Manufacturing
58
getty imAges
The collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed more than 1,100 people, put the spotlight on working conditions in garment factories.
supply chains. Technology and investment
had experimented with creating a website
other distribution centres in China, Hong
are transforming the upper end of the
to allow consumers in the West to connect
Kong and Turkey, and it has broken ground
industry, enabling Mango and other brands
virtually with the workers sewing their
for a massive complex in Spain. Last year,
to increase sales, manage global inventories
clothes. But the pressures on Phantom Tac
Mango produced a total of 110 million
with pinpoint precision and introduce
to meet deadlines and make money made
garments and accessories; within a decade,
clothes faster than ever – all as consumers
those social goals difficult to achieve.
company officials hope, the company will
expect to see new things every time they visit a store. But these brands depend on factories
Now, Mayor has disappeared. He did not
produce 300 million garments and roughly
respond to email requests for interviews,
quintuple annual sales to ¤10 billion
and his family in Spain declined to
(about $14 billion).
in developing countries like Bangladesh,
reveal his whereabouts. His Bangladeshi
where wages are very low and the pressure
business partner, Aminul Islam, is in jail in
In Bangladesh, the business
to work faster and cheaper has spawned
connection with the collapse.
environment presents a sharp contrast.
Factories like Phantom Tac in Bangladesh
Phantom Tac was on the fifth floor of Rana
substandard work conditions and repeated
and the Mango operations in Spain are part
Plaza, which was named after the family of
wage and labour violations. Consumers
of the same supply chains but might as well
the building’s owner, Sohel Rana. Rana, in
know little about these factories, even as
be from different worlds.
jail awaiting charges in the collapse, was a
familiar problems: unsafe buildings,
global brands promise that their clothes are made in safe environments. Phantom Tac could be regarded as an
In Spain, visitors to Mango’s design centre, a short drive from the distribution warehouse, are greeted in the lobby by
local political strongman, with close ties to officials in Savar. David Mayor was a buyer when he
unlikely attempt to prove that a Bangladeshi
an installation from Spanish artist Jaume
met Aminul Islam, who was operating a
factory could be socially responsible and
Plensa. A Picasso hangs in the office of
different factory in the centre of Dhaka, the
make a profit. It was partly owned by a
Mango’s chairman, Isak Andic. Employees
national capital. They started Phantom Tac
Spaniard, David Mayor, who had won
eat in a light-filled cafeteria or can relax
together, which seemed like a good fit, since
orders from several Spanish brands. He
in an upstairs area filled with ferns called
Mayor had connections with foreign brands,
had teamed with a Vatican missionary
“the greenhouse.”
especially those in Spain.
in rural Bangladesh to offer a training programme for female workers. And he
These state-of-the-art facilities are just the beginning: Mango already operates
Mayor also had a social agenda. In 2007, Mayor joined with Brother Massimo Portfolio