No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers.

No Sweat: Fashion, Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers edited by Andrew Ross Verso. 313 pages. $19.00.

This refreshing collection--part history, part critique, and part activist handbook--is the result of a 1996 conference on the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. No Sweat: Fashion, Free Trade, and the Rights of Garment Workers includes commentary from human-rights activists, academics, garment workers, trade unionists, journalists, and even a CEO or two. Since "sweatshops today come in all shapes and sizes," Ross argues that these various commentaries are necessary "to apply pressure at all points in the chain: from world-trade policy to international human rights, workplace regulation, labor organizing, consumer politics, and fashion."

Several authors in this book explicitly link the fashion industry with the exploitative conditions prevalent in garment-production facilities.

As McKenzie Wark argues, "Increasingly, fashion has become a culture industry which cannot entirely subordinate its cultural product to the patterns of industrialization and the international division of labor. Indeed, fashion and clothing present a real problem for matching the rhythms of consumption with those of the production cycle." The growth of pop culture, he says, means that urban streets have replaced Paris and Milan as fashion's center, creating a relentless demand for new styles.

Michael Piore links the return of the sweatshop to the decline of government regulations and union strength.

Elinor Spielberg takes on child labor in Bangladesh. "It is a myth that children are employed because of their nimble fingers," she says. "Children are hired because they are the most exploitable work force in the world."

Charles Kernaghan, the leader of the National Labor Committee, includes a long letter to Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, documenting the painfully low wages and poor working conditions of the Haitian people who sew the Pocahontas shirts that were so popular a couple of years ago. The accompanying photographs of dismal shantytowns are juxtaposed with the lively Disney logo. This is fitting testimony, showing the absurdity of a system that enables the corporation most associated with childhood fun in this country to ignore the plight of their workers' children in other countries.

Kernaghan's style rubs some people--especially in industry the--wrong way. Bud Konheim, CEO of Nicole Miller, criticizes him in the book and argues that the key to combating poor labor conditions is industry self-regulation, informed by what he calls "ethical capitalism."

One of the nice things about this book is the variety of strategies it offers. From calls for international regulations with teeth, to lawsuits against industry, to consumer campaigns and boycotts, No Sweat does not lack for options.

Overall, I found the book both informative and provocative, but some of the essays in the section on the fashion industry did leave me wanting more.

For example, Paul Smith uses a detailed analysis of the practices of Tommy Hiltiger to argue that the fashion industry is not simply responding to increased demand for products but is also manufacturing that demand. But he includes no sources to support his argument, which considerably weakens his case.

I also didn't care for the cover. The use of glossy photos of sexy fashion models alongside shots of factory workers and anti-sweatshop posters seemed to undercut the seriousness of the issue.

However, don't let that prevent you from taking a look at No Sweat. Ross's inclusion of a variety of perspectives not usually contained within two covers makes it likely that almost anyone will find something of interest in this book.

Ruth Goldman is a freelance writer in Madison, Wisconsin.