Western consumers have become used to buying attractive clothing at prices far below what it would cost to buy the materials and make the clothes at home — and that’s not taking into account the time and skills involved. Unlike previous generations, most people today do not need to keep clothes until, after much mending and patching, they simply wear out. Evidence of this can be found in any High Street, with charity shops displaying racks of nearly-new clothing.
Recently, many of these same consumers were deeply shocked to learn something of the conditions under which their garments are made. In April 2013 the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killed almost 1,200 people. In addition, about 2,500 were injured and almost as many had to be rescued from the eightstorey building.
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