Sir, - Gabrielle Williams's article of September 1st on the subject of the fashions currently available in Pennys raises some interesting questions.
Most of us are aware that much of the merchandise filling our fashion stores at the moment comes from questionable markets, where human rights in the workplace are not always a priority.
BBC's Panorama produced a well-documented programme on this subject earlier this year, which was extremely critical of two multinationals in particular, Nike and Gap, in relation to their working conditions and pay.
As was demonstrated in Ms Williams's article, the value in Pennys at the moment does indeed appear quite remarkable. However, with price labels so incredibly low - e.g., £4 for a handbag and £25 for a coat - one could be for given for querying the origins of the goods in an effort to feel assured that they had been produced and traded without exploitation.
With the store in question it is often quite difficult to ascertain the country of origin as few of the articles carry a label with this information. - Yours, etc.,
Mary Donohoe, Merlyn Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.