Many fashion-conscious consumers pay top dollar for popular and trusted brands. But what many of these shoppers do not realize is that hidden behind their cherished brand labels are human beings who are continually abused and exploited—all so we can wear the fashionable outfits we love so much yet know so little about.
    Abercrombie and Fitch, a mega brand for teenagers and college students, has been cited for factory violations. The company, which sells its clothing through its Abercrombie and Fitch, Abercrombie (its adolescent branch), and Hollister Co. stores, as well as its website and its quarterly catalog, has the highest net profit margin of any U.S. apparel company. Much of Abercrombie and Fitch’s clothing is produced in factories in Saipan, a U.S, territory in the Pacific. In 1999 Abercrombie and Fitch was charged with the use of sweatshops in this territory.
    The lawsuit that exposed the company’s inhumane manufacturing practices found more than unfair wages and cruel-tempered bosses. It unearthed the twisted truth behind the company’s factories—that they “employed” workers through deception and indentured servitude. Thousands of Chinese migrant workers in Saipan were promised a better job in the United States if they worked in factories sewing clothes for Abercrombie and Fitch and other popular brands. Paid up to $7,000 to arrive at these factories, workers were told upon arrival that they needed to repay their debts. They worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week making garments for Abercrombie and Fitch, The Gap, JC Penney, May Co., and other U.S. retailers. With the minimal pay they received, getting themselves out of debt would take countless years, giving workers the status of indentured servants (www.behindthelabel.org).
    As if their forced servitude was not bad enough, many of these A&F workers were also forced to sign contracts that forbade them from participating in religious or political activities, having children, asking for raises, or even getting married. A 1998 investigation report by ABC News found these workers living in rat-infested barracks with no plumbing systems and contaminated drinking water. Workers frequently fainted from the stifling heat and poor ventilation system. In total, over 1,000 violations have been found in these factories, including locked fire exits. Unlike many other U.S. apparel corporations, like Nike, that have reached legal settlements after being spotlighted using sweatshops, Abercrombie and Fitch refused to reach a legal settlement that would clean up sweatshops in Saipan. Today Abercrombie and Fitch has yet to completely clean up manufacturing practices and is under fire by human rights organizations around the globe. Despite the negative attention in the media, the corporation’s sales have continued to climb each year (www.behindthelabel.org).