Now, Lets Talk About It.

We've been pretty silent lately about that state of the fashion industry. On the blog anyways. But behind the scenes, we've been keeping a very close eye on the tragedy in Bangladesh - the horrific, inexcusable before-hand facts and the astonishing after-event revelations. The thing is not a lot of people are aware of the global reach the apparel industry has, and its not all sunshine colours and sparkles. The apparel industry is just that - its an industry. A place where large companies win over shareholders boosting the bottom line every year. So while inflation is inflating and quality of life is increasing worldwide, large companies are trying to bring their costs down. 

Hmmm. 

So somewhere, there are corners being cut. In business, its pretty standard. And its all fine and dandy if you "MacGyver" a shelf to hold supplies or don't replace the magenta cartridge to save a couple dollars. As long as no one gets hurt. But when you're dealing with customers who will bring you thousands and thousands of dollars of business, that shelf becomes a factory floor and those supplies become employees and those couple of dollars that were just saved can in no way make up for the biggest work place accident the apparel industry has seen.

That brings us to Rana Plaza. The disaster at a Bangladeshi garment factory where earlier this year over half the employees were killed when the top three illegally added floors to the now 8-floor facility collapsed and took the whole building down with it. What followed was a massive manhunt for survivors, a movement among the workers nation-wide to demand safety and a promise to punish those responsible at the highest possible level. Across the pond, a spark was lit. Petitions were signed, boycotts were suggested and then something else happened in the news...

The thing is, its a global issue. It really is. Its hard to feel connected to an event or a person when you've never met them, have never seen the conditions first hand. But guaranteed, unless you were very conscious, you have something in your closet from Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or another war torn third world country. I bet your clothes have travelled further than you, seen more than you, and been witness to more horrific treatment than you could imagine. I remember boasting that my hiking boots had been to Peru. Then I discovered they were made there. Again; hmmm. The globalization of our industries has made this world very small, and its time we start taking responsibility in our neighbourhood as well as on the other side of the ocean.

Minimum wage in Bangladesh only increased two years ago and child labour and slavery is something that is only recently on the out. Garment workers make around $38 a month, which in relation to their economy is still the lowest in the WORLD. A proposed "Accord on Fire and Building Safety" has been on the table since 2010, but with everyone's purse strings tightening, massive companies such as Sears, GAP and WalMart have all declined. Until recently. With these latest happenings H&M and Inditex SA (Zara) have signed on and Joe Fresh has made a promise to the Rana Plaza victims. I am putting my perhaps naive trust in them that its not for PR and hope they will uphold their commitment.

It the past, its been the protests or opposition that have brought about change in such countries as Cambodia and Bangladesh, and by no means do we want to halt garment production in those countries as it is their largest export. But there has to be standards. There has to be rules and regulations for employers to abide by such as the legislation we here in Canada have the luxury and security of. Accidents still happen of course, but they should be few and far between and not occur because unsafe additions were added on to facilities to increase productivity or emergency exits were blocked to hinder employees taking breaks. Change doesn't happen overnight, and too drastic of a change will deter most business, but progress to move towards universal labour laws, I think, would be a reasonable request. 

How to get there, I have no idea. H&M and Zara getting on board is a start. I would love for a large company to really step forward, go out on a limb and play martyr, but thats considered bad business. Or for local governments to stand up to industry with legislation that will demand respect. Or the desire for cheap fast fashion to die down. I just hope it doesn't take another devastating event to get the big players butts in gear. Who know how it will play out, but there have been bigger miracles - a 19 year old seamstress was pulled out of the rubble after 17 days buried, for example. 

Perhaps its time for another pleasant surprise.

- Kim



For more reading relating to these events, check out these links:
Op Ed News - H&M Responds Slowly to Bangladesh Factory Collapse Killing 1,100
GreenPeace - The Detox Campaign
Eco Fashion World - The Life of Textiles
Vancouver Sun - Garment Industry Reforms
The Toronto Star - New Positive Changes in the Apparel Industry
A picture is worth 1126 words...

A few interesting, and somewhat ironic, facts I discovered:
- consumer pressure was solely responsible for Nike reassessing their production strategy in the 1990s.
- Disney, a company that prides itself on creating role models like Simba and Mulan who stood up and faced their fears, pulled all production from Bangladesh rather than stand tall and be part of the change.
- A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York in 1911 prompted social reforms to get us to where we are today in North America - that fire claimed 1/10th of the lives that the fire at Rana Plaza did. Come on social reform, triple.