Four Million Threads
"Imagine leaving your lifelong home for a one-room flat in a city with a husband you barely know. You work beside 5,000 others in a factory, sewing 180 zippers on 180 sweaters each day. You’re the first woman in your family ever to earn a paycheck, but it’s barely enough to survive." Welcome to Monira’s world, and that of countless other women in Bangladesh’s booming garment trade—a complex world full of difficult choices and competing values. It’s a brand new world made possible by Western consumers, each time we purchase clothes from a major retailer. And it’s the world you’re …
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"Imagine leaving your lifelong home for a one-room flat in a city with a husband you barely know. You work beside 5,000 others in a factory, sewing 180 zippers on 180 sweaters each day. You’re the first woman in your family ever to earn a paycheck, but it’s barely enough to survive." Welcome to Monira’s world, and that of countless other women in Bangladesh’s booming garment trade—a complex world full of difficult choices and competing values. It’s a brand new world made possible by Western consumers, each time we purchase clothes from a major retailer. And it’s the world you’re invited to explore in Four Million Threads.
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directorJackie Hurwitz
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producerJackie Hurwitz
Recommended allotted time: 30–45 minutes
Materials needed: World map, pen, Post-it notes
Ask students to pair up and check the labels on their clothes, write the brand name and country of manufacture on Post-it notes and pin them to the world map. If the class is large, ask students to check their labels and shout out the countries/brands and post them on the map.
Discussion questions for further discussion:
- In what parts of the world are most of the brands located?
- In comparison, what parts of the world are most of their clothes made in?
- What is the significance of these countries for brand identification versus clothing manufacturing?
- What do the manufacturing countries have in common? Think specifically about histories, economies and their governments.
- The map gives us a picture of a global production system. What rules and conditions have to be in place for a global production system like this to work?
