The most ironic thing I've encountered are people who would define themselves as someone who believes in equal rights yet their outfits are composed of brands that have proven to produce their inventory in sweatshops… Including myself. I also have to look back and think about how I was not always educated on such topics. Or how even to this day I have to shop at businesses using sweatshops to create their inventory because at the time that's what my wallet permitted.

Forever 21 as an example has reported paying workers in their sweatshop's wages as low as $3.42 an hour, and working conditions have also been proven to not meet practiced labor laws. Most of the countries these factories are located normally do not have labor laws similar to the United States. This permits corporations are to take advantage of the countries citizens easier than they would be able to elsewhere.

The sad reality behind unethical work labor and unjust wages sadly are not only practiced within the fashion industry. Even companies that I find it hard to not to shop at such as Walmart, Home Depot, and Apple have either obtained a large number of complaints about unscrupulous work practices or have had solid evidence supporting the belief of sweatshop-like conditions.

What I still struggle to comprehend is how the people of our country can act as if none of these companies are in the wrong, and mindlessly drop hundreds of dollars on new clothing from retailers such as Forever 21, Nike, and H&M.

Although I have an extremely strong opinion on corporations who use unfair labor to produce their inventory, it is also another sad reality that sweatshops are running most major businesses, so that makes it nearly impossible to live in modern day society without supporting these companies. Whenever I am discussing politics or social issues with a peer and this topic comes up I always say that unless I plan on becoming a nudist in the forest, grow my own fruits and vegetables, and never ever touch technology again in my life, then, unfortunately, I will have to support companies that practice unjust work practices.

Another issue is many people either choose not to pursue a degree in a specific field or are currently in the middle of their studies, but are not yet qualified for a career that matches up with their field of interest. This can make it difficult to find a decent paying job. A lot of the times this leads people to work for different retail businesses. In the fashion industry, many stores encourage their employees to wear their brand, and offer employee discounts. Some brands even have it as a requirement in their dress code to wear that specific brand. A while back I applied for a position of Adidas, and was told part of their dress code was a pair of Adidas shoes. Adidas is another example of a company that relies on sweatshops to make their fashionable sneakers. Both offering discounts and making it a requirement to wear an item designed by the company end up boosting sales.

I am someone who's household lives on a very tight budget, and between the people I am living with, we usually end up living from paycheck to paycheck. When you are on such a tight budget shopping at businesses like Walmart is so much more tempting, and sometimes does not even seem like a choice. Another strong belief I obtain is that the vast gap in wealth and social classes forming in our society only feeds into the demand for a company to result in using sweatshops. It is estimated that about 40 million to 45 million Americans live below the federal poverty level, which brings the percentage of Americans living in poverty to 12.3%. It is easy to take advantage of consumers when a decent amount of these people are living in poverty. On both sides of the fence. A lot of the countries that these sweatshops are located in also have terrible economies, where the cost of living is different compared to the United States. So, really these corporations take advantage of both sides.

Cheap inventory, unfortunately, has a tragic aftermath. Your $3.90 basic leggings at Forever 21 and amazing deals at Walmart have a price higher than the dollar amount you are paying. (Although some of these companies such as Apple does not even have cheap products yet they are profiting so much on a product that cost them pennies to make compared to the item's retail value!)

A majority of the world's population obsesses over trendsetting, their physical appearance, and fitting in, so it makes sense as to why our country's population acts like sheep when it comes to major corporations. But there are ways around supporting the company directly while also still having trendy styles and name brand clothing in your wardrobe. Thrift shopping is the best way to avoid directly funding the bigger companies that are supporting sweatshops. Not only are you helping fight against sweatshops but you're also saving a ton of money. Typically whenever I go to a thrift store I almost always end up seeing a name brand garment of clothing, so it is not as if it's impossible for us to find the brands we love at these stores. (Especially if it is Plato's Closet or Style Encore. These are thrift stores that specialize in name brand clothing that has been in the mall within the past two years. You can even bring your own clothing in without an appointment and possibly receive cash for your old clothes!)

With thrift shopping you never know what you will find, so you may even find something cooler than what you would have discovered at full price retail store. A lot of thrift stores that accept donations vs. a quote for your items also tend to have interesting retro items. Through working retail, for the past three years, I have realized that a lot of older trends and styles are slowly creeping back into style. For a decent chunk of time, I processed Forever 21's shipment, and the funniest thing ever was when you would see so many items that you could purchase at Goodwill or Liberty Thrift for a fraction of the price.

Within my lifespan, I do not find the topic of sweatshops becoming a taboo practice. For any political or social change to occur it takes time. This has been the case throughout history. I think the main issue with this topic is that a lot of people seem to have the "well I'm one person and I cannot make a change" or "my $30 dollars spent at Walmart each week won't make a difference" view, but what they do not realize is that acting like a sheep and making companies billionaires off of unlivable wages will only fuel the fire of unethical labor. No change can occur with any issue of society unless someone is brave enough to take a stand. Commonly humans suffer from the bystander effect and assume someone else will stand up for this topic or that their small amount of money wouldn't have a direct effect on a business.

Imagine every dollar put in corporations pockets for each person who decided it was not their responsibility to fight against poor work practices. If our society remains bystanders to major corporations taking advantage of other humans for their own profit, then, of course, nothing will ever change. We have to want to see this change occur on a widespread level. There has to be motivation to devote ourselves to spend less at popular retailers, educate ourselves and stop drowning in materialistic ignorance, and spread awareness of the ugly lies hidden on the shelves in a store.