Sep 21: Factories
This morning, a group of the senior Melton Fellows went to visit a local textile factory. The company, JCMode, is about ten years old, and has expanded rapidly as an export factory for all sorts of brand name clothes in Australia, Europe, and the U.S.
We were led around the factory by the manager, who was a friend of one of the first
Chinese Fellows. This gave us unusually open access to roam around the factory and ask direct questions. You can, I'm sure, imagine just the kinds of questions a group of fairly liberal, well-educated, young students are going to fire at a factory manager in China.
We wandered down aisles between rows and rows of women, and quite a few men, sewing. (It was a turquoise day. Turquoise fabric everywhere you looked. I'm here to tell you White Stag will be offering up an enormous amount of turquoise blouses in the U.S. this fall.) We asked how much they were paid (approximately $130 a month, plus free room and board). We asked how much they worked (9 hours a day, 6 days a week). We asked about whether they were locked into their contracts (they have to pay a fee to get out of their contracts). We asked where they came from (rural China). We asked who trained them (the factory gives them some training, but mostly recruits from sewing schools).
The factory we toured was but one of several that JCMode operates, and it's clearly set up as the show factory. It's where the samples are stored and where prospective clients are brought -- the fact that all the signs have English written under them is testament enough to that. So I can't say that any other factory looks anything like the one we visited -- but it was well-lit, had airconditioning, wasn't cramped, and the people who worked there, while working at a fairly fast pace, seemed relaxed.
Which is probably why, after about 15 minutes of grilling the manager, we all got a bit sidetracked. Because, wow, the clothes. Gorgeous clothes, soft silk, hand-beaded work, two coats that I want so desperately I can barely stand it. It was startling to see the price tags on them, actually. After getting used to prices here, and having some sense of how much it cost the factory to make each piece, it was shocking to see "$99 suggested retail" on a tag.
We ended our tour in the sample room. The room was filled with a collection of pieces that their various clients -- including Tony Bahama and Cache Cache -- had ordered. The manager announced that nothing, unfortunately, was for sale. These were just samples with which to lure prospective clients. It was sheer torture. Everyone found at least one thing they desperately wanted, and we each tried our best to convince them to sell us that one piece. Finally giving in to the pressure, the manager said that if we e-mailed him some requests he would try to sell us samples at wholesale prices. We piled on the bus and went home, everyone of us satisfied as to the inherent beauty of factories.
We were led around the factory by the manager, who was a friend of one of the firstChinese Fellows. This gave us unusually open access to roam around the factory and ask direct questions. You can, I'm sure, imagine just the kinds of questions a group of fairly liberal, well-educated, young students are going to fire at a factory manager in China.
We wandered down aisles between rows and rows of women, and quite a few men, sewing. (It was a turquoise day. Turquoise fabric everywhere you looked. I'm here to tell you White Stag will be offering up an enormous amount of turquoise blouses in the U.S. this fall.) We asked how much they were paid (approximately $130 a month, plus free room and board). We asked how much they worked (9 hours a day, 6 days a week). We asked about whether they were locked into their contracts (they have to pay a fee to get out of their contracts). We asked where they came from (rural China). We asked who trained them (the factory gives them some training, but mostly recruits from sewing schools).
The factory we toured was but one of several that JCMode operates, and it's clearly set up as the show factory. It's where the samples are stored and where prospective clients are brought -- the fact that all the signs have English written under them is testament enough to that. So I can't say that any other factory looks anything like the one we visited -- but it was well-lit, had airconditioning, wasn't cramped, and the people who worked there, while working at a fairly fast pace, seemed relaxed.
Which is probably why, after about 15 minutes of grilling the manager, we all got a bit sidetracked. Because, wow, the clothes. Gorgeous clothes, soft silk, hand-beaded work, two coats that I want so desperately I can barely stand it. It was startling to see the price tags on them, actually. After getting used to prices here, and having some sense of how much it cost the factory to make each piece, it was shocking to see "$99 suggested retail" on a tag.
We ended our tour in the sample room. The room was filled with a collection of pieces that their various clients -- including Tony Bahama and Cache Cache -- had ordered. The manager announced that nothing, unfortunately, was for sale. These were just samples with which to lure prospective clients. It was sheer torture. Everyone found at least one thing they desperately wanted, and we each tried our best to convince them to sell us that one piece. Finally giving in to the pressure, the manager said that if we e-mailed him some requests he would try to sell us samples at wholesale prices. We piled on the bus and went home, everyone of us satisfied as to the inherent beauty of factories.
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