more information regarding the sweat shop and company intel.

1)  I found this website that tells you the steps to figure out if a company is using sweat shops or not.

How Do You Verify Your Clothing Manufacturer Is Not a Sweatshop? http://www.ehow.com/how_7359713_do-clothing-manufacturer-not-sweatshop_.html

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_7359713_do-clothing-manufacturer-not-sweatshop_.html#ixzz2j3ugGL5G

Instructions

1.        

o    1

Visit the manufacturer's website to see if it has an FAQ page that addresses concerns over where their clothing is made.

o    2

Ask the employees of the store if they know where the clothing comes from. Several manufacturers pride themselves on using local, sweatshop-free labor and the employees will tell you so.

o    3

Contact customer support. Most large clothing stores have some sort of customer support/public relations line. If you can't find the answers in-store or on the web, contact the manufacturer directly and ask where their clothing comes from.

o    4

Find sweatshop watchdog organizations on the web and review their news releases. Be sure the information is recent; the reputations of some supposed watchdog organizations have come into question amidst reports that they have "sold out" to corporations.

o    5

Type in the name of a clothing company and "sweatshop" in an Internet search. Many of the largest manufacturers' names come up repeatedly in media reports about the use of child labor and unfair labor practices.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_7359713_do-clothing-manufacturer-not-sweatshop_.html#ixzz2j3uQUD12

2)  I then started looking at companies to find their info.  Athleta particularly concerned me since a) I love their clothes and b)  they are owned by Gap/ banana republic...and Gap inc is notoriously under fire from sweatshop activitists:
But the Athleta website, on the very bottom has a little sign that says "social responsibility"  and on that page is a whole GAP INC SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY WEBSITE:
http://gapinc.com/content/gapinc/html/social_responsibility.html
 WOW...is that confusing to me...considering all the allegations right now of GAP INC involved over in the Bangladesh factory finishing and sourcing companies, where they found old navy tags...(and who would create a knock off old navy jean???(that is what Gap claimed).

What to believe?

I can tell you what I believe...I believe that they have no idea...and the more they turn an eye, the more they cannot be held accountable.
I also believe that the more we dive into this global market and expect lower prices, the more we are screwed.

THIS IS WHAT I THINK WE NEED:
1)  Make clothes here, from source to finish
2)  pay more for these
3) workers make money
4) money is kept within the us.  more money to production, and to the real production, NOT THE CEO'S...
the real issue in all of this is the greed on top.

The companies for sure guilty are Sears and Wal-Mart in the fires at Bangladesh in 2012.  152 people died thenhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/asia/report-on-bangladesh-building-collapse-finds-widespread-blame.html