The Exercise of Accounting Clothes - Personal Statement Example

Reflection I can say that the exercise of accounting my clothes in the closet to be an eye opener. There are two major things that I discovered. Until I did the exercise, I never realized that I have so much clothes in my closet and all the while I had been wanting to buy this and that thinking that I am not dressed “cool enough”. Also, when I were asked to check on their labels, I discovered that of all the 115 apparels that I have on my closet, only five of them are actually made in the USA! I do not claim to be an expert economist but my gut and commonsense tells me that I am giving someone else a business by buying clothes that are manufactured somewhere else. Now, I am beginning to understand why our unemployment rate is continuing to rise. We are not giving business to Americans! Of my 115 articles of clothing, there were 22 countries that manufactured them and majority of my purchases were from manufacturers from China. I thought that I had only few purchases that were made from China but I did not expect that majority of them were actually from China (there were 22 clothes that I bought coming from them). This misimpression is due to the fact that even if the brand is patently American, if we bother enough to check the label on where it is made, it is in fact made in China. For example, my sport apparel Nike. We know that Nike is an American company and we would like to think that it is also made in America. But no, check the labels and you cannot even read them because it is written in Chinese character. It is in fact made in China. This led me to think and do some basic research. I begun to understand the supply chain that companies employ in order to save cost and become competitive. But again, this led me to think if the main motivation really is to save on cost to sell their products more affordable then are their prices are saying otherwise? Nike is still priced at premium even if they had outsourced their manufacturing to some sweat shops in China. These companies are raking billions of dollars in profit. The motivation of having their manufacturing somewhere else must be the drive to profit more by finding ways to cut cost by looking for people who can do the job the cheapest way possible. Sadly, this takes jobs away from Americans and kills our local garment industry. This also makes the salary of those who works in our textile industry low because of competition of the dirt cheap salary of textile workers in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Worst, this outsourcing has brought new evils in the country that they were outsourced such as China and countries in South East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines). News about child labor, unreasonably long working hours and dangerous working conditions are prevalent that it defeats the benefit of giving people jobs because they are being exploited. Also, the quality of the textiles deteriorates because the manufacturing process of the countries they are from cut corners. Also, I noticed during the process of my accounting my clothes that some have labels of being recyclable (the ones made in USA) while many do not. I understood it because of our stringent laws about the environment and our general concern about the environment. I checked the labels on the other clothes that I have that were made overseas and there were no labels that the clothes can be recycled. This led me to think that these manufacturers must have no concern for the environment after making the sales or even during the manufacture of these clothes. Come to think of it, if they cared less about their workers, employing them in hazardous working conditions and giving them oppressive salaries whose ill effects can be immediately observed, how much more about the environment whose effect can only be felt many years ahead? Also, the quality of the fabric can readily be distinguished because those that came from the USA are noticeably of better quality. We just came from a financial crisis and to some extent, we are still reeling from it. I may not have a job yet being still dependent to my parents but I felt how bad the crisis was with friends losing their parents’ job, some losing their homes and others being economically dislocated. Until now, there are still people I know who are having difficulty finding jobs because jobs are getting scarcer now. Yet businesses that create jobs are being exported which explains why we are having hard time creating jobs and recovering from the crisis. Also, it seems unfair that a salary here in the US with a very high standard of living be compared to China, Cambodia and Bangladesh where standard of living is low. There is just no comparison. Yet globalization forced them to be compared because they are both eyeing for the same job and usually, the job goes to China and the jobs that remains here are paid less and less. I just realized that the issue is bigger than what it seems. My closet in fact represents the changing economic order which is not favorable to us and not just a mere storage of my clothes. So what can I do about the issue? Or the appropriate question may be “is there something I can do?” At the onset, I may be helpless because I am not a policy maker or a big time businessman but just a student. But really thinking about it, there is something in fact that I can do if we will act collectively. I do errands for my parents such as doing the grocery and I have the power of the purse on which item to purchase. I realize that every time I pick an item to buy is like choosing which business I would like to thrive and survive. By buying American, not only the brand, but also the factories being situated here, I help create jobs by making their business flourish through my purchase. I may be only one but if majority of the consumers will have the same consciousness when they buy, it will definitely make a difference. Read More