Rana Plaza: How did financing play a part?
The third anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster (where 5 garment factories fell, killing 1,135 people) is just around the corner. It’s easy to disconnect the fashion brands we love from that problem in another land. The news focuses on the factory conditions and blames the factory owner. They don’t focus on the major clothing brands that use those factories to produce their luxury clothing lines. They have a direct influence over the worker’s wages and working conditions. These brands influence how the factories run, based on how they pay for the goods they order. When they order a batch of natural cotton T-shirts, for instance, they give no cash in advance. It is left to the...
