‘Workwear For Kids’ Weaves In Alarming Details For Child Laborers
Image via Workwear for Kids
The fight against child labor is a complex global issue, and raising awareness remains crucial. SOS Children’s Villages, an international nonprofit that provides homes for orphaned and abandoned children, recently launched a unique and impactful campaign to bring this fight to the forefront. The poignant campaign, titled Workwear for Kids, takes a startling approach by unveiling a line of children’s clothing specifically designed for hazardous labor jobs.
Video via Workwear for Kids
The three-piece range, created in collaboration with the advertising agency Nord DDB, features clothing for children aged five to 10. Each garment, with only a single XXXS size option, is specifically crafted to depict the harsh realities these children face under the guise of protecting their safety.
Image via Workwear for Kids
The Brick Jacket, crafted from heavyweight canvas, is a child’s armor against a brutal workday. Repelling both sweat and the harsh elements, it’s designed for extended shifts at sweltering kilns.
Images via Workwear for Kids
Reinforced wrist guards shield tiny hands from cuts and blisters while enabling the lifting of heavy bricks. But a glimpse of hope peeks through the practicality—openable armpits allow for ventilation near scorching furnaces. A special pocket, a grim necessity, stores an oxygen tube for emergencies and a face mask to fight off dust and chemical fumes.
Image via Workwear for Kids
The Miner’s Pants are made from heavy, durable canvas, offering reinforced knee padding to ease the process of crawling through cramped mine tunnels. Adjustable straps ensure a (disturbingly) universal fit for these young laborers.
Images via Workwear for Kids
A flashlight carrier and GPS tracker are attached, a desperate attempt to prepare for the unthinkable—a cave-in. Another pocket, a further nod to the dangers faced, holds a face mask to minimize dust inhalation and the risk of cobalt poisoning.
Image via Workwear for Kids
The Tobacco Shirt is made from waxed cotton, offering a flimsy shield against pesticide-laden fields and heavy rain. Dyed to a dull shade to mask the inevitable nicotine stains, it’s a uniform of despair. Reinforced wrists offer a shred of protection against cuts from knives and machetes, ever-present dangers in these fields.
Special pockets, a sickening necessity, are sewn on to store antidotes and serums, a desperate hope against the dangers lurking in every leaf. Openable armpits provide a small measure of comfort in the sweltering heat.
Images via Workwear for Kids
In a further effort to raise awareness, a limited number of clothing items are also put up for sale for the amount that children earn during a whole year within their respective industries. This translates to a shockingly low US$865 for the mining industry, a mere US$385 in the tobacco industry, and as little as US$290 in the brick industry. The meager sums underscore the devastating reality of child labor, highlighting the stolen childhoods and exploited lives behind these paltry wages.
[via Little Black Book, Best Ads on TV, Ad Age, video and images via Workwear for Kids]
