Where am I Wearing?: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes

Amilcar is a garment worker whom Timmerman meets during his journey to Honduras, where his T-shirt was manufactured. Timmerman identifies Amilcar as the catalyst for the rest of his investigative journey. Timmerman’s failure to ask Amilcar meaningful questions about his life during their first meeting prompts his determination not to make the same mistake with interviewees in the other countries he visits.

Amilcar serves as a foil to Timmerman in the book, emphasizing how an individual’s opportunities are determined by where they are born. Although Amilcar is similar in age to Timmerman, the contrast in their responsibilities and the options available to them is dramatic. Timmerman contrasts his postponement of selecting a career due to “too many choices” with Amilcar’s pressing need to work to support his family (16).

Arifa is a garment worker with whom Timmerman spends a day during his journey to Bangladesh, one of the major hubs for clothing manufacturing. Her personal story humanizes the often overlooked and exploited workforce behind the global garment industry. Through Timmerman's interactions with her, he portrays the challenges, aspirations, and daily struggles garment workers face in Bangladesh.

Arifa represents the millions of individuals, primarily women, who work in the garment factories of Bangladesh and other developing countries. Her story sheds light on the low wages and substandard living conditions that many workers endure. Her story emphasizes that child labor is a necessity rather than a choice for many Bangladeshi parents, as she reveals that she wants to keep her children in school but cannot afford to do so. Her struggles and aspirations illustrate the human impact of cheap clothing.

Timmerman focuses on Nari and Ai to represent the experience of Cambodian garment workers who make the supposedly all-American product Levi’s jeans. Although the young women work long hours, their low wages allow them only to subsist. Their poverty is illustrated by the room they share with six other workers, four sleeping on the floor and four on the bed.

Nari and Ai also illustrate the displacement caused by globalization. They come from rural communities but rarely have the time or money to visit their families. Despite their youth, the young women are responsible for supporting the parents and siblings who remain in their home villages. While Nari and Ai represent the ethical price of cheap clothing manufacturing, Timmerman is careful to individualize them, depicting Nari as confident, while Ai is reticent and shy.