孟加拉崛起:快时尚需求推动孟加拉服装制造业繁荣

Monica Brooks and her daughter Morgan, age 8, rifled through the racks at a Zara store in Dallas Thursday night, looking at $16 bejeweled T-shirts and $10 ruffled tops. 周四晚上，布鲁克斯(Monica Brooks)和她八岁的女儿摩根(Morgan)在达拉斯一家Zara店的货架间扫荡，浏览标价16美元的珠缀T恤衫和10美元的褶饰上装。 Labels inside the clothing at the fast-fashion chain showed that it came from around the globe, including from Bangladesh, the site of a spate of deadly textile-factory fires and a recent building collapse that has killed more than 1,100 garment workers. 从这家快时尚连锁店的服装标签显示，这些服装来自世界各地，包括孟加拉国。孟加拉国的服装厂曾发生一系列致命的火灾，最近，一栋大楼的倒塌导致超过1,100名服装工人死亡。 That surprised Ms. Brooks, a 41-year-old software saleswoman who shops at Zara more than I should, she said. It just goes to show you that we are not paying attention to that. 这让布鲁克斯感到惊讶。布鲁克斯是一名41岁的软件销售人员。她说，我在Zara购物的次数简直太多了。布鲁克斯说，这只能说明我们以前没注意到衣服的产地。 Americans appetite for cheap clothes is one of the strongest of the economic forces that led to a boom in Bangladesh, with the resulting race to add manufacturing capacity setting the stage for the series of horrific accidents. 美国人对廉价服装的欲望是引发孟加拉服装业繁荣的最强大的经济力量之一，随之而来的加紧提高产能的趋势成了上述一系列可怕事故的导火索。 U.S. consumers have become accustomed to spending relatively little on clothing compared with other items─and getting a lot for their money. Americans last year devoted just 3% of their annual spending to clothing and footwear, compared with around 7% in 1970 and about 13% in 1945, according to Commerce Department data. 相比其他方面的开支，美国的消费者已经习惯了在服装上少花钱，但要物超所值。根据商务部(Commerce Department)的数据，美国人去年花在服装和鞋类上的支出仅占他们年度开支的3%，相比之下，1970年的这一比例为大约7%，1945年为13%左右。 One reason Americans now spend so little is that U.S. clothing prices have fallen significantly over the past two decades, after rising in the 1950s, 1960s and especially in the 1970s. 美国人在服装上的支出这么少的一个原因是，美国的服装价格过去20年大幅下降，而此前，在上世纪50、60年代，尤其是70年代，服装的价格一直在不断上升。 Chains like Inditex SAs ITX.MC +0.98% Zara and Hennes Mauritz ABs HM-B.SK +0.77% HM have set the tone for fast fashion. Inditex SA旗下的Zara和海恩斯莫里斯(Hennes Mauritz AB)旗下HM等服装连锁为“快时尚”定下了基调。 Apparel prices are lower in absolute terms now than they were in the 1990s, says Dean Maki, an economist at Barclays BARC.LN +1.42% . 巴克莱集团(Barclays PLC, BARC.LN)的经济学家马奇(Dean Maki)说，目前的服装价格绝对低于上世纪90年代的价格。 Since 1990, clothing prices in the U.S. have risen just 10% compared with an 82% jump in food prices during the same period, according to Jessica Tenvose, an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the Consumer Price Index. 美国劳工统计局(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)的经济学家Jessica Tenvose说，上世纪90年代以来，美国的服装价格仅上涨了10%，相比之下，食品价格在同一时期上涨了82%。美国劳工统计局负责编制消费者价格指数(Consumer Price Index)。 If adjusted for inflation, clothing prices would show a decline. 如果经过通胀调整，服装的价格则呈下降趋势。 That may be changing a bit. Apparel prices rose about 2% in December 2012 from a year earlier, following a jump of almost 5% in the previous year when cotton prices spiked. 这种情况正在发生微小的变化。2012年12月，服装价格同比上涨了2%，之前一年，棉花价格飙升时，服装价格上涨了将近5%。 But with consumers so used to paying so little, retailers and apparel manufacturers are reluctant to raise prices and have become even more eager to find low-cost countries to produce their goods in, economists say. 但是经济学家们说，鉴于消费者已经习惯花很少的钱购买服装，零售商和服装制造商不愿意涨价，他们更加迫切地寻找低成本的服装产地。 The sluggish U.S. economy and stagnant wage growth add to the pressure on retailers by capping consumers disposable income, but the desire to shop for trendy new outfits remains strong. 美国经济的低迷和工资增长的停滞让消费者的可支配收入十分有限，这增加了零售商的压力，但人们购买新的潮流服装的欲望仍然强烈。 Meanwhile, labor costs in China─long the worlds low-cost factory floor─have been rising rapidly. 与此同时，在长期充当世界工厂的中国，劳动力成本一直在迅速上升。 So retailers and apparel producers are switching to lower-cost alternatives like India, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, where the entry-level wage for garment workers is shy of $40 a month. 因此，零售商和服装制造商正在转向成本更低的其他国家，如印度、越南、柬埔寨和孟加拉国，在这些国家，初级服装工人的工资还不到每月40美元。 On Sunday, Bangladeshs textile minister said he will soon start talks with labor groups and factory owners to agree on a new minimum wage for the industry. 上周日，孟加拉纺织部长说，他将很快开始与劳工组织和工厂厂主对话，就一个新的工厂最低工资标准达成一致。 Depending on the size of the wage increase, Western retailers might pull business away from Bangladesh, though wages there would have to quadruple to top those in China. 如果工资上涨幅度过大，西方零售商可能会将订单从孟加拉国转往别的国家，不过孟加拉国工人的工资要涨上三倍才能超过中国工人的工资。 In the short run, brands might absorb the rise, as many did in 2011, when cotton prices spiked. 短期而言，在孟加拉国生产服装的外国品牌可能需要自行消化这一工资上涨因素，就像他们中的许多2011年在棉花价格上涨时所做的那样。 The rush to Bangladesh began in earnest in 2005, when an international trade quota system called the Multi Fiber Arrangement expired, lifting the strict limit on the amount of textiles and garments developing countries could export to developed countries. 2005年，西方企业开始纷纷前往孟加拉国生产服装，那一年被称作《多种纤维协定》(Multi Fiber Arrangement)的国际贸易配额体制正式到期，发展中国家向发达国家出口纺织品和服装此后不再面临严格的数量限制。 Manufacturers saw that it was cheaper to manufacture in Bangladesh and places like Cambodia than China, especially to those manufacturers in Europe, where transportation was cheaper than from China, says Katie Quan, associate chair of the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education. 美国加州大学伯克利分校劳工研究与教育中心副主任关少兰(Katie Quan)说，制造商们发现，孟加拉国和柬埔寨等地的生产成本比中国低，对欧洲的制造商来说尤其如此，孟加拉国和柬埔寨至欧洲的运输成本比中欧间的运输成本低。 Inexpensive clothing allows consumers to buy more. When I was a little kid in 1950, clothes werent so cheap, and I remember we only had three or four dresses and that was plenty for a middle-class girl, Ms. Quan said. Now I have three closets full, and its not enough. 消费者由于服装价格低廉得以购买更多衣服。关少兰说，当我上世纪50年代还是个小孩子时，服装可没有现在这么便宜，我记得我们只有三套或四套衣服，对于一个中产阶级家庭的女孩来说这已经很多了。她说，我现在的三个衣柜全都装得满满的，而这还不够。 Yet when shifts in global labor costs and production occur abruptly, they can put enormous pressure on economies. 但当全球劳动力成本和生产格局突然发生变化时，将会给经济带来巨大压力。 In Bangladeshs case, major factories became overbooked and so subcontracted more work to smaller outfits. Such subcontracting, and the increasing role of middlemen, have made it easier for retailers to lose track of which factories are producing their goods─and, many critics say, to avoid taking responsibility for poor factory conditions. 就孟加拉国的情况而言，大型企业接获的订单都超出了它们的生产能力，因此这些企业纷纷将更多工作分包给中小企业去做。这种分包行为以及中间人在这一过程中所起的作用日益增大，使得零售商更加难以追踪到究竟是哪些工厂在生产其定制的服装，而在许多批评人士看来，这也使得零售商们更加容易免于为工厂恶劣的工作条件承担责任。 The upshot: Bangladesh has quickly become among the worlds largest exporters of clothing, and has suffered one of the worst industrial accidents ever. 其结果是：孟加拉国迅速跻身于世界最大服装出口国之列，但世界有史以来最严重的工业事故之一也随之在这个国家发生。 If wages rise quickly elsewhere, and producers all flee to the same place, you obviously can overwhelm an economy, and there seems to be a bit of that in Bangladesh, says Robert Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University. The influx of manufacturing there was so quick that there was very little time to adjust to it. 美国康奈尔大学(Cornell University)经济学教授弗兰克(Robert Frank)说，如果世界其他地方的工资水平出现迅速上涨，制造商们全都涌向一个地方从事生产，这个地方的经济显然会不堪承受重负，孟加拉国似乎就有点是这种情况。他说，制造业汇聚到这里的速度是如此之快，当地几乎没有时间就此做出调整。 Zaras clothes were found in the latest factory fire last week. Inditex SA, Zaras parent company, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. 在孟加拉国上周最新一起工厂火灾的现场发现了Zara品牌的服装，Zara的母公司Inditex SA未立即对记者寻求置评的要求做出回应。 Clothes for J.C. Penney Co., JCP +2.07% Benetton, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT +0.63% and Loblaw Cos. Joe Fresh brand were found at recent factory accidents in Bangladesh. 而在孟加拉国近期一系列工厂事故的事发现场，人们发现了J.C. Penney Co.、贝纳通(Benetton)、沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)和Loblaw Cos.旗下Joe Fresh等零售商下单生产的服装。 Many of the retailers, such as Penney and Wal-Mart, have said they are phasing out use of factories within multiuse buildings. Loblaw said it plans to expand the scope of its factory audits. J.C. Penney和沃尔玛等许多这些零售商说，它们正在逐步放弃让在多用户建筑里从事生产的工厂为其加工服装。Loblaw说，它计划扩大其工厂审计的规模。 Benetton said a one-time order from the collapsed factory was completed weeks ago, and that none of the companies there is a supplier now. 贝纳通说，它交给孟加拉国那座垮塌建筑中一家工厂的一笔一次性订单已于数周前完成，在那座建筑里从事生产的企业目前没有一家是贝纳通的供应商。 Another shopper at Zara, Mary Park, said she isnt bothered by where the clothes are made. 另一位在Zara门店购物的顾客帕克(Mary Park)说，她并不在意所买的服装是哪里生产的。 I am from China, said Ms. Park, a 27-year-old cosmetics saleswoman. Manufacturing has been good to the country. 这名27岁的化妆品推销员说，我来自中国，制造业一直对中国起着积极作用。