Kardashian Sweatshop Scandal Stirs Rumors Of Child Laborers, Unsafe Factories

Are the Kardashians unknowingly sponsoring child labor?

Star Magazine published a report today, according to Radar Online, alleging that several of the Kardashian family's lifestyle and fashion brands, including ShoeDazzle and Kris Jenner 'Kollection' for QVC, are manufactured in sweatshops that employ underage and overworked laborers.

The report charges that workers in the area of China where the Kardashimerch is produced aren't held to government regulations, often pushed to toil in hot factories seven days a week with minimal breaks for just $1/hour:

"The Kardashians are in bed with some pretty bad people," Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, tells Star. "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."

The spokesperson for the E! reality stars, however, says the family was unaware of any wrongdoing:

"This is the first we are hearing about it and take it very seriously as we would never condone this," their high powered rep Jill Fritzo exclusively told Radaronline.com on behalf of the Kardashians. "We are presently investigating the situation."

Kris Jenner corroborated the rep's claim in a statement for TMZ, saying: "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."

The Kardashian collections under suspicion include their high-end K-Dash clothing line, Kris Jenner's Kollection For QVC and ShoeDazzle, a company Kim founded and for which Perez Hilton has also designed. The alleged misdoings apparently do not relate to their Sears line.

We hope for the sake of the workers that these charges turn out to be false.

Read more about the allegations over at Radar Online.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Teresa Cassity]

08:26 AM on 01/23/2012

It is being reported now that the Kardashians have shut down their UK Shoedazzle operations (4 months after launching it), possibly to prevent stricter UK regulations from reacting to the sweatshop allegations.

[Tony Hightower]

08:42 AM on 12/31/2011

"Are the Kardashians unknowingly sponsoring child labor?"

Oh, honey. Everything they do, they do unknowingly.

[gene-garcon]

06:37 PM on 12/28/2011

Listening to the Kardashian people is labor enough as it is.

[Bootzey Jones]

03:26 PM on 12/23/2011

Not that I am defending the Kardashians but..... When you purchase a new $10 t-shirt, where do you think it comes from?

[cre8ive]

10:35 PM on 12/22/2011

Given the history of labor in China, the decision to manufacture your clothing line over there should be immediately followed by an investigation of company practices. Claiming you are unaware later is unacceptable. Plus this has been going on for a VERY long time. No excuses.

[boscobear]

02:03 PM on 12/22/2011

Alle K's need to be sentenced to 30 days in a sweatshop. It would give them a new focus, well maybe not.

[MyrtleJune]

01:33 PM on 12/22/2011

Does America really NOT KNOW that this is where the the majority of our clothing comes from? Really? That's the real shocker here.

[gaffagirl1]

08:42 AM on 12/23/2011

You said it Myrtle - everything you buy is coming from a factory overseas. Everything. It doesn't matter if you are paying $250for a sweater at Nordstrom or $25 for a sweater from Sears. Everyone is slagging the Kardashians for "using" sweatshop labor - but guess what - there isn't 1 factory in China producing goods just for the Kardashians. The same factory is producing clothes under other labels for many other retailers, and while you turn your nose up at the Kardashian line just remember that your clothes from a higher end designers could have very well come from the same factory.

[fredimessina]

01:08 PM on 12/22/2011

You'd be surprised how many brands are doing the exact same thing and worse!!

[L8RG8RCYA]

01:04 PM on 12/22/2011

And we're suppose to believe they don't know how their factory is run. That's ludicrous. They know very well who they employ and what they pay. They should be made to pay these people back as far back as they were employed one lump sum of whatever is the wage's in our country. Then they should be slapped with at least a couple of million in fines and made to put adults in their factories not kids. They are no better than the bottom feeders, actually they are worse because they know better. And Kris Jenner is on the talk. Way to go 'TALK' employ someone who runs a sweatshop employing children. WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO HOLLY AND LEAH?

