The Foshan textile plant fire killed eight and injured one; firefighters extinguished the blaze in just over an hour and 63 people were rescued or evacuated. The incident comes amid deadly Sept. 20 factory explosions and fires in Bangladesh and follows a July blaze in Fujian that killed 28, underscoring recurring safety failures in garment supply chains. Despite a newly signed International Accord backed by 300 brands, only a fraction of factories — and many common hazards such as compressed-gas boiler systems — remain outside legally binding oversight. Advocates urge rapid expansion of enforceable safety programs to prevent further tragedies.
Deadly Foshan Factory Fire Exposes Safety Blind Spots Across Fashion Supply Chains
Deadly Foshan Factory Fire Puts Fashion’s Safety Gaps in Focus—Again
A fire at an unnamed two-story textile facility in Foshan, Guangdong Province, killed eight people and injured one on Sunday, state media reported. The plant, located in the Changxing Industrial Park in Jun'an Township, was used for denim washing and related production.
Xinhua News Agency said the cause of the blaze is under investigation and that firefighters brought it under control in just over an hour. China Central Television reported that 63 people at the site and in surrounding areas were rescued or evacuated and that the flames did not spread beyond the compound.
Context: Multiple Recent Factory Disasters
The Foshan fire comes amid two separate Sept. 20 incidents at garment factories in Ashulia, Bangladesh: a gas-cylinder explosion and fire at the Pretty Composite Textile Limited compound that killed at least nine workers and injured 35, and a smaller fire at Fahami Group Industry that triggered a stampede, killing one worker and injuring more than 100.
It also recalls a July blaze at Fujian Huiteng Shoes in southeastern China that killed 28 people. In that case, President Xi Jinping called for a rapid investigation and said "those responsible" should be held to account; Chinese authorities froze the company’s bank accounts and detained the factory owner and several managers while the probe proceeded.
Safety Oversight: Progress — And Persistent Gaps
These tragedies arrived roughly two weeks after a record 300 global brands and retailers signed the legally binding International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, the successor to the post-Rana Plaza Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The Accord currently operates country-specific safety programs in Bangladesh and Pakistan under a core framework that automatically renews through 2029, and it allows for expansion to other garment-producing countries.
“Most of the global apparel supply chain remains unregulated and grossly unsafe,” said Scott Nova, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based labor watchdog Worker Rights Consortium.
Even in Bangladesh the Accord covers only about 1,760 factories — roughly one-third of the country’s registered export-oriented garment units — including Pretty Composite Textile Limited. Officials said an unauthorized fleet of CNG-cylinder-filled vans had been supplying gas for boiler operations at that site, creating a configuration that may have escaped standard factory inspections.
Fahami Industries, Nova noted, had previously been associated with an Accord signatory, but the buyer appears to have stopped sourcing from the factory; as a result, Fahami never underwent the Accord’s inspection and remediation program. Critics say that exclusion underscores a systemic problem: despite the Accord’s advances, tens of thousands of facilities worldwide still lack basic, legally enforceable safety coverage.
Civil-society groups have also pointed out that it took years for the Accord to add boiler safety and other hazards to its remit, leaving some workplace risks insufficiently covered. Nova urged brands and retailers to expand the Accord’s geographic scope and to include all major safety hazards — including compressed-gas systems used for boilers — under legally binding oversight.
What’s Next
Investigations into the Foshan and Bangladesh incidents are ongoing. Industry advocates and labor groups say the recurring pattern of fires and hazardous installations highlights the need for broader, enforceable oversight across global apparel supply chains to prevent further loss of life.
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