The fact that two women gave birth in the rubble of Rana Plaza is a testament to the working conditions these women endure every day to make the clothes that are sold on department store racks a world away.

Source: Concern in Action: Rana Plaza Is the Real Cost of Cheaper Clothing by Bijoy Krishna Nath, Concern Worldwide

She was crying a lot, and when I got to her she was saying: “Please brother, don’t leave me, get me out – even if you have to cut off my hand.”

Source: BBC News: Bangladesh rescuer: ‘I cut off limbs to save lives’ by Didar Hossain

Every time I look back to this photo, I feel uncomfortable — it haunts me. It’s as if they are saying to me, we are not a number — not only cheap labor and cheap lives. We are human beings like you. Our life is precious like yours, and our dreams are precious too.

Source: TIME: A Final Embrace: The Most Haunting Photograph from Bangladesh photo by Bangladeshi photographer Taslima Akhter. It’s graphic content, but go look at it & if you dare, spend a minute to let the reality sink in.

“In my view, 50% of garment factories are located on premises which are not safe,” said senior government official Mainuddin Khondker, who headed a task force to inspect garments factories following last November’s fire at Tazreen Fashions.

Source: BBC News: Dhaka factory collapse: Can clothes industry change? By Sabir Mustafa [M121 note: 4 million workers work in Bangladesh's garment industry, 80% women/young women]

the cost of cutting and making a dress shirt is $1 to $1.50 in Bangladesh, compared with $3 to $4 in China

Source: WSJ: Before Dhaka Collapse, Some Firms Fled Risk By SUZANNE KAPNER, BIMAN MUKHERJI and SHELLY BANJO And most of that goes to the factory owners and the suppliers – the actual person who put your shirt together probably got paid $40. Per month.

A day earlier, an engineer had examined the cracks and warned that the building should stay closed, but the building’s owner, Sohel Rana, and the factory bosses opened that morning, anyway.

Source: NYT: Last Hope in Ruins: Bangladesh’s Race to Save Shaheena by Jim Yardley. Great (but tough to read) article on a rescue attempt to save a survivor that failed.

For too many Western brands, “it’s the ugliest race to the bottom because the financial crisis in America and Europe means that people are getting very scared of buying expensive things,” says Sanjiv Pandita, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asia Monitor Resource Center, which tracks labor conditions across the region.

Source: Apparel Retailers Confront Tough Options by Kathy Chu

I began working in Bangladesh’s garment industry at the age of 12, making just $3 a month. I went to work because my father had a stroke and the family needed money to cover basic living expenses. I worked 23 days in a row, sleeping on the shop floor, taking showers in the factory restroom, drinking unsafe water and being slapped by the supervisor.

Source: The bloodshed behind our cheap clothes by By Kalpona Akter

The Savar tragedy is a symbol of our failure as a nation… Did we learn anything at all from this terrible massacre? Or will we have completed our duty by merely expressing our deep sympathy?

Source: The Savar tragedy, RMG industry and Bangladesh by Professor Muhammad Yunus (yes, that Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner)

As the world turns its attention to the next tragedy, the big brands hope consumers will lose interest, and stop sharing stories on Facebook and Twitter about Bangladesh. They are probably right. Most people will forget, and continue to buy cheap clothes, but we are missing the point—and the lesson—if the tragedies don’t force us to change our behavior.

Source: Good: Lessons From Bangladesh: It’s Time to End Fast Fashion by Nathan Rothstein

…pulling out of Bangladesh is the wrong call. The right response of the Western retailers who source from Bangladesh is not to walk away from the country but to work with officials and owners to make the situation better. And consumers who claim to care about people in developing countries should shop at retailers who make that choice.

Source: BusinessWeek: Why You Shouldn’t Stop Buying From Bangladesh by Charles Kenney

For me, the Bangladesh tragedy hit really close to home. It was a reminder that the work we’re doing with CAUSEGEAR is urgent. Many companies may end up shifting production over to India, where someone may decide to work for them, or become a CAUSEGEAR crafter.

More on the issue of slavery & the global manufacturing system that needs to be transformed, read our earlier post on “how many slaves work for you?”

The recent garment factory collapse in Bangladesh highlights an uncomfortable truth about the stuff we have and the lifestyle we’ve grown accustomed to. 622 people (and counting) died at a 8-floor factory that was ridiculously unsafe to work it. Preliminary reports reveal that the factory was built carelessly on a filled-in pond. There were huge generators on high floors that would vibrate the whole building. More on how this factory came to be and why Bangladesh now has thousands of shops like this is here in this WSJ article. As reported by the WSJ, the EU trade commissioner did not mince words, saying that the conditions that these workers worked under was flat-out “MODERN SLAVERY.”

