Top international fashion brands are shifting orders away from Bangladesh because of the turmoil that surrounded the fall of authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to manufacturers in the world’s second-largest garment exporter.
Factories were shut for days after Sheikh Hasina’s government brutally cracked down on student protesters, sparking an uprising that toppled her regime last week. Multiple factories owned by regime loyalists, including suppliers to global brands such as Swedish retailer H&M and Spanish chain Zara, were torched in retaliatory attacks.
The weeks of violence, in which an estimated 500 people died, have delayed deliveries of clothes and shoes for the winter retail season in Europe and North America.