Behind The Seams, 2017

Behind the Seams is an ongoing collaborative project by Rachel Breen and Nickey Robare, presented by Northern Lights MN, for Northern Spark, 2017. 

How did your T-shirt get made? Who sewed your jeans?  How many miles did the raw cotton travel from the field to the factory to the mall?  

The garment industry is one of the world’s largest contributors to climate change and employs millions across the globe for incredibly low wages. Behind the Seams is a pop-up garment factory first presented in the streets of Lowertown, where the public watched garment workers—paid a fair minimum wage of $15/hr—sew re-purposed T-shirts from dusk until dawn. While people wandered the factory floor, they were able to chat with garment workers about climate change, “fast fashion,” and labor rights.  

After visiting the factory, people made a pledge to help change the garment industry and then were able to purchase a re-purposed T-shirt from the boutique for 3 cents, the price garment workers are often paid to sew a T-shirt on the other side of the planet.

The project was also presented in Jamestown, N.D. as part of ArtSpark in August, 2017.

Garment Workers & Labor Rights

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Acknowledgement