Largest buyer of clothes in Bangladesh
H&M is the largest buyer of clothing made
in the impoverished Asian country, making the chain susceptible to be brought
into incidents in the local clothing industry. That was the case over the last
few months when a fire cost the lives of a hundred employees and lately with the death
of a union activist.
The Swedish chain says it has nothing to do
with these incidents and claims instead it insisted on higher minimum wages in the
country. Now the company takes it a step further and it
has published all names of its suppliers in Bangladesh and 22 other countries. The list contains
785 suppliers, who control 1798 factories and bring in 95% of all products of H&M.
H&M says in its sustainability report it
has screened 96% of all suppliers before even making one order. A quarter of
the 485 companies researched were rejected afterwards as a potential business
partner.
