History: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

An interesting article in Sunday's New York Times (4 June 2006) recounts one New Yorker's personal history of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

It reminded me, however, of one of the largest ethical concerns that we face as as fashion students and potentially fashion professionals: labor.

On March 25, 1911, 146 people died in the fire at the factory, many of them teenaged girls. As you probably remember, most of them perished trapped behind locked exit doors or when the shoddy fire escape collapsed. Many of them lept to their death on the cobblestones, nine stories below them. Of course, many laws were then enacted in an attempt to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. However, these laws only apply to legal business in the United States, and therefore, only protect a small minority of textile workers.

So the next time that you complain about the price of clothing... Or when calculating dollars and cents on a cost sheet for work or school... Remember that there are lives attached to these financial figures - whole and complete lives - with dreams and hopes for the future.

[Jo Ann steps off the soapbox.]