Word: garment
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...average Chinese is now said to spend a quarter of his or her salary on clothes. Tickets for garment fairs are sold by scalpers at 50 times face value. The biggest rage of all is for Western-style suits. So desired is the new look that for a while some factories and work units handed out Western suits instead of cash bonuses to deserving workers. The practice was soon officially dubbed one of the Eight New Evil Winds* and eventually banned by the government. But fashion is still coming on strong in Chinese life, at least in the big cities...
...school, the boys, Ricardo, 16, and Jorge, 15, work in the family business, changing and repairing tires, while Leticia, 14, helps keep the books. The girls also do many of the household chores, because their mother badly twisted her back five years ago while lifting boxes at a local garment factory. Workmen's compensation paid for surgery on her spine, and her resident's status was never at issue...
...match between what they can do and what offers an opportunity," says Harvard Sociologist Nathan Glazer. "They try to find a niche, and what's surprising is that there's always a niche to fill." Jewish tailors from Central and Eastern Europe became important in the American garment industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Chinese laborers, barred by discrimination from many occupations in the American West, found that they could become entrepreneurs by opening laundries...
...Miami's garment district, once run chiefly by Italians and East European Jews, is another enclave of Cubans. Their plants and showrooms sprawl over several square miles of Dade County and offer everything from sportswear to accessories. "The Cubans really put some zing into this industry," says Erwin Fine, owner of Florida Thread and Trimmings. "Almost 100% of the small manufacturers are Cuban, almost 100% of the contractors, big and small, are Cuban, and almost all the top management is Cuban...
Among the area's clothing manufacturers is Antonio Acosta, 40, owner of Tony and Toni Fashions in nearby Hialeah. It makes sportswear and has annual revenues of about $500,000. Acosta, who left Cuba for the U.S. at 16, headed for the garment district, one of the few sources of jobs for Cuban newcomers. Says he: "When I came to Miami in 1960, I didn't speak any English. I had no money and no job. I started as a sweeper, cleaning the factory." After mastering various industry skills, Acosta sank his savings into a garment- cutting service...