Inditex to clear bills for Smart garments but won't sell products
Spanish retail giant Inditex has decided to receive the products that the fire-ravaged Smart Export Garments of Bangladesh was making for the retailer without its knowledge.
But the retailer will not put the garments on display as the factory was a noncompliant one, an official of Inditex said.
After buying the products from Smart Export, the Dhaka-based factory where eight workers died in a fire on January 26, the retailer will destroy the products, he said.
Logos of Bershka and Lefties -- two major brands of Inditex -- were found in the ashes after the fire.
“We will buy all the garments from the factory, but will not put those on display at our stores,†said the official at the Dhaka office of Inditex, asking not to be named.
However, the official did not say anything about the value of the garments or how those will be destroyed.
Earlier there were reports that Inditex scrapped deals with Spanish outsourcing company Wonnover and Bangladeshi supplier Centex, who subcontracted Smart Export.
Wonnover executes the work orders of the retail giant through various garment factories like Centex in Bangladesh.
After the fire at Smart Export, Inditex found that Centex shifted orders of 3,000 pieces of jackets to the unlicensed Bangladeshi factory under an alleged subcontract arranged by Wonnover.
Campillo Nestor, managing director of Wonnover, said on Tuesday that they are still monitoring the situation.
However, he did not confirm whether their deal with Inditex was really scrapped.
“I will come to Dhaka within a week and will issue a press statement clarifying the situation,†Nestor told The Daily Star by phone from Spain.
As compensation, Inditex has already paid more than Tk 13 lakh to each deceased worker, Tk 5 lakh to each injured and three months' salary to each survivor.
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