Today we live in a world where the apparel industry is more prevalent than ever. The rise in fashion has made it so that you could purchase a shirt anywhere from $10 to $1000 and the market just keeps expanding. In order to supply the heavy demand placed on clothing, the apparel industry employs many people from every corner of the world.
However, many of these workers, especially in third world countries, are being paid extremely low wages.On average, only 2.5% of the wholesale price of apparel goes to all workers who construct the products in the developing world.
Michael recognized the exploitation that occured so frequently in this industry and decided to act on his compassion for these people. Michael along with others started a company called Restoration Apparel Co. Restoration Apparel Co. strives to lift the lives of workers and restore dignity to the apparel manufacturing industry through living wage job creation and its Wage Restitution Allowance give-back program. It offers factory direct access to dye sublimated, screen printed, and embroidered sportswear while providing its customers peace-of-mind regarding the production of their products.
I admire this entrepreneur for his compassion and selfless heart. And unlike so many other people, this entrepreneur chose to act on his compassion by supplying a better paying job for people who are stuck in their poverty.
Awesome opportunity to use such a massive market as a platform for helping people.
I love this idea. It’s always cool to see people putting so much time and energy into helping others. It was smart for Michael to incorporate his passion for ending poverty into the apparel industry because it is a huge market with a consistently high demand.
These types of ventures are very big right now, for good reason! Adding a social cause to a commercial venture is a great thing to do. I like how he specifically chose an industry that is known for poor working conditions. His compassion definitely shows in this company!
Not many people innovate in the workforce, commercially or socially. Mitchell really saw what customer wants and also what employees need. I know from experience that sometimes buying something cheap means that the clothing was made unethically or at least to the disadvantage of the worker.