Sydney Sweeney has great jeans. Who made them? (Psst: Workers)

详细摘要

Sydney Sweeney has great jeans, American Eagle Outfitters tells us. But who made them? And what are working conditions like in the garment factories of Pakistan and Bangladesh?

But it's not Sweeney she recognizes — it's the jeans and jacket. This woman, a single mother, has worked on American Eagle production lines and seen those denim styles and similar models. "I know how all of them are made, because I have worked on them," she says.

Workers like that single mother. She asks that we refer to her as S., the initial of her first name, because she fears her bosses at the garment factory where she works will fire her if she's identified. "If you raise your voice, they'll push you out," she says. "We are helpless."

S., a young woman, works at a factory run by a company called Artistic Garment Industries, where she says she's paid about $144 a month, a sum that supports her son and her mother.

There are many garment factories in this industrial area in Karachi, Pakistan. Workers interviewed by NPR said that conditions are often "oppressively hot." Betsy Joles for NPR hide caption

She says the factory is "oppressively hot." It was 106 F outside when we met her, and she says the factory inside is even hotter. She says it's hard to leave her workstation to drink water because she has to meet her production targets. She says she has to check the quality of 1,000 to 1,600 pieces of clothing a day — and she's fainted three times this year. "I feel faint, and I can barely stand. I have no energy in my hands and feet," S. says. "They don't even let us sit down." But S. says she has no other options.

Artistic Garment Industries confirmed it makes clothes for American Eagle but tells NPR that it does not push out workers who complain about their working conditions. The company says it has a robust complaints system that workers can use and says it frequently checks on temperatures inside different parts of its factories.

In response to questions NPR sent to American Eagle, the company says it's "committed to working directly with our suppliers to protect the health, safety, and rights of workers.

S. is one of around 20 workers we interviewed over the spring…

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