steep discount, and after I had put my heart and soul (and a LOT of sweat) into it, she ghosted me. Never bought the bowls, they are still sitting downstairs amongst the rest.
Load More Replies...I disagree with this post. I’ve done years of price point analysis and have set pricing for retail. This example is flawed. First of all: I am in no way denying the disgust and inhumanity in the exploitation of workers, be they sweatshop, enslaved, gulag, or even those working for the federal minimum wage. Capitalism relies on slavery or, at the least, subjugation of the manufacturing class. Wasn’t that what Engels and Marx were fighting? …but multinational corporations with huge profits like Target can not only NOT mark up the cost of items, but can sell them at a 100% loss. In this case, selling items as handmade or historically marginalized group (right now they have a bhm display at the entrance of stores), but rather than call it a below cost price point can call it promotion, which means the sweater could be subsidized by marketing and they could be paying fair trade with high RTO. This is common and where most ad dollars go. But it’s Target, so this is wishful thinking.
Ten years ago I bought a top from Forever 21 with an enormous sequin peacock stitched across it for $5. Then I read that it is impossible to machine produce sequins. I flipped over the top, and it was hand stitched. I shudder to think the consequences of that shirt. I've never shopped there again, or any place accused of malpractice, but I suspect that unless I am making my own clothes, buying vintage or buying local, I am buying into the slave trade.
The problem is chain responsibility. (Sorry for my literal translation from Dutch to English) even really expensive brands like Patagonia is made by Eighurs. Its so difficult go to really know where your product is made. Even if its made locally the fabrics could still be made in a third world country. Its so sad but it's all about money.
Load More Replies...In the real world, if you get rid of this, you only hurt the workers, who do this, because it's one of few options for them. Also, the person doing this doesn't take 17 min per square.
As per official data, the average monthly salary in Tajikistan is $140. That’s average, not minimal, if any. Divide by days, say 25, then by working hours, say 8 and you get 70 cents per hour. Now do the arithmetic again and guess what: you’ll find thousands of women, ready to crochet. Stop measuring the world by US standards!
If an item is selling for $35 the manufacturer isn't getting more than $5. At 24 hours of labour they aren't paying more than 20¢ an hour. Low income, even by Tajikistan standards
Load More Replies...Guys, calm down. There's some african right now who is very happy to have good job security making $1.40 an hour. I've been in the military and I have seen a few extremely underdeveloped countries. Those people would love to be making $1.40 an hour so they can buy stuff. Poverty in america is nothing. Visit the villages were people are making houses out of tin. $1.40 an hour is amazing for them.
Agree so hard. People in the west try to take western standards and apply them to developing counties and it’s just not that same. The difference between a sweatshop and a developing world business is not pay but working condition. Is the worksite safe? Is it ventilated/heated? Is it overcrowded? Are workers legal age? Etc etc.
Load More Replies...People talking about $10 in materials have no idea. You might be paying anywhere from $2.50 to $8.00 per roll of yarn. A decent afghan is AT LEAST $60 in materials alone, not to mention the hours and hours required to make it (and learn how to).
So... you can't enslave your local population anymore but you export slavery to your nominal competitor state ie china. Still doing slavery then.
Not true. Most made in America items are produced by prisoners for pennies an hour.
Load More Replies...This is why when I got into cross stitch and people asked why I don't start taking commissions I straight up refused. I'll happily make things for my friends as gifts but the prices I'd have to charge to make it worth my time on commissions I'm just not willing to do. Any craft takes so much fricken time to learn to even get to a sellable level, never mind the time spent on each individual piece. People who have spent their time doing that deserve to be valued.
My daughter taught herself to crochet and knit during the pandemic. She's made so many things but the blankets are expensive and time consuming. It takes her a couple of months to finish a blanket. She's working on one right now. The yarn she's using I bought on sale for 5$ a bundle. She's already used 3 and has to use about 9 more and that's very cheap. The cotton bundles even on sale are 14$.
