VF Corporation and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have announced they have distributed loans to three garment factories in Bangladesh - Arunima Sportswear, Olio Apparels, and Radisson Apparel – totaling $1.3 million, under a new program for funding fire and building safety improvements. Through the financing arrangement, VF provides a full corporate guarantee for up to $10 million that the IFC and its partner Brac Bank lend to VF's contract suppliers. The backing of the loans by VF makes it possible for IFC to lend at lower interest rates. This arrangement helps factory owners meet the stringent standards set forth by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a group of international apparel manufacturers and buyers, which was formed to improve safety in Bangladeshi ready-made garment factories after the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in April 2013, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and hundreds were injured. VF is one of 26 Alliance members. VF and IFC are granting loans to VF's supplier factories in the range of $100,000 to $1 million.
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