As sibling comment says, sweatshop labour (or underplayed employees in food chains) reduce the cost of the product/service, undercutting the businesses that don't have predatory practices, who then cannot compete and go out of business leaving the ones that underpay their staff as the only option and "better than the alternative" only because the alternative has been driven out of business by these practices. Besides, why support something that perpetuates human misery? (I mean that as a philosophical question, not trying to judge anyone. I buy stuff from companies that I probably shouldn't buy from too all too often...)

" If working like a robot is cruel, why are people doing it? Because it's better than their alternatives? Ok then, how exactly does taking that option away from them help?"

The idea behind boycotting sweatshop labor is that it creates a market for non-sweatshop clothing, which creates a better-paid alternative for the people working like a robot.

"If working like a robot is cruel, why are people doing it? Because it's better than their alternatives? Ok then, how exactly does taking that option away from them help?"

Surely, you're not that naive? How do you live with yourself?

Have you ever made yourself a sandwich?

My go-to rationalization these days is "there's no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism". Combined with "individual lifestyle choices can't produce the systemic change we need to solve the problem those lifestyle choices are aimed at fixing".