Jackman jeans sell for $30k

[KiwiCoromandel]

A PAIR of jeans belonging to Australian actor Hugh Jackman have set a new record for denim attire - fetching $30,000 at auction.

The jeans, decorated by artist Nafisa Naomi and signed by the Boy from Oz and X-Men 3 star, were among 17 pairs sold last night to raise more than $180,000 at the Jeans for Genes Gala Auction.

Jackman's pants outdid those of newlywed Nicole Kidman, with $11,000 paid for a pair of her old jeans that were painted by Paul Newton.

Model Megan Gale's jeans reached $10,000, as did those worn by artist Rolf Harris while he was painting a portrait of the Queen.

Jeans for Genes Day organisers said the $30,000, paid by Aussie Home Loans, was the world record figure.

source:AP

[method77]

Those crazy Aussies. I'd expect a pair worn by hot males or females to sell, not some old man's pair

[DudeAsInCool]

Anyone can buy mine for 30 bucks--that way I can get a brand new pair of Levis

[method77]

I never wear jeans but I could sell one of my cool Rip Curl pants for a lot of money

[DudeAsInCool]

I never wear jeans but I could sell one of my cool Rip Curl pants for a lot of money

You dont like jeans?

[method77]

I don't wear them. It's my fashion statement to the world.

501's does a woman's ass good though

[DudeAsInCool]

I don't wear them. It's my fashion statement to the world.

I think jeans are the new 'suit' and therefore suits are more fashionable

[KiwiCoromandel]

i used to wear jeans all the time..it`s tracksuit pants now..and slippers...and a pipe..

[method77]

I think jeans are the new 'suit' and therefore suits are more fashionable

huh? People have been wearing jeans forever. What "new suit" are you talking about?

[DudeAsInCool]

huh? People have been wearing jeans forever. What "new suit" are you talking about?

So much so that designer jeans have become the 'new suits' - therefore, I think its more individualistic to wear a suit than jeans.

[method77]

I hate designer jeans even more. They put their fancy logo on it and charge it a billion. Levis are better and cheaper if you prefer jeans.

A bud owns one of them expensive ski/board stores here and I get 75% off from really expensive brands like Salomon, North Face, Element, Rip Curl, Protest, etc

Another friend owns one of those stores where you put your own logo on clothes.

I have connections hehe

[KiwiCoromandel]

The awful price paid for our jeans.......

China Blue, a damning tale of sweatshop conditions in Chinese jeans factories by American documentary maker Micah Peled might make you feel uncomfortable in your denims.

Peled is in the country to promote the film, screening at 16 venues as part of the New Zealand Film Festival, with this being his second visit after touring with his previous film Store Wars, documenting a small town's attempts to stop megastore Wal-Mart.

"The Green Party when I was here with Store Wars brought me to the Beehive and we had a screening inside the Beehive," he told NZPA.

"It was the only time that I've had members of Parliament in any country of the world raise their hands to ask me questions after the screening. It was remarkable."

Peled may be yet to have a parliamentary reception for China Blue but it has been very well received. It has screened at numerous film festivals and won the International Human Rights award at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.

As with Black Gold, a film about the international coffee trade which also looks at the impacts of globalisation, China Blue gets much of its impact by personalising the issue. It is based at a jeans factory in Canton but focuses on two girls in particular - Jasmine, a 17-year-old who has just come in from the country to work, and Orchid, a slightly older girl whose job sewing zippers means she earns more.

For wages as low as six US cents an hour, they work 16-hour days, often seven days a week, helping produce huge numbers of jeans for the West.

They are docked pay if they take more than two toilet breaks a day, or if they are away from their workstation for simple reasons like getting energy drinks to help keep them awake. Sometimes they have to wait three months to be paid.

China has laws guaranteeing a minimum wage, overtime rights and the right to one day a week off. But enforcement is minimal, and unions that might otherwise take the issues up with authorities are banned.

The workers' boss, Li Tam, a former police chief, at one stage says the workers are taking advantage of him because among other things they get a free snack at midnight, 14 hours into their shift.

But he's under pressure too. Viewers see him offer jeans to a British buyer at $US4.20 ($NZ6.81) a pair, only to be told he has to cut it back to $US4 ($NZ6.48) or lose his deal. He is forced to cut pay rates to achieve this - even though he knows the retailer will sell it for at least 10 times the price in the west - and "encourages" his staff with slogans like "if you don't work hard today, you'll look hard for work tomorrow".

Peled says this factory is actually one of the better ones.

"Mr Tam is proud of his factory conditions. His factory only has 12 people per room, while most other factories had 20 to 30 people per room.

"He didn't feel he had anything to hide, which is why he let us film him - though we also agreed to make a 5 minute promo for the factory."

Chinese media laws made it difficult for Peled to film, and his crew was arrested at one stage.

"In China it's a crime to talk to western media without anyone from the government present, and they found the crew at a home in the country," Peled says.

"Fortunately I wasn't there, so I managed to come back later and finish the film. But every time we had to disassemble the camera coming into the country so they wouldn't think we were media.

"Mr Tam eventually got in trouble in China once this film had screened, not because of his factory conditions but for allowing western media in the factory."

Given the topic of his film it's something of a surprise to see Peled arrive for the interview in jeans. They don't come from China - they were made in Egypt - but Peled says that's not the point.

"I'm not advocating a boycott of Made in China goods by any means because the jeans that are made in other countries are not made in any better conditions than the ones made in China," he says.

"If the factory owner says 'let's be decent human beings and let my workers rest one day and let me pay them overtime', the retailer would say 'I'm sorry, your product is too expensive' and they'd go somewhere else."

The solution, Peled says, as he sips a cup of fair trade-certified organic coffee, lies in the hands of buyers.

"I believe that if enough consumers would send out a message to retailers that say 'give us some clothes that we can feel good about wearing, give us a sweatshop-free label on it just like we now have fair trade coffee', the retailers will do something.

"Maybe it costs a dollar more, but at least give us an option. I'm sure one of those retailers can figure out that they could actually be at the crest of a trend and come up with some chic, trendy clothes that would have this sweatshop-free label."

source:NZPA