Top global fashion retailers are moving orders away from Bangladesh due to turmoil around the fall of its prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the country’s manufacturers have reported.
Factories based in the world’s second biggest garments exporter were closed for days following an uprising last week, sparked by the former prime minister’s government clamping down on student protesters, the Financial Times reported.
Clothes and shoes deliveries to Europe and North American for the winter season have been delayed due to weeks of violence in the country.
Factories have turned to shipping goods by air and working overtime to make up for its backlog extending as far as a month.
Related Story
Exporters in the country said some major retailers had moved their orders for upcoming seasons to other south-east Asian suppliers, leading to global supply chain disruption.
Mamun Rashid, an adviser to garment manufacturers in Bangladesh, M said: “For the time being, we’re diverting 40% of our orders to Cambodia or Indonesia.”
Many global retailers rely on the country for its garments, including fashion giant H&M and sports goods retailer Decathlon.
Earlier this month, it was reported that H&M, Uniqlo and Zara were facing potential delays in receiving their latest clothing collections due to the current political unrest in the region.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