My mother used to work for a shop in our town making curtains (drapes). Most of them would be full length (to the floor) and at least 2 widths across each. She was brilliant at her job. To this day I find amazing how she managed to get the patterns of each curtain to exactly match in the middle. She had to work from home so our garage was converted to a sewing room for her as it was the only place in the house big enough for the tables needed for cutting out the fabric and sewing them. The fabric was mostly of heavy material and there were yards of it. It was physically hard for mum as she was a small lady and not that strong and mentally hard work as of course everything had to be absolutely perfect. She would only have a deadline of 3 days at most to do each pair of curtains. She would start around 9 am in the morning and sometimes not finish around 1 am the following morning. A 16 hour shift. It was dreadful for her. She only made about £20 for each pair of curtains. They sold for at least 10 times that amount as they were handmade. She herself was making around 40p per hour. This was here in Ireland in the mid 1990s. I was so glad she left that job to work for a company that made period clothing.
I studied product development at fashion university. We were taught about something called a ‘loss leader’; a product which costs a brand more to produce than it’s sold for, but brings in customers to the shop, who hopefully buy something more profitable too. It’s more of a marketing strategy. Sometimes factories will also agree to make cheaper products to stay busy during less popular seasons and cover overheads. I’m not saying this is what’s happened here, Target may just be exploiting people. I just wanted to point out not all price reflects production costs.
There will be NO human rights, any justice without animal rights, period!!! Wise thinkers knew it millennia ago. Why is it still ignored today? Everything depends on consumers, it's not just capitalism, people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds are unethical, do not care about pain and suffering of other sentient beings, therefore do not care about pain and suffering of their own kind also.
Did no one ever think that this is probably an assembly-line operation? Multiple people stitching granny squares at the same time and multiple people stitching them together? That results in more product and makes it cheaper. This isn’t some lone Pakistani woman on Etsy being forced to crochet day and night.
I have not crocheted before. But I have done a lot of knitting. Quality cotton yarn is not cheap. A simple 6” cotton cloth can take over an hour or more to make. And that is for a simple knit stitch like stockinette, like most sweaters are made in. Even using a knitting loom takes many many hours. Again using the most basic stitches. I prefer to buy from thrift stores and second hand. Unfortunately most big box stores are selling’slave-labor’ clothing. I have been guilty of buying clothes from A. I try to be aware of the source of my clothes. But I still need clothes.
If they are selling it for $35 they are buying it for $18, the distributor is buying it for $10, etc. The labourer is getting pennies, not $35
The Walt Disney Company t-shirts cost them around 20 cents. They then sell them for $35. Walt has been spinning in his grave for 50 years. Poor Stan Laurel has been dizzy from all that spinning.
Ethics aside, it's bloody ugly. Good fashion sense should stop your buying this...
Clothing taste is very subjective. I think it is super cute.
Load More Replies...This is one of many reasons I buy 90% of my clothes second hand. And while the croqueted sweater is definitely an egregious example and shows how these companies truly do not care and can even flaunt that they don't care and KNOW that their main consumers won't care, it's true this has been going on for a very long time. When will we say "enough!"
have pile of crocheted sqares similar to that from my late aunt legacy, but I don't know what was her intention. Need to learn to crochet finally.
the article is good. Alice in Borderland Shuntaro Chishiya White Hoodie
I have never shopped in Target and not a fan of Walmart. I really don't see the big deal shopping in these stores. My sister crochets and knits and gave me a beautiful lap blanket. I know nobody else has one like it but shop in these stores, and you will run into 20 ppl wearing the same shirt or hoodie. No thank you!
I worked for years in the fashion and clothing industry. Machines that produce crochet garments have been around for more than thirty years. Fast fashion is a horrible bubble that I hope will burst, it produces pollution and is based on the exploitation of developing countries BUT the example used by the tiktoker is wrong, as usual on that platform, videos of people become viral that besides not doing research do not know what they are talking about. (I am Italian and here in the north there has been a thriving knitwear industry, in recent years it is failing thanks to the greed of the industrialists who have de-localized the manufacturing and now find themselves having to compete with those who have exploited for decades, especially China and India). This man wants to ride out the indignation towards fast fashion without a true knowledge of production processes. If you have never seen a knitting and crochet machine, it does NOT mean that it does not exist.
I'm hear questioning why any one would want to wear something that looks like the blanket drapped over the couch on Roseanne/The Conners in the first place 🤔
Suddenly some woke asshat wants to pay the full value of something? Start with teachers!
