While pretty hideous sweashops do exist, there is still good chance that the person who sowed your jeans chose to do it. Because the alternative was even worse.
And to what extent are we responsible for those alternatives? How much are the companies we patronize invested in making sure their employees have no choice?
Well given that large parts of south Asia and Africa are still medieval poor, I'm not going to assume much responsibility. You don't need to beat people into desperation in many places of the world.
My great-great-great-great-great grandfather might have had something to do with colonialism. But if we start judging sons by their fathers, we get nowhere. And at the same time people remain poor in Africa.
Buying only domestic goods would help to ensure that they remain poor.
The one instance that really has incentive to keep people poor are the foreign development organizations. They don't need people "poor enough to be willing to work" they need people "starving, so we get good footage".
