Canadian companies using ‘safe’ factories

But sometimes those factories off-load work

There are a few Canadian companies using certified safe factories in Bangladesh. Loblaw Cos.’ Joe Fresh is one of them.

But the budget fashion company was also a customer of the garment factories operating in the building that collapsed in Bangladesh this week. Late Friday, Loblaw said it is sending senior representatives of its sustainable supply chain team to Bangladesh to try to get a “precise response” on what caused the tragedy. Loblaw also said it will take part in a meeting Monday with other companies and the Retail Council of Canada to address the situation.

Wednesday’s collapse at the Rana Plaza building was the latest and worst of a string of lethal disasters in the Bangladesh garment industry. A fire last November at Tazreen Fashions Ltd. killed 112 people, but there have been 40 other fires in Bangladeshi factories since then, killing nine and injuring 660.

Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) is a nongovernmental organization that certifies garment factories, letting companies know whether their clothing is being made in safe facilities. Loblaw outsources work in Bangladesh through WRAP-certi- fied factories. So do other Canadian brands: jeans maker Western Glove Works of Winnipeg, Buffalo Jeans of Montreal and the John Forsyth Shirt Co. But WRAP spokesman Russell Jowell points out that WRAP doesn’t certify brands, only factories. None of the five factories in the Rana Plaza building was certified by WRAP, he said. And one, New Wave Style Ltd., had its certification lifted by WRAP in October. Of the 4,200 garment factories in Bangladesh, employing 3.4 million people, 194 factories are certified safe by WRAP. But garment industry experts point out that even when companies try to deal with reputable companies, there is still the risk that their clothes can end up being made somewhere else. “Work can be outsourced to another factory without a company even knowing,” Cheryl Hochkiss, manager of advocacy campaigns for World Vision Canada, told the Star. “There are a whole lot of ways to mitigate risk but there is no way to eliminate it,” said Bob Kirke, executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation. “You try to make sure your work isn’t subcontracted, but it is.” T-shirt factories that used to exist in Toronto and Montreal shut down after Canada lifted tariffs on Bangladesh garment imports a decade ago, Kirke said.