Fugitive Denim: A Moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade

By Rachel Louise Snyder

Book Overview

Rachel Louise Snyder reports from the far reaches of the multi-billion-dollar denim industry in search of the people who make your clothes. From a cotton picker in Azerbaijan to a Cambodian seamstress, a denim maker in Italy to a fashion designer in New York, Snyder captures the human, environmental, and political forces at work in a complex and often absurd world. Neither polemic nor prescription, Fugitive Denim captures what it means to work in the twenty-first century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393335429
• ISBN13: 9780393335422
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

a moving tale indeed

I picked up this book on a recommendation from a friend who knew I'd be interested in the parts that take place in Cambodia. Not only did I enjoy the insight into the garment workers in Cambodia but I was also intrigued by the around the world journey the author takes us on. She has a great storytelling style and weaves the details of the cotton industry seamlessly into this very interesting book.

You'll never look at your jeans the same again!

Man oh man, this is a really interesting important and globe-trotted work. I highly recommend following Rachel Louis Snyder's "thread" between countries, working people, cultural icons and raw material. In the process you will learn about some facinating trade laws/practices, labor trends and most importantly your possible impact as a consumer. I found her narrative voice extremely engaging and felt like we coud easily share a conversation and cup of coffee! It is not easy to paint as far-reaching a picture as Ms. Snyder lends us. I can only thank her for the effort and urge readers to open to page one.

FUGITIVE DENIM succeeds in providing a wide-ranging survey of special interest

FUGITIVE DENIM: A MOVING STORY OF PEOPLE AND PANTS IN THE BORDERLESS WORLD OF GLOBAL TRADE follows the lives and experiences of the globalized network involved in denim production, manufacture and marketing, considering the power of designer jeans marketing around the world and in different countries from Italy to Azerbaijan. In focusing on a single, popular product which has reached around the world, FUGITIVE DENIM succeeds in providing a wide-ranging survey of special interest not just to college-level holdings strong in global marketing and international trade, but to the general-interest lending library.

The losely woven and intricate cloth of globalization

A month or so ago, I received a call from an excited colleague who was wondering if I'd be willing to review a book for her. It seems her friend had just successfully published a book and was to begin publicizing it in a round of events. My reply was, "Sure, have the publisher send me a copy." A couple of weeks later, a review copy of Fugitive Denim arrived and I thought, "What have I done? This may be tough to get through." Well, instead I had a tough time putting it down. Far from a dry treatise on globalization, I found myself immersed in the lives of several characters and wanting to know more about them and how they were "getting along." Ms. Snyder, in discussing her book with friends took to joking that it was "about the people in your pants." Indeed! This intriguing story about the people who make our clothes educated me on some of the intricacies of globalization in general and the garment industry in particular. The peoples' stories are compelling; from Mehman Husseinov who loves cotton, to Rogan who designs denim garments with soul and style to Alison and Bono (Paul) Hewson who want to support workers worldwide and Scott, the auditor who said, "The only boundaries that exist, exist in your own mind." Snyder is an award winning (Overseas Press Award) investigative journalist. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, Slate, Glamour, Jane, Salon and the New Republic. Her considerable skills are on display in this book. She writes in a clear, concise manner with ample footnote and endnote support. Yet she has managed to weave story that wends its way from Cambodia to Azerbaijan to New York and points in between. Her ability to use an incredible amount of detail to build her characters successfully propels the story forward. Snyder has managed to put a wonderfully human face on a very complex issue of pitting our ecosystem against the undeniable forces of globalization and consumerism. From factories to responsible buyers, the story jets from country to country, from person to person and from celebrity to unsung hero. True to her profession, Snyder avoids preaching or forcing conclusions. Rather she puts facts in front of the reader, with the references for validation, and magically mixes the facts with an incredibly creative wit. Fugitive Denim makes the reader laugh, wonder, and shake her or his head at the sheer complexity of the treaties, quotas and labeling systems we have created. Fugitive Denim is an intelligent, compelling and well documented story that is a cut above other books on the pervasive effects of globalization in our lives. This is a must read for any government official or business executive involved in international sourcing or commerce - and who isn't these days? David Kinnear CEO, dbkAssociates, Inc. www.dbkassociates.com

Jeans and the People who Have Touched Yours

Here's a fascinating book about the economic, agricultural, environmental, political and socioeconomic effect of purchasing a pair of jeans. Everywhere you go people are wearing jeans. Everyone I know owns at least one pair. Around the world thousands of people are wishing you would buy a pair of jeans. In fact their livelihood depends on it. The global denim industry is a $55-billion-a-year business. This book by an international journalist, is an amazing journey from the cotton fields of Azerbaijan to sweat shops in Cambodia, to the politics of Capitol Hill, to an award winning designer whose goal is to save the planet. I now look more closely at the jeans people are wearing and my opinion about buying another pair of jeans has been challenged. Rachel is a brilliant, funny writer who researched her topic with amazing detail. Despite language and cultural barriers, she was able to get into the hearts and minds of the people who make a living off the making and selling of blue jeans. The garment industry, which employs as many as 40 million people, is an often overlooked industry, and thousands of employees are in jeopardy when bad weather destroys a field of cotton, international tax laws get appealed or a NY designer changes the cut of a pant leg. This book truly is about the people in your pants and the work they do so we can look and feel good in our favorite pair of jeans. Liz Mohler, M.S. Executive Career Coach