The Deadly Cost of Fashion (VIDEO)

A photojournalist who covered last year’s deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh draws connections to New York from clothing labels he found in the rubble.

As reported by the New York Times, on April 24, 2013, “Ismail Ferdous photographed the deadliest disaster in garment industry history: the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,100 workers and injured around 2,500.”

A year later, we explore the uncomfortable question: How does the Rana Plaza collapse relate to the lives of Americans? Much more than you might think. Companies and brands associated with factories in Rana Plaza include Joe Fresh, Mango, Walmart, J.C. Penney and The Children’s Place (though it’s unclear whether all of these had active manufacturing there at the time of the collapse). Some of the clothing labels that he photographed in the rubble can also be found in Manhattan stores.

Produced by Ismail Ferdous and Nathan Fitch