10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse

10 years already... On April 24, 2013, in Savar, Bangladesh, the Rana Plaza collapsed. This 8-story building housed textile workshops. At least 1100 people died, more than 2000 were injured.

This disaster revealed to the international community the dangerous working conditions in the fashion and textile industry. For the first time, the question of the responsibility of the principals was raised.

In the last 10 years, some progress has been made: in Bangladesh, agreements on factory safety and fire prevention, an increase in the minimum wage; in France, a historic law on the due diligence.

Today, the time has come to address social issues in product value chains, and to turn to eco-socio-design.

If the environmental stakes of products are primordial, the human working conditions, the impact on society and on local communities are just as important.

Companies have the possibility to go beyond the environmental display or the respect of the regulation in force or the audits. They have the capacity to go even further.

How can they do this? By conducting a holistic, 360-degree analysis of their products, enriching their environmental impact results with a precise evaluation of their social impacts. Why do we do this? So that the improvement concerns the products, but also and above all the human society that participated in their manufacture. ▪️

Solène Postaire, LCA and eco-design consultant, fashion/textile sector
Julien Larrenduche, consultant and project manager, specialist in the social issues of products