The Travel of T-Shirt

“The Travels of a T-Shirt in a Global Economy” by Pietra Rivoli is a wonderfully creative book about protectionism and global trade. Pietra Rivoli is a professor at Georgetown University. One day she attends an on campus anti-globalization rally. A protester confirms the evils of globalization by asking “Who made your t-shirt?” Rivoli, a classically trained economist, is unsure of her t-shirts origins and she suspects that the protester is too. Soon thereafter, she purchases a t-shirt in Florida and decides to chronicle its life, from creation to destruction, and this book was born.
She gave world trade a face by tracing the life of her t-shirt. The t-shirt begins as cotton grown in the US, then it is made to thread in Asia, woven into fabric in the US, sold in the US, and then recycled or sold again as second hand clothing in Africa. The t-shirt enters its first free market in third world countries as mitumba, or used clothing donated by people in wealthy countries. It was an interesting journey and Rivoli’s style makes the story entertaining.
Through her discussion of the t-shirts life, I grew disgusted with the rampant protectionism surrounding the US textile industry. Rivoli describes how cotton is subsidized and tariffs are levied against imported raw cotton and imported textiles. In addition, there are quotas for textile imports. Although Rivoli maintains a balanced perspective on protectionism and globalization throughout her book, it’s evident that these protections benefit only the US cotton and textile industry, to the detriment of many other parties.
Protectionism saves US jobs, advocates say. It also saves profits for inefficient US industry. Without these protections, some US workers would inevitably loose their jobs. Many foreign countries can produce cotton and weave textiles for a much lower rate than the US can.