Global fashion brands exploiting Bangladesh workers: Study
Study of 1,000 clothing factories found some fashion firms ‘engaged in unfair practices’, including H&M, Lidl and GAP.
Major international fashion brands, including Zara, H&M and GAP, are exploiting Bangladesh garment industry workers, with some of them involved in unfair practices and paying the suppliers below the cost of production, according to a study published on Wednesday.
The study that surveyed 1,000 Bangladeshi factories making garments for global brands and retailers during the COVID pandemic found that many were paid the same price despite the global pandemic and rising costs.
More than half of the clothing factories experienced at least one of the following: order cancellations, refusal to pay, price reductions or delayed payment for goods, according to the study published by Aberdeen University and the advocacy group Transform Trade.
“Such unfair trading practices impacted suppliers’ employment practices resulting in worker turnover, loss of jobs and lower wages,” the study found.
Of the 1,138 brands/retailers named in the study, 37 percent were reported as having engaged in unfair practices, including Zara’s Inditex, H&M, Lidl, GAP, New Yorker, Primark, Next and others.