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« MADE IN BANGLADESH » Photographic documentary by Jules TOULET Old Dhaka (Bangladesh) 2015

Photo 01 – The clothing trade is one of the activities that keep Old Dhaka busy until late in the night. Bangabandhu Avenue has a reputation for tailor-made suits and good quality. The tailors on the top floor are highly specialised and are paid by the piece.

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Photo 02 – There are many children in the workshops in Old Dhaka. Hoping for a better job later on, they are viewed as apprentices and must work their way up. Even though it is forbidden to employ children under 14 in Bangladesh since 2006, and even though the country has ratified the UN convention on children’s rights, laws are not enforced and corruption is everywhere.

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Photo 03 - Hossain is an experienced tailor. He is in charge of making the models and cutting the fabric. He is involved in the production of sportswear and

especially the fake cricket shirts that the young Bangladeshis love. His colleague manages the stocks and accounts.

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Photo 04 – Three members of the same family – two brothers and the elder brother’s son – live on this landing. They come from the region of Khulna,

frequently subject to severe flooding. Climate refugees add to the legions of cheap labourers, working as much for foreign companies as for domestic ones.

They go back home twice or three times a year, and especially for the Aïd Moubarak festival.

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Photo 05 - In this principally Muslim country, Friday is a rest day. The tailors who come mainly from the countryside stay at their place of work.

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Photo 06 – This machine makes polyester thread of various colours, feeding the demand of around thirty workshops in the building. The manager at right was trained in mechanics in a school in Dhaka. Half of the population in Bangladesh is illiterate, so it is rare to see people reading newspapers in the workshops.

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Photo 07 – Privacy is practically non-existent. It is very rare to be able to wash alone in this room where people are forever coming and going. Water taps are scarce in the building and mostly concentrated in the toilets.

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Photo 08 – This 30 sq foot space was initially intended for stocking cloth. Now three workers live here, for a rent of 1500 takas (around 15€) a month.

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Photo 09 – Tracing out the models requires real skill, and it is a delicate operation entrusted to only the best workers. Here Arif is training Mehedi who, in time, will take care of all the models in this workshop.

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Photo 10 - 10 - Rezaul Karim Helal owns two tailor-made suit boutiques. He also owns four production workshops and employs more than one hundred tailors. It is a family business, with his father’s portrait adorning the wall above his desk. He also has close ties with the political world as he proudly displays in the frames photo at right.

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Photo 11 – A tailors takes a break in the yard of the overheated workshops. All the workers have mobile phones so they can keep in contact with their families and sometimes their children, back in their native villages.

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Photo 12 – Around twenty tailors aged between 15 and 35 work, live and eat in this workshop. They are all paid by the piece. They will earn 150 takas (1,50€) for a pair of trousers, needing four hours’ work; 500 takas (5€) for a blazer, needing seven hours’ work. All the prices are fixed by a central office to avoid unfair competition. The tailors are bound by no contract and can leave as they please.

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Photo 13 - Television is one of the principal distractions in the workshops, and many Indian and Western channels are available. The workers, who are mostly illiterate, dream about the United States, especially thanks to programmes showing self-made men and materialism.

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Photo 14 – The different components of a suit arrive ready-cut by the expert tailors on the lower floors. They are then assembled by workers following the instructions on the sheet. All the details appear there, from the number of buttons to the quality of the lining.

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Photo 15 - Meals are taken at no fixed time and are fairly simple affairs. Generally there is curried rice with green chili, as well as vegetables such as carrots, courgettes or cucumbers. Meals are delivered in round aluminium containers for 30 takas (0,30€).

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Photo 16 - Tools are used and repaired frequently. Here, Akash rubs his electric iron on the floor to clean it and to remove any roughness. The tiniest tear in a customer’s cloth could lead to a severe penalty.

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Photo 17 – This boy is 11 years old. He has worked on this machine for the past two years, having left his village when his uncle threw him out, no longer wanting to support him. Despite the difficulty and the boredom of his job, he at least has a certain degree of protection. The machine is complicated and temperamental, breaking down often and so losing precious time. It is used to stitch the three bands of the Adidas brand onto fake garments that feed the bazaars in Dhaka.

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Photo 18 – The most devout tailors pray in the middle of the workshop. Too busy with their machines, they don’t take the time out to go to the mosque that is in every building. Not many are able to observe the five daily prayers. The muftis themselves don’t understand what they are preaching as it is all in Arabic.

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Photo 19 – Most of the tailors sleep on the floor in the workshops, wrapped up in off-cuts of cloth.

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Photo 20 – Late at night, the tailors play “Liar”. A very popular game that leads to animated discussions.

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Photo 21 – Two Bangladeshis wash before heading to the mosque for Friday prayers. The lungi that they wear around their waists is very popular in India and

Bangladesh and affords them a minimum of privacy while they wash. They’ll put on dry ones when they’ve finished.

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Photo 22 – This workshop is specialised in the production of tailor-made suits. The men on the left assemble the numerous pieces of cloth that are involved.

The children do the repetitive and detailed tasks such as the reinforcement of collars and pockets. They are not paid, but are fed and trained in the trade.

They are proud of their apprenticeship which will open the way to a future career.

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Photo 23 – A tailor resting in a corridor, rolled up in some thick cloth to block out the light. They put up with these conditions for only a few years. When

they are around 40 years old, some go back to their native villages and set up shop, while others buy a machine to do rapid adjustments in the street. The

experience gained in the workshops is a guarantee of quality and ensures a degree of recognition.