ASIA/BANGLADESH - An interactive documentary explores the living hell in Bangladesh's clothing industry

Friday, 25 April 2014

Savar (Agenzia Fides) - On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh which caused the death of over 1100 local workers, forced to work in inhuman conditions. It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. The building contained clothing factories, a bank, apartments, and several other shops. At the time this tragedy had attracted the attention of the international media, with a request for an agreement to ensure the fundamental rights of workers.
One year after the tragedy, the Guardian launches "The shirt on your back", an interactive documentary that traces the human cost of the Bangladeshi garment industry: starting from who buys them to who sews them, denouncing the human and environmental costs of the so-called fast fashion industry. A hectic industry based on unbridled consumption, which has increased dramatically in recent years. It is estimated that in 2012 the industry of fast fashion clothing produced clothes with a value of over $ 500 billion, of which $ 300 billion attributable only to the first 10 industries in the sector. The cost of cotton for a t-shirt made in Bangladesh is about $5, that of washing and the work involved around 20 cents. The monthly salary of a worker (mostly women), is around $80 a month and they work 10 hours per day, six days a week. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 25/04/2014)


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