Forgive me...that is One buttugly sweater...throw cover yes...fashion...🤢
I asked my mom, who crochets a lot. She says she could knock out a square in 20 minutes. That means for the approximate 45 squares required, it would be 900 minutes or 15 hours. At Federal minimum wage that's $108.75. But that's not all. She says it takes a lot longer to connect the squares together than it does to make the squares, and using a good-quality yarn would run at least $20. SO...who's making the squares and who is paying slave wages for them?
I can knit and crochet by hand. I am not any faster because I don't work on a piece all day. I have some problem buying knitted sweaters at the store. I know they are machine knit. I know I could make it myself. I see one I really like and I had one finally disintegrate and I'll buy it. Yeah, lazy. But I won't buy crocheted items.
I knit clothing and accessories by hand and hell yeah it costs more than that in yarn alone. But the bigger issue is that crochet can ONLY be done by hand, unlike knit items which CAN be machine knitted! So if you have any crocheted items that didn't cost hundreds of dollars, it was likely the result of slave labor. Please, support fiber artists! Those sweaters and hats your aunt, friend, and grandma have made are truly labors of love ❤️
Just wanted to add, since I may not have worded it very well, that of course any handmade crochet or knit items that have been made by friends or loved ones are obviously not the result of slave labor. But if you have or see crochet and hand knit items that seem too cheap to be true, it's probably because they are.
Load More Replies...A glimpse at the dark side of capitalism that nobody wants to acknowledge.
I used to work as a manager in global sourcing for Target. Was very proud of the work we did including the extensive and unannounced social audits of factories. Wage, age, and comprehensive safety checks happened regularly and a single violation would get a factory banned for 3 yrs with anything not on a boat rejected...no exceptions. Not discounting the math and investigative work here, but I would be very surprised if there was truly unethical sourcing going on.
Ya. Wake up to the facts about why our clothes are so cheap. It's because large numbers of people are working in sweat shops. The reason clothes aren't manufactured here is because we have laws against sweat shops including but not just minimum wages. These low prices don't come for free. Trashing the clothes doesn't either.
No worries about regular shoppers ever encountering these sweaters and having a moral dilemma. They most likely have already been bought and put up for sale for high prices online by product scalpers. No surprise that workers were exploited.
One person said that the materials themselves would cost more than that. My guess that on top of completely screwing the people who made the item, they’re also selling the item at an overall financial loss to target in an attempt to crush any current competition and to make the target name more attractive to people looking for the handmade/Etsy/granny chic. I’m glad to see it’s failing so well. It’s a big box store, it will not and can not replicate mom/pop niche stores in today’s society as we hopefully come out of the disposable age and recognize and save for high quality ethically produced items
Check your grandma's linen closet. You may find a blanket using the same pattern. A little judicious cut & stitch and there you go.
Read the first chapters of Gomorrah by Sabbiano and be horrified by fashion market.
I agree that these are ridiculously underpriced and probably involve slave labor of some kind... But 17 minutes for a single granny square? I /have/to time this out bc there's no way in hell it takes that long. Maybe it's because I do it mindlessly but I've never thought it took even half that time.
Do it! I was so suprised when I did, I spent much longer than I thought on a square!
Load More Replies...If only we could have a system where people payed an appropriate amount for clothes - workers wouldn’t get exploited (so badly) and we wouldn’t have so much unnecessary, unwanted clothing ending up in landfills because people couldn’t afford to buy new clothes every week and dump the „old“ stuff.
I've crocheted for almost 50 years. I'm very fast. But 17 minutes for a four round granny square seems excessive. Even with color changes I'd say 7 minutes tops. I usually do 2 color squares in about 4 minutes. Tucking loose threads can be time consuming, but most of them can be tucked into stitches as you go. I can do a baby blanket in 2 or 3 days. An afghan takes a week. I can run through a one pound worster weight skein in about three hours. Twice that time is probably more average. However even with my speed it's difficult at best to make a decent wage with crochet.
I am so happy ppl are calling out brands like this. Because if I saw that sweater I'd think "omg what a deal! It's so cute" and not even realize how a person was extremely exploited to make it. And I KNOW how hard it is to make stuff like this. I've tried. I suck. Lol. I just would have a assumed a machine made it. I've been trying to be better about shopping ethically and it's videos and people like this who remind me that I have SO MUCH to unlearn and learn in general before I can be comfortable knowing that my daily life hasn't come at the cost of someone else's pain and exploitation. Which is a very huge goal of mine. To be environmentally conscious, humane and to not exploit others and the planet as a whole. Which I think is like... a bare minimum goal that everyone should strive for.
My question is why anyone just now figured out Big Box Stores do not sell ethically sourced items...
I thank God there are people like this poster, exposing the invisible world.
This is why I buy clothes only resale. It is almost impossible - unless you personally know the person that you're buying from - to know whether or not your clothing was ethically produced. I'd rather avoid the whole system, not put any of my money into any more unethical production when we have plenty of quality clothing already floating around out there, ultimately headed for the dumpster to be replaced by more sweatshop goods.
Fashion that's cheap and thrown away fast. H&M, Zara etc
Load More Replies...To be devil's advocate here, it could be just a marketing piece to get people inside (who ever leaves Target with just one item) and they offset the loss with other sales. Many other companies do this.
How the fact that minimal wages are not equal around the globe escape this incredible piece of “journalism“ is beyond me. I’ve worked for probably a decade for money far far below what the Americans would consider a minimum wage and still survived. Mostly because all prices were significantly lower as well. Bitching and moaning about it is not going to make it any better. Only continuous development and progress gets developing countries out of the developing into developed. Look at China 30 years ago and today.
No sh*t, Sherlock. “It’s imported so that’s another red flag.” All our clothing is imported. Because no one is going to pay what this would cost for an American to make it. People in developing countries clamor for these jobs. They wait outside the gates hoping there’s a slot they can fill. I’ve seen it. It all sounds high and righteous but most Americans won’t pay/can’t afford responsibly produced goods- especially because boutique producers capitalize on this with boutique prices. The best we can do is to buy used clothing when possible, and hold onto clothes we buy as long as we possibly can to get the most use out of them. Otherwise, this is all great but not really impactful. So don’t buy this sweater at target, but you’ll buy a sweater at gap, banana republic, old navy, etc and it’s the Same. Exact. Thing.
Great that so many oriole point these things out… but that’s the easy part. What are they actually doing about it? “Raising awareness”?
Raising awareness is a good start. A lot of people may not have that information and now that they do, they might be more discerning about where they spend their money.
Load More Replies...China is EVIL. Labor abuse is only one terrible thing happening there.
Nope. Like they say in the article, you can't replicate crochet with a machine.
Load More Replies...I have a problem with pretentious assumptions made by people who have little or no actual knowledge of what they are talking about... particularly when it comes to business, economics, and politics. If you think MAGAs are ignorant fools (and they are), they have their intellectual equivalent on the far left.
If this comes as a surprise to you, you haven't been paying attention. Learn about the treatment of the Muslim Uighurs in China. You will be horrified.
China was praised for having a Uighur torch bearer at the Olympics. Now she is nowhere to be found. Most NATO countries knew it was bs.
Load More Replies...I suspect you don't even know where Timbuktu is or that it is a real place.
Load More Replies...You really think sweet little old ladies are supplying target with merchandise? Bless your heart
Load More Replies...Are you saying that the exploitation of workers and slave labour in the fashion industry isn't worth caring about?
Load More Replies...That’s why when your aunt or grandma gives you a crocheted baby blanket for your newborn you value the heck out of it. She may have only spent $10 on materials, but she spent hours making it.
All empires are raised and maintained on slave labor. Modern times are not the exception. They should teach this in schools.
But that might hurt the pwecious tender feewings of many of my fellow 'Merkins. Heavens to Betsy, we can't have that. Racists and neo-Nazis would be dying of the vapors here.
Load More Replies...The irony that the people who make these "cheap" jumpers could never afford to buy them on the wage they would be being paid to make them.
They can't even afford to eat on the wages they are paid.
Load More Replies...It's cute to see that some people still believe that the ones making our clothes are getting paid 1$ per hour. It's likely closer to 1$ a day or even 0 in some cases.
I hand knit and crochet. It's very time consuming, but I'm good at it, and I like it. People have seen me wear things I've made and asked how it would cost for me to make them one. They want what I'm wearing, not acrylic. Natural fibers, wool, silk,cotton etc. when I tell them the materials are going to start at around $200, and then discuss labor (knit is just going to cost way more than crochet) they go nuts. They think I'm going to cut them some slack because we're friends or something. I make gifts occasionally, but I don't do commissions. I did one ONE time, and I did cut her a price break, and resented almost every single stitch. Never again.
Yup. NEVER do commissions. You only ever make that mistake once. I agreed to make a set of 3 hand blown glass bowls back when I was still doing glassblowing. The person had agreed to a price of $300 for the set, which was a steep discount, and after I had put my heart and soul (and a LOT of sweat) into it, she ghosted me. Never bought the bowls, they are still sitting downstairs amongst the rest.
Load More Replies...I disagree with this post. I’ve done years of price point analysis and have set pricing for retail. This example is flawed. First of all: I am in no way denying the disgust and inhumanity in the exploitation of workers, be they sweatshop, enslaved, gulag, or even those working for the federal minimum wage. Capitalism relies on slavery or, at the least, subjugation of the manufacturing class. Wasn’t that what Engels and Marx were fighting? …but multinational corporations with huge profits like Target can not only NOT mark up the cost of items, but can sell them at a 100% loss. In this case, selling items as handmade or historically marginalized group (right now they have a bhm display at the entrance of stores), but rather than call it a below cost price point can call it promotion, which means the sweater could be subsidized by marketing and they could be paying fair trade with high RTO. This is common and where most ad dollars go. But it’s Target, so this is wishful thinking.
Ten years ago I bought a top from Forever 21 with an enormous sequin peacock stitched across it for $5. Then I read that it is impossible to machine produce sequins. I flipped over the top, and it was hand stitched. I shudder to think the consequences of that shirt. I've never shopped there again, or any place accused of malpractice, but I suspect that unless I am making my own clothes, buying vintage or buying local, I am buying into the slave trade.
The problem is chain responsibility. (Sorry for my literal translation from Dutch to English) even really expensive brands like Patagonia is made by Eighurs. Its so difficult go to really know where your product is made. Even if its made locally the fabrics could still be made in a third world country. Its so sad but it's all about money.
Load More Replies...In the real world, if you get rid of this, you only hurt the workers, who do this, because it's one of few options for them. Also, the person doing this doesn't take 17 min per square.
As per official data, the average monthly salary in Tajikistan is $140. That’s average, not minimal, if any. Divide by days, say 25, then by working hours, say 8 and you get 70 cents per hour. Now do the arithmetic again and guess what: you’ll find thousands of women, ready to crochet. Stop measuring the world by US standards!
If an item is selling for $35 the manufacturer isn't getting more than $5. At 24 hours of labour they aren't paying more than 20¢ an hour. Low income, even by Tajikistan standards
Load More Replies...Guys, calm down. There's some african right now who is very happy to have good job security making $1.40 an hour. I've been in the military and I have seen a few extremely underdeveloped countries. Those people would love to be making $1.40 an hour so they can buy stuff. Poverty in america is nothing. Visit the villages were people are making houses out of tin. $1.40 an hour is amazing for them.
Agree so hard. People in the west try to take western standards and apply them to developing counties and it’s just not that same. The difference between a sweatshop and a developing world business is not pay but working condition. Is the worksite safe? Is it ventilated/heated? Is it overcrowded? Are workers legal age? Etc etc.
Load More Replies...People talking about $10 in materials have no idea. You might be paying anywhere from $2.50 to $8.00 per roll of yarn. A decent afghan is AT LEAST $60 in materials alone, not to mention the hours and hours required to make it (and learn how to).
So... you can't enslave your local population anymore but you export slavery to your nominal competitor state ie china. Still doing slavery then.
Not true. Most made in America items are produced by prisoners for pennies an hour.
Load More Replies...This is why when I got into cross stitch and people asked why I don't start taking commissions I straight up refused. I'll happily make things for my friends as gifts but the prices I'd have to charge to make it worth my time on commissions I'm just not willing to do. Any craft takes so much fricken time to learn to even get to a sellable level, never mind the time spent on each individual piece. People who have spent their time doing that deserve to be valued.
