Make your position clear: BGMEA to buyers

Describing the current situation as horrific, BGMEA president Rubana Huq told Fibre2Fashion in an exclusive interview: "As per the reports from more than 1,100 factories, they have lost around $3 billion in the form of cancellation or shipments being held up. Our factories are in serious trouble since we need to settle the payments of the raw material suppliers and most importantly need to pay salaries to our workers and employees, and we only depend on payments from buyers upon shipping the goods."

"With exception of a few, most of the buyers are yet to provide their suppliers with a clear decision and roadmap so that factories can also plan their schedule. At this moment, factories are running into uncertainties about their payments receivable and payable, and also the future operation," Huq said.

She continued, "I would expect brands who didn’t respond to our calls to please make their position clear by giving firm commitments regarding settling outstanding payments, accepting ready and work in progress stocks, taking responsibilities of confirmed orders for upcoming months, and thus solving the problems amicably with suppliers. Offering unrealistic proposals with regard to payment and shipment terms will not help at all since this will make our workers and factories disproportionately affected."

When asked about what fashion brands/retailers need to do to tackle the current crisis situation, Huq said, "This is a global challenge and we have to fight this together. No one can win alone in this battle. Brands should not think of getting away by abandoning their suppliers, otherwise the pandemic is going to come back in another form, be it economic or social that may dismay our progress so far."

BGMEA and its members are maintaining close communication with the buyers. "We are urging them to work with us to solve the issues by helping each other. We understand the difficulties time has brought to all of us, but we also have to cooperate and collaborate. We are not pushing our buyers with any unrealistic demands and we expect them to behave responsibly and do justice to their brand value," Huq told Fibre2Fashion.

Thanking the government and others for their support to the readymade garment sector during the current crisis, Huq said, "I thank the social partners who have come forward to support us in an unprecedented manner. Our government has been extremely supportive to us and has come up with a number of policy supports to buy some breathing space."

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)