Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin: New book exposes underside of garment Industry on Saipan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 3, 2010 -- Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands--Eight thousand miles away from the fashion capital of New York, on a little island in the Pacific, a young woman turns her attention on the nine years she spent as a garment factory worker, toiling 14-hour days, sleeping on bamboo mattresses, enduring verbal abuse from monitors, living in cramped living quarters, suffering back pain, and more. It's an experience documented in her book, Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin:Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan.

Yes, garment factories. It's the not-much-talked-about gloomy side of the fashion industry that gets the occasional headline, the brief spike in public interest and then, all too predictably, a return to the status quo.

That status quo is based on a simple formula: produce garments at the lowest possible cost, in order to make the greatest possible profit. That simple formula is part of a bigger picture of jobs, opportunity and human rights. Workers in countries with higher minimum wages, like the United States, lament the loss of garment manufacturing jobs to countries with lower wages like Vietnam and Mexico. Meanwhile, human rights activists lobby and fight on behalf of presumably exploited workers in those countries, securing better work conditions and higher wages.

"Saipan's, and Wang's is a fascinating story, and much remains hidden about what things were really like on Saipan, and what they continue to be like in other countries. Chun’s book is the only first-hand account of the life of a Chinese garment factory worker on Saipan. Told directly in her own words--Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin is simple, yet full of profound insights, and comes from an entirely untainted viewpoint. It is a directly transcribed account, told without the bias of reporters, journalists, case workers, human rights activists or western worldviews.

"It's not a black and white issue. You can't simply call it good or bad, because you can't really appreciate all the contradictions without hearing the workers' side of the story. Opinions vary among those on the outside, but most workers on the inside felt it was a benefit to earn the money they did."

Such contradictions have attracted the attention of media and reporters, most recently Public Radio International's The World program.

Goodridge adds, "News reports will come and go, but the situations these young women are going through will continue, at least for the foreseeable future. You can't really appreciate the glamour on fashion runways, or make informed purchases in the clothing stores, without a fuller understanding of the reality behind the scenes."

Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin: Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan, is available at www.saipanfactorygirl.com, or on Amazon.com

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