Whenever sweatshop issues arise, the tendency is to think they affect high-profile apparel companies elsewhere–generally on the East or West Coasts.
But every manufacturer that produces even a small portion of its products offshore is open to scrutiny, whether it uses sweatshops or is a model employer.
That includes Chicago-area companies.
Florsheim Group Inc., for example, has some of its shoes made in the Far East; many other manufacturers of a wide range of merchandise contract for production outside the country.
Chicago is headquarters to this country’s largest manufacturer of underwear and sporty clothing, Fruit of the Loom Inc., and the country’s largest manufacturer of men’s tailored clothing, Hartmarx Corp.
Both produce some of their goods in foreign countries, although Fruit of the Loom is far ahead.
Fruit currently has 58 percent of its goods manufactured offshore and hopes to increase that to 80 percent by the end of 1998.
Hartmarx has some 20 to 25 percent of its men’s sportswear made in factories it owns in Mexico and Costa Rica.
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How are these companies dealing with the recommendations made earlier this week by President Clinton’s anti-sweatshop task force?
Kathy Fauster Pickus, spokeswoman for Fruit of the Loom, said the report–which called for outside monitoring for all facilities, no child labor under the age of 14, and paying the minimum wage of each country–is too new to discuss.
“We do a good job in the countries where we operate,” she said. “We have a strong code of conduct and our facilities follow this code.” She said Fruit of the Loom abides by each country’s laws regarding age, wages, working conditions. “We take this issue very seriously.”
Following Hartmarx’s annual meeting Friday, company president and chief operating officer Homi Patel said Hartmarx was invited to participate in Clinton’s task force on sweatshops but declined. Patel said the company’s tailored clothing is made in 17 U.S. facilities, but as its sportswear business increases, so might offshore production. The cost differential between production here and in foreign countries, he noted, is 35 percent.
Many manufacturers withdrew from the task force. Among their objections: Too many unanswered questions about monitoring, and objections to the “No Sweat” label. “It’s too cute,” one said.
Woods’ glory: Already in the golf apparel business in a big way, Hartmarx took special delight in Tiger Woods’ conquest of the Masters tournament.
No, Hartmarx isn’t signing him on to endorse some blazers or slacks. “Too expensive,” said Hartmarx Chairman and chief executive Bert Hand.
But, golfer Hand and his management team believe that the enormous interest in golf generated by Woods, as well as the growth the game itself has been experiencing, can only be good for Hartmarx’s two leading golf labels, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus.
Hartmarx, which has been working on a plan since late ’96 for a potential chain of Jones and Nicklaus golf apparel and gear shops, is about two weeks from finalizing the project.
Hand told shareholders that Hartmarx is not–“I am reiterating not”–getting back into retailing, a business sector it was in once, and left. The company has worked on the design for such free-standing stores, the accounting procedures and other aspects of running the businesses. “But we will not own the stores, put money into them. We will be the supplier of the clothing and will license the names of the shops.” Investors will handle the rest.
Serious about cities: Hoffman Estates-based Sears, Roebuck and Co. is not only scouting urban locations for its full-line department stores, but for its off-the-mall stores as well.
Sears will open its first urban dealer store in Atlanta in July.
The dealer stores–sort of appliance and electronics superstores for small-town America–aren’t owned by Sears, but by individuals. Sears is a partner in that it supplies the goods, offers training, ad support and the like.
Since 1993, Sears has opened 489 of these dealer stores in rural communities or small towns; No. 500 will open in De Kalb at the end of the month.
With Sears’ growing interest in urban neighborhoods, its pioneering effort in Atlanta will not be its last.