[Now, eight
months later, the question is what responsibility Mango and other brands should
bear toward the victims of Rana Plaza
By Jim
Yardley
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Samuel Aranda for The New York Times
A fashion designer at an office of Mango in
contrast to factories in places like
|
Five thousand miles away in Bangladesh , the Phantom Tac factory in the industrial suburb of Savar
was a hive of human hands. Hundreds of men and women hunched over sewing
machines to produce garments in an assembly line system unchanged for years.
Speed was also essential, but that just meant people had to work faster.
Last spring, as it pushed forward with global expansion
plans, Mango turned to Phantom Tac to produce a sample order of polo shirts and
other items. Then, on April 24, the Rana Plaza
Now, eight months later, the question is what
responsibility Mango and other brands should bear toward the victims of Rana Plaza
But many other brands, including Mango, have so far refused
to contribute to the fund. Mango argues that it is not responsible because it
had not “formalized a commercial relationship” with Phantom Tac. Company
officials say that Mango was still conducting quality inspections and factory
audits of Phantom Tac, and that the factory had not started producing samples
for an order of 25,000 items.
But in interviews conducted over several months,
supervisors and other employees from Phantom Tac said work to make samples for
Mango had already begun when Rana Plaza
“There was an urgency among the bosses,” said Mohammed
Mosharuf Hossain, 28, who worked in a cutting section. “The managers told us to
finish the Mango products urgently. They said if we could finish this work
quickly, we might get more orders from Mango.”
For global brands and retailers, Rana Plaza
But these brands depend on factories in developing
countries like Bangladesh , where wages are very low and the pressure to work faster
and cheaper has spawned familiar problems: unsafe buildings, substandard work
conditions and repeated wage and labor violations. Consumers know little about
these factories, even as global brands promise that their clothes are made in
safe environments.
Phantom Tac could be regarded as an unlikely attempt to
prove that a Bangladeshi factory could be socially responsible and make a
profit. It was partly owned by a Spaniard, David Mayor, who had won orders from
several Spanish brands. He had teamed up with a Vatican
missionary in rural Bangladesh to offer a training program for female workers. And he had
experimented with creating a website to allow consumers in the West to connect
virtually with the workers sewing their clothes.
But the pressures on Phantom Tac to meet deadlines and make
money made those social goals difficult to achieve. Employees said the factory
was busy but had suffered setbacks: Inditex, the global clothing giant that
owns Zara and Lefties, had canceled orders a year earlier after the factory
failed a social compliance audit. And several employees said other problems had
arisen after underage workers were discovered working as helpers.
Now, Mr. Mayor has disappeared. He did not respond to email
requests for interviews, and his family in Spain declined to reveal his whereabouts. His Bangladeshi
business partner, Aminul Islam, is in jail in connection with the collapse.
Factories like Phantom Tac in Bangladesh and the Mango operations in Spain are part of the same supply chains, but might as well be
from different worlds.
In Spain , visitors to Mango’s design center, a short drive from the
distribution warehouse, are greeted in the lobby by an installation from the
Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. A Picasso hangs in the office of Mango’s chairman,
Isak Andic. Employees eat in a light-filled cafeteria or can relax in an
upstairs area filled with ferns called “the greenhouse.”
These state-of-the-art facilities are just the beginning:
Mango already operates other distribution centers in China , Hong Kong and Turkey , and it has broken ground for a massive new complex in Spain . Last year, Mango produced a total of 110 million garments
and accessories; within a decade, company officials say, the company hopes to
produce 300 million garments and roughly quintuple annual sales to 10 billion
euros, or about $14 billion.
This growth strategy comes after Mango responded to the
global recession by slashing prices, expanding offerings and opening stores in
countries like China and Russia . This increased sales but has placed a premium on
efficiency, cost and speed. In the past, Mango sent new items to stores every
four to six weeks; now it is every 15 days. Technology has enabled Mango’s
distribution center in Spain to track global sales, down to a single item in a single
store, and then ship out boxes of refill orders within eight hours.
“The new facility will be faster, bigger and more
efficient,” said Jordi Torra Marin, a project manager.
In Bangladesh , the business environment presents a sharp contrast.
