British Royalty Wears Designer Dress Made In Sweat Shops

LONDON – Since being married to Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge has become a fashion icon for her taste in stylish wear that the commoner can afford.

During her recent gathering with Mrs. Obama, Lady Kate wore a simply, yet elegant ‘Shola’ dress that retails for $290; mere peanuts in comparison to what other royalties spend on their garments.

The dress made by Kate’s favorite designer Reiss, was offered for sale on their site. In less than 24 hours 1,000 copies were sold, crashing the site.

Sadly, the dress that so inspires the daily woman was made in sweat shops in Romania, where female laborers sow and knit in inhumane conditions, getting paid only $2.18 per hour for their grueling work.

In comparison with other textile industries in Eastern Europe, the Romanian workers are paid well below minimum wage.

Recently released figures indicate the seamstresses earn $43.5 less than the average net salary of other textile workers.

About 170 women are employed by Rimcor Ex textiles, located in a poor suburb of Bucharest.  The facilities are highly guarded.  For the past 15 years, 44 year old Juliana Haita has been working at that plant putting dresses together.

She says the building overheats in the summer but describes her salary as being adequate and her work conditions as being bearable.

Haita says she doesn’t really know who Prince William and Lady Kate are but was happy when she saw the dress saying “I nice to see that the small thing I do can be seen all over the world”.

Labor inspectors have said that the work conditions at the factory are acceptable.  Critics however have pointed out that Eastern Europe is presently exempt from the same ethical demands that are imposed on sweat shops in Asia.

“Lady Kate’s support for British brands comes at the cost of overseas workers” argues Greg Muttitt of the organization ‘War On Want’.

“If Kate wants to support British fashion, she should make sure that the people who make the clothes can at least live from what they do,” Muttitt said.

Textile sweat shops have been a labor concern around the world.  In many places children are put to work under the most wretched conditions.

Although some places like the U.S., China and parts of India are now subjected to proper working conditions and competitive salaries for the textile workers, many other locations, such as Eastern Europe, are still flying under the radar.

 Share This:

---

What's Your Opinion?

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Got A Story? Email it to our news desk at Tip Line @ Nodeju.com

---

Man Stuck Inside Other Man’s Wife

A Kenyan man, who cheated with a married woman, found himself in a rather precarious position when after the lovemaking, he was unable to free himself from the woman. The husband of the unfaithful >> Full story

Husband And Wife Accused Of Torturing 100s Of Cats

PARIS – A New Zealand man and his wife are fleeing a French village after being accused of allegedly torturing hundreds of cats or selling them for experiments. Blair McEwen, from Wellington, >> Full story

 People who searched for affordable fashion also checked these