Chasing The Two-Dollar T-shirt

By Ken Silverstein

My article “Shopping for Sweat: The human cost of a two-dollar T-shirt” appears in the current issue of Harper’s. For those wanting to know more, I was interviewed about the story yesterday on KUER, the NPR affiliate in Salt Lake City.

Here’s the station’s set up for the show:

In 1999, Cambodia signed an agreement with the US to improve labor conditions in its garment industry. Since then, apparel has grown to three-quarters of the nation’s exports, with most of that headed to stores like Nike, Gap and Walmart. But while Cambodia has gained a “sweat-free” reputation, workers are still making a mere 33 cents an hour. Journalist Ken Silverstein went to Cambodia posing as an American businessman and he joins Doug to talk about the human cost of a two-dollar t-shirt.