My daughter taught herself to crochet and knit during the pandemic. She's made so many things but the blankets are expensive and time consuming. It takes her a couple of months to finish a blanket. She's working on one right now. The yarn she's using I bought on sale for 5$ a bundle. She's already used 3 and has to use about 9 more and that's very cheap. The cotton bundles even on sale are 14$.
My mother used to work for a shop in our town making curtains (drapes). Most of them would be full length (to the floor) and at least 2 widths across each. She was brilliant at her job. To this day I find amazing how she managed to get the patterns of each curtain to exactly match in the middle. She had to work from home so our garage was converted to a sewing room for her as it was the only place in the house big enough for the tables needed for cutting out the fabric and sewing them. The fabric was mostly of heavy material and there were yards of it. It was physically hard for mum as she was a small lady and not that strong and mentally hard work as of course everything had to be absolutely perfect. She would only have a deadline of 3 days at most to do each pair of curtains. She would start around 9 am in the morning and sometimes not finish around 1 am the following morning. A 16 hour shift. It was dreadful for her. She only made about £20 for each pair of curtains. They sold for at least 10 times that amount as they were handmade. She herself was making around 40p per hour. This was here in Ireland in the mid 1990s. I was so glad she left that job to work for a company that made period clothing.
I studied product development at fashion university. We were taught about something called a ‘loss leader’; a product which costs a brand more to produce than it’s sold for, but brings in customers to the shop, who hopefully buy something more profitable too. It’s more of a marketing strategy. Sometimes factories will also agree to make cheaper products to stay busy during less popular seasons and cover overheads. I’m not saying this is what’s happened here, Target may just be exploiting people. I just wanted to point out not all price reflects production costs.
There will be NO human rights, any justice without animal rights, period!!! Wise thinkers knew it millennia ago. Why is it still ignored today? Everything depends on consumers, it's not just capitalism, people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds are unethical, do not care about pain and suffering of other sentient beings, therefore do not care about pain and suffering of their own kind also.
Did no one ever think that this is probably an assembly-line operation? Multiple people stitching granny squares at the same time and multiple people stitching them together? That results in more product and makes it cheaper. This isn’t some lone Pakistani woman on Etsy being forced to crochet day and night.
I have not crocheted before. But I have done a lot of knitting. Quality cotton yarn is not cheap. A simple 6” cotton cloth can take over an hour or more to make. And that is for a simple knit stitch like stockinette, like most sweaters are made in. Even using a knitting loom takes many many hours. Again using the most basic stitches. I prefer to buy from thrift stores and second hand. Unfortunately most big box stores are selling’slave-labor’ clothing. I have been guilty of buying clothes from A. I try to be aware of the source of my clothes. But I still need clothes.
If they are selling it for $35 they are buying it for $18, the distributor is buying it for $10, etc. The labourer is getting pennies, not $35
The Walt Disney Company t-shirts cost them around 20 cents. They then sell them for $35. Walt has been spinning in his grave for 50 years. Poor Stan Laurel has been dizzy from all that spinning.
Ethics aside, it's bloody ugly. Good fashion sense should stop your buying this...
Clothing taste is very subjective. I think it is super cute.
Load More Replies...This is one of many reasons I buy 90% of my clothes second hand. And while the croqueted sweater is definitely an egregious example and shows how these companies truly do not care and can even flaunt that they don't care and KNOW that their main consumers won't care, it's true this has been going on for a very long time. When will we say "enough!"
have pile of crocheted sqares similar to that from my late aunt legacy, but I don't know what was her intention. Need to learn to crochet finally.
the article is good. Alice in Borderland Shuntaro Chishiya White Hoodie
I have never shopped in Target and not a fan of Walmart. I really don't see the big deal shopping in these stores. My sister crochets and knits and gave me a beautiful lap blanket. I know nobody else has one like it but shop in these stores, and you will run into 20 ppl wearing the same shirt or hoodie. No thank you!
