Teen-age millionaires Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have signed a pledge to
stop alleged abuses at overseas factories producing their clothing line.
The move drew praise from the group that earlier called on the twins to
support the rights of female workers overseas.
Nineteen other garment companies, including Liz Claiborne and Levi
Strauss, have also signed the pledge.
|
|
AP
|
|
Ashley Olsen, left, and Mary-Kate Olsen arrive
at Coty's 100th year anniversary party at New
York's Museum of Natural History on Sunday,
Sept. 12, 2004.
|
|
|
|
The National Labor Committee claimed it asked the 18-year-olds to
support paid maternity leave for the women who manufacture the Olsen's
Wal-Mart clothing line in Bangladesh. The committee claimed it failed to
hear back after asking the Olsens to sign a petition confirming that the
workers “have the legal right to maternity leave with benefits.”
The committee is a watchdog group most known for publicizing the
sweatshop conditions of Kathie Lee Gifford’s clothing line in 1996. The
committee insisted that it was appealing to the star power and
visibility of the twins, not attacking them. A scheduled Dec. 10 protest
in Manhatten near New York University, where the sisters are enrolled,
quickly turned a celebration, just hours after they signed the petition.
"Mary Kate and Ashley - very powerful celebrities, very wealthy
teenagers with their very powerful voices - are now standing up for the
rights of other young women across the developing world who sew their
clothing," Charles Kernaghan, president of the National Labor Committee,
said at the rally.
According to a statement on the committee’s Web site, “the Olsen twins
have done the right thing.
“Now it is up to Wal-Mart to either support Mary-Kate and Ashley's
commitment to women's rights, or tragically to shut them down.”
Michael Pagnotta, the twins’ publicist, said in a telephone interview
this week that his clients had never resisted signing the petition.
“People are trying to call attention to the issues using Mary-Kate and
Ashley,” Pagnotta said. “There are conditions for workers rights already
in contracts that must adhere to health and safety standards.
“Mary-Kate and Ashley stand for workers rights everywhere,” Pagnotta
said. “There was never any refusal on their part to sign the petition.”
The twins began their career taking turns playing Michelle Tanner as
babies on ABC’s “Full House” and have parlayed that into a
billion-dollar multimedia gold mine.
In an attempt to extend their marketing appeal beyond their clothing
line targeting teens and young adults, the twins earlier this month
announced the launch of two perfumes aimed at both teens and women in
their 20s, 30s and 40s.
The perfumes, “Coast to Coast LA” and “Coast to Coast NYC,” will come
out next spring and are designed to capture the girls’ sense of style,
according to Pagnotta.
The 18-year-old sisters are about to wrap up the first semester at New
York University. Without elaborating, Pagnotta this week denied reports
that one of the twins is having trouble in school while the other is
doing well. He said both are doing well.
Wire services contributed to this report.
ARTICLE TOOLS: 
