Lest we forget, labor is a part of global supply chains, and along with labor comes maintaining workers’ rights and seeking compliance with regulatory entities. In fact, it is now becoming
obvious that maintaining those rights and following regulations adds value to the labor aspect of supply chains. One way to keep this effort transparent is to affix labels to garments made
outside of sweatshops, known as ＂social labeling.＂ These fifteen articles introduce and give a history of the labor portion of supply chains, then put the use of social labels into comparative
perspective in various parts of the world, including ethical branding in Sri Lanka, improving labor standards in Cambodia, the impact of the Fibre Citoyennein the Moroccan garment industry, and
the use of the ＂No Sweat Shop＂ label in Australia; consumer and business perspectives on ＂social labels,＂ including fifteen years of research on ethical consumer behavior, market contexts and
ethical consumption, social labeling on the web, and a case study concerning public reporting of ethical problems; and contemporary debates and controversies on providing direct economic
benefits to workers, failures of ethical labeling, a case for sweatshop-free procurement in the US, the designated supplier program, and the movement toward a genuine, multi-stakeholder,
＂social label＂ for apparel. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
