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Bangladesh: The Dark Side of the Leather Industry

March 16, 2017 | WYPR Midday
By
Larry C. and Debbie M. Price
A barefoot worker stands inside an 8-foot tall-tumbling drum filled with chromium (III) sulfate and other chemicals. Workers often have to crawl inside the drums to remove hides. Image by Larry C. Price. Bangladesh, 2016.

A barefoot worker stands inside an 8-foot tall-tumbling drum filled with chromium (III) sulfate and other chemicals. Workers often have to crawl inside the drums to remove hides. Image by Larry C. Price. Bangladesh, 2016.

For a long time we’ve heard about the problems our love of cheap clothing causes around the world: problems like lax environmental and safety regulations, and child labor. This podcast zeros in on an industry you may not have heard as much about: leather. A riveting four-part visual tour of textile and tannery industries around the globe recently appeared in the online magazine Undark. Former Baltimore Sun staffers and journalist grantees Debbie and Larry Price produced the series. They discuss the project in this podcast for public radio in Baltimore.