‘Made in Bangladesh’ AND long-lasting?

Meet the factories

“Absolutely!”, replies Bruno, Mr Sustainability! “Bangladesh's image deserves to be revamped which is why our labels state ‘Proudly made in Bangladesh’’.

Are the concepts of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ and ‘long-lasting’ mutually exclusive?

We asked Bruno Van Sieleghem, Mr Sustainability:
“Not at all - Bangladesh really doesn't deserve the reputation it seems to have.
There are several reasons that led us to work with factories in Bangladesh as early as 2012; their highly skilled workers (you could call them experts), their modern production infrastructures, their proximity to cotton supply sources, and the competitiveness of their manufacturing costs.

Of course, the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 highlighted the horrendous deficiencies of some areas of the textile industry in Southeast Asia (and other regions for that matter). Despite the unjustifiable human tragedy that occurred there, that didn't seem to us to be a reason to abandon this country and its population to their fate. The textile industry in Bangladesh provides a livelihood for 4 million people, many of them young women, enabling them to gain some sort of financial independence.

Stanley/Stella is uncompromising in our sourcing: we only select factories which comply with ILO (International Labour Organization) standards and which are committed to a process of continuous improvement of the working conditions of their employees. It’s thanks to the sustained support of brands that share our values that Bangladesh will be able to enjoy the reputation it deserves, even if there's still a long way to go”.