In The Balance

Two years on from the Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh where a factory collapsed killing over 1100 workers, what has changed in the global rag trade? Are workers safer? Are wages fairer? Are we as consumers any more willing to pay a higher price for our clothes to ensure that the one in six of us who work in the global clothing sector have a decent life? Or is the throw-away culture, in which a $1 t-shirt is bought, worn and chucked away in no time, here to stay; and with it a business model that locks in a race to the bottom? We speak to a factory owner from Dhaka, a fashion deisgner and the man responsible for drawing up the new rules intended to make life better and safer for the people making our clothes. Image: A relative of one of the victims of the disaster at a protest. Credit: Getty Images