Vans (VF Corp) refuses to sign accord to improve safety in Bangladesh factories

[ChronicBluntSlider]

In case you haven't heard like a thousand people died a few weeks ago so Half Cabs and other Western clothing can be as cheap as possible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22476774

And Vans is cool with it(6 of 15 on the slideshow).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/bangladesh-factory-safety-accord_n_3286430.html#slide=2468152

[fulfillthedream]

In case you haven't heard like a thousand people died a few weeks ago so Half Cabs and other Western clothing can be as cheap as possible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22476774

And Vans is cool with it(6 of 15 on the slideshow).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/bangladesh-factory-safety-accord_n_3286430.html#slide=2468152

funny how your making Vans  and the mother company seem like the ONLY bad guy- there so many big corporations that use gnarly shitty labor laws and tactics. from the mac book i am using to the clothes i am wearing and im sure majority of the shit you own as well as most americans come from companies and corporations who'll cut any corners to produce a pair of shoes or shirts for a few cents so they can sell them for a lot more..

i don't agree with this at all but shit its nothing new. im pretty sure any skate shoe company (lakai, dvs, emerica) that are china made have some shady labor laws and practices that allow us to get em for how much we pay for them.

[Tracer]

Article doesn't mention 1 thing about Vans. Infact the thread title and article are completely different.

If Vans people knew they were publicly killing people in Bangladesh they wouldn't stand for it.

[Alan]

funny how your making Vans  and the mother company seem like the ONLY bad guy- there so many big corporations that use gnarly shitty labor laws and tactics. from the mac book i am using to the clothes i am wearing and im sure majority of the shit you own as well as most americans come from companies and corporations who'll cut any corners to produce a pair of shoes or shirts for a few cents so they can sell them for a lot more..

No he isn't. How you got that from what he wrote is beyond me. He's just linking a story that is relevant to skating.

[fulfillthedream]

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funny how your making Vans  and the mother company seem like the ONLY bad guy- there so many big corporations that use gnarly shitty labor laws and tactics. from the mac book i am using to the clothes i am wearing and im sure majority of the shit you own as well as most americans come from companies and corporations who'll cut any corners to produce a pair of shoes or shirts for a few cents so they can sell them for a lot more..

[close]

No he isn't. How you got that from what he wrote is beyond me. He's just linking a story that is relevant to skating.

i understand that. but this is nothing new. any market in the US basically uses these same practices so why make a big fuss about it?

[Alan]

He's not making a big fuss. But this belongs here because it is relevant to skateboarding. And talking about shady corporate practices might encourage people to start looking into stuff like that and thinking about how they're spending money, i.e. who they're giving it to. No reason to be defeatist just because these practices are so widespread. Doing just a bit to change them is still better then giving up altogether!

[El Chancho]

Considering how lightly some people react to the deaths of these workers, let?s remember that 1.147 people died in Bangladesh  - that is a third of the people that died on  9/11- The magnitude of the tragedy is inmense.

Those workers in Bangladesh were force back into the factory under death threats from the owners, they knew the building could collapse at any moment, and still had to walk back into the production lines, what beautiful life when you are being forced back into a certain death in the name of a 6,00$ price tag on a pair of Jeans in Walmart.

You have to be a big fucking hypocrite to say that there is nothing you can do about it, those deaths could have been easily avoided if companies like VF Corp, Walmart and others decided to sign a basic agreement that guarantee their workers better working conditions, factory supervision and safety plans implemented,  instead they refused simply because is cheaper no to and cheap production costs keep shareholders happy, Capitalism at it is finest.  

This tragedy should have been the breaking point to help them change their mind, but apparently, a thousand lives is a cost they can digest if the profits are big enough, just a reminder that the capital has simpathy for no one.
The business practices of the VF Corp are the business practices of Vans, no matter how much money they spend on marketing, is the same monster with the same criminal strategy.

My personal stand as part of this society, an also  part of the problem as a consumer is to boycott these companies and expose their criminal behavior as much as i can, eventually they will have to step back, they might not care much about lives but if there is something they can not tolerate is a bad rep.

