Study: Global fashion brands exploiting Bangladesh workers

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.

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.

The study also found that one in five factories struggled to pay the legal minimum wage since they reopened after the March and April 2020 lockdown.

It also found that some firms demanded price reductions for clothing ordered before the pandemic started in March 2020, while some others refused to budge on price, despite soaring costs and rampant inflation.

The report included the responses of some companies.