The Humble T-shirt: The Remarkable Story of Human Interdependence

December 2013, National Public Radio’s Planet Money decides to track the story behind their New Years tee-shirt. They track the remarkable story of the making of the t-shirt from the cotton being picked from the farms in the Mississippi delta to the yarn factory in Indonesia to the making of the mens t-shirt in Bangladesh and the mens t-shirt in Columbia before making it to the shelf in the United States.

Here is the remarkable story about the t-shirt you wear and how it was touched by countless people along the way

The head of the spinning operation in the yarn factory says “When I see people just picking up a T-shirt and putting it back on the shelf in a store.” “I say, ‘Hey, man. We worked very hard to make the yarn which has made that T-shirt. Give it some respect.’ ” His workers created the 6 miles of yarn in a single t-shirt.

He is right…Give it some respect…

Part 1- Cotton picking

Part 2- Spinning the Yarn

 

Part 3- The people who made these t-shirts

 

Part 4-Transporting t-shirts back home

 

Part 5-

 

Will we feel guilty next time when we discard a t-shirt: a labor of love….

Audio versions:

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/248151300/248151271

More on the Cotton Story:

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/248243399/248243407

Indonesia: The Yarn making

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/248320172/248320136

Bangladesh: Impacting lives

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/247360855/248361470

Bangladesh: the men’s t-shirt

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/248718294/248718269

Columbia:the women t-shirt

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/247360787/248810540

Container transport:

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/249074805/249074811

The Giant book which destroys industries

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/247361423/249199174

The Afterlife of your discarded t-shirt

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/247362140/249796008

Issues with work, trade, and clothes

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/249339951/249333987

 

To read more about this, go to…

http://www.npr.org/series/248799434/planet-moneys-t-shirt-project