To whoever made this threat, thanks for addressing it, and excuse my broken english.

Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society Karl Marx

[smokecrack]

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funny how your making Vans  and the mother company seem like the ONLY bad guy- there so many big corporations that use gnarly shitty labor laws and tactics. from the mac book i am using to the clothes i am wearing and im sure majority of the shit you own as well as most americans come from companies and corporations who'll cut any corners to produce a pair of shoes or shirts for a few cents so they can sell them for a lot more..

[close]

No he isn't. How you got that from what he wrote is beyond me. He's just linking a story that is relevant to skating.

[close]

i understand that. but this is nothing new. any market in the US basically uses these same practices so why make a big fuss about it?

over a thousand people died and dude says "why make a big fuss about it, brah?"

god damn, you gotta love sLaP.

[yukaton]

This is just a example of our wonderful capitalism hard at work.  While it is terrible that so much life was lost we need these people who work for nothing to live the way we do. You think skateboarding would be nearly as popular if shoes still only lasted a month or so but cost an exponential amount more? The only way I could really see this changing is if clothes and other cheap accessorizes we use are made by machine. But that may not be any better as it could possibly put the country in a worst situation

[I Can't Think]

Considering how lightly some people react to the deaths of these workers, let?s remember that 1.147 people died in Bangladesh  - that is a third of the people that died on  9/11- The magnitude of the tragedy is inmense.

Those workers in Bangladesh were force back into the factory under death threats from the owners, they knew the building could collapse at any moment, and still had to walk back into the production lines, what beautiful life when you are being forced back into a certain death in the name of a 6,00$ price tag on a pair of Jeans in Walmart.

You have to be a big fucking hypocrite to say that there is nothing you can do about it, those deaths could have been easily avoided if companies like VF Corp, Walmart and others decided to sign a basic agreement that guarantee their workers better working conditions, factory supervision and safety plans implemented,  instead they refused simply because is cheaper no to and cheap production costs keep shareholders happy, Capitalism at it is finest.  

This tragedy should have been the breaking point to help them change their mind, but apparently, a thousand lives is a cost they can digest if the profits are big enough, just a reminder that the capital has simpathy for no one.
The business practices of the VF Corp are the business practices of Vans, no matter how much money they spend on marketing, is the same monster with the same criminal strategy.

My personal stand as part of this society, an also  part of the problem as a consumer is to boycott these companies and expose their criminal behavior as much as i can, eventually they will have to step back, they might not care much about lives but if there is something they can not tolerate is a bad rep.

To whoever made this threat, thanks for addressing it, and excuse my broken english.

Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society Karl Marx

Gotta agree with the overall statement here. Unfortunately any mass produced skate shoe is made in a sweatshop, so as a consumer there is little choice. I'm not entirely sure, but iPath may be one of the few that doesn't use sweatshop labour, though I could be wrong. Also you can find images of the factory that produces sole tech shoes (Emerica, eS at the time and Etnies)

http://www.sneakerfactory.net/Final_Assembly.html

Though it is clearly a sweatshop, however the conditions do not seem awful, at least in comparison to what you read with Nike Adidas or Vans, but of course I have no idea if this could be staged some way. I personally don't like it when people just ignore the fact that other people are getting harmed in the process of making a product for something we all love to do. I'd rather skate the shoe that is at least made in a sweatshop which doesn't collapse rather than the latter, at least it's a some sort of improvement. If anyone does know about the production of other shoes like dvs, lakai, circa and how they're made that'd be cool.

[natenola forever]

the thing i always wonder about is these countries that we get our sweatshop labor from would they be any better off without it?  i hate the idea that all of our goods come from people working in shitty conditions for very little compensation, but would they just be living a more fucked life without these oppertunities? Most of these third world countries just have nothing to offer if i'm correct, they aren't good for growing crops, they have no valuable natural resources. I'm just always thinking would these people be worse off with out the american and european dollars that are going into their country to perform these task. Idk i've never really studied these things, maybe we are fucking them over, i would love to know where to look into this stuff. I don't agree with the fact that these company owners are putting these people in danger just to increase their profits, but i always think if they had a better option out of being impoverished i assume they would take it. The shitty part of these American corporations is they easily set aside money for grants and trust to make sure that people are working under safe conditions. But i also feel that cheap foreign labor probably benefits these countries more than it doesn't, i would love for someone with an anthropolgy background show me where i'm wrong, but i feel like cheap for labor may kinda be a necissary evil.

