Garment Factory Fire Studies
I've been invested in learning more about a worker's life in all stages of the fashion industry, including those that would end up in sweatshops. The devastating fire in which the employers locked the girls in on each floor to keep them working (and when I say girls I mean 14-24 year old's) was the Triangle shirtwaist factory in 1911.
A few months prior those same girls were on strike for poor and unsafe working conditions that were avoided and eventually led to their death.
The fire started potentially from a cigarette bud that had fallen on the floor, where there were piles of loose scrap fabric everywhere. The fire sprang up fast, and the girls were trapped on each floor with no way out. I won’t go into the details of how they perished, but the fire took 141 lives. A few bodies were even so badly burned, they were unidentifiable.
and I'm reminded of the great fire In Bangladesh in 2012 in which the Tazreen fashion factory burned down. The conditions were horribly neglected like the triangle shirt factory and were supplying the cheaply discounted clothing in which they were working for pennies a day. Some of these brands and businesses who received their garments from the factory were Zara, Boohoo, Walmart, Sears and more.
Of course companies like Walmart said they had "no idea" that their garments were being made there. But even that statement shows how many flaws there are in the fashion industry today. After the fire of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the men owning the factory named Blanck and Harris were unable to be prosecuted as they supposedly didn’t “know” that the door was locked. See the similarities?
Both are great opportunities to look at when it comes to workers safety. Both fires enacted change in their nations, and through the more open forms of communication via social media, there is the opportunity to be educated on the history of both nations' devastating fires and why those fires broke out in the first place. A question should be asked, “should someone die for my clothes?”
That question becomes more painful and ridiculous to ask when the garment was made using fast fashion, in which it’ll more than likely fall apart within a year and was purchased for 5.99, and made in horrible conditions like these ones.
Sources
Uncovering the History of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
United States Department of Labor: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Bangladesh Finds Gross Negligence in Factory Fire
Tazreen Fire: Fight For Compensation
Five Years After Deadly Fire: Garment Workers Are Still Vulnerable