Which 100 global fashion brands signed the accord to beef up safety in Bangladesh?
Meem, 9, at work in a Bangladesh garment factory. (Raveena Aulakh/Toronto Star)
Six months after the devastating Rana Plaza collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 100 of the world's leading garment brands and retailers have signed a binding, 5-year legal agreement aimed to drastically improve safety conditions for workers.
The Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord now covers 2 million workers in 1,600 factories used by 100 brands, the Swiss-based union IndustriALL announced on Thursday along with the UNI Global Union.
Both unions are working with the brands and other non-governmental organizations to implement the accord, which will bring inspections to all the 1,600 factories within 9 months. If factories are found to have fire, electrical or structural problems, the brands must work with the factory owners to pay for the needed upgrades. All inspections will eventually be posted on the accord's website.
"We are delighted to reach this landmark figure. With this support we can make a difference on the ground. We are sending a strong message to all the companies that stand outside of the Accord: sign up and get engaged," said UNI general secretary Philip Jennings in a release.
The Star sent reporters Raveena Aulakh and Rick Westhead to Bangladesh to chronicle the state of the garment industry in the series the Clothes on Your Back.
Who has signed the Accord? Check out the list below:
Abercrombie & Fitch
Ahlens
Aldi South
Aldi North
American Eagle Outfitters
Arcadia Group
Auchan
Belotex
Benetton
Bestseller (CHB)
Bonmarche
Brands Fashion
C&A
Camaieu
Carrefour
Casion Global
Charles Vogele
Chicca
Comtex
Colombus Textilvertrieb GmbH
Coop Danmark
Cotton On
Dansk Supermarked
Datex
Debenhams
Distra
DK Company
El
Corte Ingles
Ernsting’s Family
Esprit
Fashion Linq
Fat Face
Forever New
GEBRA
Groupe Casino
G-Star
H&M
Helly
Hansen
Hema
Hemtex
Hess Natur-Textilien GMBH
Horizonte
IC
Companys A/S
ICA Sverige
Inditex
JBC
Jogilo
John Lewis
Jolo Fashion
Juritex
K-Mart (Australia)
KappAhl
Karstadt
Kik
Klaus Herding GmbH
LC Waikiki
Leclerc
Lidl
Loblaw
Mango
Marks and Spencer
Matalan
Metro Group
Mothercare
Multiline Group
N Brown
New Look
Next
O’Neill Europe BV
Otto Group
Primark
Puma
PVH
PWT Group A/s (Texman)
REWE
Group
River Island
s.Oliver
Sainsbury’s
Schmidt Group
Scoop
NYC/Zac Posen
Sean John Apparel
Shop Direct Group
Speciality
Fashions (Aust)
Stockmann
Switcher
Target (Australia)
Tchibo
Tesco
Topgrade International
Uncle Sam GmbH
UNIQLO
Van Der
Erve
Vaner Group
Voice Norge AS
We Europe BV
Woolworths
Wünsche Group
Zeeman
Tanya Talaga is the Star's global economics reporter. Follow her on Twitter @tanyatalaga
This is a quiz really!!!
Posted by: Jeannine Volebregt | 10/17/2013 at 06:56 PM
There are two shocks from this article. 1) A nine year old working in a garment factory. 2) Where is Hudson’s Bay, Wal-Mart and Target?
Posted by: Don Evans | 10/18/2013 at 01:57 AM
.. the ones that made the most money off the people of that country... of course
Posted by: dan kucheran | 10/18/2013 at 05:41 PM
Shame, shame on all of them: it took this disaster to bring this on. They made $billions and now they take token action: shame on them all!
Posted by: dan kucheran | 10/18/2013 at 05:44 PM
Thanks for the list! It will be useful in my work :)
Posted by: Grosshandel Marken | 01/15/2014 at 10:04 AM