Intro to AltaGracia

First of all, I should introduce myself. My name is Sloan Davis, a freshman student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I am double-majoring in Spanish and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberain Studies (LACIS) with a certificate in Global Health.

My semester project for ILS 252 is working with and promoting AltaGracia. My involvement with AltaGracia began when I joined the Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) on campus.

AltaGracia is a group in the Dominican Republic of self-organized factory laborers that unionized for living wages and better working conditions, and to be treated fairly from their employers. The employees and their families can now get clean water, food, clothing, shelter, health and childcare, and an education. They are monitored by an independent watchdog organization to ensure that the employers are meeting the living wage agreement.

But why should you care about AltaGracia? Because it makes a SWEATSHOP FREE alternative to Adidas-brand COLLEGIATE APPAREL. Yeah, seriously. These awesome Dominicans make Badger-wear, as well as other colleges across the US at LIVING WAGE.

My goal with this project is to get the word out to Madison students. They simply do not know that this alternative is out there, and I know that everyone will jump at the chance the make a direct impact with their purchase.

Through social media and interpersonal networking, I will be a personal messenger of the goals and mission of AltaGracia in order to empower student consumers and enable fair-work and sweatshop-free clothing to thrive. On top of that, I will be writing a few papers based on the concepts of sweatshops, unionized labor, and consumer power in a capitalist market.

Thanks for stopping by, check back for more soon.
Much love and luck,
Sloan