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Five years ago, the bodies of 1,138 garment factory workers were found amongst the rubble of what was once a commercial complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The tragedy, enabled by political corruption and fuelled by corporate greed (three floors were illegally added), is the deadliest garment factory collapse in history, further injuring more than 2,000 workers, most of whom were women and children. Follow-up investigations revealed that several high-street brands had outsourced production to the factory, thus exacerbating the exploitation of underpaid workers in lethal conditions.

Not only did these revelations spark an international conversation around the social impact of the fashion industry, they also mobilised Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro to found Fashion Revolution, a non-profit organisation committed to enacting genuine change.

Action began with a simple hashtag: #WhoMadeMyClothes? The aim was to encourage more curious consumers and more transparent companies; a goal which has arguably been achieved. “There have been many improvements,” says de Castro, who goes on to highlight that bigger brands are publishing and mapping their supply chains whilst their smaller contemporaries are increasingly seeking out sustainable solutions to the problem.

“We aren’t there yet, but the industry is beginning to acknowledge that the good business of the future requires systems that aren’t harmful to the environment, and which do not rely on human exploitation for financial growth.”

Somers points to the annual Fashion Transparency Index, which ranks over 150 of the world’s largest brands and retailers, as proof that genuine efforts have been made by fashion companies. “Last year, not one brand was scoring over 50 percent, but this year our research found six brands and retailers scoring higher,” she explains, marking a positive shift. The results, officially published today, show that brands like Adidas, Reebok, H&M and ASOS are among the highest-scorers, with ASOS recently disclosing the sources of raw material fibres, thus making its environmental impact easier to track. Luxury houses have also broken with their previous reluctance to disclose suppliers, hinting that some progress is being made.

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These indices are one of many initiatives designed to spark discussion. Another is the upcoming Fashion Open Studio, curated by journalist Tamsin Blanchard, which invites consumers into designer studios to custom-make their own clothes. “The idea is to spotlight a new generation of designers who are thinking about, making and selling fashion in different ways,” Blanchard explains, before praising innovative label OneByMe: “They’ve really ripped up the rulebook so you can take part in the making of your own zero-waste, guilt-free clothes.”

Crucially, Somers and de Castro have enlisted the help of critical minds across a number of fields to deconstruct and simplify the language of "sustainability". These collective visions have so far fused to create two fanzines: “Our mantra is ‘Be Curious. Find Out. Do Something,’” states Somers. “The hashtag is an easy way for people to engage, but if they want to know more then the fanzines are packed with poetry, illustration, infographics and interviews.”

Transparency and understanding have undeniably improved, whilst legislation like the Modern Slavery Act has enforced legally-sanctioned pressure on brands. According to Somers, the five years since Rana Plaza have also seen 1,300 Bangladesh factories inspected for safety, 800 of which have been upgraded.

But, as she also underlines, last year alone still saw 426 garment workers die in a total of 321 workplace incidents. There’s still work to be done. “We have to act on the important issues,” urges de Castro. “They’re now visible to the naked eye: Rana Plaza killing more than a thousand people, rivers in China, Bangladesh and several other countries contaminated by toxic processes, plastic pollution in the oceans – it’s all there, evident and repellent.”

Workers’ rights are also still severely compromised, with many unable to unionise and take collective action. Those who do so risk their lives; just weeks ago, a Bangladeshi union leader was murdered. Several others have been detained. Previous protests in Cambodia have seen activists killed by police, and reports of missing wages, disappearing factory owners and the abuse of women are still common.

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Despite a primarily female workforce – with some countries reporting up to 90 percent of women workers – misogyny runs rife: “It’s still an incredibly exploitative industry,” laments Blanchard. “Many workers – mainly women – aren’t paid enough to support their families. The gender pay gap in the textile and garment manufacturing industry is off the scale. I don’t see that changing anytime soon; not enough workers are allowed to join unions, and they’re still being bullied, harassed and overworked. Their quality of life has not improved in the last five years.”

Facts, figures and statistics all too often obscure the real-life stories of workers, making this routine exploitation difficult to humanise. “When brands report on progress, most focus on the environmental side as opposed to their social impact,” reiterates Somers. “This means their customers have virtually no way of knowing if brands’ policies and procedures are truly effective and driving improvements for the people making our clothes.”

The Garment Worker Diaries, a 12-month research project made with the help of Microfinance Opportunities and the support of C&A Foundation, was launched to remedy this.

“The idea is to create a body of trusted data to inform the decision-makers who can influence garment workers’ lives,” explains C&A Foundation’s Senior Communication Manager Stephanie Klotz. “[The diaries give] a dynamic picture of the financial lives of women garment workers: their regular earning and spending habits, as well as how they cope with the ups and downs of life.” To create this comprehensive portrait of their daily lives, researchers visited 540 workers. The accounts are usually heartwarming, often shocking and routinely filled with anecdotal stories of harassment, all of which depict a toxic workplace culture in desperate need of an antidote.

It’s also worth exploring just how many of the changes made so far are superficial. Five global brands last year pulled out of the Dhaka Apparel Summit in a supposed act of solidarity with exploited workers, understanding that their custom keeps the Bangladeshi economy afloat. But the answer is not as simple as a mass boycott, or the severing of international business ties. In fact, Kalpona Akter, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, has underlined: “Boycotts put our jobs at risk. The last thing we want is for brands to pull their orders out of Bangladesh. We need these jobs, but we need these jobs with dignity.”

“Five years on from Rana Plaza, both people and the environment still suffer as a result of the way fashion is made, sourced and consumed,” states Somers emphatically. “Most companies are still operating in broadly the same way that enabled the Rana Plaza disaster to occur, relying on auditing for basic legal compliance. Fashion brands had repeatedly audited the factories in the Rana Plaza complex, but the risks went either undetected or ignored.”

The months and years following the tragedy exposed this aforementioned ignorance. Investigations revealed that the complex was built without an official permit and declared as safe by engineers who have since, finally, been prosecuted. A web of political allyship, uncontested power and a willingness to turn a blind eye to cracks spreading across the building were all unveiled, highlighting lethal inefficacies and corruption in the auditing process.

We know this now. But transparency is one thing; actual change is another. Consumers may be more critical and brands more conscious, but a genuine long-term change means continual engagement. “To truly improve the fashion industry’s global impact, brands need to engage with NGOs, unions and multi-stakeholder initiatives, and must start pursuing systemic change to address the root cause of human rights and environmental abuses,” claims Somers. A similar statement is given by de Castro, who lays out a need for actual action and a willingness to learn about and report on complicated, unsexy subjects like collective bargaining and unionisation.

Five years on, Rana Plaza remains the sole catalyst for a global discussion of the fashion industry’s impact. Looking back, Blanchard describes it as a “shock to the system – seeing the reality of brands, whom we thought we could trust, neglecting their responsibility to ensure the fair, humane treatment of garment workers was outrageous.” Despite the obvious truth of this statement, other factory fires and violent protests have since caused carnage of their own. We may have increased understanding and transparency, most of which is courtesy of Fashion Revolution, but the issues still remain; it shouldn’t take the loss of a thousand more lives for us to collectively work to resolve them in earnest.