A group of U of T students stood out amongst holiday shoppers on Saturday, standing outside of Roots Canada and demanding that the store tell them where their clothing is made.
“It is only through disclosure of factory locations that consumers can determine whether Roots clothing is made in fair and equitable conditions or whether they are made in sweatshops,” stated Paul Barrett, member of Students Against Sweatshops.
SAS, along with the MSN (Maquila Solidarity Network), and SAS Ryerson, held a demonstration at noon in front of the Eaton’s Center.
As Sonia Singh, a member of the MSN, said, “We want Roots to take a stand and be the first Canadian store to be sweatshop free. Roots has a big presence as a Canadian retail store and good company.
They need to take a lead. Consumers need to be careful in what they are buying and pressure needs to be put on retailers into being more informed and pressuring Roots into more information.”
The two groups handed out flyers and sent around a petition urging Roots to tell buyers where they produce their clothing.
Passers-by took interest, particularly in a demonstrator in a beaver costume, sewing garments, with a sign under the machine that read “Is the beaver a deceiver? Explore the Roots of your clothes.”
One Roots worker asked why SAS was there. They explained their position, at which point she replied “It’s our bread and butter.”
“Although Roots produces 80 per cent of their clothing in Canada, we would like to know where the other 20 per cent is being produced, and under what conditions. It should be a requirement of all companies to disclose information,” said Barrett.
SAS has been active on U of T for several years and is best known for their occuption of the U of T’s president’s office a few years ago, which resulted in U of T implementing a code that ensured its clothing didn’t come from sweatshops.
