2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse

• On Thursday, Parliament adopted recommendations for the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, with 600 votes in favour, 17 against and 16 abstentions.
• The text calls for textile products sold in the EU to be more durable, easier to reuse, repair and recycle.
• Their production should respect human, social and labour rights, the environment and animal welfare throughout the supply chain.
• MEPs also want EU and national measures to put an end to “fast fashion”.

• This week marks at once the annual campaign of the Fashion Revolution and the 10th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building.
• The event, which killed over 1,100 garment workers and injured two thousand more, sparked a global debate at the time about the true cost of the fast fashion industry.

The fashion industry, ten years on from the disaster

• In fact, it would appear the pace in the fashion industry has accelerated.
• In this regard, no one can deny it is important we have a public conversation about the toll fast fashion is taking on people and the environment.
• Started in early 2022, our ongoing research on slow fashion shows that there is a more beneficial way to move away from fast fashion.

A closer look at consumers’ perspective

• Consumers are held responsible for issues that they are not the architect of.
• Rather, we argue they are the victims of a system that glorifies outfit variety and makes exposure to fast fashion items unavoidable.
• Aggressive social media advertising keeps consumers addicted and influencer-generated content of #sheinhauls further normalizes enormous volumes of disposable fashion.
• Even when consumers try to step out of this treadmill, they often struggle to orientate themselves toward ethical options.

Slow fashion tips from experts

• Our aim is to better understand how slow fashion practices empower individuals and help them gain a sense of control by decelerating the pace of their fashion consumption.
• To explore this, we are currently following 14 slow fashion consumers and observing their practices, from carefully picking fabrics and threads to patch their clothes to patiently rummaging clothing racks at thrift stores.
• Slow fashion is about mindfulness and attentiveness and can help consumers “get out of the frenzy in which [they] are in,” as one of our interviewees puts it.
• This week represents a great opportunity to explore slow fashion practices and do something for individual, collective, and planetary well-being.

• On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, killing more than 1,000 workers and injuring another 2,500.
• It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.

Shamed into action?

• While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” they were rarely enforced.
• Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.
• The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements.
• Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, negotiated commercial terms and facilitated low-cost loans for factory improvements.

The record since

• At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that 85%-88% of safety issues were remediated.
• In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated through the Rana Plaza Arrangement, receiving an average of about US$6,500.
• Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront.

Clothes yesterday and today

• In the 1960s, the average American family spent 10% of its income on clothing, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States.
• Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles.
• Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.
• To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits.

Everyone and no one

• This can translate into exploitative labor practices or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak.
• The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices.
• This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.