Lawrence University Lux Richard A. Harrison Symposium 2019 Dressing the World: From Fast Fashion to Secondhand Fashion Tamima Tabishat Lawrence University Follow this and additional works at: https://lux.lawrence.edu/harrison © Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Recommended Citation Tabishat, Tamima, "Dressing the World: From Fast Fashion to Secondhand Fashion" (2019). Richard A. Harrison Symposium. 7. https://lux.lawrence.edu/harrison/7 This Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by Lux. It has been accepted for inclusion in Richard A. Harrison Symposium by an authorized administrator of Lux. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Dressing the World: From Fast Fashion to Secondhand Fashion GLOBAL CITIES CAPSTONE Tamima Tabishat IHRTLUHC IS 699 Professor Martyn Smith Spring Term 2020 1 Introduction On April 23, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, due to longstanding structural instabilities, killing 1134 workers and injuring more than 2500 (“Bangladesh Factory Collapse Toll Passes 1,000”). A vast number of global fast fashion labels, including United Colors of Benetton, Walmart, Zara and Mango had subcontracted work to numerous workshops housed in this complex. This horrific accident caused a global outcry and companies promised to quickly improve the conditions of laborers who worked for their local subcontractors. In the initial months and years after the disaster, Bangladesh experienced one of the most effective campaigns to improve labor and safety conditions (Paton). Structural improvements were made to garment factories, labor rights were improved and workers’ wages increased. Most notably, in 2013, the “Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh” was signed by global companies such as Adidas, ESPRIT, Inditex (incl.