Fashioning labour rights? Understanding the efforts of transnational stakeholders in the responsible fashion and apparel (RFA) movement post-Rana Plaza, Bangladesh
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Date
25/11/2019Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
25/11/2020Author
Hanlon, Mary Frances
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Abstract
In the wake of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh,
transnational stakeholders and stakeholder groups working within the global
movement for responsible fashion and apparel (RFA) mobilised in extraordinary
ways, developing and implementing a spectrum of strategies and actions aimed at
supporting garment worker safety in Bangladesh. While some focused on building
infrastructure, lobbying companies and governments to improve workplace standards
through policy and legislation in the country, others sought to improve voluntary
corporate standards. These stakeholders make up part of a global movement of
individuals and organisations engaged in efforts which aim to both challenge and
disrupt conventional systems of fashion and apparel production and consumption
with respect to social and environmental issues.
Long before Rana Plaza collapsed, transnational stakeholders engaged in efforts
directed at improving labour conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh. In this
thesis, I examine how RFA movement stakeholders mobilised post-Rana Plaza and
consider how fashion was leveraged across the movement as a tool to support the
labour rights of garment workers in Bangladesh. Findings stem from data gathered
through 42 qualitative interviews conducted with elite RFA movement stakeholders
based in Bangladesh, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as
well as a website analysis of the UK-based ‘pro-fashion’ transnational project
Fashion Revolution (FashRev), which operates as an analytic entry point into the
wider RFA movement. Captured within the thesis are the views of artists, activists,
corporate social responsibility advisors, designers, educators, government officials,
and key individuals working at local and international organisations, all connected to
fashion-related efforts aimed at supporting labour rights in Bangladesh. By
separating research participants into four distinct categories (fashion-based, labour
rights organisation-based, industry-based and other-related stakeholders), differences
and similarities between stakeholder groups emerge.
Within this thesis I show how RFA movement stakeholders, despite working in
diverse and divergent capacities, share a theory of change regarding aspirations to
support labour rights. The thesis also reveals that across the movement, stakeholders
leverage similar tools to achieve their aims. Operating within an information
provision reform pathway, research participants understood knowledge exchange and
resource sharing as central in their efforts to better support garment workers. Calling
for reform through voluntary and legislative means, stakeholders leveraged fashion,
strategic partnerships, and digital technologies to assist them in their endeavours.
Responding to the collapse, the majority of transnational efforts mimicked previous
strategies and tactics. The thesis reveals that there is more nuance to efforts at work
within the movement, as some stakeholders engaged with fashion as a tool for
disruption to challenge conventional understandings related to fashion and apparel
production and consumption under the logic of capitalism.