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I decided to avoid buying clothes that have a non negligible probability of being made in on-ethical conditions, e.g. by people younger than 15 years old, or working more than 12h a days. When not buying in ethical shops, I look at the label and see the "Made in ..." information.

My question is, which countries are acceptable ? All EU seems acceptable to me, and US as well, but besides I don't know. Is Mexico or North-African countries little likely to host sweatshops, or is it a big problem ? I heard that Turkey used to be very bad but passed some law to secure the workers, but I don't know if they are really applied. East Asia is definitly a no-no.

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    I like the intent of your question, but I think there is a problem with your reasoning. If you rule out an entire country or even part of a continent, you are also ruling out all small-scale clothing manufacturers in that country/continent that are producing clothes in an ethical way. I know there is clothing being produced in India and Nepal in a great and sustainable way (sustainable from a both a social and environmental viewpoint)
    – THelper
    Mar 12, 2015 at 10:02
  • Unfortunately is not so simple, also in the other way...while in the EU the regulations are good, but there are still the illegals reuters.com/article/2013/12/29/…
    – laika
    Mar 12, 2015 at 19:37

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Counties do not produce clothes, people do, companies do but not countries. My answer is if you want to buy ethical stuff (whatever it means) - buy local stuff where you can see people who made it and check production process, supplying chain and others.

For sure you'll find "unethical clothes" MADE IN DENMARK and "ethical clothes" MADE IN CHINA.

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