It is interesting to see the changes throughout the garment industry as the years go by, laws get passed, and worldwide wars are in affect. The relationships between the changing times as well as the different laws passed, and the women and men entering and leaving the industry introduces an interesting paradigm. The reaction of different cultures to different laws allowed for the continuing growth and variety within the garment industry. Examples of such laws included the outlawing of homeworking, bringing work home to finish instead of doing it in the factory, which was popular among the Jewish, and the start of unionization, not popular among the Italian who were happy being paid less than the minimum set by the unions.
Something that I find interesting throughout this reading, is the fact that all these factory and garment industry workers, are working throughout the United States, and specifically in this study New York City. This sticks out to me because most of the garment jobs we hear of today are overseas, however with the great number of immigrants throughout New York City and available workers, factory owners did not have to send their designs overseas. This was especially true for small time designers, for whom oversea shipping and sewing was not worth the inconvenience.
The discussion of the different practices and feelings of the Korean and Chinese factories was eye opening. In studying Chinatown, it is good to know about the working conditions in these factories. Knowing how the Chinese factory owners treat their employees as compared to how the Koreans in other parts treat their own separate employees in important information. The Chinese factory owners develop close relationships between themselves and their workers by the use of a common language and their children. However these workers are paid piecework rates, and are paid less than Hispanic workers in Korean factories. The sense of security and closeness developed through the linguistics of the factories is thrown away when the works are not being paid enough.