[via]

The measures being taken at the moment aren't trying to close the factories, they're trying to raise the salaries of the workers to a livable wage, and to put higher health codes in place to shift away from the slave labor it is today. Wal Mart and gap employ 4.5 million people in Bangladesh in over 5000 factories. Of a 45 dollar t shirt, 4 cents actually goes to the workers, on average. The shirts cost pennies to make. No one is trying to take "opportunities" away from people, the bills being passed just trying to actually treat them like people, and have the CEOs that are lining their pockets with slave labor to be held accountable.

[El Chancho]

In the meantime:

Shares of V.F. Corporation ( VFC - Analyst Report ) reached a new 52-week high of $184.85 on Tuesday May 14, beating its previous high of $180.01 on May 7. The stock?s momentum is due to the company?s consistent positive earnings surprise trend, strong organic revenue growth, impressive management guidance and strategies to expand its global reach.

[steve]

the thing i always wonder about is these countries that we get our sweatshop labor from would they be any better off without it?  i hate the idea that all of our goods come from people working in shitty conditions for very little compensation, but would they just be living a more fucked life without these oppertunities? Most of these third world countries just have nothing to offer if i'm correct, they aren't good for growing crops, they have no valuable natural resources. I'm just always thinking would these people be worse off with out the american and european dollars that are going into their country to perform these task. Idk i've never really studied these things, maybe we are fucking them over, i would love to know where to look into this stuff. I don't agree with the fact that these company owners are putting these people in danger just to increase their profits, but i always think if they had a better option out of being impoverished i assume they would take it. The shitty part of these American corporations is they easily set aside money for grants and trust to make sure that people are working under safe conditions. But i also feel that cheap foreign labor probably benefits these countries more than it doesn't, i would love for someone with an anthropolgy background show me where i'm wrong, but i feel like cheap for labor may kinda be a necissary evil.

when I was in Cambodia in 2011 there was some gnarly shit going on with sweatshop riots. Workers were breaking out of factories that they had been locked in. It was intense to see both sweatshop riots and housing/land grab riot/martial law shit like it was nothing.

Now, aside from seeing that, I saw countless children begging on the streets. Innumerable prostitutes, ranging from ages 7-20s, both female and male. I saw grown folks begging as well. People without limbs pushing around like that dude on the train from kids singing I have no legs" minus the skateboard. I saw people living in the city in shacks built into alleyways, where, during rainy season, sewage water flooded knee high. Saw naked kids running around railroad track slums, aged not old enough to talk, smashing boxes of matches with rocks and burning plastic bags for fun. Grown men digging through dumps in the sewage pits, looking to recycle trash. Villages where people couldn't afford water filters or pumps for irrigation. People hustling gas in glass coke bottles on the side of the road. People working in markets hustling sweatshop goods. Pickpockets. hotel workers. moto drivers. students.

Now, most of the people, from what I gathered, working in the sweatshops, are trucked in from the countryside, or work in shops in outer provinces.

Now, working in these sweatshops provides a certain amount of financial gain, but at what cost to the quality of life? What I'm saying is that I didn't see the country as well off due to people having jobs in manufacturing. A main reason for this is due to lack of government regulation. Unregulated capitalism is a killer, meaning humans are expendable capital. Capital must be spent to make more, right? So, I'm saying that, sure, jobs are great, but not at the expense of life. Making a shit wage brings no measurable improvement to life.

Now to the cunt who is saying "how is this relevant" or whatever, fuck off.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

fullfill the dream, make the world a better place, shoot yourself in the fucking head.

