Human Geography Writing Assignment 6: Global Supply Chains: Where’d You Get Those Shoes?

GEO2400: Human Geography Writing Assignment 6: Global Supply Chains: Where’d You Get Those Shoes?

East Asia and Southeast Asia have become global leaders in the production of manufactured goods. Because living in the USA means that we live in the largest market for goods, our lives intersect with these sub-regions on a daily basis. We have all seen the labels that say “Made in China”. In fact, China produces so many goods that it is sometimes called the “factory of the world”. However, countries in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, are starting to produce large quantities of goods, as well. For this assignment, which is made up of two parts, you are not only going to examine the role of East and Southeast Asia in the garment industry, but you will also look at some of the problems facing the garment industry, particularly labor concerns. Your submission will be digital and it needs to be uploaded as either a Microsoft Word document, or a PDF. Any other file type will receive a 0. Please submit your document as “Lastnamehuman6”.

Part I
For Part I, you are going to create two tables based on labels you find on clothes in your own closet. To do this, start by selecting 20 (you may pick more) articles of clothing. Try to find a variety of clothes—shirts, pants, undergarments, and jackets, but avoid accessories like scarves and hats—so you can have a more representative sample. Write down where the article of clothing was assembled and the brand name or store where you purchased the garment. Hint: the location of assembly will appear as the “Made in _____” label. Next, locate the headquarters for each of the retailers that distributed your garments. Once you have collected all of this data, fill in the tables.

Table 1. The Locations of Clothing Assembly (You may have to add more rows at the bottom)

Country of Assembly

Total

Table 2. The Locations of Clothing Headquarters (You may have to add more rows at the bottom)

Country of Headquarters

Total

Once you have completed the tables, answer the following questions:
1. In which country was the majority of your clothes assembled? Why do you think that’s the case?

2. What percentage of the clothes you selected were assembled in East Asia (Mongolia, China, Taiwan, North and South Korea, and Japan)? What percentage were assembled in Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Timor Leste)? Why do you think these countries represent such a large total number of your clothes?

3. Were any of your clothes assembled in a developed world country? How many headquarters are located in a developed world country? Explain these patterns.

Part II
For Part II, you are going to use http://www.humanthreadcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Free2Work-Apparel-Industry-Trends-2015.pdf to examine how well major clothing retailers control their supply chain with regard to labor policies and practices. Additionally, you will use https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/05/kids-want-work-poor-justification-laws-legalize-work-10-year-olds# to view the controversial topic of child labor. Read through the sources and compare labor issues within the supply chains of H&M, Nike, and one of the brands from your closet by answering the following questions:
1. According to the report, what are traceability, monitoring, and living wage?

2. What are the overall grades of each of the three retailers? Does this surprise? Explain.

3. Do any of the three retailers provide living wages for the producers of raw materials? What about the producers of inputs? What about the assembly workers? Use core/semi-periphery/periphery to explain this pattern.

4. Looking at child and forced labor, name at least three countries that use child and forced labor for assembly, input production, and raw material production? Do you have any clothes that have been assembled in any of these countries?

5. In the past, some students have argued that question 4 is ethnocentric, because it assumes child labor is bad. Name two justifications used to support child labor. What do you think—can child labor ever be justified?

6. Let’s look at the big picture. Is there a way we as consumers can help labor overcome these challenges?