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Activists, union leaders and governmental officials gathered to discuss the state of the nation's garment industry.
And Kanye West breaks some bad news to a fan of his Air Yeezy shoes.
Just six months after a catastrophic factory collapse killed over a thousand workers in Bangladesh, a new tragedy has struck the country's garment industry.
Show-goers looking to attend Nautica's spring 2014 runway show at Lincoln Center yesterday were greeted by more than just the normal crowd of photogs and well-dressed editors: A coalition made up of fashion models, U.S. labor rights organizations, and Kalpona Akter, a leading Bangladeshi labor rights advocate, were on hand to protest the brand for failing to sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.
American retailers presented their own plan of action in Bangladesh yesterday, and it is already drawing serious criticism from labor groups.
It's been three months since the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh killed over 1,100 workers, and the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord--an agreement singed onto by 70 brands to take responsibility for the safety of factories they use in Bangladesh--is finally being put into effect.
Congress is finally taking a stance on Bangladesh. The House passed the first bill to address the country's factory safety issues in the wake of recent tragedies that have collectively claimed the lives of well over 1,000 people.
In the past year--and, especially these last few months in the wake of the recent Bangladesh factory tragedies--fast fashion retailers have been facing immense pressure from consumer and labor groups to become more socially and environmentally responsible. So Metro caught up with H&M CEO Karl Johan Persson to ask him all the hard questions about the brand's business practices--and whether it was about factories in Bangladesh or overly-skinny models, Persson didn't shy away from giving the honest answers.
With the deadline to sign the Bangladesh safety accord a week past due, Gap is still inching towards a decision.
Abercrombie and Fitch has become only the second American brand, after Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger parent company PVH, to sign the Bangladesh fire and safety accord, WWD is reporting. The retailer joins the 30 some companies--mostly European--who have signed onto the IndustriALL Global Union-led agreement including H&M, Zara, Topshop, Mango, Bennetton, and Joe Fresh. Gap and Wal-Mart, two of the world's biggest retailers who routinely produce out of Bangladesh, still have not signed the accord. Wal-Mart revealed on Tuesday it would be pursuing it's own initiative to improve worker safety in Bangladesh--and now it looks like other American retailers will be following a similar path.
Earlier this week news broke that H&M, Zara and C&A had joined PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Izod, and German retailer Tchibo in signing onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a legally-binding agreement which requires retailers to help finance the fire and safety improvements needed in the area. And while the move has inspired some retailers to join plan, others, like Wal-Mart, Topshop and Gap, have failed to do so.