Does buying cheap clothes made abroad hurt or help the people who make them?
The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in April 2013 drew international attention to the plight of garment-industry workers in developing countries. The deaths of more than 1,100 workers revived questions about the ethics of the process through which cheap clothes make their way to consumers. Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt: People contrasts the lives of two women working in garment factories – one in Bangladesh and one in Columbia – and considers how, at its worst, the industry puts its workers in peril, but at its best has the potential to help lift some out of poverty.
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