Tragedy in Bangladesh
- Words by Peppermint
The fallout from Wednesday’s garment factory collapse in Bangladesh continues, with nearly 1000 people feared dead and many more seriously injured in what is the country’s worst ever industrial accident. The Dhaka-based factory housed production of several mass market clothing brands, including Mango, Walmart, Kik and Primark, with workers ordered to remain on the premises after factory owners received warnings on Tuesday of dangerous cracks in the building’s structure. (In contrast, staff from a bank in the same building were immediately evacuated). As the rescue effort forges on, those on the ground continue to report the sound of screams from victims trapped inside the wreckage; including, perhaps most tragically, children, as the building also housed a creche on its 7th floor.
The incident highlights the true dangers and human cost of fast fashion production – an industry that accounts for 80 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports and employs some three million workers, mostly women, on near or below-living wages. “Bargain-basement [clothing] is automatically leading toward these types of disasters,” John Hilary, executive director at War on Want, told Reuters. He said Western clothing retailers’ desire to remain ultra-competitive in this fast, cheap fashion industry has translated into increasing pressure on foreign suppliers to reduce costs. “If you’ve got that [pressure] then it’s absolutely clear that you’re not going to be able to have the right kind of building regulations, health and safety, fire safety. Those things will become more and more impossible as the cost price goes down.”
Oxfam’s Gareth Price-Jones said companies need to demand change in the culture and conditions of clothing factories in Bangladesh, where profit comes before safety. “The only reason there were workers in that building was because management told them they would be docked pay if they did not go to work” – an option few could take in an industry where already perilously low wages have declined even further in the last 10 years. “Western buyers could be doing much, much more, and they have a moral responsibility to do so.” Consumers too, he said, have the power to “hold brands to account”.
Meanwhile, campaigners are urging companies to sign up to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement (BFBSA) which would require signatories to fit out their suppliers’ premises to full safety standards. “Change will only happen when major brands and retailers say that there is such a risk to their reputations that they will finally take the step of protecting the lives of their workers,” said Scott Nova from the Workers Rights Consortium. “This is not an industry driven by moral considerations but the bottom line.”
We can only hope that the silver lining to this awful tragedy is a new level of awareness and accountability, as the conditions in offshore clothing factories finally get the attention and discussion they deserve. Please share this story with your friends, family and colleagues, and always speak about where your clothing comes from and at what cost. It’s the least we can do to honour the victims of this tragedy whose lives were taken too early and too preventably.
{via Reuters, The ABC, The Independent}
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Look, I don’t want to make anyone panic but IT’S DECEMBER!!! If you’re planning to give homemade gifts, you’re going to have to act fast. …
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“In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute. As purveyors of traditional craft, we felt it appropriate to revisit this design.”
Crafters have often been at the heart of many protest movements, often serving as a powerful means of political expression. @NeedleAndSkein, a yarn store in Minnesota, are helping to mobilise the craftivists of the world with a ‘Melt The Ice’ knitting pattern created by @Yarn_Cult (with a crochet pattern too), as a way of peaceful protest.
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Raise those needles, folks – art and craft can change the world. 🧶
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"The most important shift is moving from volume-led buying to value-led curation – choosing fewer, better products with strong ethics, considered production and meaningful stories. Retailers have real influence here: what you buy signals what you stand for. At Life Instyle, this means using the event to discover and invest in small-scale, planet-considerate brands that align with your values and your customer’s conscience. Consumers don’t need more things; they need better things, and retailers play a key role in selecting, contextualising, and championing why those products matter."
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Before you celebrate, take the time to learn the truth. January 26 is not a day of unity it’s a Day of Mourning and Survival for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Stand in solidarity. Learn. Reflect. Act.
✊🏽 Blog written by Yorta Yorta woman Taneshia Atkinson.
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As the world careens towards AI seeping into our feeds, finds and even friend-zones, it`s becoming increasingly hard to ignore.
We just wanted to say that here at Peppermint, we are choosing to not print or publish AI-generated art, photos, words, videos or content.
Merriam-Webster’s human editors chose `slop` as the 2025 Word of the Year – they define it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” The problem is, as AI increases in quality, it`s becoming more and more difficult to ascertain what`s real and what`s not.
Let`s be clear here, AI absolutely has its place in science, in climate modelling, in medical breakthroughs, in many places... but not in replacing the work of artists, writers and creatives.
Can we guarantee that everything we publish is AI-free? Honestly, not really. We know we are not using it to create content, but we are also relying on the artists, makers and contributors we work with, as well as our advertisers, to supply imagery, artwork or words created by humans. AI features are also creeping into programs and apps too, making it difficult to navigate. But we will do our best to avoid it and make a stand for the artists and creatives who have had their work stolen and used to train AI machines, and those who are now losing work as they are replaced by this energy-sapping, environment-destroying magic wand.
Could using it help our productivity and bottom line? Sure. And as a small business in a difficult landscape, that`s a hard one to turn down. We know other publishers who use AI to write stories, create recipes, produce photo shoots... but this one is important to us.
`Touch grass` was also a Merriam-Webster Word of the Year. We`ll happily stick with that as a theme, thanks very much. 🌿
