Are clothes made in Bangladesh good quality, and are they ethical?

Because Bangladesh has built one of the world's largest export industries around what it does best: cotton knitwear at volume. The WTO's statistical tables put Bangladesh at 6.8% of world clothing exports in 2025, worth US$38.8 billion, second only to China among single countries and just ahead of Vietnam at 6.5%. Its share peaked at 7.9% in 2022. The industry's strength is vertical factories that spin, knit, dye and sew under one roof, which keeps fabric consistent from roll to roll and suits t-shirts, polos, fleece and underwear. Denim, with dedicated mills and wash plants, is a second strength, and woven shirts and trousers a third. These factories have supplied demanding international retailers for decades, so the capability and the inspection routines are well established. Bangladesh also has more LEED-certified green garment factories than any other country. It is weaker in very technical fabrics and small, fashion-led runs, where fewer factories are set up for the work.

Yes, when the factory matches the product and the buyer writes down and checks the specification, because quality is decided at the factory and in the tech pack, not at the border. Bangladesh supplies demanding international retailers, and it is strongest in cotton knitwear from vertical factories that spin, knit, dye and sew under one roof, followed by denim, then woven shirts and trousers. The same rule applies in China, Portugal or Turkey: a knit unit that makes t-shirts every day will beat a generalist wherever either is based. Four things decide your result: a tech pack with fabric weight, stitch density, seam types and tolerances; a factory matched to your product; a sealed pre-production sample that bulk is checked against; and inspections before cutting, during sewing and at the end, to a stated AQL under ISO 2859-1. When a Bangladeshi garment feels cheap, the cause is usually lighter fabric, simpler construction or skipped checks, not the country.

Partly scale and specialism, and partly choices made about the garment itself. Vertical factories that spin, knit, dye and sew cotton under one roof keep costs down on basics such as t-shirts, polos and fleece. Wages are low too: the minimum monthly wage for garment workers was raised to Tk 12,500 in late 2023, against the Tk 23,000 unions had asked for, and Human Rights Watch criticised the new rate. But a very low price on a single order usually means something else: a lighter fabric, simpler construction or skipped quality checks. Fabric alone is close to half the price of a basic garment, which is why the cheapest quote is usually the thinnest fabric. Buyers carry part of the responsibility, because prices and delivery dates that only work with illegal overtime produce illegal overtime. Compare quotes on the same specification, and ask what each one leaves out.

They can be, but it depends on the factory and on what the buyer pays, and wages remain the biggest concern. Safety has improved since the Rana Plaza collapse on 24 April 2013, which killed more than 1,100 people: according to the ILO, about 3,780 export garment factories were then inspected, 39 were closed immediately, and government factory inspectors grew from 92 to 393. Inspections continue under the RMG Sustainability Council and the National Initiative. Pay is the weak point: the minimum monthly wage was raised to Tk 12,500 in late 2023, against the Tk 23,000 unions asked for, and a 9% annual increment was agreed in December 2024. Bangladesh has more LEED-certified green garment factories than any other country, 291 according to BGMEA on 23 September 2026. For your own order, name the exact factory, read its latest social audit, check its safety status on the International Accord's list, and pay prices that allow legal wages and overtime.

Yes, in the wider industry. It is found mostly in informal workshops and subcontracted units rather than in factories producing directly for export, but not only there. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ National Child Labour Survey 2022, run with ILO support and published in March 2024, counted 1.78 million children aged 5 to 17 in child labour, 4.4% of the age group, up from 1.70 million in 2013. Of these, 1.07 million were in hazardous work, down from 1.28 million in 2013. A third of child labourers (33.3%, about 591,000) worked in manufacturing, but the survey reports manufacturing as one sector, so it gives no figure for garment or export factories. It also found that 99% of working children were in informal work. The US Department of Labor’s 2024 findings describe children in tailoring and in the informal garment sector. A study published in January 2025 by the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, GoodWeave International and the Bangladesh Labour Foundation surveyed 1,974 garment workers in Dhaka and Chattogram. Its survey areas were chosen deliberately, not at random, so its findings are not fully representative. It found 122 workers under 18; 80% of them worked in factories doing subcontracted or mixed work, and one in five was in a factory producing only for export. So the risk sits mostly below the factory a buyer audits, which is why the factory and any subcontractors need to be named in writing.

