Giving Compass' Take:

•  Alta Gracia is a factory in the Dominican Republic that makes sports clothes for college teams in the U.S. However, the workers get paid a fair wage and are proof that sweatshops and unethical supply chains do not have to exist. 

• How can more corporations utilize factory models like Alta Gracia's? What are the challenges? 

• Read more about how to ensure more ethical supply chains. 

The quest for ethical clothing production can seem futile. Many in the industry see low pay, unsafe labor conditions, and a host of other indignities commonly associated with garment-factory work abroad as vexing and intractable problems.

It's 100 percent scalable, and far easier, for Nike or H&M or Walmart to do this in their supply chains.

For one thing, there are real doubts that consumers’ desire for clothing made in less-abusive conditions could ever override their desire for low prices. Another issue is just how sprawling the global supply chain is—brands can have trouble accounting for every single factory and worker that has a hand in creating a garment.

One factory in the Dominican Republic stands as a counter-argument to all of this. It’s called Alta Gracia, and it makes clothing, including T-shirts and sweatshirts, for university bookstores and sports teams around the U.S. Alta Gracia pays its workers a living wage in an industry that is notorious for skimping on worker salaries, and was opened about seven years ago by two executives at Knights Apparel, Donnie Hodge and Joe Bozich, with help from labor advocates at the nonprofit Worker Rights Consortium.

Read the full article on sweatshops by Gillian B. White at The Atlantic