Clothing with a conscience

Few UNC students would intentionally support sweatshops. Unfortunately, many do so unknowingly when they patronize UNC Student Stores.

For the past two years, however, various student groups have been calling on Student Stores to source from an apparel company that provides living wages and humane worker conditions — known as “living wage apparel.”

These students have finally secured a meeting with Student Stores’ supply department manager Dawn Colclough, which will take place today. Colclough and Student Stores’ other managers should give legitimate consideration to these students’ requests, which are specific, quantifiable and reasonable.

The majority of the apparel sold in Student Stores is sourced by Nike, a company known for sweatshop-like working conditions and worker compensation that doesn’t amount to a living wage.

Living wage apparel isn’t the norm in the college gear industry, but it is available. Moreover, there are companies that can produce living wage apparel at the same price as their mainstream competitors.

One such company, Alta Gracia, sells T-shirts, sweatshirts and the like at prices nearly identical to its Nike counterparts. (If it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t; Alta Gracia sustains this model by basically deducting the costs of paying a living wage from the salaries of its management.)

A coalition of more than 30 student organizations — including the Campus Y, the Residence Hall Association Board of Governors, Nourish International and UNC Young Democrats — is behind this push for living wage apparel. Their impassioned pleas should be more than enough to get the attention of the decision makers at Student Stores.

But if Student Stores’ managers need more convincing, they needn’t look any further than our rival down the road in Durham. Whereas UNC’s Alta Gracia inventory is minimal, Duke University’s is substantial.

Moreover, Duke displays Alta Gracia advertisements in prominent locations at its student store, drawing attention to the brand’s social responsibility.

In less than a year, Duke has sold more than $500,000 worth of Alta Gracia products. At UNC, on the other hand, our paltry inventory is accompanied by even weaker publicity.

Student Stores could have more success in selling these items if it more effectively advertised that the products are living wage and ethically produced. (Alta Gracia provides large signs to its carriers.) Lack of awareness about living wage products is the greatest barrier to the success of the brand.

The UNC student body prides itself on its commitment to social justice. And as a member institution of the Worker Rights Consortium, UNC has an institutional responsibility to uphold the consortium’s code of conduct.

Sourcing from Alta Gracia or another company with similarly high working condition standards would fulfill this responsibility. Student Stores is, after all, there for students; it should do what it can to align its practices with students’ concerns, especially such serious ones as workers’ rights.