Wear Our Story Pilot Project
Practice Area: Social Enterprise, Product Design & Development
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Partners: Innovative 19 Architects
About
In response to the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in 2014 I collaborated with Innovative 19 Architects in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We understood that simply rebuilding a code compliant replacement building wasn’t going to resolve the economic, humanitarian, and environmental issues surrounding the garment industry and the culture of fast fashion.
Rather, there needs to be cultural and systemic shift. We sought to identify the needs of the garment workers affected by the collapse and to find ways, through principles of social enterprise, for the predominantly women garment workers in Bangladesh to provide safe working conditions and fairly compensated employment while allowing women to also carry out their roles as mothers, partners, and community members.
The result was a pilot project and formation of a collective enabling and empowering independent contractors working towards a single but dynamic vision while demonstrating the holistically sustainable potential of the garment industry.