Glamour Girl Wearing Various Clothes

Political issues
• Working conditions
Though mechanization transformed most aspects of human industry by the mid 20th century, garment workers have continued to labor under challenging conditions that demand repetitive manual labor. Mass-produced clothing is often made in what are considered by some to be sweatshops, typified by long work hours, lack of benefits, and lack of worker representation. While most examples of such conditions are found in developing countries, clothes made in industrialized nations may also be manufactured similarly, often staffed by undocumented immigrants.
Coalitions of NGOs, designers (Katharine Hamnett, American Apparel, Veja, Quiksilver, eVocal, Edun,...) and campaign groups like the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) have sought to improve these conditions as much as possible by sponsoring awareness-raising events, which draw the attention of both the media and the general public to the workers.