"Fast fashion drove Bangladesh - now its troubled economy needs more", 6 September, 2024

...Already, some big brands have looked elsewhere for next season’s clothes, three firms that help supply to companies such as Disney, US supermarket chain Walmart and other global apparel companies told the BBC...

...The disruption is continuing. From Thursday, some 60 factories outside Dhaka are expected to be closed because of worker unrest. Staff have been protesting with various demands, including for better wages...

Recent events “will impact the confidence level of brands”, says Mohiuddin Rubel, a director at the country’s garments manufacturers and exporters association. “And probably they might think - should we put all our eggs in one basket?” he says, noting rival garment-producing countries like Vietnam.

...Kyaw Sein Thai, who has sourcing offices in both Bangladesh and the US, suggests the recent political unrest could result in a "10-20% drop in exports this year”...

...“They are concerned about how we will pay for imports of yarn from India and China if we don’t have enough dollars. Many of them are not even able to come to Bangladesh anymore to place new orders because they aren’t getting travel insurance,” Mr Mahaburbur Rahman from Sonia Group says...

...While the clothing factories may have created millions of jobs, they don’t pay well. Some factory workers who spoke to the BBC said they struggled to survive on pay that was barely half the national minimum wage, which meant they were forced to take out loans to feed their children...

...All of this has to be done as the country faces a raft of other problems: slowing global demand for the goods it makes, deteriorating relations with its giant neighbour and trading partner India, which is harbouring Ms Hasina, and climate change causing more intense cyclones in the flood-prone nation...