It’s 4 years since the terrible Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh when 1,138 garment workers died and many more were injured after the factory building collapsed.
That event in 2013, prompted the launch of not-for-profit organisation Fashion Revolution who campaign worldwide for garment workers rights. Many don’t get fair pay, they don’t have a choice in the hours they’re expected to work and their working conditions are awful.
It’s not like that at our workshop and sample room. I’m very pleased to say that our ladies (and a few men!) in India work in our brand new workshop in a rural village about 3 hours from Chennai.
Take a look around…
This is Pramilla, our workshop manager, holding up one of our Fashion Revolution posters.
Narashiman is one of the few men here. He’s in charge of the cutting room.
Our cutting is done, either by hand or with ‘knives’ (that’s a metal pattern piece shape with very sharp edges on one side) which slice through the leather when the hydrolic press is clamped on top. These ladies are all cutting wallet pieces with knives and a press.
There’s a lot of hand-work when putting a wallet together, so lots of chit chat goes on in the small teams doing different tasks.
At lunch time, we’re outside for a team photo. That’s me in the middle, trying not to block the ladies faces behind me.
More tomorrow, for Fashion Revolution Week. I’ll show you the garden and surroundings at our workshop.