I worked for years in the fashion and clothing industry. Machines that produce crochet garments have been around for more than thirty years. Fast fashion is a horrible bubble that I hope will burst, it produces pollution and is based on the exploitation of developing countries BUT the example used by the tiktoker is wrong, as usual on that platform, videos of people become viral that besides not doing research do not know what they are talking about. (I am Italian and here in the north there has been a thriving knitwear industry, in recent years it is failing thanks to the greed of the industrialists who have de-localized the manufacturing and now find themselves having to compete with those who have exploited for decades, especially China and India). This man wants to ride out the indignation towards fast fashion without a true knowledge of production processes. If you have never seen a knitting and crochet machine, it does NOT mean that it does not exist.
I'm hear questioning why any one would want to wear something that looks like the blanket drapped over the couch on Roseanne/The Conners in the first place 🤔
Suddenly some woke asshat wants to pay the full value of something? Start with teachers!
Forgive me...that is One buttugly sweater...throw cover yes...fashion...🤢
I asked my mom, who crochets a lot. She says she could knock out a square in 20 minutes. That means for the approximate 45 squares required, it would be 900 minutes or 15 hours. At Federal minimum wage that's $108.75. But that's not all. She says it takes a lot longer to connect the squares together than it does to make the squares, and using a good-quality yarn would run at least $20. SO...who's making the squares and who is paying slave wages for them?
I can knit and crochet by hand. I am not any faster because I don't work on a piece all day. I have some problem buying knitted sweaters at the store. I know they are machine knit. I know I could make it myself. I see one I really like and I had one finally disintegrate and I'll buy it. Yeah, lazy. But I won't buy crocheted items.
I knit clothing and accessories by hand and hell yeah it costs more than that in yarn alone. But the bigger issue is that crochet can ONLY be done by hand, unlike knit items which CAN be machine knitted! So if you have any crocheted items that didn't cost hundreds of dollars, it was likely the result of slave labor. Please, support fiber artists! Those sweaters and hats your aunt, friend, and grandma have made are truly labors of love ❤️
Just wanted to add, since I may not have worded it very well, that of course any handmade crochet or knit items that have been made by friends or loved ones are obviously not the result of slave labor. But if you have or see crochet and hand knit items that seem too cheap to be true, it's probably because they are.
Load More Replies...A glimpse at the dark side of capitalism that nobody wants to acknowledge.
I used to work as a manager in global sourcing for Target. Was very proud of the work we did including the extensive and unannounced social audits of factories. Wage, age, and comprehensive safety checks happened regularly and a single violation would get a factory banned for 3 yrs with anything not on a boat rejected...no exceptions. Not discounting the math and investigative work here, but I would be very surprised if there was truly unethical sourcing going on.
Ya. Wake up to the facts about why our clothes are so cheap. It's because large numbers of people are working in sweat shops. The reason clothes aren't manufactured here is because we have laws against sweat shops including but not just minimum wages. These low prices don't come for free. Trashing the clothes doesn't either.
No worries about regular shoppers ever encountering these sweaters and having a moral dilemma. They most likely have already been bought and put up for sale for high prices online by product scalpers. No surprise that workers were exploited.
One person said that the materials themselves would cost more than that. My guess that on top of completely screwing the people who made the item, they’re also selling the item at an overall financial loss to target in an attempt to crush any current competition and to make the target name more attractive to people looking for the handmade/Etsy/granny chic. I’m glad to see it’s failing so well. It’s a big box store, it will not and can not replicate mom/pop niche stores in today’s society as we hopefully come out of the disposable age and recognize and save for high quality ethically produced items
Check your grandma's linen closet. You may find a blanket using the same pattern. A little judicious cut & stitch and there you go.
Read the first chapters of Gomorrah by Sabbiano and be horrified by fashion market.
I agree that these are ridiculously underpriced and probably involve slave labor of some kind... But 17 minutes for a single granny square? I /have/to time this out bc there's no way in hell it takes that long. Maybe it's because I do it mindlessly but I've never thought it took even half that time.
Do it! I was so suprised when I did, I spent much longer than I thought on a square!
Load More Replies...If only we could have a system where people payed an appropriate amount for clothes - workers wouldn’t get exploited (so badly) and we wouldn’t have so much unnecessary, unwanted clothing ending up in landfills because people couldn’t afford to buy new clothes every week and dump the „old“ stuff.