Phantom Tac was on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza Rana Plaza
Mr. Rana also extracted profits: He controlled food
services that served snacks to workers during overtime. Several workers
complained about the foul taste of the food. Mr. Rana also claimed the leftover
remnants of fabric produced by each factory and sold them into the lucrative
local recycling market. And, workers say, he took any garments that did not
meet quality standards and sold them in local markets.
“He was so powerful,” said Mohammad Liton, 25, a quality
controller at Phantom Tac. “He had his own gang. They used to operate
businesses.”
David Mayor was a buyer when he met Aminul Islam, who was
operating a different factory in the center of Dhaka , the
national capital. They started Phantom Tac together, which seemed like a good
fit, since Mr. Mayor had connections with foreign brands, especially those in Spain . Soon, Mr. Mayor was bringing in orders, workers said, or
leading foreign buyers on tours of the factory.
Mr. Mayor also had a social agenda. In 2007, Mr. Mayor
joined with Brother Massimo Cattaneo, a Roman Catholic
missionary, and financed a training program for young girls from rural Bangladesh . He eventually hired about a dozen of the graduates into
his own factory.
He also wanted to give consumers a better understanding of
how their clothes were made. Ashley Wheaton, who had worked for a nonprofit
group in Dhaka , was hired to develop a website where consumers could type
in a code taken from the sales tag of an item and then learn about the
Bangladeshi women who made the garment they had bought. As an experiment, Mr.
Mayor opened a shop in Dhaka where the clothes were marked with the codes.
“He had this idea about what he wanted to accomplish,” Ms.
Wheaton said. “He really did want to change the way things are done. But he was
pragmatic. He knew it had to make money and be sustainable.”
But money became a problem. Ms. Wheaton left after about
seven months, as the factory began tightening expenses. Eventually, Mr. Mayor
also stopped funding the training program, which Brother Massimo has kept
afloat through church money and donations.
Workers at Phantom Tac said deadline pressures were
relentless. Margins were so tight that several workers say midlevel managers
used two sets of accounting ledgers to hide excessive overtime or other wage
violations. Workers also said a problem with child labor arose in 2012 after a
buyer discovered several teenagers working as helpers, the lowest-level
position in the factory.
By January 2013, Phantom Tac had corrected the child labor
issue and was trying to win new business, including from Mango. Mango had sent
buyers to the factory as well as inspectors to conduct an audit of working
conditions, workers say.
“We all knew about Mango’s audit team,” said Mr. Hossain,
the man from the cutting section. “There was an announcement on the
loudspeaker. They told everyone to work properly. They wanted to impress them.”
It worked. Labor activists searching the rubble of Rana Plaza
“David came to the factory and explained how to correct the
collar,” Mr. Sohel said.
Another employee, Mohammed Sumon Prodhan, who worked in
quality control, said seamstresses had been making samples of green polo shirts
for Mango the day before Rana Plaza
In a recent interview at Mango’s design center in Spain , Jose Gomez, vice president of international business
development, cited Mango’s involvement in a major consortium of brands that
have agreed to help finance safety upgrades to Bangladeshi factories as
evidence of the company’s commitment to improve conditions.
But on the separate issue of compensation for victims, Mr.
Gomez denied that Mango had started production at Phantom Tac because, he said,
the company’s auditing process was not complete.
Asked if he was certain no work was underway, Mr. Gomez
said, “What I understand is what I told you.”
Eva Kreisler, a coordinator for the anti-sweatshop group
Clean Clothes Campaign in Spain , said that Mango’s explanation was unconvincing and that
the company had a moral obligation to help the victims of Rana Plaza
Another Spanish retailer, El Corte Inglés, is one of four
brands that have agreed to contribute to the $40 million fund. Officials say
other brands must come forward if full funding is to be achieved.
“Definitely, they should contribute to the fund,” Ms.
Kreisler said of Mango. “It is quite shameful that they still won’t contribute
to bring justice to the workers.”
On the day before Rana Plaza
Mr. Islam even went to the building himself and made his
ritual evening prayers.
“He called me,” said Mohammad Minhaj Uddin Nannu, the
longtime supervisor. “He said, ‘Why are you all scared? You shouldn’t be. I’m
here.’ ”
The next morning, Rana Plaza
Jim Yardley reported from Parets Del Vallès,
Spain, and Savar, Bangladesh
