The fashion supply chain is long and complex. With a push towards offshoring and globalisation, we have lost complete visibility of where and how our clothes are made. The 2016 Oxfam report on transparency in the fashion supply chain, found that just five of the 12 largest retailers in Australia are actually willing to disclose the locations of where their products are manufactured. From Bangladesh to Myanmar, from China to Cambodia and Vietnam, Australian brands are operating in near secrecy about how their clothes are made.

The real fashion victims – a tale from Bangladesh

The real fashion victims – a tale from Bangladesh

On April 24, 2013 a giant factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh manufacturing garments exclusively for consumption in the west collapsed due to it being overcrowded and built unsafely. Over 1100 people died that day. There is just an empty space there now, with a small pond where survivors and families of those lost are cultivating fish. But its a stark reminder of how badly it can go wrong, when worker safety is not as high a priority as cheap product… No one knows better than these two blokes in the picture below, between them they pulled out 70 living and 36 dead bodies.



...
Continue reading