The textile industry is the largest employer in Bangladesh. There are currently 4m people making clothes, 3.6m of these are women.
A recent doubling of Bangladeshi wages has lifted many to the cusp of the extreme poverty line. However, this does not take into account family dependents. With the overwhelming majority of workers being women and the average Bangladeshi woman have more than 2 children, hundreds of thousands are still considered to be in extreme poverty.
These workers deserve and need our support. As consumers we have the power to make their lives, and the lives of their families, better. Our shopping habits can have a huge impact on extreme poverty levels across Bangladesh simply by securing decent working conditions for the workers.
Join the campaign at seethroughfashion.org
What I like about this video is that is shows the difference between what customers think and what is actually going on. The obfuscation that comes with the lack of transparency helps customers to remain oblivious to what is happening. Their instinct tells them, for better or worse, that companies are doing all they can to ensure that everyone benefits – or maybe they just don’t care. I have heard various people within companies state that there’s no point in doing anything because people don’t want to know. That’s probably the worst excuse for non-action but one that permeates the fashion industry. The industry has been the cusp of something interesting in terms of environmental and social responsibility over the last 5 years. It’s time for that extra nudge into action and proper industry wide change.