"Fast Fashion" and industrial disasters

[lagatta]

An issue very much in the news and in debate these days, as the Rana Plaza collapse may well prove to be the worst garment industry disaster in history. Among its clients were well-known British, Spanish, Canadian and US brands.

Some of the management of the subcontracting firms have already been arrested, in the wake of the outrage this case of gross negligence - evidently ordering workers back into the factories in a building that already had severe cracks.

This raises many issues, health and safety of course, the question of offloading production to the lowest-wage countries, the competition among these. At the same time, people in Bangladesh very much need work; the country is experiencing a very severe environmental and demographic crisis, since so much of its land is very low-lying, and obviously the country doesn't have the funds to build dikes like those in the Netherlands.

Some are calling for a boycott of client firms in the wealthy Western countries, others say it is more important for these firms to ensure labour standards among production factories - which are often subcontractors of their own contractors.

A certain type of consumer behaviour may also play a part: consumers (those who can afford to save and budget for fewer, better-quality garments) opting to buy fashionable "throwaway" garments. Here, Joe Fresh garments were among those fount in the ruins of Rana Plaza. It is a subsidy of major Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws. But then, even most high-end garments are now sewn in low-wage countries.

Today is International Workers' Memorial Day, a day of remembering workers killed and injured on the job and ensuring justice to survivors and to the families of workers killed. This disaster makes the day even starker than usual.

[Deleted]

One of the first reports I read about the disaster was in the British media, who were already calling it "the Primark disaster."

I am ashamed to own quite a few clothing items made in Bangladesh, always bought at rock bottom prices. I remember when clothes sold in France were made in Tunisia or Mauritius or even sometimes *gasp* France.

[bjd]

There was a report about the Bangladesh textile industry in May of last year.

www.france24.com/en/20110517-reporters-bangladesh-textile-workers-exports-western-brands-clothing-profitability-low-wages-unions-globalisation

(That's my daughter's voice doing the narration. )

[bjd]

Sorry -- that was in 2011.

[Jazz]

The Rana Plaza collapse is a sad, ugly and shameful event. ‘those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it’. This ugliness is not new. Within moments of hearing of this tragic event, I thought of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York city in 1911.

“To encourage the seamstresses to stay at their machines and to inhibit stealing, company management routinely locked the exit doors. The hours were long (9-10 hours per day), the work monotonous, the pay low - in short, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company epitomized the "Sweatshop."
A fire broke out, no one could exit and 147 young women from 13-23 years old, died. Many jumping from windows.

www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpim3.htm

I am sometimes guilty of profiting from cheap ‘anything’ on the backs of vulnerable and desperate people. Most of us are, often without awareness. Here, the beauty of the high tech world comes into play. Instant awareness spreads throughout the world and may encourage action. The upside of almost total lack of privacy.

Boycotting may work, but in financially difficult times, I wouldn’t count on it. I think Lagatta's idea would be more effective,

---“ A certain type of consumer behaviour may also play a part: consumers (those who can afford to save and budget for fewer, better-quality garments) opting to buy fashionable "throwaway" garments. Here, Joe Fresh garments were among those fount in the ruins of Rana Plaza. It is a subsidy of major Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws. But then, even most high-end garments are now sewn in low-wage countries.”---

This makes more sense to me, individual responsibility. Many individuals can become a powerful force.

Just today in the Toronto Star (Canada’s largest daily newspaper), there was this article re: Loblaw’s assuming responsibility, shamed into it by the world's awareness,

www.thestar.com/business/2013/04/29/bangladesh_factory_collapse_retail_council_loblaw_hold_conference_call.html

[Deleted]

In the last year or so the Joe Fresh garment company opened a huge store on NYC's trendy Madison Avenue. I don't know why I was kind of shocked to hear that.
A friend of mine in NYC told me that it's always full of people buying bargain faux designer type apparel.
I hope the place gets heavily boycotted.

Thanks for the interesting video BJD. Your daughter has a lovely voice.

[fumobici]

I'm pretty sure even buying expensive name brands doesn't help one avoid supporting these shocking practices as even the owners of luxury brands that could afford to be more ethical rarely do, instead preferring to make a slightly larger mark-up. The Western business class generally has the morals of some Dickensian villain or rutting hyenas. The least we as Westerners could do is demand minimal standards of business-labor conduct among those we allow the privilege of importing goods into our countries. Free trade isn't some sacrosanct religion--there's absolutely no reason we should be obligated to ignore all this inhumanity in its name. Even if doing prevents some already wealthy people from becoming slightly wealthier.

[mossie]

Well said, Fumo. We are all guilty to some degree in demanding ever more and ever cheaper goods. But big business and the excess profits made are the true culprits.

[bixaorellana]

May 2, 2013 21:46:19 GMT fumobici said:

The least we as Westerners could do is demand minimal standards of business-labor conduct among those we allow the privilege of importing goods into our countries.

Agreed. Really, it's the least and the most we can do, along with finding out, if possible, where and how our clothing originates.

