On the 13th anniversary of Rana Plaza, the garment industry’s deadliest but avoidable disaster to date, activists from Labor Behind the Label and the Rana Plaza Solidarity Collective are calling on German fashion brand Hugo Boss to rejoin the Pakistan Agreement.
German fashion brand and Polish fashion group LPP, which was directly linked to Rana Plaza, are among the companies that did not renew their membership in the Pakistan agreement this year. Hugo Boss is a signatory to the international agreement.
Among the fashion companies that have renewed their membership is the Danish group Bestseller. The company emphasized that the country is one of its most important sourcing markets. According to Bestseller, the agreement “goes beyond audits” and prioritizes risk prevention, local collaboration and joint work with organizations such as the International Labor Organization.
Thirteen years after Rana Plaza: Hugo Boss and LPP withdraw from factory safety agreements
Labor Behind the Label staged a protest outside a Hugo Boss store in London this morning. The protest was held to mark the anniversary of Rana Plaza, where 1,134 people died in a factory collapse in Bangladesh. The organization called on Hugo Boss to re-sign the agreement.
What is the Pakistan Agreement?
The Pakistan Agreement on Health and Safety in the Textile and Clothing Industry is a legally binding agreement between over 100 global clothing brands, retailers and trade unions (UNI Global Union and IndustriALL). It was created to ensure security in Pakistan’s textile and clothing industry. Launched in January 2023, it focuses on factory inspections, remediation measures, safety training and grievance mechanisms. It is a country program under the international agreement. The agreement was extended until December 31, 2026 and will be automatically renewed until the end of 2029, in line with the framework of the international agreement.
The agreement is widely considered to be the most effective tool for improving factory safety in Pakistan. It combines independent inspections, mandatory prevention plans, safety training and a worker grievance system with binding commitments from brands. These tools are “critical to identify risks, prevent workplace accidents and ensure the health and safety of workers” in the country’s textile and clothing sector.
“Textile and garment factories have shown criminal negligence towards the health, safety and protection of lives of workers, and international fashion brands are complicit in this crime,” Nasir Mansoor, secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan, said in a statement. “No lessons have been learned from tragic disasters like Rana Plaza and Ali Enterprises. The greed for profit has turned workplaces into death traps for workers. There is an urgent need to make workplaces safe. A safe workplace is a right, not a privilege.”
Activists from Labor Behind the Label and the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) are now stressing that Hugo Boss is pulling out, although security risks remain in its Pakistani supply chain. These include locked or blocked exits, unsafe escape routes and inadequate fire protection. According to the CCC, current data shows that LPP works with more than 100 suppliers in Pakistan, while Hugo Boss works with eight Tier 1 factories in the country, according to its public supplier list.
Many of these factories fail inspections, the CCC said. For example, at Mount Fuji Textiles, a supplier to LPP, inspectors found several lockable gates that could lock in workers in an emergency. The same problem was encountered at Hugo Boss supplier Kamal Mills, where lockable gates and stored goods blocked escape routes. Public corrective action plans show that these issues remain unresolved.
“By failing to renew their commitment to the Pakistan Agreement in a timely manner, brands are knowingly refusing to participate in the necessary remediation measures. These measures are necessary to ensure safe working conditions for the workers who make their clothes,” Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan said in a statement.
Labor and CCC activists are calling on Hugo Boss to re-sign the Pakistan Agreement and address all safety risks at its supplier factories. They reject the company’s argument that internal audits and multi-stakeholder initiatives are enough. They emphasize that audits alone have repeatedly failed to address systemic risks. In their view, binding agreements such as the Accord remain the most credible way to bring about real change.
“It is the worst kind of ‘cut-and-run’ where these brands have recognized the risks but refuse to prevent, mitigate and address them through a trusted and proven human rights due diligence process such as that provided for in the agreement,” the CCC’s Ineke Zeldenrust added in a statement. “We’re not talking about small brands with just a few factories – this can potentially affect tens of thousands of workers.”
Labor Behind the Label has planned further protests against Hugo Boss in Belgium and Germany as part of a larger campaign.
Note d. Editor: FashionUnited has asked Hugo Boss for additional comment.
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