Leading by Example: What Other Fashion Business Moguls Could Learn From Amancio Ortega

Last year’s tragic factory collapse in Bangladesh shocked the world, not least the consumers of fashion provided by high street retailers.

Major companies have come under fire in recent months because of emerging revelations that their garments are being manufactured in environments similar to those which led to the 2012 incident.

The garment industry in Bangladesh counts for approximately 80% of the country’s exports, but problems have arisen as low pay, long hours and horrific working conditions continue to be ignored.

The average wage in the clothing factories can be as little as $20 per month and the likelihood of accidents, fires and destruction at these establishments creates an unsatisfactory environment for the people who work hard to make high street clothing brands make money.

As the third wealthiest man on the planet Amancio Ortega has a great deal of influence, not least through the holding company he founded called Inditex. A holding company that includes retail giants such as Zara, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, Inditex has producers in Bangladesh much like others of its kind.

Inditex could have allowed its affiliate factory’s practices to continue unaffected, without changing the terrible worker conditions. However, when it discovered the appalling things that some of its workers in one factory had to suffer, Ortega’s company took decisive action to make a difference.

Inditex immediately went to the source of the problem and confronted it head on. It asked the head of the factory to change the conditions, or it would lose its patronage. Inditex promised it would give priority to the orders to the factory if changes were made to improve the workers’ situation.

What other companies can learn from Ortega’s firm is that taking a stand will improve conditions for so many people in Bangladesh. After Inditex’s intervention, a safer factory was built and employees have better conditions in which to work. If all major high street brands took this same approach, the results could be spectacular.