The bangladesh factory collapse is/was a catalyst that provided an opportunity to reform the sweatshop system that exists, and many major companies have succumbed to the idea that even sweatshops need to have a minimum level of safety standards if they are to attach their names to them. Some, however, have not, and even in the face of a major tragedy, refuse to acknowledge even a bare minimum of humanity in their workers.

This safety accord is not something which ends sweatshop labor, which would take far more, its a basic agreement to improve basic safety in them. It doesn't change the wages of workers, and would barely have an impact on the price of contracts in the factories that would put these standards into place. Still, despite all of that, VF corp refuses. Its such a FUCK YOU to humanity as a whole....

.....and you defend it. Find a gun, put it in your mouth, and pull the trigger, humanity cares as much about you as you care about it.

I've never been a big fan of vans, but now I'll do what I can to avoid anything of theirs, as well as the rest of the companies on this list.


Interesting fact: The first American company to sign this accord was fucking Abercrombie and Fitch. I'd never thought I'd see the day where Abercrombie was cooler than vans, but here it is. Its not because A&F is cool, but because vans is that fucking lame.

[annoyedwithskating]

dont worry, im sure the righteous christians cab and hosoi will let their sponsor know that they are going to quit if they dont change their practices.

[Canuck]

Cover your feet in shoe goo

[layzieyez]

For anyone with a smart phone, look into an app called buycott. I'm not sure the database covers all of the products, but it seems like it would help when making conscious purchase decisions.

[Radgasm]

Considering how lightly some people react to the deaths of these workers, let?s remember that 1.147 people died in Bangladesh  - that is a third of the people that died on  9/11- The magnitude of the tragedy is inmense.

Those workers in Bangladesh were force back into the factory under death threats from the owners, they knew the building could collapse at any moment, and still had to walk back into the production lines, what beautiful life when you are being forced back into a certain death in the name of a 6,00$ price tag on a pair of Jeans in Walmart.

You have to be a big fucking hypocrite to say that there is nothing you can do about it, those deaths could have been easily avoided if companies like VF Corp, Walmart and others decided to sign a basic agreement that guarantee their workers better working conditions, factory supervision and safety plans implemented,  instead they refused simply because is cheaper no to and cheap production costs keep shareholders happy, Capitalism at it is finest.  

This tragedy should have been the breaking point to help them change their mind, but apparently, a thousand lives is a cost they can digest if the profits are big enough, just a reminder that the capital has simpathy for no one.
The business practices of the VF Corp are the business practices of Vans, no matter how much money they spend on marketing, is the same monster with the same criminal strategy.

My personal stand as part of this society, an also  part of the problem as a consumer is to boycott these companies and expose their criminal behavior as much as i can, eventually they will have to step back, they might not care much about lives but if there is something they can not tolerate is a bad rep.

To whoever made this threat, thanks for addressing it, and excuse my broken english.

Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society Karl Marx

word.

[layzieyez]

Here is a link to the app I mentioned:
http://www.buycott.com/

And this is from the site:

Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?

A buycott is the opposite of a boycott. Buycott helps you to organize your everyday consumer spending so that it reflects your principles.

Example: During the SOPA/PIPA debate in 2012, a number of companies pushed to pass legislation that reduced online freedom of expression, while other companies fought hard to oppose the legislation. With Buycott, a campaign can be quickly created around a cause, with the goal of targeting companies with a boycott unless they change their position, or buycotting a company to show your support.

When you use Buycott to scan a product, it will look up the product, determine what brand it belongs to, and figure out what company owns that brand (and who owns that company, ad infinitum). It will then cross-check the product owners against the companies and brands included in the campaigns you've joined, in order to tell you if the scanned product conflicts with one of your campaign commitments.

[chockfullofthat]

VF Corp lower than Walmart?  Sometimes, but I can't wait to download the Vans video illegally.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/19/us-bangladesh-building-safety-idUSBRE94I0CE20130519
http://www.countercurrents.org/ratnayake210513.htm

Don't worry guys, the evil American companies are doing there part too!!  This time without all that legal mumbo jumbo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/30/walmart-gap-bangladesh_n_3362153.html