STOCKHOLM: Three decades after it started doing business with suppliers in Bangladesh, Hennes & Mauritz is seeking greater control of production in a nation where it is among the largest purchasers of clothing.
H&M this year agreed to become the sole client of two factories in Bangladesh and one in Cambodia, helping convince building owners to offer satisfactory conditions and wages, said Anna Gedda, H&M’s social sustainability manager.
“We see these a little like test centers where we can try out different things that we can then push out on a larger scale in the entire supply chain,” Gedda said.
H&M, which normally shares factory space with other labels, is seeking tighter control over production in countries like Bangladesh. H&M is among global clothing retailers that have shifted output toward Asia, using local contractors to reduce the cost of production. The lowest wages in Asia after Myanmar have helped spawn a $19bn Bangladeshi manufacturing industry.
The three factories where H&M has taken full control of production were chosen from among some of the retailer’s top suppliers, Gedda said.
H&M, which started buying from Bangladesh in 1982 and Cambodia in 1998, has a long-term commitment to the plants, she said, without disclosing their location or the length of the exclusivity agreements.
WP-Bloomberg
