Victoria's Secret International

    
     Thursday after class, we went on a trip to another area of Irbid to visit one of the factories here. The trip was treacherous, as most cab rides are here, and consisted of a persistent metallic smell. It was mechanic row. There were fenders, tires, and pieces of cars everywhere. We went into the factory, which looked like a normal building from the outside. The factory was two levels of women working on underwear for the Victoria's Secret line, Pink. They gave us orange sodas and told us about the factory as we walked through the assembly lines. As a result of the 1994 Jordan/Israel, the factory is owned by a family in Israel. Jordan can then export products duty free to the United States as long as eight percent of their industrial input come from Israel. In the United States and part of Europe, the products say "Made in Israel," while they say "Made in Jordan" everywhere else. The women seem content and happy, they make between 2-500$ a month, which is more than many women make in Irbid. On our way out, we were given a gift bag of Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret underwear and Gap tank tops. The tour was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be, and it was really cool to see the process of Victoria's Secret underwear being made, from fabric to stitching to branding.