MANUFACTURING
VF Collaboration Pledges $10 Million to Building and Safety Upgrades in Bangladesh
Greensboro, N.C.–based apparel giant VF Corp., in partnership with International Finance Corp., will provide up to $10 million in financing to VF vendor factories in Bangladesh. The money will be used for building upgrades and fire and safety improvements. The new funding is part of a $17 million commitment VF made to assist Bangladeshi garment workers.
“The safety of the people making our products around the world is an imperative,” said Eric Wiseman, chairman, president and chief executive officer of VF. “Our program with IFC helps to ensure that our suppliers have access to the necessary capital to complete safety-improvement plans.” IFC is a member of the World Bank Group.
The collaboration between VF and IFC will enable the IFC to award loans to qualified Bangladesh factories that produce VF products. These loans will help “accelerate the implementation of needed fire and building-safety improvements,” according to a VF statement.
Before implementing any improvements, the factories will go through structural, electrical and fire-safety assessments as required by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, an association formed after the 2013 collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza building, which resulted in 1,129 deaths and 2,515 injuries. Many of the dead and injured worked at several garment factories housed in the building. The AFBWS was formed by 26 global retailers, including VF, to create the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a five-year project to improve safety in Bangladeshi garment factories.
The IFC loans will range from $100,000 to $1 million and will need to be used to address one of three performance standards: “assessment and management of environmental and social risks and impacts; labor and working conditions; or resource efficiency and pollution prevention.”
“Employment in the apparel industry has reduced poverty for millions of women in Bangladesh,” said Serge Devieux, IFC director for South Asia, in a statement. “This financing model, which we think could work well for other buyers and suppliers, will help Bangladesh’s suppliers improve work conditions and strengthen the country’s ability to attract garment manufacturers.”
Additional information on the program and VF’s other efforts to improve the health and safety of Bangladeshi garment factory workers can be found at www.wecare.vfc.com.