It's not at all automatically true that "you get what you pay for". It's way too easy for brands to coast (& cost more) on their name recognition or for companies to slap on "green" labels, etc.

The bottom line is, whom does boycotting hurt? Yes, of course it hurts the boycotted companies, but what does it do to their workers who get booted as soon as sales are down? Forcing companies to behave ethically would protect those workers and might even level the field so that expensive items would actually be better made in order to compete. (<-- doubting that 2nd part even as I type it. :

[nautiker]

I assume fumobici could be right about the big brands acting similarly to any other company - this said, among the clothes found in Rana Plaza were German discounter fashion kik and nkd, too, so for the time being the Jackass is with the low-cost brands.

my opinion: any sort of boycotting/campaign will only work with brands who really worry about their image (and one would need momentum, too), yet customers of low-cost retailers to a large part belong to the working poor that have been raised, who are either unable or unwilling to pay considerably more for clothing...

p.s. as regards the labels, does anyone recall that a couple of years ago there were reports about sweatshops with Chinese workers in Italy? wonder what has happened to them...

[bjd]

I think they are still there.

When I walk through parts of Paris -- in the 11th along Boulevard Voltaire in particular -- all the former shops have been taken over by Chinese clothing wholesalers and I always think there must be sweatshops above or in the courtyards.

[Deleted]

There are hundreds of Chinese sweatshops all over Paris, but I do hope that their working conditions are somewhat better than in Bangladesh. After all, the workers are free to blow the whistle here if they find the conditions intolerable. In my own neighbourhood, all of the sweatshops are full of African men slaving over their sewing machines, generally in full view of anybody walking by on the street. What is odd is that they are sewing dresses for African women and not for Occidental teens.

In the latest reports about that Bangladesh disaster, the death toll is now above 500. What is really amazing is that just about every western brand mentioned has denied having any contract with the companies in that building. For example, there were "Tex" labels on the premises, which is the house brand for Carrefour clothing. Naturally Carrefour denied having any contract with any of those companies -- and it is true. They sign contracts with other companies who farm out the work to places like this. There is always a buffer zone of denial.

[rikita]

i must admit also some of the (cheap, though not quite kik-like cheap) clothing i have is also made in bangladesh. it is like others say - on the one hand not knowing if hte more expensive clothing was made under any better circumstances, and on the other hand not being able to afford more expensive one (or at least not having clothes very high up on my priority list spending wise). i do regularly plan to be better, after all there are brands that are advertising with that everything is made in germany, or that are fair trade... apart from the money, that involves more effort to find out which they are and where to get them of course...

[lagatta]

Latest news I have of the death toll is: 1115. About 2500 injured, many very seriously. Many people are still missing.

Rikita, many of the quality, lasting German shoes I've bought are now made abroad, often in Asian countries.

[bjd]

One of the things I find terrible is that there were over 3,000 people working in there. The building was just not that big, so the working conditions must have been even worse than I imagined -- the tightly packed crowds, the heat, the dust from the material, the noise of the sewing machines.

[rikita]

yeah i know the majority of clothes and shoes here is made abroad, but there are some companies that produce here, just that they are really expensive...

it really is quite horrible - and while it was on the news here, one wonders why it isn't on the news more... any accident where over one thousand rich "western" people die would get huge amounts of coverage. this though is on the news a couple of days and then it moves on to something else...

[Deleted]

Well they did mention that it was the biggest death toll ever in Asia for an industrial accident except for the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster in 1984.

[lagatta]

There are also some mines in China with horrific death and injury tolls.

Rikita, in terms of damage, in some ways it is up there with the World Trade Centre. Probably not as many dead, even including the many bodies not yet recovered, but a huge number of severe injuries, including many people who will never be able to work again, and become a burden on their families, in a country where there is no universal social provision.

Though of course it is silly to compare anyone's pain with anyone else's. They are all legitimate.

[rikita]

that is true, and i didn't mean to imply that desasters in "the western world" are less horrible... just that desasters in poor countries are just as horrible, but often get noticed less... like what you say about the mine accidents in china etc., that is on the news once, usually, and everyone thinks, "oh another one of those" and then it is forgotten about again...

or when i was in india there was a mass panic at a pilgrim festival near where i stayed, with about one hundred dead, i think. i tried to find a reference on german news sites online, and couldn't, though while i searched i came across articles about various mass panics with one or two dead in european countries... not to say that the death of those one or two people isn't sad too...

[rikita]

just another thought - of course part of it probably has to do with things closer to home usually being more important, because it feels more like it could happen to you or someone you know... that's for example also why the tsunami in 2004 was covered more than the earthquake in haiti in 2010 (which was covered a lot, but by far not as much) - in the first event holiday destinations were struck where a lot of people have been or might go to one day or knew someone there, in the second event, it was a country that sees not that many tourists...

on the other hand, i guess it also might have to do with "expecting" something - like the mining accidents in china, i guess people aren't surprised because it feels like "ah yes, that is china, these things happen there all the time"... i read an article once shortly after 9-11, which said that for a lot of germans the attack on the US was more shocking even than if it had happened in their own country, because it was something they didn't think possible, it kind of confused the idea of what was safe and what wasn't...

don't know if that makes sense...

