The Travels of a Tshirt in the Global Economy - Admission/Application Essay Example

When one looks at the annals of history, it is proven that for a nation to reach the top echelons, mainly in the aspect of providing its people the needed comforts and also to gain superiority over other nations, its economy has to be strong. The economy of any country can be strengthened only if there is optimum trade of all the commodities including basic commodities like T-shirts. As the book, “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy” written by Pietra Rivoli

Pietra Rivoli wrote the book “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy” stimulated by students-sweatshop protestant took place in Georgetown. That is, when an activist through the microphone asked the crowd gathered, "Who made your T-shirt?", it initiated the thought process regarding Free trade and globalization in Rivoli’s mind. A thought that is ‘seeded’ into an author’s mind is outputted in his or her homework. That ‘seeding’ of thought could be initiated or influenced by the ‘system’ in which the author lives or lived. Most times an author writes what he/she sees, belieflike. So, my perspective of Rivoli’s main purpose in writing this book is to discover and discuss a thought that got seeded in her mind. ‘Seeded’ by that question, she bought a six-dollar T-shirt at Walgreen's in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and traces the T-shirts’ path before reaching the store in Florida. So, by chronicling the round-the-world journey of a T-shirt, starting from Texas cotton-growers to a Tanzanian used-clothing bazaar, she wanted to explore and discuss how the work economy works in the era of free trade and globalization. Rivoli to discuss this aspect starts the journey at the cotton fields of Texas, where the cotton is grown, then she travels to a factory in Shanghai where the cotton is spun into yarn, knitted up in the form of Clah an and finally sewn into a T-shirt. The shirt returns to the United States but again travels to Africa where they are resold as used clothes.

Important conclusions presented by the author

In the book, “The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy” presents, Rivoli comes up with important conclusions regarding the inferior status of poor countries with supporting evidence. Rivoli concludes that poor countries’ economies and importantly its people stay poorer, without improvement mainly because of the direct and indirect suppression of their products. That is, farmers and manufacturers of developed countries succeed and indirectly suppress farmers and manufacturers of poor or Third World Countries because of various tax exemptions and the scenario of unprotected global trade provided by corrupt governments. According to Rivoli, even the used-up dresses with a cheaper price tag did not reach the Africans, because they are worn by Americans and Japanese as part of vintage clothing. Even though Rivoli pessimistically talks about the poor countries towards the end of the paper, he concludes positively by seeing some hope for them. That is, in the concluding part of the book, she offers a short conclusion on how unbiased tax regimes and their importance to poor countries will surely improve the status of those countries. “Cutting agricultural subsidies, democratization, and giving poor countries a place at the table at trade negotiations are all steps in the right direction.” (Rivoli).