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This fall, students at a growing number of college campuses across the country will be sweating a little greener and easier in collegiate clothes with a conscience. As a result of the efforts of a group called United Students Against Sweatshops, students at over 100 universities across the continent are trying to force their schools to take responsibility for the conditions under which their logo-bearing clothing is produced.
At present, most university clothing is produced under the same (decidedly un-green) sweatshop conditions and in the same factories that supply giant retailers like Wal-Mart. But through the Sweat-Free Campus movement, student activists hope to create an alternative model in which universities will buy only apparel made in factories that demonstrate respect for worker rights ahead of low price.
The international movement for sweat-free campuses has been building steam since 2005, with thousands of students joining in rallies, marches, sit-ins, and other efforts to ignite change.
How much difference will it make? Perhaps a lot. Universities are major purchasers of apparel, so even a single institution acting on its own is a formidable adversary to those reaping giant profits by exploiting workers in sweatshops under exploitative conditions. When many universities act collaboratively, the effects can really garner the attention of industry giants.
Recently, Marquette University became the 37th school to adopt the Designated Suppliers Program, under which the institution agrees to contract only with suppliers whose factory workers earn a living wage and have the right to form a union. Other participating institutions include the University of California, University of Wisconsin, Georgetown University, and the University of Washington.
According to the United Students Against Sweatshops, student activists will continue to bring the struggle for worker rights to their universities until their clothing is truly sweat-free.
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