Ashraful Alam Tito/Associated Press
A Nov. 28 photo shows Walmart's Faded Glory label on a piece of clothing found after a fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh.
Documents found at the Tazreen apparel factory in Bangladesh, where 112 workers died in a fire nearly two weeks ago, indicate that three separate apparel companies were using the factory during the past year to supply goods to Walmart and its Sam’s Club subsidiary.
The documents — photographed by a Bangladeshi labor organizer after the fire and made available to The New York Times — include an internal production report from last September showing that five of the factory’s 14 production lines were being devoted to make apparel for Walmart.
Walmart has indirectly acknowledged that the Tazreen factory was producing some of its apparel, saying in a statement that a supplier had “subcontracted work to this factory without authorization and in direct violation of our policies.” In that statement, issued two days after the Nov. 24 fire, Walmart said “we have terminated the relationship with that supplier.” Walmart has declined to name the supplier.
After Walmart was shown some of the documents from the factory on Wednesday, Kevin Gardner, a spokesman for the company, replied in an e-mail. “As we’ve said, the Tazreen factory was deauthorized months ago,” Mr. Gardner wrote. “We don’t comment on specific supplier relationships.”
The documents from the factory indicate that three different apparel suppliers — International Direct Group, Success Apparel and Topson Downs — were using the factory on Walmart’s behalf to make shirts, shorts and pajamas.
A document from October 2011 shows an order placed by the International Direct Group to produce Khaki & Co. brand shorts for Sam’s Club. A circled addendum on the order form indicates the shorts were shipped Feb. 5. The “roll-tab” shorts are currently available on the Sam’s Club Web site and have the same model number as the order placed at the factory 14 months ago.
Another document found at the factory, from July, provides product descriptions from Success Apparel for Walmart’s Faded Glory house-brand shorts. A photograph taken inside the factory after the fire showed a pair of Faded Glory shorts.
The documents indicate that Success Apparel often worked through Simco, a Bangladeshi garment maker.
Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a monitoring group based in Washington that is financed by American universities, said the documents raised questions about Walmart’s statements after the fire.
“It was not a single rogue supplier as Walmart has claimed — there were several different U.S. suppliers working for Walmart in that factory,” Mr. Nova said. “It stretches credulity to think that Walmart, famous for its tight control over its global supply chain, didn’t know about this.”
Mr. Nova works closely with the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity and made the factory documents available.
Investigators also found apparel made for Sears and Disney inside the factory after the fire. Both companies said suppliers had given orders to the factory without their knowledge and authorization.
Mr. Gardner, of Walmart, said accredited outside auditors had periodically inspected the factory on Walmart’s behalf. A May 2011 audit for Walmart gave the Tazreen factory an “orange” rating, meaning that there were “higher-risk violations” and that the factory would be re-audited within six months. If a factory receives three orange ratings over two years, it loses Walmart’s approval.
A follow-up August 2011 audit for Walmart gave Tazreen an improved “yellow” rating, meaning that there were “medium-risk violations” and that the factory would be re-audited within one year.
Mr. Gardner declined to say what, if any, inspections were carried out after August 2011.
3 Walmart Suppliers Made Goods in Bangladeshi Factory Where 112 Died in Fire
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3 Walmart Suppliers Made Goods in Bangladeshi Factory Where 112 Died in Fire
