As were approaching fashion revolution week, I decide it’s the best time to mention about it in this blog series. This year fashion revolution week is happening from the 22nd to the 29th of April 2023 (fashionrevolution.org). The whole movement initially started when a catastrophe happened in the fashion industry, *hint hint* because of fast fashion. This incident brought the world attention to it because of its scale and because of the shocking secrets that the fashion industry carries. Fun fact, in my first few weeks as a fashion student, I had to watch the documentary about that disaster for homework to understand what I’m really getting myself into by stepping in this industry. It’s very important to became aware of how bad and dangerous this situation is for human beings. I’m not talking about pollution affecting humanity in this situation, but I’m talking about the people leaving in third world countries dying doing the dirty job you’re wearing in this second.
The incident was situated in Bangladesh, many prior incidents happened there but they were too “minor” to be heard of and talked about in the outer world (ethicsunwrapped). On April 24th, 2013, making it this year 10 years since it happened, “this was the deadliest disaster in the history of the clothing manufacturing industry” as Ethics Unwrapped says. According to Grow Ensemble “Rana Plaza was in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the largest clothing-producing cities in the world. The city hosted roughly 5,000 factories. 85% of the factory workers are women who support their families with an average of $50 per month”. Rana Plaza was an eight-floor building in which multiple fast fashion brands had their clothes manufactured in in poor labour conditions (ilo.org). All eight floors tragically collapsed within ninety seconds killing 1,134 workers and injuring more another 2500 workers. The day before the incident, cracks appeared in the walls but after a quick inspection the owner of the building Sohel Rana said that it was safe to work in there and would fire anyone who wouldn’t work since many employees did not want to re-enter the building the next day (CBC News, Made in Bangladesh). I would strongly recommend watching the documentary made by CBC News called “Made in Bangladesh” (https://youtu.be/onD5UOP5z_c). It talks about the whole story and survivors of the incident talk about everything that was really going down. It’s very educative and an eye opener making people aware of who makes their clothes, under what conditions and what’s really going on beyond their wardrobe and behind the walls of those tall buildings where “fashion” is create.
Fashion Revolution was founded to fight disaster like these that fashion creates and has become the world’s largest fashion activism movement to bring awareness and hopefully prevent future catastrophe. As their websites mentions, “Rana Plaza further exposed the widespread lack of transparency across global fashion supply chains, and how a lack of visibility can ultimately cost lives. Without transparency, issues remain hidden and unresolved at their root”. We remember Rana Plaza to also keep in mind of who makes our clothes, that where the movement of #whomademyclothes came from. Fashion Revolution wants to show that you can love fashion without killing and exploiting people and our planet. Their goals consist restore sustainability and take proper action towards reaching a healthier fashion industry. This year they even made a contest to involve fashion designers into making an upcycle piece out of old clothes and turning them into something new. Check out their website www.fashionrevolution.org to get more informed on what they offer an to get involved!
Sources:
“Collapse at Rana Plaza.” Ethics Unwrapped, 16 Feb. 2023, https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/collapse-at-rana-plaza#:~:text=This%20was%20not%20the%20first,workers%20in%20the%20garment%20industry.
“Fashion Revolution Week 22nd – 29th April 2023.” Fashion Revolution Week 2023 : Fashion Revolution, https://www.fashionrevolution.org/frw-2023/#:~:text=FASHION%20REVOLUTION%20WEEK%2022ND%20%2D%2029TH,bring%20our%20manifesto%20into%20reality.
Goodwin, Jacqueline. “The Rana Plaza Collapse: What Happened & What It Means for Fashion.” Grow Ensemble, 14 Dec. 2021, https://growensemble.com/rana-plaza/.
“Made in Bangladesh.” YouTube, CBC News, 3 Oct. 2014, https://youtu.be/onD5UOP5z_c. Accessed 16 Apr. 2023.
The Rana Plaza Accident and Its Aftermath, 21 Dec. 2017, https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/geip/WCMS_614394/lang–en/index.htm#:~:text=The%20Rana%20Plaza%20disaster%2C%20Savar%2C%20Bangladesh&text=These%20disasters%2C%20among%20the%20worst,made%20garment%20sector%20in%20Bangladesh.
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