December 23, 2014

Where presents come from…

Dear followthethings.com shopper

Christmas is the busiest time of year for global capitalism. It’s also the best time of year to ask ‘who made my stuff’? Or, better, ‘who made the stuff I’m going to buy for my friends and family’? And ‘who made the gifts they’re going to gove to me’? There’s lots to think about.

We have been putting together a Christmas ‘shopping’ list for over a decade and it’s full of fascinating information and thought-provoking stories with which to teach and learn about this time of year. Watch some classic Christmas movies. Read some shopping guides, supply chain news, and perspectives on the season from NGOs, artists and academics.

How to think critically about and with Christmas? We have some ideas

Festive feelings

Ian et al.

[last updated December 2025]

Our Christmas movies

A short to warm up your audience:

Tesco pulls Christmas cards reportedly made by ‘Chinese prison slaves’ (2019)

Xmas Unwrapped (2014)

Where’s this from? See our page in this film here.

Then, the main feature:

What would Jesus buy (2007)

Santa’s workshop: inside China’s slave labour toy factories (2004)

For more detail on the making and impacts of this film, see our page on it here.

Our Christmas list

Shopping guides

Anon (2025) Your ultimate guide to an ethical christmas. Ethical Consumer 24 October

Supply chain news

Anon (2016) Why billions of dollars of goods are stuck at sea. The Economist 21 September

Begum, T. (2023) Woman making Christmas jumpers for UK turns to sex work to pay bills. The guardian 23 December

Chamberlain, G. (2016) The grim truth of Chinese factories producing the west’s Christmas toys. The Guardian 4 December

Farrer, M. (2022) Zero-Covid policy is costing China its role as the world’s workshop. The guardian 3 December

Gonçalves, M. (2023) Retailers fear Christmas sales will be impacted by supply chain disruption. The Grocer 17 November

Howells, R. (2016) Lost at Sea – Will I Get Christmas Presents This Year? Huffington Post 22 September

Hsu, T. & Kisby, R. (2017) 1,000 Miles, Four Families, One Christmas Tree. New York Times 15 December

Maughan, T. (2014) Your Christmas stuff is likely from Yiwu, a small town in China. BBC Future, 18 December

Robson, S. & Ward, A. (2012) The REAL Toy Story: Chinese factory workers forced to sleep among piles of doll parts as they churn out Christmas presents. Daily Mail 8 December

Sherwood, D. (2010) How your Christmas dinner has travelled 260,000 miles. Daily Mail 15 December

Urbina, I. (2007) Anarchists in the aisles? Stores provide a stage. New York Times 24 December

Wainright, O. (2014) Santa’s real workshop: the town in China that makes the world’s Christmas decorations. The Guardian 19 December

NGO perspectives

Anon (2007) A Wal-Mart Christmas: Brought to you from a Sweatshop in China. Pittsburgh, PA: National Labour Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights

Anon (2016) An Investigation into Four Toy Sweatshops. New York: China Labor Watch

Anon (2016) No Wonderland for workers: labour conditions at Disney’s supplier factories in China. Hong Kong: Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour

Anon (2023) Festive fashion is no joke: £218 million worth of novelty clothes cast aside in the New Year. Oxford: Oxfam