skip to: page content | links on this page | site navigation | footer (site information)

It Came From Taiwan

Tracing a wool hat back to its creation

Map of Country

Map obtained from CIA - The World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tw.html

 

Additional Image 1  

The product in question

Image obtained from Legacy Athletic

http://www.legacycaps.com/college/Fleece.htm

Introduction

    On the island of Taiwan a knit hat is produced in the factory of Legacy Athletic. That hat made a journey across the Pacific Ocean and into the bookstore at Miami University . That hat did not appear from dust, however. It was manufactured by the hands of a worker, a person residing on this tiny island. The following discussion seeks to examine the life of this worker within the context of Taiwanese culture. By examining characteristics of Taiwanese society, one can surmise the location, gender, age, religion, family life, and wage of the worker who made this wool hat.

Top

Context of Taiwan

Before we make any assertions relating to the life of our Taiwanese worker, we must first establish a context and discuss some aspects of the Legacy Athletic company. In this section geographical, historical, and economic contexts of Taiwan will be examined.

Geography. Taiwan is a mostly mountainous island of approximately 36,000 square kilometers which lies about 130 kilometers off of China 's east coast (Government Information Office 2004). Eastern Taiwan is known for its mountain ranges such as the Jade Mountains and the East Cost Mountains (GIO 2004). In contrast, western Taiwan is characterized by flat plains—much of which has been urbanized in recent years (GIO 2004). Taiwan experiences mostly subtropical climate including a significant monsoon season with heavy rain and high humidity (GIO 2004).

History. Taiwan 's first inhabitants, before the influx of settlers from China in the 17 th century, were probably transplants from Malaysia and Polynesia (Thompson 1984: 554). These first settlers of the island used horticulture as their main form of sustenance. In 1624, Dutch traders began to inhabit southwest Taiwan (Thompson 1984: 554). The Dutch encouraged immigration of Chinese from the mainland so that their labor could be exploited in the production of sugar cane. This action proved to be a mistake as Chinese rebel forces expelled the Dutch in 1662 and brought the island under the control of the Qing Dynasty for the next 200 years (Thompson 1984: 554).

  In 1895, China ceded Taiwan to Japan as a condition of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (Taiwan.com.au 2003). Although the Japanese modernized the infrastructure of Taiwan during their fifty year occupation of the island by building roads and installing systems of irrigation, treatment of Taiwanese was sub par as the Japanese forced the inhabitants of the island to assimilate into Japanese culture (Taiwan.com.au 2003). With the onset of World War II , Japan began to abandon Taiwan . Thus, the government of the Republic of China was able to flee the mainland and set up its rule on the island after the emerging rule of the communist People's Republic of China in 1949 (Roberts 1999: 251). The Republic of China exercised authoritarian rule on the island under the Kuomintang Party until it was forced, through public groundswell, to institute democratic reforms in 1986 (Taiwan.com.au 2003). In 2000, the first non-Kuomintang premier, Chen Shui-bian, was elected to a four year term as his stance supporting Taiwanese independence was appealing to the public. He was reelected in 2004 although his staunch support of Taiwanese independence has since moderated (BBC News Online 2004).

Economics. In its annual Index of Economic Freedom, the Heritage Foundation rates Taiwan as having the 27 th freest economy out of 161 countries in the world in 2005 (Heritage Foundation 2005). The Foundation notes that Taiwan 's Gross Domestic Product has been rising at a steady rate since the rapid industrialization and urbanization from the opening of the economy to foreign direct investment that occurred in the 1960's. Taiwan currently receives a rating of “2” out of 5 (low number = less government control) in the category of “Capital Flows and Foreign Investment” signifying low barriers to foreign direct investment (Heritage Foundation 2005). The Foundation states that “ Taiwan continues to relax investment restrictions but maintains some formal barriers to foreign investment (Heritage Foundation 2005).”

 

Top

Brand: Legacy Athletic

The topic of capital flows and foreign direct investment in Taiwan leads to the second subject in this research before a portrait of our worker can be ascertained: a discussion of the company that made our wool hat, Legacy Athletic. Since the company failed to answer my e-mails sent in an attempt to establish contact, information about Legacy Athletic must be ascertained through the company's website.

