This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 11, April 23-29, 2006
Only in the Philippines
GUESS? clothing sold locally is actually sewed here in the Philippines. And
while it is put up for sale at exorbitant prices, the workers just earn a
pittance for their hard work. BY
TRINA FEDERIS GUESS? clothing sold
locally is actually sewed here in the Philippines. And while it is put up for
sale at exorbitant prices, the workers just earn a pittance for their hard work.
Owning clothes made by a
foreign company such as GUESS? never fails to elicit an approving response. This
may be due to the brand being widely known for its style, advertisements, or
even steep prices. Mrs. Lina Alcantara, a
subcontractor for Diversion Industries Inc., a licensee of GUESS? Inc., may be
considered a lucky woman, as she supervises a company that puts together, sews,
and embroiders cut cloth from and for GUESS? Inc. Mostly, her company
produces children’s wear, such as shorts, blouses, shirts, and dresses. She also
puts together dresses for young ladies. From supervisor to
subcontractor When asked how she started
with the company, she says that, while working as a supervisor for a garments
company, an Australian supervisor was impressed by what she can do, and
suggested to the company that she be made its subcontractor. This was in 1980. Starting as supervisor with
five machines, all borrowed, she began producing for the export market. Barbizon,
Escala, and Marfis were some of the brands her company used to produce for
export. She discontinued exporting
because the exporting business is difficult, she said. This is mainly because
the quantity of finished products demanded of her was too much. “We have to
finish 5,000 to 10,000 pieces of clothes within the deadline,” she says. She prefers catering to the
local market now, assembling GUESS? clothes to be sold in the country, which she
started doing in 2000. From her beginnings of using five borrowed machines, she
now owns 20 machines and employs 17 sewers. Quality-control The process starts with
picking up the cut cloth, as well as other materials needed, such as labels,
zippers, and buttons from the factory of Diversion Industries Inc. located in
Laguna. Then they assemble the cut
cloth and sew the embellishments such as embroidery and pockets. They sew in the
triangular, tab, main, and care labels, before sewing the pieces of cut cloth
together. Then they add the zippers and buttons (if needed). The task of
assembling the clothes is divided among the workers. For example, in assembling
a blouse different workers are assigned to sew the collar, sleeves, labels, and
so on. For simple clothes, they
are asked to finish 500 pieces a week. The deadline and quantity vary depending
on the style and bulk of orders. The company pays her for
each piece that gets accepted. A little girl’s blouse, for example, will fetch
P40 ($0.77 at $1:P51.69), depending on the style. Before the clothes are
delivered back to the factory, a quality-control inspector comes over to her
house and checks each finished product to make sure that it meets the company’s
standards. If something as small as a stitch is out of line, that piece of
clothing is rejected, she says. When this happens, that
piece is repaired (if possible). If it is no longer reparable, the inspector
returns it to the factory. The market value of that piece will then be charged
to the subcontractor. Also, she shares, they have
to be extra careful with the material they work with. Damage done to the raw
materials, such as a small tear, is equivalent to another penalty charged to the
subcontractor. 100 percent rejected Sometimes, if one is
unlucky, 100 percent of the clothes are rejected by the quality-control
inspector, she says. She has no choice then, but to repair the whole batch or
have it repaired in the factory. If it is repaired in the factory, an additional
fee is charged to the subcontractor. Once the clothes are
approved by the quality-control inspector, she delivers them to the factory.
Another inspection takes place, with the same fate befalling the rejected
clothes. Those that pass the
standards will be delivered to various department stores in the country. There,
the clothes will be tagged with prices as high as 10 times the amount paid to
her, says Alcantara. Then she waits for 15 days
after her delivery to get the payment, 10 percent of which is withheld as some
sort of deposit. She explains further that she will get the 10 percent after the
clothes are delivered to the department stores. This is to ensure that the
clothes are all acceptable. She pays her employees
depending on how many pieces they are able to finish. A slow worker earns less
than a faster one. Alcantara gets 60 percent of the amount paid for each piece,
from this she allots 20 percent for electricity and other overhead expenses. The
remaining 40 percent is divided among the sewers. For example, if she is paid
P40 ($0.77) for a blouse, she gets P24 ($0.46) and the remaining P16 ($0.31) is
divided among the workers. Assuming they are able to finish 500 clothes a week
or around 71 clothes a day and they are paid P40 per piece, the subcontractor
gets P1704 ($32.96) a day. The workers divide the remaining P1136 ($21.97) or an
average of P66.82 ($1.29) per person. Retirement Come 2010, she’d rather
retire than continue with the business. There have been a lot of problems, such
as her P10, 000 ($193.46) electric bill, and the nitty-gritty involved in the
work. And then, there’s the problem with “hard-headed employees.” She claims that she’s not
much affected by the economic crisis. Though she observes that sometimes, the
number of garments she is supposed to finish are reduced by 1,000. This usually
happens during off seasons such as at the beginning of the year, when people are
still reeling from the expenses of the past year. For such a pittance, it’s
surprising that people are willing to do that much work. And yet, for that much
work, it’s a pity foreign companies don’t give the workers what is due to them.
Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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