Purchased -2- neat skirts at Wal*Mart

[r.m.anderson]

Thought I would share my recent skirt shopping experience at Wal*Mart.
Made my annual trek to Wal*Mart to get Hanes fleece long sleeve sweat
shirts in the womens department. I hate the mens selection of basic grey
navy blue or bs brown. Wal*Mart has the best price that I can find anywhere.
While getting the sweats noticed these neat skirts by Norma Kamali.
You can find them at this link:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=10376635

Not being exactly sure of the sizing I grabbed a medium and a large and headed
off to the fitting room. The fitting room lady raised an eyebrow about a fraction
of an inch and then let me into one of the fitting rooms. After a few minutes I had
selected the medium because it was about an inch shorter on the hem line and
just seemed to fit better overall breaking just above the knee. The waist band is
loose material about 3 inches high fastened to a elastic band that gathers all the
flouncing (pleats for lack of a better word) around the waist and rests just above
my low waist line about maybe about 2-3 inches below the navel. The skirts are
a pull on type with not a great deal of play in the elastic. The medium worked
better for me than the large which sort of felt like it might fall off the hips.
The price was so amazing that I bought one in red and the other in black.
When they labled this skirt as flounced they were not exaggerating.
It just simply flows everywhere south of the waist line.
A tad heavy on material but it just seems to never stop moving (consider loose
pleats). Getting back to the fitting room attendant - nothing further happened.
Of course being this close to halloween I would suppose she just thought I was
making up some sort of costume. Great I was spared the explanation that the
skirts were for me. The black color is very neutral orientated goes with most
anything. The red however is going to be for around Christmas time. The red
is so vibrant that it spells out loud a festive occasion!
Very pleased with this unexpected find. I have a great many kilts and a few skirts.
After you wear kilts for a while it becomes a great deal easier to graduate over
to the skirts. Sort of relates to first time wearing of the denin skirt being almost
invisible. But wearing this Red one is going to be fun - some people are going
to have to get used to the Shock & Awe effect. Santa is not the only one who
can wear red for the holidays!
rm

[Since1982]

Did the skirt say anything on the labels as to where it/they are made? What country?

[Bri]

I can imagine women get the same reaction if they walk into one of the rooms with something from the "men's" dept. But I'm happy you found a skirt that was so suited to you!

Once again, I think there should be, and maybe there is something that's says "This thread is useless without pics".

[r.m.anderson]

Since 1982;
Re: ? Country of manufacturer - Indonesia - 94% polyester and 6% spandex.
The website (link) said USA or imported.
Polyester is probably not the best (coolest) clothing to be wearing in the
keys where you are located. Heat and humidity concerns make some
clothing unbearable. This skirt should do fine in the cooler winter months
or autumn in the northern hemisphere.
rm

[Since1982]

Thanks, but I'm not interested at all in buying anything from the biggest child slave labor using firm in the world. Check on HBO for a documentary on Wal Mart and their employee practices. Everything they sell that comes from Indonesia or Pakistan or India is created by virtual slave labor. Unless 2 cents a day is a living wage anywhere in the world. That's what the workers in those countries make.

[r.m.anderson]

Since1982:

Regretfully what you say is true although not totally at 100%. But you are essentially correct
in that a lot of US companies do by other ways and means employ foreign underage labor.
Wal Mart is no doubt the biggest offender; K Mart/Sears and even my home town Target are
caught up in this from time to time. Even big names like JCPenney & Kohls to name a few
also do this. So how do you tell by a lable if the item was legitimately made by an authorized
manufacturer or some clandestine childrens slave labor camp? I can guess maybe by the price
the goods are sold for but that is not always the case. A large clothing manufacturing concern
could have hundreds of highly automated sewing machines making such clothes and as such
keeping the costs down. Then too you could just as easily replace the machine with a bunch
of kids. So what do you do? Demand to see the entire tracking history of the item from
inseption to the final sales floor sale? Do you boycott a store and thereby force a child labor
force and perhaps its family to go under and starve to death and the middle men/wholesalers?
If you pay more for an item for sure the profits are certainly not going to the bottom of the
manufacturing ladder. A greedy corporate CEO is going to pocket this without the bat of an eye.
This is a real conudrum with no answers that one size fits all. I do not subscribe to HBO so I can
not watch the program directly but will look for an opportunity to do so. Like a great many people
I trust that what I see on shelves or clothing racks is or was manufactured by a legitimate outlet.
Shoes by Nike and Reebock are mentioned from time to time as being a product of illegal labor
in China? But where are the authorities (taking kick-backs) to verify that the goods are made
under supervised conditions in an authentic place of manufacturer?

I feel a small amount of grief for taking advantage of a sale under these circumstances but then
I did keep the work force no matter who or what they are employed until the working conditions
can be improved.

I don't suppose that Wal Mart would consider offering these manufacturing jobs directly to the
people in our own country! Even the farmers who need manual labor to harvest the crop out of
the fields have to resort to transient labor. It is a hard sell to the people of this country to get
down on their hands and knees to do manual labor to earn a living. If the stock market continues
in the direction of a downward spiral then there are going to be an awful lot of people needing
to do just that to eck out a living.

So Since 1982 your comments are welcomed and appreciated and this is by no means
to stack all the worlds problems on your shoulders but in the sincerest sense thanks
for highlighting what American (and myself) buys.
I will have to definitely find a source to see the HBO video.

I only go to Wal Mart to buy things that Target and others do not have readily for sale at a
reasonable price. Being in Targets back yard there is a great deal of anti-Wal Mart sentiment
locally. Then again my sister is in Arkansas and to the preach against Wal Mart is tantamount
to heresy in the 'N'th degree.

