Topshop Attacked On Bangladesh Safety

Topshop Attacked On Bangladesh Safety

New trouble for brand amid Rihanna T-shirts writ

Topshop, now being sued by Rihanna for using her image on T-shirts without permission, faces more controversy today over rejecting moves to prevent further disasters in garment factories in Bangladesh.

The anti-poverty charity War on Want urged the public to press Topshop's parent company, Arcadia Group, to join other leading fashion retailers that have signed the Bangladesh Safety Accord. 

This appeal came three months on since the Rana Plaza building in Savar collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people and injuring over 2,500 others, with many of the victims garment workers producing clothes for UK brands.

The Bangladesh Safety Accord is a landmark agreement between brands and retailers and trade unions, agreed on 15 May in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster.

The Accord is a comprehensive and legally binding programme for improving factory safety, including full transparent building audits, worker training and mandatory repairs to make factories safe.

Over 80 major brands and retailers including Primark, H&M and Tesco, have already signed the agreement.[1]

The Arcadia Group also comprises Miss Selfridge, BHS, Burton and Dorothy Perkins. War on Want cites the fact that Arcadia Group's 2011-12 full-year profits jumped 25 per cent to £166.9 million. 

The charity's sweatshops campaigner, Murray Worthy, said: "Topshop’s bosses have got no excuse for not signing this agreement.

“With their bumper profits, they can easily afford a tiny fraction of that to make their supplier factories safe.

“Their failure to act and to work with other UK high street retailers to make these factories safe leaves thousands of workers’ lives at risk.

“Nearly two thousand workers have died in garment factories in Bangladesh in the last few years and more will die if companies like Topshop refuse to act.

“No one should have to work living in fear of death.

“Yet that is exactly the fate to which Topshop are condemning their workers."

In addition, the charity encouraged the public to press US brands Gap and Walmart to sign the accord.

It dubbed the alternative Bangladesh safety plan launched by Gap, Walmart and other US retailers as a "sham" that would leave workers still at risk. [2]

ENDS

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