14 years. The Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 defines a child as a person under 14 and an adolescent as someone aged 14 to 17. Section 34 bans employing a child in any occupation or establishment. An adolescent may work only if the employer holds a certificate of fitness from a registered doctor and the worker carries a token referring to it; apprentices and vocational trainees are exempt from this rule. The certificate is valid for 12 months, and the employer pays for it. In a factory an adolescent may work no more than five hours a day and 30 a week, or 36 a week including overtime, never between 7 pm and 7 am, and never in work on the government’s hazardous list. If a worker’s age is disputed, the Act settles it by birth registration certificate, school certificate or a registered doctor’s certificate of age. Since an amendment to the Act dated 10 April 2026, employing a child or adolescent against the Act carries a fine of Tk 20,000 to Tk 50,000; before, the fine was up to Tk 5,000. Bangladesh ratified the ILO Minimum Age Convention on 22 March 2022 with 14 as its minimum age. The US Department of Labor says the Labour Act does not meet international standards on minimum age and does not apply to children in every sector where child labour occurs. Buyers’ codes add their own floors: WRAP bars hiring anyone under 15, or 14 in less-developed countries, or under the legal minimum age, whichever is higher, and the ETI Base Code used for SMETA audits bars under-18s from night work and hazardous conditions.

It depends on the factory. The word has no legal definition, so it helps to split it into what people usually mean: unsafe buildings, excessive hours and very low pay. On safety, the Bangladesh Safety Agreement under the International Accord, carried out in the country by the RMG Sustainability Council, covered 1,766 factories employing 2.8 million workers on 30 September 2026. By then it had carried out 76,804 inspections, recorded 297,126 safety findings and reported an average remediation progress rate of 81%. It covers factories that supply its signatory brands, not every factory, and accidents still happen: on 20 September 2026 a gas cylinder explosion and fire at a composite textile factory in Ashulia killed at least nine people, according to a joint statement by the RSC and the Accord. On hours, the Labour Act sets eight hours a day and 48 a week as the rule, with overtime up to 60 hours in a week and an average of 56 over a year. In a survey published in January 2025 by the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, GoodWeave International and the Bangladesh Labour Foundation, almost a third of the factory workers interviewed reported working more than ten hours a day, six days a week; its survey areas were chosen deliberately, not at random. On pay, the legal minimum is Tk 12,500 a month at entry grade. In October 2026 garment workers from several factories in Dhaka’s Uttara area blocked roads demanding Tk 30,000, as the government sought nominations for a new wage board. Our guide to garment worker wages gives the grade rates and living-wage estimates. The question can only be answered for one named factory, from its safety record and a recent social audit, and the buyer’s own prices and delivery dates affect how much overtime that factory has to run.

Yes. The US Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor lists Bangladesh garments for both child labour and forced labour. The latest edition is dated 5 September 2024 and covers 204 goods from 82 countries and areas. Other Bangladeshi goods on the list include textiles, jute textiles, leather, footwear, bricks, dried fish and shrimp. The Department says it lists a good when it has reason to believe it is produced with child or forced labour in violation of international standards. Each entry names a good and a country, not a company, and the Department says the list is not intended to be punitive. Its 2024 country findings rate Bangladesh at Minimal Advancement and describe children doing dangerous work in garment production, including tailoring and work in the informal garment sector. The findings also note that labour inspectors must notify the export processing zone authority before inspecting a factory in a zone, so violations there may go undetected. In September 2024 the Department also proposed adding Bangladesh garments to a separate list, used in US federal purchasing, of products that may be made with forced or indentured child labour; by October 2026 we had found no final decision on that proposal in the Federal Register. For a buyer, the listing is a reason to check the factory, not proof against it. US customers and auditors may ask about it, so keep the factory’s name, its latest social audit and your own age-verification evidence on file for each order.

Check the factory you are actually using, and every unit it sends work to. First, get the factory’s legal name and address in writing before production. Ask also for the name of every subcontractor for printing, embroidery, washing or sewing, and ban unauthorised subcontracting in the purchase contract: in a survey published in January 2025 by the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, GoodWeave International and the Bangladesh Labour Foundation, 80% of the under-18 garment workers found were in factories doing subcontracted or mixed work. Second, read the child labour and young worker sections of the latest amfori BSCI, SMETA or WRAP audit, not only the grade, and check the audit ID with the body that issued it. Third, ask how age is checked at hiring. Bangladeshi law settles a disputed age by birth registration certificate, school certificate or a registered doctor’s certificate, so a copy of one should be in each personnel file. For any worker aged 14 to 17, the doctor’s fitness certificate should be on file, with hours of no more than five a day and 30 a week (36 including overtime), and no work between 7 pm and 7 am. Fourth, check the factory’s building-safety status on the International Accord’s public list. Fifth, agree in advance what happens if a child is found: the ETI Base Code asks companies to support policies that move any child found working into quality education. CMB Sourcing Ltd. places each order in our sister factory or an audited partner factory and names it to you in writing before production, with its address and the certificates and audit reports it holds, so you can make these checks yourself.