My Low Wage Life

I have never been on my own and I have never had to go without anything necessary for survival, or even for comfort. I have worked for less than a living wage, I have spent the past four summers working at a summer camp getting paid between eighteen and twenty-four dollars a day. Even then I was living at camp, getting feed three good, hot, nutritious meals a day and I had a comfortable, safe, and warm bed to sleep in. When I was not at camp I had the luxury of going home to my parent’s house where my mom did my laundry and cooked me dinner every night. I have never paid my own rent or food bills. I pay my car insurance and my parents and I split a lot of my bills, but I have almost never had to go without something because there was no money for it.
I spent some time wondering how I contribute to other people’s low wage lives and came up with a few ways. My house is being remodeled by workers who I am guessing are illegal immigrants, I have never talked to my house cleaners and often wondered if they even speak English, and my school is somehow always immaculate yet you never see anyone cleaning. With all these things and people that affect my everyday life another group of workers and a real passion of mine came to mind. My love for inexpensive clothing.
While I was at American Apparel the other day I noticed how pricey I found their clothes. Almost everything in the store is mono-colored, yet a plain v-neck tee-shirt costs twenty dollars or three for fifty dollars. At a store such as H&M the same shirt costs less than ten dollars. I got to wondering why this is and began talking with a friend about it. She informed me that it was because American Apparel is an all American brand. They are sweat shop free and therefore pay all employees a living wage. So if I dislike their clothes because they are made by adequately paid people where do my clothes come from?
It turns out companies such as Forever 21 have a dirty back-story. In 2001 the company was sued for poor working conditions and underpaying workers. Before the law suit went to court the company, not wanting to be accused of having sweat shops, raised pay just enough that workers were satisfied. They have also been sued multiple times by designers such as Diane von Fürstenberg and Anna Sui because they have “ripped off” their designs. The company keeps costs down by cutting corners and eliminating the need for a full design team as well as keeping factory workers in the low wage life. Even companies such as Wal-Mart perpetuate the low wage life. Wal-Mart, whose primary demographic of shoppers is the low income working class, does nothing but help fuel its client base by paying low wages and providing few benefits. Americans wear sweatshops and other peoples low wage lives on their backs every day.