For the past twenty years, I have observed prominent fashion brands advocating for ethical business practices such as human rights diligence, fair wages, sustainable partnerships, environmental responsibility, social compliance, transparency, and shared accountability. As a garment manufacturer from Bangladesh, I have embraced this ethos, a sentiment shared by many serious manufacturers in the region.
However, a fundamental contradiction exists within the global garment industry – responsible business cannot thrive on the foundation of irresponsible procurement practices. In the year 2026, brands continue to place unrealistic demands on suppliers, expecting them to achieve more with fewer resources. While brands require suppliers to invest in various initiatives like auditing, decarbonization, documentation, and compliance, their commercial teams simultaneously push for reduced prices, shorter lead times, extended payment terms, and increased flexibility. This raises questions about the true nature of the partnership between brands and suppliers.
A recent report titled “Squeezed Dry” by Public Eye and Clean Clothes Campaign highlights findings that resonate with the experiences of many Bangladeshi manufacturers. The report reveals that major buyers are still sourcing standard cotton T-shirts at prices ranging from $2-3 per piece, with some market segments seeing unit prices dip below $1. Moreover, in 2025, the average import price of cotton T-shirts in the EU stood at $16 per kg, while imports from Bangladesh averaged around $13 per kg.
A significant revelation from the report is the regression in real prices, adjusted for inflation. Despite nominal price increases over the past 25 years, when inflation is factored in, buyers are actually paying around 30% less in real terms. This decline in average sourcing prices, adjusted for global inflation, paints a concerning picture that cannot be overlooked in discussions about fair wages, responsible sourcing, and equitable transitions in the industry.
The report underscores Bangladesh’s pivotal role in this economic model, noting that 61% of T-shirts imported into the EU in 2025 were manufactured in Bangladesh. While this business has contributed to job creation, foreign exchange inflows, and industrial development – achievements that we take pride in – the overreliance on the lowest-cost production centers has created a power imbalance, giving buyers disproportionate leverage over suppliers.
Manufacturers are not seeking handouts from brands; rather, they are urging buyers to recognize that a factory is more than just a production facility on a balance sheet. It is a place of employment, wage payment, loan servicing, utility bill settlement, safety investments, and compliance commitments. If the garment price does not reflect these operational realities, all talk of responsible business conduct loses its credibility.
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights mandate companies to avoid infringing on others’ rights and address negative impacts. The OECD’s guidance for the garment sector emphasizes the importance of due diligence across supply chains to identify, prevent, mitigate, and report adverse impacts associated with operations, products, and business relationships. Low wages in garment supply chains are identified as a significant risk by the OECD, highlighting the interconnectedness of purchasing practices and human rights outcomes.
Setting target prices that do not cover the cost of compliant production, negotiating post-production, delaying payments, demanding discounts, altering specifications late, or failing to account for wage increases in pricing all have cascading effects that impact factory margins, production intensity, overtime, and wages.
In 2026, responsible business conduct has become a prerequisite for market access for Bangladeshi manufacturers, given impending LDC graduation, stricter global regulations, and evolving expectations under EU due diligence directives. However, it is crucial that responsible business conduct is a mutual obligation, rather than an imposition on suppliers while buyers retain the freedom to engage in commercially unviable purchasing practices.
To a garment worker, the distinction between responsible and irresponsible business practices lies not in a supplier code on a webpage but in whether wages suffice for a decent life, overtime is reasonable, work environments are safe, and factories have the financial capacity to invest in sustainable practices rather than merely surviving order to order. Poverty wages should not be an accepted norm in global supply chains in this day and age.
Brands cannot claim commitment to human rights while perpetuating pricing structures that perpetuate poverty wages. Sustainability cannot be preached while treating labor as the sole flexible cost in the supply chain. True partnership entails shared risk and value, rather than passing risks downward while retaining profits.
Competitiveness is essential, especially in the face of competition from other manufacturing hubs like China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Turkey. However, competitiveness should not translate to a race to the bottom. Fairness dictates open costing, prices reflective of responsible production costs, acknowledgment of wage increments, adherence to agreed terms, and refraining from exploiting economic vulnerabilities of countries during negotiations. Sustainability comes at a cost, and buyers must acknowledge this reality.
Manufacturers in Bangladesh seek not exemption from responsibility but an equitable sharing of responsibilities. They aspire to build superior factories, employ skilled workers, secure stable orders, invest in cleaner production methods,
