In Gazipur's Board Bazar, the permanent closure of Unique Designers & Unique Washing Ltd alone cost approximately 2,200 employees their jobs. 457 factories have shut down across Bangladesh since August 2024, impacting thousands of workers and signaling a profound crisis for the industry. While Daily Bonik Barta reported 457 permanent closures across seven industrial belts between August 2024 and June of the current year, Apparel Resources cited 151 garment and textile factory shutdowns during the same period, highlighting a discrepancy in the reported scale of the crisis.
Bangladesh's garment sector stands as a major global export engine, yet hundreds of its factories are collapsing due to a lack of orders and owners' financial distress.
Based on the widespread factory closures and underlying economic pressures, Bangladesh's garment industry appears poised for significant consolidation, potentially leading to widespread unemployment and social instability if not proactively managed.
Beyond the 2,200 jobs lost at Unique Designers & Unique Washing Ltd, a total of 457 factories across seven major industrial zones have ceased operations permanently since August 2024, as reported by Daily Sun. This includes 108 member factories of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), 35 from the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), and eight from the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA). Widespread distress, affecting established pillars of Bangladesh's garment export engine, forces a fundamental re-evaluation of the sector's global competitiveness and operational resilience.
Economic Headwinds, Energy Crisis, and Industry-Wide Distress
Lack of orders caused 205 of the 457 permanent factory closures, while 190 others stemmed from owners' financial distress, according to Daily Bonik Barta. 86.43 percent of recent shutdowns account for a systemic vulnerability, not just isolated business failures.
The crisis runs deeper than current market demand. Around 150 textile factories closed in the five years preceding August 2024 due to the gas crisis alone, as reported by The Business Standard. Infrastructural deficiencies have long weakened the industry, making it more vulnerable to global pressures.
