Ladydrawers

Part of the Series

Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size.

New Ladydrawer Melissa Mendes draws the latest installment of our yearlong look at international gender and labor issues (check out “Fast Fashion,” “Let’s Go Shopping” and “The Business of Thrift” with Julia Gfrörer), which looks at the wacky world of Foreign-Trade Zones and the labor problems they foster. Despite their rampant growth in recent years, few know they exist. However, they contribute greatly to the annual gross domestic product – and the global garment trade.

As always, our previous strips can be found here. We’ll take December off but will be back in January to explore trade policies and border patrol – and what it means for your personal sense of style.

An urgent fundraising appeal: We still need to raise $12,000

Truthout is one of only a few platforms for justice-oriented, grassroots journalism. Today, we face an existential threat.

Due to Google’s launch of AI search, we’ve seen a drastic plunge in our site traffic and, as a result, our revenue. We lost 15 percent of our readership overnight. This was a readership we painstakingly built over decades, and it vanished because Google chose corporate greed over a healthy democracy.

We are fundraising right now to meet our basic operating expenses. If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Anything you can do makes a difference — we appreciate your support.

Anne Elizabeth Moore

Anne Elizabeth Moore is a cultural critic and author of several award-winning, best-selling nonfiction books including Unmarketable (The New Press) and Cambodian Grrrl (Cantankerous Titles). She is a Fulbright scholar, a USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellow, and is the recipient of a 2016 Write A House Fellowship in Detroit. Her work has appeared in The Baffler, Al Jazeera, Salon, The Onion, Talking Points Memo, Wilson Quarterly, Tin House, and in international art exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial and a solo show at the MCA Chicago. She has appeared on CNN, NPR, Voice of America, and in The New York Times, among others. Her most recent book, from Curbside Splendor, is Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes.

Melissa Mendes

Melissa Mendes was born and raised in Western Massachusetts. In 2010, after graduating from the Center for Cartoon Studies, she won a Xeric award to self-publish her book Freddy Stories. Since then, she’s worked with Anne on Threadbare and Harvey and Me, published a graphic novel called Lou, and is now working on an epic family saga called The Weight, based on her late grandfather’s life. You can see more of her work at mmmendes.com.

Ladydrawers: “Being of Service“

Today's strip launches a new look at contemporary gender and economic justice around the world.

By: Anne Elizabeth Moore ,; Sarah Jaffe ,; Delia Jean ,; Truthout

Graphic Journalism

Ladydrawers: Let’s Go Shopping

Ladydrawers' second look at the global garment trade begins where the production line should end: at H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and other fast-fashion retail stores.