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Bangladesh garment industry

Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s garment industry lost US$400 million to anti-Sheikh Hasina protests

Industry leaders insist production is ‘currently stable’, but say security forces need to continue protecting garment factories.

21 Oct 2024 - 11:53AMvideocam

India

Opinion | How Sino-Indian cooperation can help the Bay of Bengal prosper

27 Aug 2024 - 4:31PMvideocam

Bangladesh

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

13 Dec 2023 - 5:30AMvideocam

Bangladesh

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

Following a week of deadly clashes between garment workers and police over pay, the government announced a 56.25 per cent wage hike starting on December 1 – the first increase in five years.

8 Nov 2023 - 3:45PMvideocam

Workers at a garment factory in Dhamrai, near Dhaka. Photo: AP

Bangladesh

Bangladesh garment workers’ protests against low pay leave 2 dead

Protests by Bangladeshi garment workers against low wages have led to two deaths amid a spike in the costs of basic foodstuffs and other items.

31 Oct 2023 - 8:25PMvideocam

Bangladesh

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

Bangladesh

‘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

Rohingya children wait for food handouts after crossing over from Myanmar to Bangladesh as refugees in 2017. Photo: AP

Xinjiang cotton

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

Bangladesh

Dhaka river now a toxic mess

24 Jun 2022 - 7:00PM

India

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

Policemen inspect the site of a fire that erupted in a chemical factory in northern India on Saturday. Photo: AP

Bangladesh

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

Bangladesh

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

Sustainability

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

Climate change

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

Bangladesh

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

Workers at a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

Human rights

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

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Covid-19 boom for Bangladesh garment makers

29 Jun 2020 - 3:30PM

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

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

A worker wearing a face mask sews disposable surgical gowns for health workers at a garment factory in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Fashion

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

China economy

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

Foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

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

Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong's Victoria Park. Officials from the country have mooted a policy that would stop women working overseas as maids. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh

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

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

Bangladesh

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

Bangladesh

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

Last year, Bangladesh transitioned from a ‘least developed country’ to a ‘developing country’, as defined by the UN. Photo: AFP

Poverty

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

Female employees at a garment factory in Hanoi. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh

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

Bangladesh police and underpaid garment workers clash in mass protest

10 Jan 2019 - 4:01AM

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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.

last updated:

9 September, 2024