Trace My Fashion
Trace My Fashion initiative will be launched on April 24, marked as the Fashion Revolution Day. Two years ago, on the same day, the largest industrial disaster in history, known as Rana Plaza Disaster, took place in Savar, claiming the lives of 1133 RMG workers, due to negligence of factory owners. This day became Fashion Revolution Day, to commemorate the workers who lost their lives and the survivors in a single day and to call for a positive change so that such an incident never happens again.
We at Fashion Revolution, believe in a fashion industry that values the people, the environment, creativity and profit in equal measures. Our mission is to bring everyone together to make that happen.
Fashion Revolution Day is an opportunity to celebrate fashion as a positive influence, raise awareness of the fashion industry’s most pressing issues, show that change is possible and celebrate those who are on a journey to create a more ethical and sustainable future for fashion. Together, we will rally the high street, the high end, the innovators, the fashion students, the media, the public, the activists, the makers, the wearers – and everyone in between.
The event will highlight QR Code project #tracemyfashion in order to promote transparency in the Fashion Industry. Fashion Revolution Bangladesh in partnership with BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology – BUFT and Hong Kong-based non-profit, Lensational will launch an interactive platform to answer #whomademyclothes and Norway based organization Fashion Footprint.
A few companies including RMG industry giants like BexTex (Upcycle Project) and Desh Garments, and social initiatives such as Living Blue and Freindship Bangladesh, have stepped forward to open up about their brand and supply chain, the steps they are taking to rectify and improve their worker and environment standards, wages and safety issues of their workers.
Trace My Fashion has also partnered up with Lensational a Hong Kong based nonprofit to tell stories about the workers through their lenses. Workers from a factory were given digital cameras after a workshop on how to use cameras by Lensational in collaboration with BUFT.
Trace My Fashion website will be launched on April 24 at Daily Star-Bengal Art Precinct and will feature the recent case studies jointly Bengal Research and Design Initiative and students of BUFT in order to learn about sustainability, transparency and ethics from these case companies. We are encouraging fashion students of BUFT to participate in this exercise, to research, experience and explore the nature of the situation and its solutions. They have prepared questionnaires based on their research to understand workers welfare and the environment standards and measures taken by each case company.
We have partnered up with Fashion Footprint , which will launch on Fashion Revolution Day in Oslo, Norway. We aim to incorporate the Fashion Footprint traceability tools n our future programs.
Through Trace my fashion initiative and Fashion Revolution Bangladesh, we aim to document the positive changes of Bangladesh’s RMG Sector and exhibit our findings on Fashion Revolution Day. We want to give consumers more than the label ‘Made in Bangladesh’. Many factories and brands are weary of new initiatives. Therefore, our aim is to grow gradually.
On Fashion Revolution Day we will present our case company products through QR Codes. Through QR Codes BUFT Students and Trace My Fashion will present an interactive experience (through website link) highlighting the ethical practices of these case companies for consumers. Interested visitors will be able to use their smart phones as scanners on the QR Code, which when scanned, will provide information on the company, its supply chain, the invisible workforce behind making the products.
We have also partnered up with local Media Dhaka Tribune, Daily Ittafaq, Colours FM , ICE Today and ICE Business Times to do our campaign, research and publish periodical articles
Our initial aim is to get the factories and brands to open up to us. It has been almost two years since the tragic Rana Plaza incident took place. The incident has been a wake up call for the sector and in these two years we have seen a complete transformation of the Bangladesh Apparel Industry. The praise of reformation comes directly from the international experts like ILO, Accord, and Alliance who have been looking into the inspection of factories. Bangladesh RMG sector and BGMEA has amended labour laws; initiated relevant trainings, with the help of Bangladesh Government, have compensated the victims of Rana Plaza, and rehabilitated the injured workers and their families. We encourage the commitment of the brands to provide support through these changes.
Our plan is to eventually add the certificates of audit firms like Accord and Alliance to the case companies we feature on our website. The positive side is that various stakeholders in RMG industry is actively taking part in improving the overall situation because they want to remain on top of this billion dollar industry and gradually aim to achieve even a higher standard through ethical practices within their capacity. Since the movement has begun, change is inevitable.
For further details please contact Nawshin Khair nkhair@gmail.com Fashion Revolution’s Country Coordinator for Bangladesh
