Global high street brands including Benetton, Mango and Marks & Spencer today committed to abide by an agreement to improve working conditions in Bangladeshi factories after a plant there collapsed killing more than 1,100 people.
The announcements came after clothing giants Inditex of Spain and H&M of Sweden said yesterday they were signing up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety following the disaster at a garment factory that supplied Western retailers.
The agreement, which is due to be formally signed in the coming days, commits retailers to paying for factory repairs and ensuring an efficient system for building and fire safety inspection.
"We recognise the need for a safer garment industry in Bangladesh," said Krishan Hundal, director of sourcing at Britain's Marks & Spencer.
"All our suppliers must adhere to our strict ethical standards as a condition of working with us," including regular safety checks and the use of single occupancy factories, Hundal said.
M&S buys from around 60 factories in Bangladesh.
The pact with the union federations IndustriALL and UNI, which represent tens of millions of garment industry workers, is overseen by the United Nations International Labour Organisation.
Activists had set May 15 as a deadline for signing.
The full list of signatories has yet to be revealed, but US-based PVH, owner of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein brands, and Germany's Tchibo, were among the first to back it, according to anti-sweatshop network The Clean Clothes Campaign.
Tchibo communications director Arnd Liedtke said: "We have joined this agreement because it allows us to join forces."
"We cannot change things alone," he said.
Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel maker and the USD 20 billion (15.4 billion euro) industry accounted for up to 80 per cent of annual exports last year.
There are around 4,500 garment factories in Bangladesh, churning out products for Western fashion labels which sell the clothing at many times the cost price.
The announcements came as Bangladeshi troops wrapped up the search for survivors in the collapsed nine-storey building outside the capital that imploded on April 24, killing 1,127.
