The horrific tragedies of the Ali Enterprises fire in Pakistan in 2012 and the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013 were two of the major incidents that served to highlight the appalling conditions of many workers in the fashion industry in south central Asia. The Bangladesh Accord (2020) and Pakistan Accord (2022) were created in response to those countries’ human disasters, and the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry (the Accord) was developed in 2023 and signed by over three hundred signatories across multiple countries.
The Accord forms a legally binding agreement between fashion brands and garment worker trade unions that aims to ensure this most vulnerable group of workers are provided with safe work environments. It aims to ensure factories meet standards on fire prevention (by an approved inspection process), to create working committees on safety in the factories, and to provide a trusted mechanism for workers to raise complaints and concerns about safety issues.
Accord signatories are not permitted to use factories deemed ineligible, but work has sometimes been subcontracted out to third parties who do not meet the Accord’s standards. Notification to the Accord of any additional contractors is mandatory, but not always complied with, it would seem, and avoidable accidents are still being reported from countries including Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Hugo Boss in the frame
Only last week, at Arctic Textile Mills in Faisalabad, Pakistan, one man lost his arm while operating unsafe machinery which had jammed during operation.
Factory workers were spinning yarn and producing fabric for the Hugo Boss brand and were able to identify the Hugo Boss label on rolls of fabric.
Arctic Textile Mills is a yarn and fabric producer supplying production facilities in Pakistan including Beacon Impex and Masood Textile Mills, both of which are Hugo Boss product suppliers, verified via public supply lists and shipping data.
Hugo Boss, a high-end fashion brand, became a signatory to the Pakistan Accord in 2023, but has since decided not to renew its participation in 2026. The Accord attracts a fee from signatories, which helps to fund the regulatory framework of inspecting and approving safe factories.
Nasir Mansoor, general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan said: “A safe workplace is a right, not a privilege. Have global brands learnt no lessons from the growing list of accidents in factories making their products? Hugo Boss must take responsibility and ensure concrete safety measures in its supplier factories to prevent such tragedies in the future. No worker should be at risk of losing a limb simply for doing their job.”
Workplace safety must be paramount
Hugo Boss is being seen to have reneged on its responsibility towards workplace health and safety for garment workers in Pakistan and to have put lives at risk.
Activists and trade unions are now strongly advocating for Hugo Boss to re-join the Pakistan Accord with immediate effect, and to ensure safety for workers across all tiers of its supply chain. They are also calling for full remedy and compensation for this injured worker to cover ongoing medical treatment, and the loss of income to his family.
Anna Bryher, policy lead at workers’ rights organisation Labour Behind the Label, said: “This devastating incident is a reminder that workplace safety cannot be left to voluntary company policies or social audits. Hugo Boss must urgently re-join the Pakistan Accord, ensure this worker receives full compensation and support, and work with trade unions and their suppliers to address the safety failures that continue to put workers’ lives at risk.”
Adapted based on a press release.
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