Fugitive Denim

Today I finished Fugitive Denim: A moving story of people and pants in the borderless world of global trade by Rachel Louise Snyder. I had to finish it today because it was due at the library, so I went to the Y and rode an exercise bike for half an hour to finish the book. I don’t know if I’d be so faithful about exercising if I didn’t want some uninterrupted time to myself to read. The kids love the child care at the Y, so they’re happy with the arrangement too.

In this book, Ms. Snyder traces how jeans are made, from cotton fields in Azerbaijan to fabric designers in Italy to jeans designers in New York and finally to clothing factories in Cambodia and China. There is a lot of emphasis on the actual cost of making jeans. She focuses on the people who are trying to be socially responsible and create healthy environments for the various workers and the earth. She also addresses the concerns of people who are losing their jobs in first world nations because third world countries are cheaper to manufacture in. Ms. Snyder focuses on a few individuals as representative of the whole, even exploring their family lives and towns.

This book was fairly easy to read. It was a hopeful book rather than depressing, but there was encouragement for the reader to be conscious of buying choices. Ms. Snyder’s style was not my style of thinking, so I sometimes had trouble following. She’s not Michael Pollan. However, if you’re interested in some of the issues that are driven by the clothes you are wearing, I would highly recommend this book.