  Legacy Athletic asserts its quality in the headwear market as it is committed to only manufacturing caps—it does not focus on any other apparel (Legacy Athletic Online 2005). The company was founded in 1992 and its offices are currently located in the city of Hanover in southern Pennsylvania . Legacy Athletic mostly markets caps with collegiate logos and designs but also produces in the market for caps with corporate logos (Legacy Athletic Online 2005).

  Legacy Athletic has dedicated a section of its website to explaining its “Code of Conduct” with regard to labor practices. The company, as a member of the Fair Labor Association, claims to abide by the code set forth by this organization (Legacy Athletic Online 2005). This code of conduct outlined by the FLA includes provisions against forced labor and harassment and a stipulation that workers' wages must be at least equal to the minimum wage required by local law (Fair Labor Association Code of Conduct Online 2005). Legacy Athletic goes further in explaining its adherence to FLA guidelines by announcing its rejection of possible sites for its production factory such as Bangladesh or Indonesia who, according to Legacy Athletic are known for sweatshop labor, in favor of Taiwan who has laws regulating minimum wage and child labor (Legacy Athletic Online 2005). Of course Legacy Athletic's claims cannot be elaborated upon as the company has so far failed to corroborate itself with more specific evidence such as the location of the factory and the makeup of its labor force.

 

Top

People

In order to truly ascertain the demographic profile of a worker in the Legacy Athletic factory and the conditions in which he or she lives, information from the company would be very useful. Unfortunately, since that information has not been provided, other sources must be used in a speculative effort to determine the possible characteristics of our worker's lifestyle.

Location. It is probable that Legacy Athletic's factory is located in one of Taiwan 's many urban areas as any industry in the rural areas of Taiwan is usually small and locally owned (Thompson 1984: 560). It is also reasonable to expect this factory to be located in an urban area as Taiwan 's cities contain approximately 75% of the nation's population (Gold 1996: 1094). Thompson (1984) attributes this migration from rural to urban areas to a rise in efficient forms of transportation and a decline in the profitability of agricultural exports.

  If the factory is located in an urban area it would be surrounded by a chaotic scene of vehicle and walking traffic (Gold 1996: 1091). A worker in the Legacy Athletic factory may drive to work in this traffic, as personal ownership of cars is prevalent (Gold 1996: 1091). Gold (1996) describes the urban centers as “an endless sprawl of distressing, often freakishly ugly high-rise apartment blocks and factories crammed almost on top of each other (Gold 1996: 1094).” It is possible that the worker that made our wool hat lives in these conditions described.

Gender. It is nearly impossible to speculate as to the gender of the worker in question. Although Taiwan under the Kuomintang was a traditionally male-dominated society, the feminist movement has taken on great momentum since the 1980's (Gold 1996: 1113). This movement, spearheaded in part by the organization Awakening, sought to oppose sexual harassment and increase the representation of women in the labor force (Gold 1996: 1113).

This movement has made strides as, Gold describes, “women have moved into virtually all industries and occupations” (Gold 1996: 1102). This increase in the labor force participation rate of women coupled with a traditional male-dominated labor market make it difficult to determine the gender of our worker. However, by looking at the textile industry as a whole where women comprise 67.6% of the labor force, we can guess that our worker is probably female (Taiwan Textile Foundation Online 2003).

Age. Taiwanese law imposes a minimum age requirement of employment of 15 years for employment, so we can reasonably assume that a worker at Legacy Athletic is at least of that age (Gross 2001). Other than this, the probable age variance is fairly high. We can examine age from two different perspectives, general demographics and education, and arrive at two different age ranges for our worker.

  First, since fertility rates are declining and life expectancy is increasing, one can see that the Taiwanese population is ageing (Gold 1996: 1092). To this observation, we can add the notion of filial piety—which is prevalent in Taiwan —that encourages younger generations to support older generations (Gold 1996: 1092). We can now assume that people must work for a longer period in their life to make up for this increased burden of caring for an ageing population. Thus, this demographic profile would suggest that our worker may be in an older age range.

