Absurd Intellectual

It’s old news, I guess, that companies contribute to political campaigns, but I guess I never really thought about how I, as a consumer, could be helping out political causes that I don’t agree with.

I sort of thought that most large companies would hedge their bets by contributing equally (or equitably) to both sides of the political spectrum, but that’s not always the case. And, I’ve just come across a site that breaks down the contributions by clothing manufacturer. Check out this page on OpenSecrets.org:

In the 2008 election cycle, employees of Michael Kors donated 93 percent of campaign contributions to Democrats while employees of Liz Claiborne donated 98 percent to Democrats. Meanwhile, employees of Columbia Sportswear donated almost 90 percent of campaign contributions to Republicans.

Although the clothing industry is pretty evenly divided overall, individual companies in the clothing manufacturing business tend to be notably partisan in their federal political donations, more so than almost any other industry.

Some other highlights were that Guess?, Calvin Klein and American Apparel were 100% supportive of the Democrats, while Levi, Perry Ellis and Fruit of the Loom were heavily Republican.