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True confessions

SFGate:

Apparel marketer Gap Inc. conceded Wednesday the global manufacturing network it uses to make its clothes offers low paying work under often hazardous conditions.

In an unusual report, the clothier said it found a range of workplace violations in thousands of inspections in 2003 of the more than 3,000 factories worldwide that produce goods for Gap. The violations included improper storage of hazardous or combustible materials, machinery that lacked "some operational safety devices" and inadequate first aid and fire safety, according to the report.

Officials at San Francisco-based Gap have previously defended their relationships with plants in about 50 countries that supply its Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, saying they abided by the company's "ethical sourcing" policy which pledged fair treatment of workers.

But in the new report, Gap said, "Few factories, if any, are in full compliance all of the time."