As a child, I felt a sense of pride whenever I saw ‘Made in Bangladesh’ stitched on the back of my new pack of underwear from Primark. Representation! I would think. Now that I am older, it only fills me with sadness, knowing what injustice those three words represent.
Bangladesh is the second-biggest clothing exporter of Western fast fashion brands. According to the International Labor Organisation, clothing production accounts for 82% of Bangladesh’s export revenue. Its factories manufacture clothes for high street brands like H&M, Primark, Zara and many more. Operating in Bangladesh, however, only benefits these capitalistic corporations. The country is a source of cheap labour—the minimum wage in Bangladesh is strikingly low at $113 per month, and workers, including children, can work up to 16 hours at a time. Black Friday is coming up, and while I love a good sale, it is important to acknowledge that fast fashion brands can only charge low prices at the expense of workers who have no choice but to comply with their exploitation. The current state of Bangladesh’s clothing industry is a bleak contrast to the fame it once held 200 years ago.
Now known as Bangladesh, Bengal was ruled by the Mughal Empire whose muslin was sought worldwide. Dhaka Muslin was known for its unmatched thinness and lightness, which was achieved by an elaborate 16-step process involving a rare cotton, named ‘phuti karpas’, that grew along the banks of the holy Mengha River. A single meter of fabric took approximately one month to weave. It is said that clothes made from Dhaka Muslin were so fine that the wearer’s body could still be seen through seven layers. English women wearing Dhaka Muslin were accused of being naked. Thus, the fabric earned the name ‘Baft Hawa’, which translates to ‘Woven Air’. The lightness of Dhaka Muslin made it a prized fabric among royalty around the world, including the Mughal emperors, Greek and French monarchs like Marie Antoinette and Joséphine Bonaparte, and even famed writer Jane Austen. The Roman author Petronius was one of the first to note its transparency on record, writing, “Thy bride might as well clothe herself with a garment of the wind as stand forth publicly naked under her clouds of muslin.” Initially, the fabric was used to make traditional sarees and jamas, but began to cater for European buyers as the British Empire took control of the Mughal Empire… destroying centuries of tradition in the process, as they so often did.
Although there are attempts to revive the lost art and fabric, the fact that Bangladesh has become a major hub for fast fashion remains the same. The country’s former skill and craftmanship have been discarded for mass production and consumption at the expense of its people, who fight for fairer wages and treatment. So as Black Friday comes up, or the next time you think about placing an unnecessary order with a few clicks on your phone, think back to the workers who have been labouring tirelessly to make that convenience possible.