Calculating the Human Cost of Cheap Clothing

Relatives of the victims of the April 24 Rana Plaza building collapse display photographs of their dear ones as they gather to pay tributes at the venue of the tragedy at Savar, outskirts of Dhaka.

Investigative Fund reporter Anjali Kamat discusses her article, “We Are Nothing But Machines to Them,” the final installment of a joint year-long series about labor exploitation from Slate and the Investigative Fund. She reports on garment industry conditions in Bangladesh, one of the cheapest places in the world to make clothing, where the industry is still recovering from the collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013, which killed over 1100 garment workers. She visits with workers in Bangladesh (where factories have become safer, but working conditions have declined), and sales associates in Manhattan's garment district.