
These are the photographs that show the grim reality for thousands of children in Bangladesh who are forced to work long crippling hours stitching labels into clothes.

Despite improved safety standards in formal factories, unregistered sweatshops like these are not inspected.

While the factories mainly make clothes for the local and Indian market, they also supply well-known and established international brands through subcontracts, which making it difficult for companies to know exactly where all their clothes are coming from.

Photographer Claudio Montesano Casillas has revealed both the shocking lack of safety controls inside some of Bangladesh's unregulated clothes factories as well as the grueling routines of the children that work there

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Despite continued campaigns and intermittent outrage, a photographer has revealed both the shocking lack of safety controls inside some of Bangladesh's unregulated clothes factories as well as the grueling routines of the children that work there

Casillas visited the factories at first by accident as part of an 'Old Dhaka' tour, but was fascinated by the conditions.

An informal factory could comprise of a room with 15 sewing machines and are often without emergency exits, fire safety plans or extinguishers as they are not subjected to the nation wide fire and buildings safety assessments.

The children, who don't have time to go to school, are tasked with a huge range of jobs from embroidery and sticking on sequins to dyeing fabric and machine cleaning.

Young garment workers having a shower inside their factory. Due to workload they eat, shower and sleep inside these factories.

It is thought there are about a million children aged 10 to 14 working as child labourers in Bangladesh, according to UNICEF - but the number is far higher when the age band is expanded

He said: 'Inside these factories garment workers work six to six and a half days per week from dawn till far after dusk for a minimum wage. The workers from these factories sleep inside or rent rooms next to these factories.

'They come from villages to cities seeking for employment and dreaming of a better life,' he said.

It is thought there are about a million children aged 10 to 14 working as child labourers in Bangladesh, according to UNICEF - but the number is far higher when the age band is expanded.

But they end up scraping a living - that doesn't much exist outside of work. In one photograph, Casillas shot boys showering at the factory, which is where they eat, wash and sleep due to workload.

Garment employees work either 6 or 6.5 days per week from dawn till far after dusk for a minimum wage. They sleep inside or rent rooms next to the factories

A young worker at her working station removes extra stitches from blue jeans. It is thought there are about a million children aged 10 to 14 working as child labourers, according to UNICEF - but the number is far higher when the age band is expanded

A wholesale distributor showroom of men trousers produced at an informal factory in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh says 80 per cent of formal factories are safe More than 80 percent of Bangladesh's garment factories supplying global retailers have been found to be safe, according to the government. Syed Ahmed, the inspector general of factories, said 1,475 garment factories had been assessed as part of a government initiative supported by the International Labour Organization, Canada, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. Some 81 percent were found to adhere to building codes, as well as fire and electrical safety standards, he said. Among the other factories, the government has ordered 37 to be closed for failing to address safety issues on their premises and another 209 have been warned they would be closed if they didn't take remedial measures immediately. The rest await further assessment and possible closure. Bangladesh's garment export industry, the world's second biggest, has been in the spotlight since the collapse of Rana Plaza in a Dhaka suburb in 2013 in which more than 1,100 people were killed, most of them poor seamstresses. The accident prompted a review of safety standards in the factories, with many handed lists of structural, electrical and fire safety fixes and upgrades costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The garment industry is the lifeline of Bangladesh's economy, earning $25 billion in exports each year and employing 4 million workers, mainly women. Advertisement

An electrical panel board. Most factories are at risk of fire accidents due to poor wiring and electrical safety standards and basic awareness

A young garment worker at his working station. His work consists of stitching labels to blue jeans.

Bangladesh's garment industry is the second-largest exporters of textiles after China and has a notorious fire safety record.

More than 1,100 people died at a garment factory fire outside Dhaka in 2013 in one of Bangladesh's worst industrial accidents.

And the working conditions and facilities are much worse than most formal export oriented factories - which are inspected regularly.

Children and adult employees earn as little as £6.50 a month, or less than 800 Bangladeshi taka. At best, they can expect 1,950 taka (£16) .

That is significantly less than the 5,300 taka (£41.80) minimum wage for entry level garment workers set by the government in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster, in which more than 1,100 people died, mostly women.

Shanta, 11, (pictured) has worked in an informal garment factory for one year. She is originally from the Madaripur District, Bangladesh

An informal garment factory located on the outskirts of the center of Dhaka Beyond the label

The working conditions and facilities are of much lower quality than most formal export oriented factories as they aren't subjected to similar safety controls

Children don't have time to go to school - as they only get half a day off per week

Polluted: Landscape behind the informal garment factories at Keraniganj in Dhaka. This district host hundreds informal factories. The polluted landscape outside the factories located in Keraniganj, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Unregulated clothing production may contribute to the extensive water pollution and leaching of toxic chemicals into Bangladesh waterways

Hardwork: On daily average a worker can sew more than a thousand pieces

Trapped: Fashion mannequins outside a shop in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh