"As almost 300 die in the Bangladesh factory tragedy, fashion editor Karen Dacre says consumer power must force changes in cheap clothing manufacture"
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"I admit when I heard of Primark’s connection with the disaster that took place at the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh on Wednesday — the chain is a customer of New Wave Style, the largest factory within the building— and the 273 bodies pulled from the rubble, I felt a sense of inevitability.
"This latest factory disaster with direct links to the British clothing industry involved a chain that — I presumed — placed the importance of cheap clothes at the pinnacle of its agenda.
"... Primark says it will continue an ongoing review into the Bangladeshi industry’s approach to factory standards and into its building integrity, adding:
"The company is shocked and deeply saddened by this appalling incident.""It would be too easy for opponents of the chain to put all of the blame on Primark and its fellow retailers. We cannot ignore the huge responsibility suppliers like New Wave have to their employees to pay a fair living wage and keep them safe, plus the role that governments — internationally and in Bangladesh — must play in monitoring factory conditions.
"The finger of blame also points in my direction. As a high-street fashion shopper, I’m certainly complicit in the suffering. While I’m happy to enquire about the contents of burgers in Tesco, I’ve yet to ask the sales assistant in my favourite high-street shop to clarify the origins of a blazer I 'have to have'.
"Today I realised that it might make a difference if I did."
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