Retailing is volume driven and so this industry is as competitive as it can get. While the technology goes through some considerable changes almost on a daily basis, some aspects of the technology never change - like the positive transitions it brings to the business or the manner in which it makes the work easier. In order to endure the continuous competition, the retail apparel industry has to rely upon the technology. To deal with a perishable commodity like fashion, the retail apparel sector must ensure that it has the precise quantity of the products. Hence global retailers are trying every moment to up their game to attract customers. The retail industry and manufacturing countries like Bangladesh are welcoming to each other. The year twenty thirteen has not been the best of time for Bangladesh as well as apparel retailers due to Rana plaza trazedy. After the tragedy the sales remained flat, while emerging economies remained important sources of growth. The world retailers those who are sourcing from Bangladesh including Walmart, H & M, Gap, Zara, Primark etc. came forward to recover the losses. Italian brand Benetton is one of the most well wishers brand those who has started the second phase of its engagement for the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy of April 2013.
The company’s first step was launching its own support group in partnership with a Bangladesh-based global nongovernmental organization, BRAC, one month after the tragedy. This move has helped support 280 victims and family members in rebuilding a sustainable future. Benetton Group noted that this next step in support of the Rana Plaza tragedy victims and their families is part of a larger social commitment program by the Group. The details of this program will be announced soon.
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| Rana Plaza victims and survivors |
The decision was reached following an advocacy campaign that garnered more than one million signatures demanding the Italian company contribute to the fund. More than a million people signed a petition on the campaigning website Avaaz urging Benetton to pay up or face embarrassing protests during next week's Milan fashion week.
Benetton is the last major Western company that had agreed to commit funding to the United Nations-backed Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund as the company was also used to bought products from one or more of the five garment factories destroyed in the collapse in April 24, 2013, industry sources said. Other Western companies that had suppliers producing at Rana Plaza include Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Production carried out by suppliers for Benetton at Rana Plaza accounted for less than 5 per cent of the total output produced at the building, according to a spokesman for the Italian company, who has been quoted by a leading western media. The advocacy campaign was launched as some brands were dragging their heels over financial aid to survivors and families of victims in the run up to the second anniversary of the disaster. Global trade union bodies that have campaigned on the issue welcomed Benetton's move but criticised the lack of clarity over the amounts.
However Benetton said in a statement on 20th February that how much it would put into the Rana Plaza Trust Fund was still being worked out in collaboration with a "globally-recognised third party", which was seeking to establish the principles underlying how much international companies who used the factory as a supplier should pay.
"We're pleased that at long last Benetton has promised to pay into the Rana Plaza Trust Fund. Now, it's time for Benetton to show us the colour of their money. We call on Benetton to do what's morally right and compensate with compassion," another western media quoted IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina as saying on that day.
The fund is being organised by the UN's International Labour Organisation. It has raised $21 million to date but needs another $9 million to meet its compensation commitments. To date, 5,000 people have received 40 per cent so far of the compensation promised to them, sources in the industry said.
Benetton said its contribution would be a "second step" in its efforts to help the victims following the establishment of its own support programme in partnership with the Bangladesh-based non-governmental organistaion BRAC. ‘We did this immediately, starting already only one month after the tragic events and we have since supported 280 victims and family members, to ensure that they had the means, including financial, to rebuild a sustainable future,’ the company statement said.
Benetton was one of a number of international brands that used Rana Plaza, a nine-story factory complex which workers and local journalists had warned was unsafe before it collapsed with thousands of people inside.
Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster turned the spotlight on the conditions of third world garment sector workers producing clothes for Western retailers. Walmart, Primark and Matalan were among the other well-known names which had clothes made there.
Unions said Benetton's promises should be treated with caution, saying the Italian company was initially involved in discussions on the Rana Plaza compensation arrangements but pulled out before the trust fund was set up.
Remittance stands at $597.9m in 13 days. The country received $597.90 million in remittance in the first 13 days of the current month of February.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics show the four state-owned commercial banks -- Agrani, Janata, Rupali and Sonali -- received $196.59 million from the expatriate Bangladeshis while four state-owned specialised banks got $8.92 million. The maximum remittance came through the private commercial banks who received $385.62 million while the nine foreign banks brought only $6.77 million. Among the private commercial banks, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) led the remittance earning as it received the highest remittance of $136.56 million, followed by National Bank Limited (NBL) with $28.92 million. Of the state-owned banks, Agrani Bank received $74.84 million, Sonali Bank $62.76 million, Janata Bank $51.31 million and Rupali Bank 7.68 million.
Among other private banks, who are in the leading positions in earning remittance, include Uttara Bank ($23.70 million), Pubali Bank ($23.36 million), Dutch-Bangla Bank ($20.69 million), Bank Asia ($17.17 million), Trust Bank ($15.94 million), Prime Bank ($14.51 million), BRAC Bank ($12.57 million) and AB Bank ($10.97 million).
Of the three NRB banks, only NRB Commercial Bank received $0.69 million remittances from non-resident Bangladeshis during the period.
It is noted that as of today, over 1100 factories have been inspected by the Accord on behalf of company signatories and many more will undergo the level of ongoing safety screening. Due to its program with BRAC, the Bangladesh-based global NGO that reaches an estimated 135 million people worldwide, to-date Benetton was able to support 280 victims and family members. The support included from their immediate-term medical needs, including limb replacement to ensuring that they had the means, including financial to rebuild for themselves a sustainable future.
Reported by-
Ataullah Al Farhan
Reporter of Textile Tribune
Email: ftzataullah@gmail.com
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