The truth is that a lot of the things we buy are made in places we would be utterly horrified by. Bright play clothes that my kids wear may very well be made by kids who are being exploited. Did you know that there are more slaves today than there have ever been in human history? 27 million. That’s more than the populations of NY and NJ combined.

This is exactly one of the reasons why we started MOVEMENT121 and launched CAUSEGEAR into the market. We believe that there’s a movement of people around the country who want our stuff to treat people well. We want our stuff to be slave-free. Not only that, we want our stuff to actually set slaves free.

What if you knew that the things you were buying were actually helping someone work themselves OUT of poverty?

A GIGANTIC PROBLEM. WHAT CAN ONE PERSON REALLY DO?

What can we do to solve this gigantic, complicated monster of a problem? We believe our business model takes this monster down. Through the power of responsible business – business that values relationships & people over things & stuff, we can change the world.

But, what can one person really do? I talk about the helpless feeling of taking on this huge gigantic problem in this TEDx talk. The bottom line is that our every day choices are powerful.

Feel free to comment below or shoot me any questions at tony@movement121.com. What else can you do? At the very least, become more aware – here’s 11 things you can do about slavery today.

Oh, and by the way, if you really want to know how many slaves work for you right now, go to SlaveryFootprint.org, go through the process, and find out the uncomfortable answer. For me, it ended up being 70.

We’re forming a Social Media Action team that will take our organization to the next level, and we need your passion, talent, commitment, and ideas.

The goal of the team is to create eye-popping awareness and momentum for MOVEMENT121 and CAUSEGEAR through social media savviness. I’m specifically looking for people who have strengths in these specific areas:

THE TEAM

THE RESEARCHER
This person loves to dig stuff up from the web and document it. Facts about human trafficking, poverty, corporate social responsibility. You are probably a googling rock star, read a lot online, and know where to find things. You can track down details and email addresses and think through how it all connects.

THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER
This person has that eye for design. For colors, great photos, fonts, pixels. You know how it all goes together. We need you to help us create beautiful social media profiles and infographics. You’ll be a photoshop or adobe illustrator rockstar, or just know how to make things look awesome digitally.

THE DIGITAL CONVERSATIONALIST
This person can get conversations going online. Whether it be facebook or in article comment threads, you are able to find the right conversations already going online, and get in there quickly to make compelling points. You’re probably already in several online conversations now, and can get your friends there, too.

THE BLOGGER
This person’s well goes deep. You have lots of thoughts and ideas and love to share them in the form of blog posts. You’ll write on topics that you’re passionate about that are also core to the existence of CAUSEGEAR and MOVEMENT121.

THE COPYWRITER/EDITOR
This person probably loves words with friends. You’ll read a paragraph on our website and think about 3 ways we could’ve said it better. Only, you can actually share those thoughts and help us write/edit our content. Must be able to beat me in Words With Friends, Ruzzle, or your word game of choice (kidding, sort of).

THE WHATEVER-IT-TAKES PERSON
This person is willing to pitch in with whatever comes up. Because stuff always comes up. You are good at just getting stuff done and enjoy the non-routine nature of things.

MORE DETAILS

TO APPLY

To apply, please email your resume as well as me an answer to the following:

Applications are due May 25. My email is tony@movement121.com. Look forward to hearing from you!

ABOUT MOVEMENT121 and CAUSEGEAR

CAUSEGEAR is a new category of gear that’s changing the way things are made, and the reason we buy things. We’re starting with messenger bags, handbags, backpacks, and other high-design gear – that creates a unique one to one connection between you the consumer and the crafter who made it. Every time you use your CAUSEGEAR, you see the name and face of the person who made your gear – right on the tag.

We work with the poorest of the poor on the earth – less than $2/day, mix-mud-with-your-rice poverty – and train them to become CAUSEGEAR crafters. 10% of your purchase and 90% of our profits go directly to benefiting the crafters. They are empowered to work themselves out of poverty.

Through a movement of corporations, conferences, organizations, students, and professionals buying CAUSEGEAR instead of other items we would’ve bought anyways, our vision is to transform 1,000,000 people trapped in unfathomable poverty and injustice to become self-sustaining.

MOVEMENT121 is the low-profit social innovation company behind the CAUSEGEAR brand. We are proud to be a L3C social enterprise and take joy in investing in the next generation of social entrepreneurs through the M121 Social Leadership Academy.

