It’s been a rocky nine months for Bangladesh, starting with the minimum wage protests in November that led to several garment worker deaths and arrests. This was followed by a series political protests ahead of the country’s January 2024 election. But it was the student protests, which started in July over the reintroduction of an employment quota scheme, that will sit in Bangladesh’s history books forever.
Straight after the news that the country’s prime minister had resigned, CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo and Bangladesh Apparel Exchange and managing director of Denim Expert Ltd, Mostafiz Uddin, told Just Style a “brave Bangladesh will take the economy forward bravely and boldly”.
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After an eventful week, all hope now lies on interim leader Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to keep the peace and take the country into what’s being dubbed its second independence.
What should be an incredibly exciting time for Bangladesh with a new start on the horizon has been somewhat tainted by the internal arguments of its national garment manufacturing association – the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Local press reported a group of BGMEA members wrote a memorandum that expressed a lack of confidence in the existing board of directors.
This was shortly followed by what the BGMEA described as a “hostile takeover attempt” with the BGMEA president who was elected in April, SM Mannan Kochi, facing criticism for exiting the country at the time of the mass uprising.
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By GlobalDataI was kindly invited to Bangladesh by Uddin and the BGMEA to celebrate the country’s inaugural Made in Bangladesh Week in November 2022.
I instantly fell in love with the vibrancy of both the people and the country itself. I also thoroughly enjoyed speaking to many members of the BGMEA, including its then president Faruque Hassan.
I was also given the chance to visit some of the country’s most sustainable factories. At both 4A Yarn Dyeing Ltd and Epic Group’s LEED platinum certified garment manufacturing complex, I witnessed first-hand the strides that have already been made to create a social and environmentally sustainable fashion sector.
The week-long event was filled with optimism for the future and pride for what the country had achieved in such a short space of time.
The importance of apparel exports for the country’s future prosperity was also made very clear, with the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina giving the opening speech at the event’s welcome ceremony.
I hope BGMEA’s current leadership, board and all of its garment manufacturing members will remember the buzz that Made in Bangladesh Week created on a global stage.
And as the BGMEA and Bangladesh are now sitting on the global stage once more, now is the perfect time to show the world how it’s apparel manufacturing sector is propelling the fashion industry forward in terms of sustainability, social responsibility and innovation.
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