British Fashion App Mallzee Sells Off Excess Stock to Help Bangladeshi Manufacturers

June 9, 2020

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A shopping app Mallzee took steps to favor Bangladeshi workers by selling stock clothes. The COVID-19 badly influenced big fashion brand sales; thus, they decided to sell them at low rates.

Mallzee’s Lost Stock took the initiative and removed all the brand labels from clothes. Then they sold them for 35 pounds ($44) and donated 37% of the marketing price to Bangladeshi workers. The charity supports employees who didn’t get salaries during COVID-19 by providing food and other days to use goods.

Statements of the Concerned People

Melanie Gray, a spokesperson for Edinburgh-based Mallzee, said:

“We had worked for the industry contacts to be in the right position to connect consumers with the canceled stock. Thus, supporting garment workers and helping avoid the clothes ending up in the landfill.”

However, employment supporters in Bangladesh praised the British initiative. They also pointed out the risks of order cancelation from big brands that ultimately affect many workers’ livelihoods.

The real leaders of a country never appreciate their nation to fulfill their daily demands with charity. Thus, Kalpona Akter, founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, shares his thoughts with Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“I appreciate this. But why do our employees have to live in charity?”

“It will be highly appreciated if Mallzee can pressurize brands and ensure that they pay up.”

The garment sector is the primary source of earning for Bangladeshi natives, but the pandemic affected it severely. Firm owners reported that the COVID-19 cause the cancellation or suspension of $3 billion-worth orders. Consequently, it also influenced exports that are lessened by 84%.

The main person of the Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters organizations, Rubana Huq, stated that the systems like Lost Stock were “imperative.”

Major Announcement by Garment Marketers

Moreover, Bangladeshi producers decided last week to ban Western-style brands who failed to pay their bills. They will announce the British brand retailers who stepped back due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Gray explained that Mallzee planned to sell 10,000 boxes of clothes in the first two weeks, but it has sold 80,000 of them excitingly.

She added more than the company favored the workers by supplying food items and daily-to-use products to them. And they get all of the funds by selling boxes of clothes.

Mallzee Partnership with Sajida Foundation

A Bangladeshi NGO, Sajida Foundation, contacted Mallzee, where they planned to distribute aid parcels among the workers next month.

A spokesperson from Sajida Foundation, Muhymin Chowdhury stated that

“We’re in the process of making a list of garment workers who need the relief. It can support them for two months.”

Some investigators thought that to support workers for a long time, money and facilities from the charity are not enough. The government should take steps to create an employee-friendly environment with proper social safety measurements. To sustain a stable economy, the government should facilitate the workers who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.