Research Of The Geography Of My Closet

Throughout this project, I have learned a lot about the geography of my closet and where my clothes are being made. After doing thorough research, I have concluded that the headquarter and manufacturing countries are not located in the same countries. I think that the headquarter countries have a higher GDP, standard of living in general, and a higher Human Development Index. Using the data that I have come up with after researching, the countries that contain most of the headquarters, United States and Canada, end up having the highest population as well. The advantages of having the headquarters in countries with a good GDP, HDI, and high population would be getting more of the goods that were produced into the stores at a timely fashion and also having more consumers buying that certain product because of high population. The constraints for having manufacturing facilities in countries such as Bangladesh, Nicaragua, and Cambodia are that these laborers are making these items and spending so much time working on it that they will likely never see their work in a store unless they are to come to the United States, which could be rare for those who work in manufacturing facilities.

Some of the positive aspects of my consumer choices would be definitely having options when it comes to the type of clothing I want to buy. There will always be a store specialized for different clothing such as Dick’s Sporting Goods if you are looking for active wear or Marshalls if you are looking for a cute sweater and jeans. I think it’s important as well that if you are at a store and you see a pair of pants you like, but they are yellow, that they can have the same exact pair in black, blue, and green. I think it’s important that we have choices and I always use my resources as a way to be a smart consumer.

Some of the negative aspects of my consumer choices are definitely spending too much money on things that I do not need. I will buy a shirt, and it will be sitting in the bag by my dresser for weeks before I finally wear it. Sometimes, I don’t even end up wearing the shirt but I will be sure to go out and buy a new one and do the same thing with that one. It’s a continuous cycle. My participation in the commodity chain creates opportunities for the workers who made my clothing because I bought it and other people are buying it, they will continue to make money because they will keep producing this product. It’s important to state that many goods in foreign countries are made from people working just for shelter, food, and water. It breaks my heart that it comes down to that, but it’s the truth, we have learned that in a simple economics class in high school up until today while reading the chapters in our book about South Asia and South America. My participation diminishes opportunities because if I end up buying a product, but it ends up being discontinued because it wasn’t a big hit, the price will go down, it will end up being marked off on its way to the clearance rack and eventually that business will lose money and end up losing workers or even losing the company. The similarities between the people who made my clothing and myself would include both being human and striving for a good, healthy life.

Nonetheless, attention to detail is very important when it comes to manufacturing clothes and I would consider myself someone who pays attention to every little detail. Being a multi-tasker or being able to be trained in multiple aspects of a job is another similarity that I share with those who made my clothes. This is an important one because they are not only learning to sew, but they are assembling different pieces of the shirts, sweatshirts, and jeans. Some differences between those who made my clothing and myself consist of the different conditions that we work in. I work at a Mexican restaurant that I enjoy working at. The factory conditions sometimes have daily hazards that can end up being life threatening. Also, the intense physical labor that these workers go through is tremendous. I am a server, so I cannot say the same about my job. Maintaining different types of machines and equipment every single day is something that I have never been familiar with but this is a daily aspect of those who work in the manufacturing facilities.

Lastly, I could never assemble a t-shirt or anything that involves sewing on my own. There are many different ways that goods can be shipped over and imported into the United States. The goods can be shipped overseas on a boat, flown over on a plane, then moved onto a freight train or put onto a semi-truck. These imported goods go through seaports, airports, highways and railways. With each of these individual modes of transportation, there were thousands of people who helped load, drive, fly, and sail these imported goods into our country. The environmental aspect of how our goods are imported into the country is a very interesting topic to think about. Steam from freight trains emits pollutants into the air as well as burning diesel in a semi-truck.

The process of buying goods, wearing them or using them and then potentially throwing them away rather than recycling is harmful to the environment. With cargo coming over on ships from different countries, different items could fall into the ocean and end up polluting it, and killing sea animals along the way. Some economic aspects of how our goods are imported into the country consist of having a balanced trade even though the United States actually imports more than it exports.