  However, if we give credence to Taiwan 's focus on education as training for skilled labor and service (Gold 1996: 1098), the previous argument is contradicted. Since there is such a great emphasis on education as a stepping stone into the skilled labor force, we can assume that those in the unskilled labor force, such as an employee of Legacy Athletic factory, would be deficient in education. Consequently, we can extrapolate a younger age range for our worker as it is unlikely that youth have attained the education necessary to enter the labor market for skilled labor. Taking both demographics and education into account, it becomes difficult to predict an accurate age range for our worker. Given the textile industry as a whole where 41% of workers are between the ages of 30 and 39, we can surmise that our worker may be in this age range (Taiwan Textile Foundation Online 2003).

Religion. It is unlikely that our worker practices organized Buddhism or belongs to any elaborate sect combining Buddhism with other religions. Although they are prevalent in Taiwan , Gold describes them as religions of “businessmen and intellectuals” (Gold 1996: 1112) of which our worker is most likely neither. Instead, Thompson proposes an alternative view—that of Chinese folk religion. These folk religions are prominent in rural Taiwan and have been exported to urban areas as the balance in population between the two areas has shifted (Thompson 1984: 566). Chinese folk religions are generally a simple combination of beliefs from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and tradition (Thompson 1984: 566). If our worker or his or her ancestors migrated from rural Taiwan , it would be reasonable to assume that he or she practices some form of Chinese folk religion.

Family. As Taiwan 's economy has become more industrialized and effective transportation has eased mobility constraints, the reliance on an extended family structure has decreased and the incidence of the nuclear family structure has increased (Gold 1996: 1096). As mentioned previously, fertility rates have also been in decline as of recent (Gold 1996: 1092). Coupling the decline in fertility rates with the increased mobility and industrialization gives credence to the belief that Taiwanese families are becoming smaller (Gold 1996: 1097). Since the average Taiwanese family is decreasing in size, we can presume that our worker is a member of one of these smaller family units.

Wage. The Taiwanese government legislates a minimum wage of $485 US per month (Gross 2001). Since Legacy Athletic claims to be in compliance with Fair Labor Association guidelines, our worker must earn at least this much. The Taiwan Human Resources Update prices monthly rent for an urban apartment at $300-$400 US and each meal at a minimum of $3 US (Gross 2001). With these expenses, the real value of the minimum wage is very low and most likely insufficient to survive.

 

Top

Process

As mentioned previously, Legacy Athletic was not forthcoming in answering simple questions regarding their factory in Taiwan . Any e-mails sent to the company were not returned. Thus, the information regarding the profile of a worker in that factory is entirely speculative and based entirely on information from other sources such as journal articles and reputable webpages.

  I was certainly disappointed that Legacy Athletic did not respond, but I didn't find it particularly difficult to speculate on the demographic profile of our worker from these other sources. It is disappointing in that customers should be able to easily attain information on the manufacturing of a product. If the product is manufactured in a sweatshop, discerning customers may not want to purchase the item—which is exactly the reason the manufacturer would want to keep that information secret. Without drawing any conclusions about the truth of Legacy Athletic's claims regarding its supposedly stellar labor practices, the lack of response to polite, questioning e-mails should speak for itself.

 

Top

Conclusion

A wool hat does not spontaneously generate—it is made by someone. In this case, the creator was a Taiwanese worker in the factory of Legacy Athletic. Through examining journal articles and internet sources, it was possible to gain insight into the life of the worker that made the wool hat. With these sources, we can speculate on the worker's location, age, and gender, among other things. This type of scrutiny is important as it reveals some aspects of a culture in a nation far away from the United States and thus widens our perspective as Americans. So the next time you pick up a product, don't buy it until you think about the person that made that item before it made its fateful journey into your hands.

Top

Internet References Cited

Top

Peer-Reviewed References Cited

  • Gold, Thomas B.

    1996   “Taiwan Society at the Fin de Siecle.” The China Quarterly . NO. 148. pp. 1091-1114.

  • The Heritage Foundation

    2005   “ Taiwan .” 2005 Index of Economic Freedom . M. Miles, E. Feulner , and M. O'Grady eds, pp. 378-9. [CD-ROM].

  • Roberts, J.A.G.

    1999    A Concise History of China . p. 251. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA .

  • Thompson, Stuart E.

    1984   “ Taiwan : Rural Society.” The China Quarterly . NO. 99. pp. 553-568.

Top

Contact Jim Aimers | ©2004 Miami University