The fallout of COVID-19 outbreak for a country like Bangladesh is devastating where the economy and employment generation principally depend on garment manufacturing and exports. BGMEA has taken all-out and multi-pronged efforts to save the industry when large-scale of order cancellations by the global buyers had wreaked havoc and number of garment makers shutting down their operations.

In the last couple of months around 419 garment manufacturing units to remain closed due to the large scale of order cancellations by the western buyers and lack of new work order. The more alarming is that 100 have now shut down operations permanently out of these 419 units. In such a scenario, BGMEA under the leadership of Rubana Huq issued an official letter to British billionaire Philip Day’s Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) group, demanding to pay up for clothes shipped before 25 March.It has taken the stand of blacklisting specific buyers and has begun with EWM. According to the Bangladeshi factory owners, they had singled out Edinburgh Woollen Mill asking for large discounts which violated local laws, international standards and defied the principles of ethical sourcing.

BGMEA has also started engaging different international rights groups to ensure that international retailers and brands pay local suppliers besides working closely with the Bangladesh Government and the country’s missions abroad to initiate parallel track of discussions with foreign buyers and Governments.