Why a Booktrail?
2013 – 2016: The murky workings of international clothes manufacturing……
A Harvest of Thorns
What you need to know before your trail
A horrific fire rips apart a clothing manufacturing factory in Bangladesh. The building which makes clothes for Presto, an American clothes company has been substandard for years and has recently been placed on a list of places not to use. However nothing was done and now, just before Christmas, the news that Presto is linked to the death of so many of its workers is devastating.
Bigwigs struggle to contain the damage for the financial markets but it’s the damage that it’s done to the people of Dhaka and their families that is the real issue and people around the world are starting to take note
The clothing industry is falling apart at the seams
Locations
Reset- Bangdalesh
- A: Dhaka - Railway Station
- B: Dhaka - airport
- C: Kalma
- Middle East - Jordan
- I: Amman - Josh's hotel
Travel Guide
From a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh to Malaysia to Jordan, this is a novel which delves into the murky workings of international clothes manufacturing. From the factory workers to the owners, the financial backers and the entire chain of those involved, this is a huge and tightly interlinked industry.
Those who make the clothes are little more than slaves. Working for pennies each day, in inhumane conditions – cramped, hot and dangerous. Women are abused and shouted at, workers are punished and told to work even harder. There is no escape from this as often these factories dominate the landscape where they are built, villages depend on them for jobs of entire communities. But in reality they make clothes for pennies which are then sold for high prices in other countries.
Shockingly this book is based on, or at least ‘inspired by’ real fact – in 2012 there was a fire in the Tazreen Fashions factory in Dhaka and more than 1600 workers were trapped with no means of escape. Many died and many more were permanently disabled.
Trail Gallery
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
A novel with a conscience – When I read that this was a book based on or inspired by a real life tragedy I was more than a little intrigued. We’ve all heard about the horrific conditions in clothing factories in poorer countries but because not many people have seen the conditions for real, it’s easy to not really see the full picture. Well this book helps fill that gap as the views of those working in the factory, the women who have to deal with the everyday abuse and the clothes with essentially blood on them.
This was a difficult book to read at times as the subject matter is so shocking – this has actually happened and is probably still happening. Oh to see how the entire fashion chain is held together, how workers are treated – or not as the case may be – this is a novel with a conscience.
There were many interesting reveals of this industry in the book – and a reference to the Civil War when even the abolitionists at the time were the ones who continued to wear cotton shirts. A reference of how we think we see what is going on but factories is far away lands seem to fall quickly from our minds.
Written with passion and at times a little too much detail, this is a novel to make you think
Booktrail Boarding Pass: A Harvest of Thorns
Author/Guide: Corban Addison Destination: Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur, Virginia Departure Time: 2013 onwards
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