Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine Magazine April 2018 | Page 50

SUSTAINABLE BD APPAREL RESOURCES NEWSLETTERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS To subscribe, send us an email at [email protected] Join more than 10,000 people who are already fans of Apparel Resources on facebook. Search for Apparel Resources at https://www.facebook.com/apparelresources/ 322 Alliance factories complete remediation work What comes as a pleasant announcement is that a total of 322 garment factories under the supervision of Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety have completed the remediation work towards making a sustainable apparel industry. Jim Moriarty, a former US Ambassador to Bangladesh and Executive Director of Alliance, made the revelation at the first triennial press conference of the platform of 28 North American fashion brands and retailers, held at The Westin Hotel, Dhaka, last month. “I am very pleased to tell you that we (Alliance) have achieved remarkable progress in ensuring workplace safety at Bangladesh’s garment factories,” he said at the programme, adding, “Our factory remediation works are progressing swiftly, and, we have delivered on our promise and are walking in the right direction. All the active factories have completed 88 per cent remediation, including 84 per cent remediation of potentially fatal workplace standard,” Moriarty added. During its five years of operations in Bangladesh, the Alliance has cut ties with at least 162 non-compliant garment factories and trained around 1.5 million garment workers of over 1,000 factories in fire safety. “We are proud of the achievements we reaped in the five years. We are now simultaneously conducting factory remediation work, worker training on safety and their empowerment. We thank the ILO, BGMEA, and other stakeholders for their support in our initiative,” Moriarty said. Markedly, Alliance is among the platforms of foreign retailers that took shape in Bangladesh following some major industrial disasters like the Rana Plaza Collapse and Tazreen Fashions fire. Another such platform working for the same purpose is the Accord. 5,000-plus textile facilities received GOTS certification in 2017 The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has noted an 8.2 per cent increase in the number of facilities certified under its ambit from 4,642 facilities in 2016 to 5,024 facilities in 2017. These certified facilities are located in 62 countries across the world. The world’s second-largest apparel exporter, Bangladesh reported the highest increase in the number of GOTS- certified facilities to about 40 per cent followed by North America (+39 per cent), Portugal (+39 per cent) and Europe (+29 per cent). India, Bangladesh, Germany, Turkey, Italy, China, Pakistan, Portugal, USA and South Korea remained the top 10 countries in terms of hosting the highest number of GOTS-certified production units. India, touted as the largest exporter of organic textiles, has a total of 1,658 GOTS-approved manufacturing facilities. Markedly, India has maintained its top position since 2008, while Bangladesh with 534 GOTS-certified units, stands at the second position. “The textile industry in Bangladesh has increased focus on sustainability now and many companies are presently becoming eligible to become GOTS certified,” said Sumit Gupta, GOTS Representative in India & Bangladesh. He added that the certification body is now planning to focus on the increased domestic consumption of certified organic clothing in India this year. Further, the report states that 50 Apparel Online Bangladesh | APRIL 2018 | www.apparelresources.com more than 1.74 million people were working in 19-GOTS accredited Independent Certification Bodies in the year 2017. A 14 per cent increase was also reported in the number of chemicals on the GOTS Positive List to more than 17,900 from 720 manufacturers. The GOTS Positive List contains trade names of approved chemicals that must be used by all textile manufacturers for their GOTS- certified sustainable production of textiles. “The rising number of GOTS- certified textile companies corroborates that the body is taken as a solution for managing risks, reputation and market differentiation,” GOTS Director Claudia Kersten was quoted as saying. Notably, GOTS aims to safeguard the organic status of textiles through a sustainable production process.