Bangladesh has slowly emerged as the world’s second largest exporter of ready-made clothes and has been able to slowly close the gap with China, the once ‘leading dragon’ of the global economy.
According to the reports, Bangladesh’s garment industry is expected to scale new heights and reach USD 30 billion by 2015. The country boasts of approximately 5,000 garment factories which sell their clothes to western brands like H&M, Gap, Marks and Spencer.
With China losing its ‘low cost’ advantage, countries like Bangladesh with its cheap labor and low production costs have risen to take over the mantle. Emerging as the top apparel sourcing destination, Bangladesh has begun to build the required infrastructure to absorb large-scale orders from the western countries.
With retailers heavily dependent on China, European brands like Hennes & Mauritz, Zara parent Inditex SA, and Primark don’t want to move more production there. These brands are looking towards Bangladesh as a country that holds the key to the future of the global apparel sourcing industry.
Bangladesh has also signed key trade agreements with European countries and has a young work-force on its side which could further increase country’s overseas sales and exports in the coming years.
