Ethics and Sustainability in the Mass Market | Page 16

On April 24th 2013 3,639 workers were forced to enter the eightstory Rana Plaza factory building. The workers were refusing to
enter the building due to large cracks in the walls of the factory. The
building collapsed that day and 1,137 people were confirmed dead
(globallabourrights, n.d).

The building was full of factories producing garments for
companies such as Canadian brand Joe Fresh, Italian mass market
brand Benetton and value market brands Primark and Matalan
(O’Connor, 2014). The Incident has begun progress to ensure the
rights and safety of workers in Bangladesh’s blooming garment
industry (Westervelt, 2015).
Did it really have to come down to over 1000 people losing their
lives just for fashion to become more ethical and sustainable?
The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund was set up to compensate
towards the 1,138 families who lost loved ones and the more than
2,000 workers who suffered injuries (Cleanclothes.org, n.d). The
fund reached its goal amount of $30 million, which was needed to
compensate everyone fairly and fully in June 2015 (Cleanclothes.
org, n.d). The fund was setup in order for volunteers to donate and
was up to the donor whether they wanted their name to be made
public or not (Cleanclothes.org, n.d). Value market brand Primark
immediately reacted in giving financial support and providing food
aid. In total Primark have spent $14 million towards short term and
long-term compensation to Rana Plaza victims (Primark, n.d).

Mass Market retailer Benetton was not so quick to react
to the incident. Benetton had resourced 266,000 shirts in the six
months leading up to the disaster. The retailer reacted and donated
to the trust fund when a campaign targeted them personally
in February 2015, nearly two years after the tragedy. Benetton
contributed $1.1 million; Weston labour unions and social activists
had hoped they would pay $5 million given Benetton’s image as a
socially conscious brand (Kazmin, 2015).

Zara (Cleanclothes.org, n.d), H&M and Gap also
contributed to the fund, however not linked to Rana Plaza
(Westervelt, 2015).

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