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Today marks the 7th anniversary of the #RanaPlaza disaster which killed over 1100 Bangladeshi garment workers and forced a long overdue reckoning for the fashion industry. Now, with Covid-19, the garment industry is facing catastrophe once again. /1 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/asia/rana-plaza-bangladesh-garment-industry.html
2019 was the year Western corporate conversation was defined by the debate around profit vs purpose, particularly in fashion. Consumers appeared to be pushing for change; some brands appeared to be listening. /2 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/business/business-roundtable-ceos-corporations.html
But consumer demand has cratered since the onset of Covid 19, and many of those same brands are now fighting for survival. Investments into improving their environmental and social impact will inevitably be hard to sustain. /3
The impact is already being seen across the world, with unpaid suppliers and cancelled orders, mass factory layoffs in countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar as well as union-busting while eyes are turned. /4 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/fashion/coronavirus-bangladesh.html
Is a backslide in progress inevitable? Will sustainability initiatives come under threat? Then again, to even have a policy you need to still be in business. The answers will not be clear cut. /5
There have been optimistic pieces on how the fashion business will come out of this crisis “greener” and more self-aware than before. /6 https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/mar/27/put-earth-first-can-a-greener-fairer-fashion-industry-emerge-from-crisis
But when there is growing desperation at every level of the supply chain, I can’t help but feel pessimistic about the way things might go. Consumer accountability and binding legislation will be needed now more than ever. /7
Thinking today of all the garment workers who lost their lives at Rana Plaza, or who work in the fashion supply chain today and who are scared about the future. /8 (END) https://twitter.com/kalponaakter/status/1253639057567109125?s=20
