HBO and Marc Levin, the director of this amazing documentary, ought to be congratulated in the way they have courageously analyzed the destruction of an American institution, the garment industry. Traditionally based on 7th Avenue, in Manhattan, roughly in the area from 34th to 42nd Streets, this was one of the most colorful and busiest sites in New York City, the center of the fashion world as we knew it. Gone are most of those young men one saw pushing the carts full of merchandise being delivered to the department stores, or for shipping to places all over America.
The birth of the industry started on a sad note, when a sad tragedy occurred early in the 20th century when about one hundred seamstress were trapped by fire and most of them jumped out of windows to a sure death on the pavements below the burning inferno. The documentary pays tribute to the people that conceived the idea of making clothes and for the unions that were instrumental in the enactment of laws that went to benefit the American population at large. The garment industry was the American dream for the many people it employed; so many immigrants with little skills to speak of, got their break in jobs that were a far cry than the sweatshops of the beginning of the century.
What is sad to see is that most of the clothes we use are made in countries as far as Bangladesh, China, India, Hong Kong, and many others that practically have become today's sweatshops. That allows amazing profits for entrepreneurs that send the work to all those poor places where the workers are practically slaves with no future at all.
Marc Levin presents a balanced story of the garment industry that flourished in New York, but are no longer employing American labor. This trend doesn't seem to show any end in sight, as more and more industries are sending jobs abroad. The dream of many American as well as the immigrants have become a nightmare in a society dominated by media, information and service industries. It is indeed a sad day for the country.
The birth of the industry started on a sad note, when a sad tragedy occurred early in the 20th century when about one hundred seamstress were trapped by fire and most of them jumped out of windows to a sure death on the pavements below the burning inferno. The documentary pays tribute to the people that conceived the idea of making clothes and for the unions that were instrumental in the enactment of laws that went to benefit the American population at large. The garment industry was the American dream for the many people it employed; so many immigrants with little skills to speak of, got their break in jobs that were a far cry than the sweatshops of the beginning of the century.
What is sad to see is that most of the clothes we use are made in countries as far as Bangladesh, China, India, Hong Kong, and many others that practically have become today's sweatshops. That allows amazing profits for entrepreneurs that send the work to all those poor places where the workers are practically slaves with no future at all.
Marc Levin presents a balanced story of the garment industry that flourished in New York, but are no longer employing American labor. This trend doesn't seem to show any end in sight, as more and more industries are sending jobs abroad. The dream of many American as well as the immigrants have become a nightmare in a society dominated by media, information and service industries. It is indeed a sad day for the country.