Bangladesh news and archive

How useful are grievance mechanisms for garment workers? Insights from Bangladesh’s Amader Kotha helpline

After the Rana Plaza building collapse on 24th April 2013 in Savar near Dhaka in Bangladesh, two initiatives emerged that were tasked with improving situations in the country’s ready-made garment (RMG) sector: the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (Accord) and the Bangladesh Alliance for Worker Safety (Alliance). The loss of more...

Fashion

How Primark x Coleen Rooney benefits garment workers in Bangladesh

A high-profile partnership between Primark and Coleen Rooney as reported in the British press, is apparently worth millions. Media personality Rooney, wife of footballer Wayne Rooney, will be the face of a new athleisure collection by the Irish discounter that has been described as “stylish yet practical”. Rooney experienced a spike in...

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What do the election results mean for Bangladesh’s garment and textile sector?

Following the unprecedented unrest of late 2024 and the subsequent interim administration, Bangladesh voted last Thursday and declared results on Friday: The BNP-led alliance won 209 seats and the Jamaat-led bloc secured 68 in the 297 constituencies for which results were declared. For the ready-made garment (RMG) sector—the very heartbeat of...

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Putting priorities back into production

How can garment manufacturers enable environmental transformation? And how can they do this in a nationally coordinated, structured and country-specific way? This is why the manufacturer-led ATTI platform (Apparel and Textile Transformation Initiative) was conceived a couple of years ago and officially established as an organisation in 2025. Its...

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South Asian textiles: End of a competitive advantage? A critical review of the French Treasury's quarterly letter

The quarterly letter published by the French Treasury offers a detailed diagnosis. The textile and apparel industry remains the industrial and social core of the economies of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As a pillar of exports, a mass employer and a key driver of female employment, the sector has long relied on a simple competitive...

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Maersk secures 30-year lease for Bangladesh's Chattogram container terminal

On Monday, Bangladesh signed a 30-year lease with Danish global shipping giant Maersk to manage a new container terminal in Chattogram (south-east), the country's largest port. Officials from the Chattogram Port Authority stated that APM Terminals, the Maersk subsidiary involved in the project, will invest approximately 550 million dollars over...

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Bangladesh clears charges against 48,000 garment workers amid calls for reform

Bangladesh’s interim government has withdrawn criminal charges against more than 48,000 garment workers, a sweeping decision that workers’ rights groups have hailed as a landmark moment for the country’s embattled apparel industry. The cases, many filed during wage protests in late 2023 that turned violent, had long been criticised as tools of...

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Bangladesh factory blaze kills at least 16

At least 16 people were killed Tuesday when a fire tore through a chemical and garments factory in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, officials said. The blaze began in the factory's warehouse before spreading to a nearby multi-storey garments facility, said Tajul Islam Chowdhury, director at the Fire Service Department. All the bodies were recovered...

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Kontoor Brands to close manufacturing operations in Mexico

Wrangler’s parent company Kontoor Brands is reportedly preparing to shutter its manufacturing operations in Coahuila, Mexico. According to local press, the fashion group is in the process of moving its production to Bangladesh. It is believed that four plants located in Torreón, La Rosita, San Pedro and Coyote are to be impacted by the closures,...

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Bangladesh, US negotiate to avert 35 percent tariff on textile exports

Trade negotiations between the US and Bangladesh officially resumed on Tuesday, July 29, in Washington, D.C. These talks are taking place amidst significant protectionist pressure from the Trump administration. The aim is to prevent the imminent implementation of punitive tariffs, which could reach 35 percent, on Bangladeshi exports, primarily...

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Asia holds the thread: Regional textile powers reinvent strategies amid global slowdown

While 2024-2025 financial results show a slowdown in consumption in several Asian countries – particularly for luxury groups like LVMH – the global textile sector continues to rely on the region. Several indicators from the first half of 2025 confirm Asia’s central role in global value chains. Between export growth, structural adjustments,...

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People|Background

Trade union freedom is still a long way off in fashion: "It's essential that brands sit down with employees"

2023 and 2024 were years of protests for Bangladeshi garment workers. Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets, demanding, among other things, payment arrears and the lack of structural improvements: a living wage, meal allowances, raises for night shifts, and more lenient work duties for pregnant women. These protests were intended to...