Whose Sweat Do You Wear?
Tee-Shirt with Brand Names
Mary Jayne Walker

"This piece was developed for a Fairhaven College courses, Costume and Textiles as Political Discourse, taught in winter 2002, taught by Toby Smith. The course focused on how clothing and textile design function as a language to communicate cultural and political messages. We composed/constructed costumes or textiles and wrote a paper which narrated its story. I designed this shirt to raise awareness about the issue of sweatshop labor. When I think of fashion, I think of the clothes we wear everyday - low quality, over-produced garments that are made overseas and across borders. This shirt is intended to make consumers question where their clothes come from and what purchasing power they possess. Please take the time to think about the people behind the label and brand names of your favorite clothes. Remember, if we valued the labor and the quality of our clothing, rather than the quantity, we as consumers could begin to solve the problems of sweatshop labor."

Mary-Jayne Walker is an American Cultural Studies major at Fairhaven College.