Garment Factory

Well, this is a blast from the Bangladeshi past, but I thought I would upload some photos about the garment factory that we were able to visit here in Chittagong a few months ago.

For most people, what comes to mind when I say "Bangladesh" is natural disasters, extreme poverty, Islam, and garment factories. I would hazard a guess that most of us in the states have something in our closets that is 'adorned' with the Made In Bangladesh tag. On one trip we were able to go to a warehouse full of boxes awaiting export- many of these said Wal-Mart or Macy's on the sides. What I also thought was interesting to see is that a single box would contain dozens or hundreds of the exact same item, going to the exact same store: Macy's- Nude Bra Medium. It really is amazing to think about how much is produced in the world, and how much is consumed, and where all of that production is happening, and where a lot of that consuming is happening. I'm not even trying to start a discussion on how in the US we may have a tendency to over-consume. I'm simply trying to say that there is a LOT of stuff in the world.

What I found really interesting, though, was going to a garment factory. We were invited to go by the owner of the factory, who is part of the same family that owns the ship-breaking yard we went to, and a tea plantation that we were invited to, (and also maybe a shrimp farm?- this family is a pretty big deal). The man who invited us in encouraged us to talk to the workers, and to take photos. He told me that the women got paid a fair salary, and that they got paid overtime if they worked for more than 8 hours or if they worked weekends.

Here's a general shot of the garment factory. You can see that the majority of the people doing the sewing are women, and that the supervisor is a man. I should note that there were a few female supervisors, but for the most part they were mostly men. When we first walked into the factory a few women stopped sewing and cutting to watch us, but were quickly and quietly told that they had to get back to work. Later it seemed like they mostly were encouraged to talk to us. You can also see in this photo that mostly there is good lighting and good ventilation in the factory- one wall was all gigantic fans going outside, and the other was all open windows.

A woman sorting through hundreds of the same plaid shirt before they get shipped off to Wal-Mart.

I don't really understand this sign. Good to see that they have smoking detectors at least, regardless of what a "hit detector" might be.

This is a photo of the room where the women can eat during their break. I have read about garment factories where these rooms are kept locked, along with the bathroom- so it was nice to see that at least while we were there the doors were all open and unlocked and everything.

The Exit is that way.

Women sitting on the tables and cutting out patterns, I think.

Buttons or grommets or something?

Some female garment factory workers smiling as we passed.

The whole factory was really interesting and moving. I've read a few articles for classes and for personal interest's sake about garment factory workers in South and South-East Asia, so it was really interesting to go see one first hand. My cynical side wonders what it's like when foreign visitors aren't there, but it did seem like the women were treated pretty fairly.

Just something to think about the next time you're shopping in the US.