Remembering The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Tragedy

You think you know everything there is to know about the fashion industry? Think again.

The fashion industry isn’t all glitz and glamour, especially when you know the history of the devastating 9/11 of 1911.

In 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killed 146 workers, most of them young, immigrant women. 

The devastating results from the fire in 1911.

100 years later, America still struggles with the lessons of the fire.  Recent industrial disasters like the Deepwater explosion, the Massey Mine collapse, and fires in overseas garment factories that produce for American companies show that we still do not know how to ensure safe workplaces.  Other issues we still face today are sexual harassment, crowded and unsanitary housing, powerlessness at work, and invisibility in public debate. 

Triangle 100 Talks is a campaign hosted by the Fashion Institute of Technology in commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. There are a series of events in March discussing the problems that still have not been resolved since that tragic day.  5 panel discussions, all free and open to the public, will look back on various aspects of work in the last century, discuss what has improved and what has not, and offer hope for change in the next 100 years.  

A young worker from the Shirtwaist Factory.

Friday, March 18—Women's Rights and Women's Clothes 

Speakers: Janie Bryant, costume designer, Mad Men; Daniel Cole, fashion historian and adjunct assistant professor, FIT; and Kathy Peiss, professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania.  The audience members will contribute stories about how they have used clothing to win respect in the workplace.

Wednesday, March 23—Not One More Fire! Finding Solutions to Today's Sweatshops

Panel discussion about initiatives by industry, government, and workers to humanize the global garment industry and promote the local industry.  Panelists: Kalpona Akter, executive director,  Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity; Mitch Cahn, president, Unionwear; and Bjorn Claeson, director, SweatFree Communities, International Labor Rights Forum.  FIT students will present a runway fashion show of garments that express their feelings about various workplace issues.

So to all our dedicated readers, PLEASE COME OUT AND SUPPORT THESE EVENTS and show everyone just what an important piece of history this is!  Hope to see you all there

xoxo Brittany