Liza Featherstone and Doug Henwood

New technology and the advent of mass production have greatly affected the American clothing industry. One controversial change has been an increased use of overseas labor. Overseas labor is often much cheaper, in part because American labor laws, which regulate minimum wages and how many hours employees can work, do not protect this alternative workforce. Textile workers in other developing nations are often hired for much less than the minimum wage in the United States. This situation has prompted some American activists-often college students-to protest what they regard as unfair working conditions in so—called sweatshops. Large American clothing manufacturers have been common targets of such criticism; indeed, the word "sweatshop" is nearly synonymous with the mass—market American clothing industry.

The following article focuses on the Workers Rights...