Clothing Retail Giants Split Hairs, Respond After Deadly Collapse: "Bangladesh? Where's That?"
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The Children’s Place, a retail chain based in Secaucus, N.J., that operates 1,100 stores, said that although a garment factory inside Rana Plaza had produced apparel for it, “none of our apparel was in production” there “at the time of this terrible tragedy.” Customs documents show that over the past eight months, the New Wave factory inside Rana Plaza had made more than 120,000 pounds of clothing that had been sent in 21 shipments to the Children’s Place. A two-ton shipment arrived in Savannah, Ga., on April 5.
The Cato Corporation, a retailer of women’s clothing that has more than 1,300 stores in 31 states, also played down any link to the building. In a statement, Cato said New Wave Bottoms, also located there, “was a factory of one of our vendors.” “However, we did not have any ongoing production at the time of the incident,” the statement said. New Wave Bottoms has shipped more than 90,000 pounds of apparel to Cato since November, customs documents show, with nine tons arriving at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina in February.
After Bangladeshi labor groups said they had found labels of Benetton clothing in the rubble, Benetton initially denied using any factories in the building. But as more labels and documents showing Benetton orders were found and publicized, the company revised its response, saying it had placed only a one-time order there and had severed ties with that factory.
Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator of the Clean Clothes Campaign, an anti-sweatshop group based in Amsterdam, criticized Western companies that sought to distance themselves from the building that collapsed. “It is high time for Benetton to stop this senseless game of always trying to pretend they’re not there,” she said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/world/asia/retailers-split-on-bangladesh-factory-collapse.html?_r=0