DHAKA, Bangladesh — Clothing from many European brands, including at least two brands owned by the Spanish apparel giant Inditex, was discovered Sunday inside a charred factory where a deadly weekend fire killed seven female workers,including several who were teenagers.
The fire at the Smart Export Garments factory, which started Saturday afternoon in a densely populated area of Dhaka, the capital, is the latest tragedy for a Bangladeshi garment industry that is now the world’s second-biggest clothing exporter, trailing only China.
Two months ago, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory killed 112 workers, where jeans, lingerie and sweaters were made for retailers such as Wal-Mart and Sears.
International labor advocates, who have been pressing global brands and retailers to help pay to upgrade fire-safety measures in Bangladeshi factories, said the latest fire was a reminder of how conditions must be improved to ensure the safety of workers who are paid as little as $37 a month to make clothing for Western retailers and consumers. Since November, advocates say, Bangladesh has also experienced 18 other nonfatal factory fires.
“After more than two decades of the apparel industry knowing about the risks to these workers, nothing substantial has changed,” said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum, in a statement.
On Sunday, labels from several French brands, including Sol’s, Scott and Fox, and G Blog by Gemo could be seen in the burned second floor of the Smart Export Garments factory. Two other labels manufactured for Inditex, the world’s largest fashion group,were also visible - Leftie’s and Bershka. Labor activists found labels for the German low-cost brand KIK and a purchase order by a New York firm, M. Hidary & Co., for Hawaiian Authentics swimwear.
Inditex, which operates more than 5,000 stores worldwide, is perhaps best known for the popular Spanish brand Zara. Company executives in Spain could not be reached for comment. A Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star,quoted an unnamed local representative for the company as saying that Inditex was unaware that the Smart Export factory was making its goods.
“We are now sifting through the purchase order documents to know who were given the work orders and how Smart Export Garment Ltd. got the orders under subcontract,” the unnamed company official told The Daily Star. “The actual receivers of purchase orders have given the work orders to Smart Export Garment in a sneaky way without informing the buyer.”
Several workers remain hospitalized with injuries from the fire, including at least one in critical condition. Yet local labor advocates say that the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, an industry trade group, has refused to provide assistance to the injured, since the burned factory was not a member of the group.
Business, Pages 21 on 01/29/2013