Even Bangladesh Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader acknowledges there are problems. “The ready-made garments industry grew in Bangladesh all of a sudden, at a very high pace,” he told reporters on Jan. 30. “The industry grew out of proportion compared to our facilities or our controlling capacities.” Quader says fresh inspections are being carried out in all of the nation’s nearly 5,000 apparel and textile factories to ensure they have sufficient safety and fire protection equipment.
The apparel industry’s shift to Bangladesh coincided with fast fashion’s spread. Previously, companies ordered clothes for each season, and a garment took as long as a year to travel from concept to store. While apparel makers could rush orders to market to meet unexpected demand, doing so was costly. Then Inditex and H&M in the 1990s changed the game by proving it was possible to cut lead times while still keeping costs low. H&M, among the largest buyers of ready-made garments in Bangladesh, has posted gross margins higher than 50 percent for the past 10 years. Rivals including Gap and Urban Outfitters never exceeded the low 40s during that time. That’s why much of the industry, including some U.S. chains, boarded the fast-fashion express for a lot of their clothes. Gap declined to comment for this story, while Urban Outfitters and Hennes & Mauritz didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Commerce Minister Quader says Western apparel chains could do more. “If they can allow some sort of margin [added payments] for the improvement of the working conditions and some other things, maybe that can help us,” he says. “The branding of Bangladesh as a country which doesn’t look after the interest of the workers or the safety of the workers is not acceptable to us.”
Factories often feel at the mercy of big customers. Two months ago, Fazlul Hoque, who runs Bangladesh garment maker Plummy Fashions, got a request from a European apparel maker, whom he declines to name, for a design change to the belt loops of 30,000 women’s trousers. The switch came two months before the garments were due to ship, forcing Hoque to run his factory overtime and absorb the extra costs. “It’s like a chain reaction,” Hoque says. “Consumers always want new designs; they always want to stay in season. Clothing companies follow the new trend, and we pay the price.”