Warm and respectful regards;
r.m.anderson

PS: I took the liberty to post this in the Forum. (My 100 posting)

[Peter v]

I think the skirts are just lovely. I would just love to have both too. Flouncy skirts can give just that bit more fun to skirt wearing. Nice and short, being above the knee, but long enough. Although I think that kilts flounce about too, these skirts should do really well, and for 15 dollars, that is for next to nothing.

( with regards to the manufacturing issue, it is an interesting subject, asside. How many products are made with slave labour, or otherwise unacceptable by our standards, clothing is just a small part of that. I still think that it is not the customer who should play the investigator, but the government, controlling at the highest level, with all means at hand who should only accept products to be imported in the country if they are not only technically safe, but produced under conditions which are acceptable for us. Then you could buy any product with confidence, without fearing that it was produced illegally, was not safe / sound or by slave / child labour. We as consumers have to rely on that, as it such an impossible or an enormous task for us to trace the route taken, even for one item, and I dread to think of checking everything we by first. All aspects should be taken into consideration, thus even the money stream, with reagards to paying all concerned with that product correctly in relation to the turnover, even in your own country... It is a good thing to be knowledgable of the fact, so vote the correct candidate, but I think that we will just have to get on with our lives and let it be. What is not made elswhere these days? Certainly clothing, and that is what skirts are, clothing. ( Ok some skirts, utilikilts etc are US not foreign made.
So unless you buy EVERYTHING locally made, and even then...... )

[Since1982]

Do you boycott a store and thereby force a child labor
force and perhaps its family to go under and starve to death.

Resoundingly YES!!
You're not really suggesting here that child slavery/any slavery is Ok as long as it supports the families instead of them starving? They won't starve, there are millions of people in these countries that are not IN the child labor forces and THEY don't starve. This is what the Confederate States of America said back in 1860 to justify slavery in America. We went to a war that more Americans died than any war we've ever been in to stop slavery in America where many many slaves lived with a subsistance existance. The American Civil War.

It is a good thing to be knowledgable of the fact, so vote the correct candidate, but I think that we will just have to get on with our lives and let it be. What is not made elswhere these days? Certainly clothing, and that is what skirts are, clothing.

Peter, either you're the most naive person I've ever heard of or you're purposely blind to real life. "get on with our lives and let it be"? Sure, ostrich, stick your head in the sand and maybe you'll not have to see the horrors around you.

[Peter v]

Do you boycott a store and thereby force a child labor
force and perhaps its family to go under and starve to death.

Resoundingly YES!!
You're not really suggesting here that child slavery/any slavery is Ok as long as it supports the families instead of them starving? They won't starve, there are millions of people in these countries that are not IN the child labor forces and THEY don't starve. This is what the Confederate States of America said back in 1860 to justify slavery in America. We went to a war that more Americans died than any war we've ever been in to stop slavery in America where many many slaves lived with a subsistance existance. The American Civil War.

It is a good thing to be knowledgable of the fact, so vote the correct candidate, but I think that we will just have to get on with our lives and let it be. What is not made elswhere these days? Certainly clothing, and that is what skirts are, clothing.

Peter, either you're the most naive person I've ever heard of or you're purposely blind to real life. "get on with our lives and let it be"? Sure, ostrich, stick your head in the sand and maybe you'll not have to see the horrors around you.

This is not related to the posting but does need to be addressed, as I do not accept incessant derogatory remarks, and will do my best to address them, for all interested to read it. I would appreciate it if those derogatory remarks were to cease. I would then not feel the need to redeem myself. We may have opinions, but taking things totally out of context does no one good, particularly on this forum. Please refrain forthwith.

Have you never heard of reading the whole story and understanding the context? Apparently not. If you had taken the time to do that instead of willingly wanting to see things that are not even said, you would have understood that I said it is a good thing to know about such things as child labour, and when we do positively know all the true facts, we can then chose to act upon them in our own way. But If you really wanted to know all the true facts about everything around you, you would probably need to set up a business doing just that, all your life. Going on pure speculation is not the correct way to go if you are genuinely serious about such issues. And even though some things are definitely disgusting, like child labour, They aparently do make the world go round. Which will not say that I agree with such things as child labour. I think that if we were to know about everything about us, there would be very little that we would willingly support, by bying the products, as if it is not the labour force being exploited, the environment may be irreparably damaged.

And about the horrors around you, I agree, the horrors are so mind boggling, that I don't understand how you can still just live and accept them without going mad. I do my best to try and buy products made acceptably, and do my best in this society to spare the environment, but as ( see above ) I and most other people don't know the whole story, and are dependant on those who are actually being paid/ funded to look into those things for us, and protect the unknowing public, so that at a higher level products made unacceptably will even not enter the country. It is an impossible task as an individual to have influence on the whole. Just one example, I want to buy bread in a paper bag, without a plastic fenster, but practically all bread is sold that way. Ok I can stop eating bread. If there is any talk aboout such things, i will state my meaning and NOT be still. There is not much more that i can do.

If all men wearing skirts were to not buy any clothing that was in any way produced in any unacceptable way, i think that most would have to be naked from now on, not even being able to wear pants, as they too are probably made under circumstances not up to our norms. Only if ALL or a very large majority of the public ( which are mostly not caring or not knowing) would take action, then the politicians would have to act upon that and do what I had mentioned before, take action at the top. Those people probably do know, and should act on our behalf. When products made by child labour are not sold / available in your country, then the often unknowing or intentionally held in unawareness public cannot buy those products and be unwillingly part of the reason that such things as child labour are so lucrative ( for the few ).

Is that enough explanation? I didn't want to go so deep in the matter, but your incessant derogatory remarks made need addressing.