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Bangladesh garment industry

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.
A worker sorts underwear in the packing section of a garment factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 19, 2025. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Why Bangladesh could be last hurrah for Asia’s development model

The question is not if AI will eventually reach developing countries’ factories – it is whether anyone will build those factories at all.

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh airport fire destroys US$1 billion in garments, exports

Bangladesh

16 killed in chemical warehouse, garment factory fire in Bangladeshi capital

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh scrambles to avert devastating 35% US tariff

The proposed levy would strip Bangladesh of its price advantage over rivals like Vietnam, jeopardising livelihoods across the country.

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Garment workers at a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. Bangladesh is the world’s second-biggest garment maker. Photo: AFP
Bangladesh

Bangladesh government orders striking officials back to work

The two-day nationwide strike brought tax operations to a standstill, including customs operations at the major trade hub Chittagong Port.

United States

Opinion | What Trump should be making great again are the lives of Americans

Tariffs won’t shrink the inequalities in US society that result from globalisation. A better safety net, starting with healthcare, would.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | How China can help Bangladesh escape India’s foreign policy grip

The 15 years of Hasina government saw Bangladesh draw closer to India but for the next stage of greater regional integration, it needs China.

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A train is pictured during a trial run along the newly-constructed Belt and Road Initiative rail line via the China-built Padma Bridge in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on September 7, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
United States

Tariffs impact on developing nations may be worse than foreign aid cuts: UN

Tariffs on imports to the US mean developing economies risk sliding back on gains made in recent years, says the United Nations’ trade agency.

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh pleads for tariff pause as US buyers freeze garment orders

Facing a 37 per cent tariff, the world’s second-largest garment producer wants a three-month delay as US firms slam the brakes on shipments.

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.

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Women work at a garment factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Photo: Reuters
India

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

Whether it’s industrialising, fighting tuberculosis or improving child nutrition, the bloc of nations around the Bay of Bengal would benefit from Sino-Indian cooperation.

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Children lay out their wet textbooks to dry after Cyclone Amphan made landfall on Khejuri in India’s eastern state of West Bengal in May 2020. The Bay of Bengal nations could unlock their educational and economic potential through effective Sino-Indian collaboration. Photo: AFP
Bangladesh

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.

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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.

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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.

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Bangladeshi garment workers block a road during a protest at the Mirpur area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE
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.

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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
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.

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.

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Bangladesh

Video | Dhaka river now a toxic mess

A river of death: The price of Bangladesh’s rapid industrial growth
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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

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.

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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.

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

Reducing the waste associated with denim production is the goal of the Hong Kong-based start-up denim brand Unspun.
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.

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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.

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’.

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Bangladeshi labourers work in a garment factory in Gazipur. Photo: AFP
Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Video | Covid-19 boom for Bangladesh garment makers

From fashion garments to protective gear: Bangladeshi factories turn Covid-19 gloom into boom
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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.

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.

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