SWEATSHOP MANUFACTURING??

[raddog]

I just wanted to open this forum to give manufacturers a chance to assure us that we are buying from ethical corporations and the kiting industry is not taking advantage of overseas workers just to make huge corporate profits. I know that things like bars are being manufactured in China with the sale price of 10 USD with components add 10USD and lines probably 30USD. Therefore it surprises me to see a markup of 600% on these items in North America and raises the question if overseas labour is being taken advantage of? As it is almost impossible to research this without travelling to every manufacturing shop I thought that it would be nice to hear it from the horses mouth and possibly start seeing the fair trade certification on these corporate websites and product labels. I am not pointing fingers, and may be wrong on the bar pricing but thought some one should ask this question. Company reps please reply,
Thanks

[k2ski3]

It is really the local government's responsibility to protect the rights of their citizens. Unfortunately, anyone can fake quality/ethics standards or have a flashy presentation to mislead customer's on their company practices. Therefore, I believe such statements are of little merit.

The cost of the required R&D to introduce new products on a yearly basis used to define your brand, is really expensive. Add in the issue of providing enough capital to support marketing efforts, & production growth and you need some serious cash to support your operations.

If there are excessive margins, the industry will continue to add more competitors trying to capture their share of the excessive returns. It will also eliminate the poorly managed operations that can't adapt to market changes. I have seen several US companies compete with offshore manufacturers. All it takes is strong management, value creation, & brand differentiation.

[eastcoastkite]

Let me be the first to tell you that the factories used in the kite industry are not sweat shops. In fact, most of the factories I am aware of take very good care of there employees. For example A-lam one of the largest kite and sail manufactures provides rooming and farm land on the corporate headquarters for employees. A-lam is located in China.

In factories in Sri Lanka they also take very good care of the employees. In some factories you cant get a job unless you are friends or family with an employee, that way the work environment stays friendly and productive.

Here are some pics of factory conditions, not too bad if you ask me.


Also about the prices, they are not as low as you might think. When you factor in R&D, molds, tooling, and shipping it all adds up very fast. The reason prices are high has allot to do with distribution methods and the fact that the industry is relatively small so we don't have heavy volume discounts from suppliers.

[Dwight]

I just wanted to open this forum to give manufacturers a chance to assure us that we are buying from ethical corporations and the kiting industry is not taking advantage of overseas workers just to make huge corporate profits. I know that things like bars are being manufactured in China with the sale price of 10 USD with components add 10USD and lines probably 30USD. Therefore it surprises me to see a markup of 600% on these items in North America and raises the question if overseas labour is being taken advantage of? As it is almost impossible to research this without travelling to every manufacturing shop I thought that it would be nice to hear it from the horses mouth and possibly start seeing the fair trade certification on these corporate websites and product labels. I am not pointing fingers, and may be wrong on the bar pricing but thought some one should ask this question. Company reps please reply,
Thanks

Got to China sometime. What you think you know is so wrong.

[Mulholland]

Lets see. We use sweat shops, the sweat shop employees have jobs and can feed themselves, or we don't use sweat-shops, the people don't have jobs, and then we pay some corrupt union bums to produce second-rate product at inflated prices...hmmmmmm?...let 'em sweat.

[Samio]

Sweet, i just did an assignment on this at school, youll be happy to know that most sweat shop employees are payed almost 300% of the average wage in 9/10 countries, most of the highly educated people. eg. doctors, opt to work in "sweat shops" because they get a bigger pay packet. so check the facts before ranting.

[Wetstuff]

I've been sewing in the US for a whole bunch of years and the pics of the factory above show an environment a HELLUVA lot better than the former shirt factories run by the major clothjing brands that were formerly here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The people may make a lot less per hour, but their kids don't nag them (yet..) for $100 Nikes, $70. QUIK baggies and $3 snacks.

Besides, there's always going to be some failure-type here in the US claiming: "Over there: they have it soooo bad." ...porbably from the wi-fi connection at Starbucks.

Having said that, I think we should have a public hanging of the executives of Union Carbide and other companies that do things like Bopal.

Jim

[The Right Stuff]

If

I know that things like bars are being manufactured in China with the sale price of 10 USD

and

...and may be wrong on the bar pricing

then what are you basing this on?

[spind]

Hey Raddog,

You need to put 'waroo" in the title to get any attention.

ie WARROO SWEATSHOP MANUFACTURING

I doubt Gumball, SQ etc would really reply honestly anyway....
....

[Avery]

Are you guys sure kiteboarding products are not made in sweatshops that exploit workers? Check out this article from the New York Times:

The New York Times

December 29, 2003

THE WORLD'S SWEATSHOP: CAPTIVE UNIONS
China's Workers Unite, but the Bosses Run the Union

By JOSEPH KAHN


HENZHEN, China â€â€