This past Thursday and Friday, Marianne visited with the 3 classes of 5th graders. The students were in for a treat – they were introduced to the “whys” of poverty in an age-appropriate manner, watched the “How Are Your Things Made?” animated video, and then got to paint/decorate CAUSEGEAR sport bags.

We absolutely loved their insightful questions and also their creativity/planning for decorating the bags as a team. The conversations and buzz have carried over to this week as well as to the dinner table. And now the bags they’ve created are being used in the classroom, and are a constant reminder of the justice issues around the things we buy. Colleen will also be making a similar presentation to elementary school students in the district in a few weeks. Keep up the awesome work, Colleen!

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Our fearless leader, Brad Jeffery, was one of the workshop speakers and got to share his story. We also had many students get our CAUSEGEAR sport bags on the spot to paint at the TOMS style your sole party at the end of the day. Yes, I think this is the first time in history (the first of many?!) that TOMS & CAUSEGEAR were painted at the same party! Many students went home wanting to create their own CAUSE ART event. We can’t wait to see what happens next!

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Okay, so if you can get past the fact that THAT’S what I looked like in high school, then keep reading.

Yeah, don’t be jealous, but I was one of “those” people in high school – supermodel looks, athletic, smart, a born leader, and all around awesome. Well, at least over the years, I’ve still got the looks.

Through our work at MOVEMENT121 – speaking at conferences & working w/ interns, we’ve gotten to know some great high school students. In fact next week, Brad wil be speaking to a few hundred students at the can’t-miss EKL Leadership Conference at Trinity International University.

Today I got a chance to speak with ~20 phenomenal students about my story and what CAUSEGEAR is all about. After I listened to a dozen of you pepper me with questions, it hit me. Maybe I’m just getting to hang out with the cream of the crop here, but I gotta say it – you guys rock. The questions you asked were insightful and out-of-the-box. They’re the type of questions I might’ve asked – when I was 25. Definitely not in high school.

Here’s what I’d humbly like to share with you. Just 2 things:

YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN A TREMENDOUS GIFT

This world has never seen a generation of young people who are more globally aware, who have more knowledge at your fingertips, who have more ways to innovate/create/ideate, and who have more potential to change the world. Pause for a second and take that in.

Okay, before I start sounding like your parents about how much potential you have… blah blah blah. Hear me out. This isn’t one of those gifts that you are forced to accept (e.g. bad holiday sweater), nor is it a gift that you use up (e.g. a box of chocolates). It’s a gift that can take you on the adventure of your life (e.g. one-way airplane ticket to ???).

Simply get to the airport and go, have the courage to discover the world out there and the world within. And don’t worry if you get on the wrong flight. Look at my picture again – At 17, I had NO IDEA what I was doing. I was good at math and science (insert chinese-american joke here…) and so I got a chemical engineering degree. I was pre-med (insert another joke here…) and even got into med school. I didn’t figure out where my “sweet spot” was until I was in my 30s. Here I am co-founding a business that’s trying to tackle unfathomable poverty? You don’t have to get it right the first time.

I don’t know if you know this, but a lot of “experts” have labeled your generation as more entitled, narcissistic, demanding, and ill-prepared for real life than previous generations. Prove them all wrong. Do so by stewarding this gift well.

VALUE RELATIONSHIPS OVER AMBITION

We live in a country that values ambition over relationships. That’s backwards in my book. Actually, don’t ever lose your ambition – but be ambitious about relationships & people. The happiest, most joyful people I’ve met on the planet are surrounded by people, not things. They are givers & invest (wisely and selectively) in relationships. And guess what, if you live that way, you will very likely end up working on some of the coolest stuff in the world – shoulder-to-shoulder with awesome people.

Our vision at MOVEMENT121 is to transform 1,000,000 lives trapped in unfathomable poverty and injustice to become self-sustaining through CAUSEGEAR. What people don’t realize is that it started from relationships – Brad and I were on similar journeys and we connected. Brad and his friends were in Africa together when the genesis of M121 was born.

We hope you join us in this movement (like us on facebook!), but more importantly, we hope you can find a movement you can get behind with all your heart. And if you don’t find your movement happening, by all means, go start it – with your friends.

Okay, if you’ve read this far, you’ve already proven the experts wrong. Now it’s your turn, what advice or thoughts do you have for me and MOVEMENT121?

CAUSE ART @ TRINITY

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For more information on how to do your own CAUSE ART event, check out the new events section.