Clothes to die for?
Rackety’s ethical policy.
Last night I watched the BBC2 documentary Clothes to Die for about the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh on April 24 last year quoting many horrifying figures: 1,134 bodies eventually recovered from the building, 2,400 workers injured in the tragedy, a ten-floor building which took less than 90 seconds to collapse, are just a few.
We know that our garments need to be well designed, good quality and good value for our customers. Making small volume runs of quality garments is a big challenge in an industry geared to mass volume lines and minimum quantities.
Before I set up Rackety’s 10 years ago, I had many years of experience working as a designer supplying the UK high Street stores, including visits to China to do ethical inspections of the factories that we used as suppliers.
Frankly I was glad to escape the pressure of working in such a cut throat industry and feel privileged to supply products that at least have a benefit to the families who use them. Due to my previous experience, I was able to ensure that we only work with experienced suppliers with a standard of ethics that we find to be acceptable.
We continue to review our ethical standards and are currently compiling a report to record and maintain our ethical policy.