The story behind a shirt

The story behind a shirt

By Christos Mpitzikopoulos

Thessaloniki, a city with countless multinational shops. You go to one of them and find a shirt that you will love. But have you ever thought the story behind this shirt?

By 2013, nearly 30 million people around the world, with a large number of children within them, are clothes "slaves". Children who experience physical and psychological abuse, losing their childhood innocence. Labor laws? Convention on the Rights of the Children? The unanswered questions that first come to mind.

A well-established "business" with an annual turnover of $1.5-2 million. South Asia has become the overriding sewing machine of the rich countries. With the countries of the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Europe following. Recent estimates have shown that more than 250 million children aged 5-14 working under terrible conditions. Their parents have chosen to “rent” them in the multinational companies, in order to bring some money in their seedy families.

ZARA, Ortega group (Bershka, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius), PUMA, H&M and Adidas are some of those multinational businesses which are connected to this scandal. Having profits from the exploitation of cheap, childish, laboring hands.

Tolerance is complicity! So we owe to oppose and protest in order to activate the social welfare and basic education starts existing for every single child. That’s the key! Because in a developed spirit, everyone understands their rights ideally and demands them.