800 millions of jeans per year, twice as many legs, four times as many pockets and even more passers-by in which we will slip a belt… In Xintang, 50 km from Canton in China, these figures are calculated in sweat, in hours of work, in toxic discharges in rivers, in decibels. The jeans factory of the world is hell on earth and at the same time a paradise for those who spring from the countryside looking for work.

Xintang manufactures one-third of the world’s jeans production (for major Western brands, from Calvin Klein to True Religion) and two-thirds of the jeans purchased in China; enough to support almost the entire local population.
In Xintang, employees of 2,600 jeans factories work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Half a day of rest, only one, on the 15th of the month, when the payroll falls, between 2,000 and 4,500 yuan (220 and 510 euros), depending on orders.