Defying sweatshops: Good for business?

Sweatshop labour in the clothing business is something many manufacturers find too tempting to pass up. But Joe Bozich, Knights Apparel CEO is hoping to make a change.

With the help of an independent human rights group, he has set up a factory in the Dominican Republic -- called Alta Gracia -- which pays a living wage more than three times the minimum.

Mr Bozich, who is in Australia as a guest of the US Studies Centre at the Univeristy of Sydney and New South Wales Trade & Investment, says his business is not only improving lives but his bottom line as well.

"On visits to third-world countries, I saw the people that are manufacturing our products and where they live, and it really made me think about what it would be like to go through without hope.

"I asked myself, 'how can you use your business to make a life-changing difference in the lives of the people who your business touches?' And that's really what Alta Gracia is all about – it's about creating hope for a better future,” he said.