Not a Sweat Shop Bag

This sturdy canvas bag is fitted with a zip fastener and has a large zippered pocket and two smaller open pockets inside. It has a removable shoulder strap as well as carry handles, and carries the message, 'I am not a sweat shop bag.' 40x40cm. Jacqui Ma who designed the bags was the winner of the Oxfam design competition.

This bag is made by a worker-run cooperative in Thailand, ‘Solidarity’.
Workers at a Bed and Bath factory in Bangkok, Thailand turned up to work one day in 2002 to find they no longer had jobs. The factory closed without warning and the Thai owner had fled the country with the workers' wages. Before the factory closure, workers were given amphetamines to help them work through the night. Some workers kept going for up to 48 hours before they collapsed. Oxfam Australia together with other international organisations campaigned internationally in support of the workers fight for their entitlements. After successfully fighting for compensation, 35 Bed and Bath workers formed their own cooperative with the label ‘dignity returns’.

Solidarity recently worked with Oxfam Australia to create a new product to support their business - the "I am not a sweat shop bag".


"...In this place, there is no boss hanging over or taking advantage of us. There is no threat and insult. Most importantly, we are in a factory of our own." Manop Kaewpaga – Solidarity cooperative member