Made in Resilience: a photobook honouring women garment workers in Bangladesh
Made in Resilience brings together powerful photography and personal stories from the garment industry. The images portray women as workers, parents, leaders and community members – balancing work and home, navigating change, and shaping better futures on their own terms.
Through skills training, Rita Rani has become an assistant embrodery machine operator. The stitching patterns she masters, the deadlines she meets, and the quality she ensures are exceptional. Photo taken at Fakir Apparels Ltd, Dhaka Bangladesh, October 2024.
Made in Resilience, produced by The Asia Foundation for Oporajita, offers a glimpse into the daily lives of the women who form the backbone of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector. Through the lens of Oporajita, we celebrate their strength, skill, and the quiet leadership they bring to one of the world’s largest industries.
Following a previous exhibition, the photobook extends this work, creating a lasting record of the courage, dignity and resilience that underpin one of the world’s most important industries. Rather than presenting resilience as something abstract, the book shows what it looks like in everyday life – on factory floors, shared moments, and quiet acts of determination.
Made in resilience is a reminder that the future of the textile industry is inseparable from the women who power it. By listening to and learning from their experiences, we can better understand what a more inclusive and resilient industry must look like.
Charlotte Brunnström, Programme Director, H&M Foundation
Oporajita is a collective impact initiative initiated by the H&M Foundation, that brings together business, NGOs and community organisations aiming to support women garment workers through a just supply-chain decarbonisation – strengthening both climate resilience and human resilience at the same time.
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In brief
The photobook Made in Resilience, produced by The Asia Foundation for Oporajita, offers a glimpse into the daily lives of the women who form the backbone of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector.
Through the lens of the Oporajita initiative, we celebrate their strength, skill, and the quiet leadership they bring to one of the world’s largest industries.
