Increasing attention is being directed at clothing retailers over their product sourcing policies after 387 people died when a building holding thousands of garment factories workers collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
It was revealed global clothing giants Mango and Primark were among those who had suppliers inside Rana Plaza. Clothing labels and production documents from Bennetton were also found in the rubble.
Primark has since announced it will be paying compensation to victims of the disaster, and called for other retailers with suppliers in the building to do the same.
No Australian retailers are known to be connected to suppliers in that particular building, but many do source their products from Bangladesh, and Australian consumers have taken to retailers' social media pages to voice concerns about working conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories.
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"Please help me understand exactly how, practically-speaking, you ensure that your Asian suppliers are protecting their workers. I'm concerned," wrote Sharon Ellam on Big W's Facebook page.
"Come on Cotton On...THINK," posted Jen McKeown to the clothing brand's page.
"What would standing up for better rights do for your image? You would shine internationally...DO IT!"
Both companies, which earlier this week detailed their ethical sourcing policies to SBS, released statements on their respective pages.
"We are deeply saddened by the recent tragedy at a Bangladesh factory and our thoughts are with the families of the victims and those involved. Whilst we have suppliers in Bangladesh, we can assure our customers that the Rana Plaza factory was not a Cotton On Group vendor. The safety and welfare of our suppliers is paramount and we have an ethical auditing team (based in China and Bangladesh) who regularly assess and audit our factories and their employees.
We are proud of our Cotton On Group Vendor Code of Conduct, which underpins our fundamental trading principles. We evaluate and choose our external partners within these guidelines and have a zero-tolerance stance on forced labour, child labour and bribery and corruption."
Cotton On sources eight per cent of their products from Bangladesh.
Big W responded to consumers with the following:
"Thanks for writing to us. BIG W has no connection to either the company or the factory involved in last week's tragic incident. All international suppliers of BIG W products are required to abide by our ethical sourcing policy, which covers the provision of a safe and hygienic working environment, and they are audited regularly to ensure they are meeting those standards."
Target also responded to similar questions, posting "We can confirm that none of our clothing suppliers operated from the building which collapsed in Bangladesh.
All of our suppliers are required to operate under our Ethical Sourcing Code."
Apparel retailer AS Colour told SBS around 60 per cent of their products come from Bangladesh but their code of conduct for suppliers is a "key business principle", which they take "very seriously".
"Our commitment to ensuring that every single AS Colour garment is produced in ethical working conditions does mean that we pay a slightly higher price for our garments -- but we find our customers respect and appreciate the fact that we are unwilling to compromise on this," said an AS Colour representative.
The company's facilities are certified by the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production organisation, which inspects and monitors factories regularly rather retailers.
One of the Rana Plaza factories - New Wave Style Ltd -- had been certified in the past, but did not renew their certification between 2007 and 2011, and then failed an unannounced audit in March 2012.