I've crocheted for almost 50 years. I'm very fast. But 17 minutes for a four round granny square seems excessive. Even with color changes I'd say 7 minutes tops. I usually do 2 color squares in about 4 minutes. Tucking loose threads can be time consuming, but most of them can be tucked into stitches as you go. I can do a baby blanket in 2 or 3 days. An afghan takes a week. I can run through a one pound worster weight skein in about three hours. Twice that time is probably more average. However even with my speed it's difficult at best to make a decent wage with crochet.
I am so happy ppl are calling out brands like this. Because if I saw that sweater I'd think "omg what a deal! It's so cute" and not even realize how a person was extremely exploited to make it. And I KNOW how hard it is to make stuff like this. I've tried. I suck. Lol. I just would have a assumed a machine made it. I've been trying to be better about shopping ethically and it's videos and people like this who remind me that I have SO MUCH to unlearn and learn in general before I can be comfortable knowing that my daily life hasn't come at the cost of someone else's pain and exploitation. Which is a very huge goal of mine. To be environmentally conscious, humane and to not exploit others and the planet as a whole. Which I think is like... a bare minimum goal that everyone should strive for.
My question is why anyone just now figured out Big Box Stores do not sell ethically sourced items...
I thank God there are people like this poster, exposing the invisible world.
This is why I buy clothes only resale. It is almost impossible - unless you personally know the person that you're buying from - to know whether or not your clothing was ethically produced. I'd rather avoid the whole system, not put any of my money into any more unethical production when we have plenty of quality clothing already floating around out there, ultimately headed for the dumpster to be replaced by more sweatshop goods.
Fashion that's cheap and thrown away fast. H&M, Zara etc
Load More Replies...To be devil's advocate here, it could be just a marketing piece to get people inside (who ever leaves Target with just one item) and they offset the loss with other sales. Many other companies do this.
How the fact that minimal wages are not equal around the globe escape this incredible piece of “journalism“ is beyond me. I’ve worked for probably a decade for money far far below what the Americans would consider a minimum wage and still survived. Mostly because all prices were significantly lower as well. Bitching and moaning about it is not going to make it any better. Only continuous development and progress gets developing countries out of the developing into developed. Look at China 30 years ago and today.
No sh*t, Sherlock. “It’s imported so that’s another red flag.” All our clothing is imported. Because no one is going to pay what this would cost for an American to make it. People in developing countries clamor for these jobs. They wait outside the gates hoping there’s a slot they can fill. I’ve seen it. It all sounds high and righteous but most Americans won’t pay/can’t afford responsibly produced goods- especially because boutique producers capitalize on this with boutique prices. The best we can do is to buy used clothing when possible, and hold onto clothes we buy as long as we possibly can to get the most use out of them. Otherwise, this is all great but not really impactful. So don’t buy this sweater at target, but you’ll buy a sweater at gap, banana republic, old navy, etc and it’s the Same. Exact. Thing.
Great that so many oriole point these things out… but that’s the easy part. What are they actually doing about it? “Raising awareness”?
Raising awareness is a good start. A lot of people may not have that information and now that they do, they might be more discerning about where they spend their money.
Load More Replies...China is EVIL. Labor abuse is only one terrible thing happening there.
Nope. Like they say in the article, you can't replicate crochet with a machine.
Load More Replies...I have a problem with pretentious assumptions made by people who have little or no actual knowledge of what they are talking about... particularly when it comes to business, economics, and politics. If you think MAGAs are ignorant fools (and they are), they have their intellectual equivalent on the far left.
If this comes as a surprise to you, you haven't been paying attention. Learn about the treatment of the Muslim Uighurs in China. You will be horrified.
China was praised for having a Uighur torch bearer at the Olympics. Now she is nowhere to be found. Most NATO countries knew it was bs.
Load More Replies...I suspect you don't even know where Timbuktu is or that it is a real place.
Load More Replies...You really think sweet little old ladies are supplying target with merchandise? Bless your heart
Load More Replies...Are you saying that the exploitation of workers and slave labour in the fashion industry isn't worth caring about?
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