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Bangladesh garment industry

Bangladesh police stand guard as garment workers demand higher salaries in Dhaka on November 2. Photo: AFP

Opinion | Bangladesh garment worker protests make clear price of fast fashion

It’s time for introspection and change, from the global conglomerates, rich countries that are the consumer havens for fast fashion, and customers alike.

Demonstrations against the industry’s crushingly low pay are escalating, despite a harsh crackdown, and threaten to derail elections
It’s time for introspection and change, from the global conglomerates, rich countries that are the consumer havens for fast fashion, and customers alike

13 Dec 2023 - 5:30AMvideocam

Fashion brands face higher costs as Bangladesh workers get almost 60% pay hike

8 Nov 2023 - 3:45PMvideocam

Bangladesh garment workers’ protests against low pay leave 2 dead

31 Oct 2023 - 8:25PMvideocam

A decade after Rana Plaza, Bangladeshi workers fight for better pay, conditions

More than a decade after 1,100 garment workers died in the Rana Plaza collapse, Bangladeshi garment workers say factories are safer, but progress on better pay and conditions has been far slower.

28 Apr 2023 - 9:56AMvideocam

Hundreds of workers in Bangladesh shouted slogans for justice and survivors wept at the ruins of a factory that made clothes for Western shoppers and collapsed 10 years ago killing more than 1,130 people. Photo: AFP

‘We need it to end’: Bangladesh seeks China’s help to repatriate Rohingya

Beijing has used its influence in Myanmar to broker a repatriation agreement before, Bangladesh’s foreign minister noted, but the Rohingya refugees previously refused to return.

8 Aug 2022 - 12:31PM

Boon or burden? Asian alternatives to Xinjiang cotton find US ban challenging

US’ boycott of Xinjiang cotton looks to reshape the global textile supply chain by isolating China, but suppliers in places such as Vietnam and Bangladesh could face setbacks as they shift away from such a major source of cotton.

27 Jul 2022 - 6:00AMvideocam

Dhaka river now a toxic mess

24 Jun 2022 - 7:00PM

02:31

At least 10 killed, 22 injured in India factory blast

Fire broke out after a boiler exploded in the factory at an industrial facility in Dhaulana in the Hapur area of Uttar Pradesh state, around 60km from New Delhi

4 Jun 2022 - 10:51PM

Eye on Asia | How Bangladesh surged past India on road to South Asian economic stardom

Fiscal prudence, export industrialisation and policies such as the empowerment of women and girls have allowed Bangladesh to leapfrog India in per capita GDP and other indicators. But even as the smaller neighbour outpaces the bigger one, untapped economic gains remain to be explored between the two.

29 May 2022 - 4:17PMvideocam

Murder trial over factory collapse that killed 1,130 resumes

Bangladesh’s US$35 billion garment trade is second in size only to China’s, but fires and factory collapses are common due to lax regulations.

2 Feb 2022 - 12:56PMvideocam

Bangladeshi firefighters at the collapsed Rana Plaza building in 2013. Photo: AFP

Jeans with planet power: ‘dirty’ denim is turning green to save the world

Denim brands such as Levi’s and Outland Denim, a Meghan Markle fave, are making strides towards producing jeans (long thought bad for the planet) in more environmentally friendly ways.

29 Dec 2021 - 4:15AM

Asia’s apparel industry threatened by rising sea levels, study warns

The analysis warns that the problem of rising sea levels is receiving little attention and smaller-scale suppliers would be most affected, highlighting the example of Bangladesh.

17 Jul 2021 - 8:21PMvideocam

As Bangladesh turns 50, repression grows amid economic boom

Critics say democracy is being eroded as PM Sheikh Hasina enacts increasingly repressive rules where a cartoon or Facebook post could land one in jail.

26 Mar 2021 - 5:24AM

How coronavirus pandemic propels modern slavery in Asia’s garment industry

According to latest analysis, India and Bangladesh have joined Myanmar and China in the category of ’extreme risk’.

4 Sep 2020 - 9:17PMvideocam

Bangladeshi labourers work in a garment factory in Gazipur. Photo: AFP

Covid-19 boom for Bangladesh garment makers

29 Jun 2020 - 3:30PM

02:22

Coronavirus cuts a swathe through Asia’s garment industry

Lockdowns, cancelled orders and closed factories have seen hundreds of thousands of workers laid off across Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar.

19 May 2020 - 9:56AM

Topshop and Gap leave vulnerable fashion workers high and dry, say activists

Companies including Walmart and Gap won’t commit to paying in full for recent garment orders. This has forced factories to lay off staff, who lack financial support and may be vulnerable to slavery.

13 May 2020 - 7:35PM

Global textile industry braces for sharp downturn as virus slashes orders

Supply chain disruptions and vanishing customer orders following the coronavirus outbreak have left the global textile industry reeling and wary of more pain to come.

12 May 2020 - 8:30AMvideocam

An employee works in a chemical fibre plant in Nantong in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. Photo: AP

Hong Kong’s domestic worker shortage: Bangladesh can help out

Hong Kong needs more foreign domestic workers, not only to care for its ageing population, but also to counter a policy long threatened by Indonesia.

9 Jun 2019 - 9:24AM

Move over ‘Made in China’. It’s ‘Made in Bangladesh’ era now

Soaring wages at home have seen many Chinese firms set up shop in Bangladesh, boosting its economic growth

8 Jun 2019 - 7:10PM

Bangladesh factory safety monitors given court extension

Factory owners had been lobbying for the monitors to leave, arguing that the programme’s five-year mandate had expired, but global clothing brands took the issue to the Supreme Court and won.

19 May 2019 - 8:22PM

Rescuers at the collapsed Rana Plaza building in 2013. Photo: EPA

Bangladeshi garment workers want higher wages, get police brutality

The progress made in the country’s garment industry since the 2013 tragedy, when 1,134 workers were killed after a building collapsed, has evaporated.

7 May 2019 - 5:20PM

Protesting garment workers. Photo: Kristof Vadino

Eye on Asia | The rise and rise of Bangladesh

It is undoubtedly a time for celebration for Bangladesh, but simultaneously the country should note and address many challenges that its economy continues to face.

21 Apr 2019 - 8:54PM

Women making clothes sold in Australia earn 51 cents an hour

Nine out of 10 workers interviewed in Bangladesh said they could not afford enough food for themselves and their families and were forced to skip meals or go into debt.

25 Feb 2019 - 10:05PM

Spice Girls gender equality T-shirts made in low-paying Bangladesh factory

The charity tops, bearing the message ‘#IWannaBeASpiceGirl’, were produced by mostly female machinists who said they were forced to work up to 16 hours a day and were verbally abused by managers

21 Jan 2019 - 9:44AM

The Spice Girls’ Melanie Chisholm, Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton, perform during a reunion tour in Vancouver in 2007. Photo: Reuters

Bangladesh police and underpaid garment workers clash in mass protest

10 Jan 2019 - 4:01AM

01:12

Women in Walmart’s Asian factories subjected to abuse, violence: report

Based on 250 interviews, a coalition of charities said female employees were ‘systematically exposed to violence’ and faced retaliation if they reported attacks

26 May 2018 - 11:21PM

After Rana Plaza horror, what changed for Bangladesh garment workers?

24 Apr 2018 - 3:43PM

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Bangladesh garment industry

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter behind China. A building collapse in Savar, near the capital of Dhaka, on April 30, 2013, that killed more than 400 people has triggered scrutiny over worker safety and labour conditions in the country.