[lagatta]

True. Here in Québec, though the Asian tsunami was world news, the Haitian earthquake was an even bigger story, as there are so many people here from Haiti.

[nautiker]

well, in the end this topic faded from the news pretty quickly - wonder how much those brands who published that agreement ought to be trusted, especially once taking into account it merely covers Bangladesh, sort of 'lowest common denominator'...

as regards perception of disasters, I was taken aback when the FAO recently announced their report on the Somalia famine: I guess they claimed the number of casualties had turned out considerably higher than expected just due to earlier reports with a lower count, however to me it sounded as if they'd needed to add this piece of information to put the event into perspective, since we've totally lost measure how many famine deaths are 'standard' and how many are 'extraordinary' - we've got used to shrugging them off regardless whether they're 50.000, 100.000, 250.000...

[Deleted]

Last I read, only one major French brand -- Carrefour -- had signed the agreement to prevent such things from ever happening again. Other brands said they were "studying" it.

[bjd]

Yesterday morning my husband and I ran a short race for charity, mostly sponsored by Carrefour. The goody bag is made of thick cotton with a "fairtrade" label on it, instead of the usual plastic. Of course, it also has Je suis tout bio written on it as well as Carrefour, so I won't be using it as a fashion accessory.

[lagatta]

I guess it would be too hard (and also a bit polluting) to dye it a darker colour.

I will use cloth shopping bags from stores if they just indicate the name of the store. Usually they are either free or very cheap.

My favourites are from clients in the arts, but someone actually STOLE one (empty) out of my 10€ bedraggled Dutch bicycle bags. I guess people will steal anything.

[nautiker]

I haven't found an English source on this so far, however I guess it's one of those cases where a picture is worth a thousand words anyway:

sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/40175/Im-Namen-der-Kultur
(from a German newspaper)

[lagatta]

I can read it in German, but since I don't have time to translate it, I did a machine translation for others. The google translations now are almost understandable, especially beside the photo of the lad in the sweatshop.

In the name of culture

An image of a scandal: Why does a venerable institution of their European promotional bags sewn together by children in Bangladesh?
By Karin Steinberger Photo: GMB Akash



So poor that he has to sew bags for a pittance, so no chance that he can not even read, for whom he sews: the otherwise respectable British Council. So young that he would be open to life - but this miracle is unlikely to happen.

In the middle of Dhaka, in such irr vibrant heart of the city, banging little boys steel cabinets together, punch holes, stick bags, folding cartons, sewing pockets, sturdy bags, small bags, bags with wheels, with side pockets, printed with motifs. In every corner squatting children. A boy cuts straight edges of fabric, hundreds, thousands. The scissors leaving large dents to little fingers. Beside him are piles of blue bags, it white and pure: British Council.

It is the UK's international organization for cultural relations. British Council - a name as a promise. Here you can learn English, build careers, Cambridge, Oxford: Welcome to the world. The boy had never been to school, will never go to one, he can not read what is written on the back of the bags: Education - Innovative. Individual. Inspirational. It cuts straight edges, this gets food, no money - and at night he may lie between the bags. Not on it, next to it. The chief says the boy is twelve. All leaders here say their boys are twelve. It seems to be the age to which it has been agreed in Old Dhaka. At twelve, you're probably not a child. At twelve, it is normal to work ten, eleven hours a day. The boy does not look at, not smiling.

Twelve? Many in this stinking hell are younger, they are sent by their parents to the city, work of eight clock in the morning until late at night, "invisible children," without a birth certificate, children who officially do not exist, only 7.4 million in Bangladesh. As long as no house collapses, no one asks: It's just bits and pieces, purses, the hotels give away, or the British Council. "With our work, we try to make Bangladesh a better place for young people - ie zero tolerance to anyone who exploits children or vulnerable," the spokesman for the British Council writes to ask the SZ-Magazin. It assertions follow: You will now perform the audit, review the supply chain, installed in contracts with suppliers a clause that no child shall be employed. Sounds absurd when you see the boys bags. And in Old Dhaka, they hack the next bags, other names. Better than starving.

[patricklondon]

Why does a venerable institution of their European promotional bags sewn together by children in Bangladesh?

Because they order the bags from a promotional company in the EU, and don't engage in a detailed audit of that company's supply chain back to the original manufacturing processes? They may even (I don't know) be bound by public procurement policies and regulations that might preclude adding additional policy conditions to a contract beyond what is prescribed by law and government financial regulations.

[bixaorellana]

May 2, 2013 21:46:19 GMT fumobici said:

I'm pretty sure even buying expensive name brands doesn't help one avoid supporting these shocking practices

Ain't that the truth ~ www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/woman-nearly-died-making-ipad

[lagatta]

Glad to hear from Bixa!

And yes, even in high-end fashion, I'm far from sure that the companies are ethical. I know clothing can be made in Southeast Asian countries under good working conditions, with decent wages, but what proof do consumers have of that? It is really very difficult.