2023-04-23 17:34:17
On the morning of April 24, 2013 (local time), horror images are making the rounds on television around the world: a building in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, suddenly collapsed. Two minutes were enough for the eight floors of Rana Plaza to collapse, causing the death of more than 1,200 people. The day before, however, cracks had been spotted, deliberately ignored by their employers.
Mainly housing textile workshops producing for brands such as H & M, Primark or Auchan, the disaster reveals the unworthy working conditions of Bangladeshi employees and sparks international indignation. The event ignites opposition to the fast fashionthis model of the textile industry which is characterized in particular by delocalized production, in countries with cheap labour.
The click of a collective awareness
Ten years later, professionals and experts in the sector are unanimous: there has been “a before and an after Rana Plaza”. “It was a very strong moment, a trigger for the state of mind of companies and consumers, supports Gildas Minvielle, director of the Economic Observatory of the French Fashion Institute. Issues related to ecology and human rights were not new, but this tragedy raised awareness. »
For the economist, this was seen by a semantic shift. “Used yesterday to designate an economic model, the expression fast fashion is today stigmatizing and refers to the excesses of disposable fashion. »
On the ground, security has become a priority in producing countries such as Bangladesh. “They made sure that there were never any more accidents like this, by building state-of-the-art factories», says Julia Faure, co-founder of En mode climat.
This evolution was possible thanks to an agreement pushed by the NGOs in 2013, under the aegis of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Objective : “Funding an independent factory inspection system and ensuring that renovations are done», deciphers Nayla Ajaltouni, Ethics General Delegate on the label. Signed by more than 190 multinationals – including Primark, Inditex (Zara), H & M… –, “this agreement has made it possible to renovate more than 1,500 factories in Bangladesh, i.e. half of the supplier fleet”, she says. It was extended to Pakistan in 2023.
Impunity that persists
But behind this notable progress, the reality of the sector remains grim. “Bangladeshi employees continue to earn €70 per month. This is three times less than what is needed to enable them to live with dignity,” denounce Nayla Ajaltouni.
There, as in other countries in Southeast Asia, where 70% of the clothes sold in France come from, the workers often work excessive overtime, sometimes unpaid. And “30% of human rights violations in the world take place in the textile sector”supports the activist.
Other scandals have highlighted this lingering reality. This is particularly the case of the forced labor of the Uyghurs, in the cotton fields in Xinjiang, China.
Added to these rights violations is the environmental impact of a model that promotes overproduction and overconsumption: 130 billion pieces of clothing are sold worldwide per year, including 3 billion in France. According to the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), the textile industry rejects 4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, more than air and maritime transport combined.
Duty of vigilance: from France to the EU
Against these abuses, associations, unions and legislators have not stood idly by. The case of Rana Plaza thus enabled them to demand more restrictive legislation.
France was a pioneer in this area. In 2017, it adopted the duty of vigilance law, obliging contracting companies in all sectors to prevent the social and environmental risks of their operations, including at their subsidiaries, subcontractors and suppliers.
But six years after the passage of the law, it is still difficult to see the results. “Some companies have sincerely taken this shift, not just to tick the legal boxes but to take responsibility. Others did not understand the spirit of the law,” observes Dominique Potier, PS deputy, who was rapporteur for the text and now regrets the absence of a “independent observatory to understand the evolutions”.
In 2023, the regulations could move to another scale. “It is time for Europe to stop being the useful idiot of liberalism and to equip itself ethically to impose new rules of the game in globalisation”, argues the MP for Meurthe-et-Moselle.
The European Parliament will vote by May 30 on a text inspired by French legislation. Enough to ” go further “, hope Dominique Potier and Nayla Ajaltouni. Both are fighting to widen the scope of the companies concerned today – those with more than 5,000 employees in France or more than 10,000 employees in France and abroad.
L’ultra fast fashion
In the textile sector, a framework is all the more urgent as new players with little regard are appearing on the market, believes the general delegate for Ethics on the label. I’« ultra fast fashion » recently made an appearance, with actors such as Shein.
The Chinese brand takes the logic of the economic model to another degree: 6,000 new references every day, unbeatable prices – €5 for a T-shirt, €15 for a dress, €20 for a coat – and employees forced to work eighteen hours a day. “Hence the need to go faster to stop the impunity of these brands that flout fundamental rights”, concluded Nayla Ajaltouni.
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