The Cambodian Moms Sacrificing Their Health and Family to Make Your Clothes

Peak hour on the congested roads of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, brings a spectacle that seems to single-handedly define industrialism. Truck-loads of workers, wedged onto cattle vans, are shipped from the provinces and outer suburbs to one of the hundreds of garment factories on the city's dusty outskirts.

Among them is 30-year old Sophan, who relocated from her home province of Kampong Cham two years ago to take up garment work. She is currently three-months pregnant, which makes her ten-hour shift in the oppressive factory environment even more onerous.

"Sometimes I need to vomit and I work more slowly than other people," Sophan says, speaking in a hurried lunch-break before the loudspeakers summon workers back to the production line. "Plus I always get sick, because since I've been working here my health is not very good."

The million-or-so employees like Sophan are the backbone of Cambodia's garment industry as well as its economy, with the sector accounting for around 80 percent of the country's exports. As many Cambodian factories are largely foreign-owned, they are also very often the operations behind Western wardrobes, producing the fabric for major brands such as H&M, Armani, Adidas and Gap.

Read the full piece here on Broadly.