No sweat: the fashion industry patches its image.

• Author: Press, Eyal
• Position: US clothiers and international sweatshop labor

`Mr. Chairman, I'm an entertainer who had a simple idea: create fashion wear with my name on it in the hopes of raising money for children. In hindsight, I have concluded that an exploration of quantum physics is easier to do.'

Thus spoke Kathie Lee Gifford on July 15 before Representative Chris Smith, Republican of New Jersey, and other members of Congress at a House subcommittee hearing on child labor. The hearing, plus a conference on sweatshops called the Fashion Industry Forum, which took place the following day, marked the final steps in Gifford's sudden transformation from perky morning-show hostess to anti-sweatshop crusader. It was just this April that Gifford, who burnishes an images as a children's advocate, was derided as a hypocrite for having her clothing line produced in dingy sweatshops by underpaid teenagers in Honduras and New York. By mid-July, leaders in Congress, along with Labor Secretary Robert Reich, the moderator at the Fashion Forum, were lauding Gifford as a selfless martyr who had done more to focus public attention on child-labor and sweatshop abuses than anyone in memory.

There is a certain truth to this. Reporters and cameramen jammed Capitol Hill for the child-labor hearings, not to report on the issue but to catch a glimpse of Gifford, to see what she was wearing, to capture the moment when the emotions welled and the celebrity entertainer shed a tear. The cameras turned out the next day for the Fashion Forum. Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, aerobics instructor Richard Simmons, and the heads of Levi's, WalMart, Kmart, and dozens of other corporate chains were in attendance--largely in response to Gifford's public plea that celebrities and industry leaders "do the right thing."

The Kathie Lee phenomenon represents a new stage in the blurring of entertainment spectacle with policymaking and news. At the Fashion Forum, the cameras flashed, Gifford beamed, and husband Frank stood like a pillar by her side. Meanwhile, Secretary Reich announced portentously: "We will look back upon today, years from now, and say this was a major turning point in our collective commitment to rid the nation--and also even the world--of sweatshops."

Appropriately, the Forum took place at Marymount University, home to one of the country's leading fashion-design schools and to the Center for Ethical Concerns, which recently produced a survey showing that eight out of ten Americans would avoid shopping in retail stores that sell sweatshop...