Voluntary changes from global retailers have transformed Bangladesh’s garment industry for the better, according to a report released Monday by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, but critics are skeptical. The alliance, which includes companies like Walmart, Gap and Target, was formed to improve safety conditions at garment factories in the aftermath of the April 2013 disaster at Rana Plaza, where more than 1,100 workers died in a building collapse. “The [ready-made garment] industry will ...

Keya, a Bangladesh-based producer of 100-percent cotton T-shirts and other knit apparel,is finding success in the U.S. market by using a North Carolina beachhead as its distribution point. Keya USA is growing as it penetrates markets for products for advertising specialty and screen-printing markets. Keya is the largest producer of knitted apparel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, producing more than 8 million dozen garments annually and employing 11,000 workers. Greg Brown, senior vice president of sales and operations for Keya USA, says the key to...

The readymade garment industry needs support in information and communications technology (ICT) in order to make its vision of reaching US$ 50 billion-mark in exports by 2021, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Participating in a seminar on ‘ICT for better manageability in Private Sector’, held at Bangabandhu International Centre in Dhaka, BGMEA president Md Atiqul Islam said that about 40,000 people are currently employed in information technology (IT) department in the garment sector of Bangl...

Penn State has given clothing manufacturer JanSport a deadline to ensure Bangledeshi worker safety. The company has 90 days to respond to a letter urging the company to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims said via email. Acknowledgement of the existence of this demand comes after the Penn State United Students Against Sweatshops delivered its own letter on Friday calling on the university to cut ties with JanSport, a subsidiary of the VF Corporati...

Japan has agreed in principle to further relax rules of origin norms for importing knitwear from Bangladesh, and modalities for the same are being worked out, foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque told reporters after his meeting with the visiting Japan’s deputy foreign minister Shinsuke Sugiyama in Dhaka. In 2011, Japan had lowered the rules of origin for its GSP scheme for knitwear products from stage three to stage two, and now it has been agreed to relax these norms further to stage one. Stage...