[gaffagirl1]

08:32 AM on 12/23/2011

The Kardashians don't employ anyone. A design firm designs their clothes and sources a factory to produce it. The Kardashians then lend their name to it and have nothing to do with what happens at the factory.

[DarkTruths]

12:56 PM on 12/22/2011

Kids are making their clothes? So THAT's why they look like crap!

[DelaneyRSchmitt]

11:47 AM on 12/22/2011

"The Kardashians are in bed with some pretty bad people" --Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

Charlie, we've known about that one for a very loooooonng time. It's how they got famous!

[jbaindreamer]

11:42 AM on 12/22/2011

They have proven they have no morals, ethics, humility or compassion for anyone, except themselves, and nothing, except their money. And this story surprises you? Come on.

[mukTech]

11:39 AM on 12/22/2011

The empire is coming down!! This is what happened to Paris Hilton and after that she could not recover. But then again, Paris is no Kim. I am sure Kim and the rest of the K family will find a way to capitalize on it.

[littlepuffycloud]

01:01 PM on 12/22/2011

This is also brought down Kathie Lee Gifford, she survived her husband being caught on camera in a prostitue sting, but she never recovered from the scandal of children making her crappy clothes..it took 10 years and the best gig she can get is getting drunk on tv with Hoda..

[mukTech]

01:15 PM on 12/22/2011

That's true. And Americans would rather not know where their clothes are coming from. Once you tell them that they being made by child labor, even though deep inside they know, that's it.

[clownprince]

11:08 AM on 12/22/2011

The sick members of the Kardashian klan are kompletely kontemptible. I knew they were low, but I kan't believe they have child laborers work like slaves to manufacture Kardashian krap.

[DelaneyRSchmitt]

11:24 AM on 12/22/2011

Koooll!!!! Fanned and Faved!!

[mspatz4u]

03:20 PM on 12/27/2011

OMG, I was at a mall in Hayward, Ca for a little after holiday shopping yesterday and needed to take my grandson to the restroom. The closest restroom was in Sears, as I entered the store there was super large advertisement of the three oldest Kardashian girls in their line of clothes. The clothes look great on the bill board, however; the clothes on the rack were profoundly hideous! I've seen better clothes at Wally Mart. They were cheaply made and were priced at $99.00 ea. Not only that, Sears had marked them down to $49.00. I would have not purchased those items even if they were marked down to $9.99 each. They were a long way from Ms. Kardishian's $1000.00 shoes. I wondered it they ever bothered to see what line of clothes were being stocked in Sears. I can tell you one thing, there were a lot of clothes on the rack, however, I was the only one looking at them.

[desireewhyte]

10:28 AM on 12/22/2011

I am not condoning slave labor, child labor, or any other unfair labor practices. However I have had discussions with people from China, Vietnam, etc... and they have told me that to them, these factory jobs are their best option. I think it's unfair that US execs pay them so little because they can get away with it, but it seems that they appreciate just having some sort of income. Wish there was someone to educate them to demand higher pay from these US companies.

[DelaneyRSchmitt]

11:34 AM on 12/22/2011

If that happened, the companies would simply move elsewhere where they can pay workers less. In the unlikely event that every single worker in the world stood up for better treatment, they would simply scale back production and products would be even more expensive. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the likely scenario (why do you think the U.S. has been bleeding jobs for the last several decades?).

To change this, consumers must take action: DEMAND products made using fair trade practices, and make the "huge" sacrifice of refusing to buy from sellers who don't follow them. If we vote with our money, the sellers will turn around really quickly--that is, unless governments bail them out, which as we know is indeed possible. Barring government bailouts, this can work with about 90-95% of goods and services.

[MammaLu]

12:03 PM on 12/22/2011

That doesn't make child labor ok.

[littlepuffycloud]

12:59 PM on 12/22/2011

The fact they appreciate working for peanuts doesn't make it right..

[desireewhyte]

03:35 PM on 12/22/2011

It doesn't, which is why I said I wish there was someone to educate them so they know that.