Just when you thought the Kardashians couldn't sink any lower. TMZ (via Star magazine) is reporting that certain Kardashian products -- including K-Dash by Kardashian label, the Kris Jenner Kollection and ShoeDazzle -- are all being manufactured in China sweatshops, where workers (some as young as sixteen years old) are abused and forced to work in squalid conditions. Additionally, the factories are said to smell like sewage and reach temperatures well north of 100 degrees throughout the workday. Further reports also claim the employees work up to 84 hours a week and earn only $1 an hour, while the Kardashian Klan rakes in approximately $65 million a year. Sounds fair, right?
The institute for Global Labour and Human Rights has since launched a full-on investigation into the matter to find out if these horrific claims are actually true -- and if they are, to put a stop to it. Executive Director Charles Kernaghan stated, “The Kardashians are in bed with some pretty bad people. Not only are celebrities like the Kardashians taking advantage of these workers, they are holding hands with a government that spits on democracy and women’s rights.” Yikes.
But like always, the Kardashians don't seem too concerned with the matter. When asked about the situation, Kris Jenner pleaded not guilty and told TMZ, "As far as I know the factories that are used to manufacture the Kardashian clothing and shoes have nothing terrible going on at all and the factories are very well policed and meet factory standards." Of course, she can't know for sure since she admittedly has never visited the factories in China.
And perhaps it's true -- perhaps the Kardashians really were unaware that the workers were being treated so unfairly, but even so, their lack of knowledge regarding their own employees only further shows just how self-involved they are. If they didn't know any of these horrific details, it's because they didn't want to know them or were just too busy trying to grab the next magazine headline. But hopefully the investigation will bring some solid answers to light and we'll find out who's really to blame. The Kardashians may have taken it one step too far this time.
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Source: TMZ, Radar, Star