If Willy Wonka made blue jeans…

By Kelsey

…his factory would be about the same sizes as the Roo Hsing Garment Factory in Phnom Penh.

As I approach the mirrored-glass doors all I can see is my reflection. The plant manager opens the door and I disappear. An endless room of workers and sewing machines appear.

Some 85 people have a hand in making one pair of blue jeans. This Blue Jean Land is occupied by 1,000 workers.

More on this later…

Thanks to Levi’s for arranging the visit and thanks to the management at the Roo Hsing factory for giving me a most thorough tour. And the best part is that while they were giving me a tour, they got a stain out of my Made In Cambodia Levi’s that had been on there since the Bangladeshi New Year. Yeah, industrial cleaners!

In case you are perplexed…No I wasn’t walking around in my underwear. I had brought my Levi’s to show them and was wearing another pair of pants. Although, I have to admit, me walking around a factory in my underwear does make a better story.

Legacy Posts

May 17th, 2007 | 10:51 am

Lynne said:

Awesome!! Mission accomplished. You finally got your foot in the door this time!
May 18th, 2007 | 5:44 am

Kent said:

Sounds like your doing a lot better than Honduras. Looking forward to the details.
May 18th, 2007 | 9:42 am

Kelsey said:

Lynne, But wait…this isn’t the exact factory that made my jeans. I have a request in to Levi’s for the info on the exact factory. Right now all I have is a number: Levi factory # 890.

Kent, I was a lot less aggressive in Honduras. Now I’m a networking force to be reckoned with.
May 18th, 2007 | 9:01 pm

Miles said:

The workers don\’t happen to sing that creepy oompa-loompa song do they? And while, yes, walking around a factory in your underwear would be a great story, you probably wouldn\’t get very far. Good thinking!
May 19th, 2007 | 6:22 am

Kelsey said:

As I was writing this post I thought about throwing in an Oompa-loompa reference, but that just didn’t seem right. No they weren’t singing, but at one point they did stop working and stretch for five minutes to Club Music.