At least 1,800 garment workers in Bangladesh will lose their jobs by July 27 after Unique Designers and Unique Washing & Dyeing, both in Gazipur's Board Bazar, announced permanent closure this week. A tripartite meeting between factory owners and worker representatives confirmed all outstanding wages, employment benefits and legal dues will be paid by that date, according to public records cited by trade press.

What triggered the latest closures?

The two plants produced for C&A, Kontoor Brands (owner of Wrangler), S.Oliver and New Look, per filings referenced by WWD's Sourcing Journal. Their shutdown sits inside a 10-month wave of capacity exits. The Daily Sun reported 457 factories across seven major industrial zones closed for good between August 2024 and June. Of those, 205 shut down due to insufficient work orders and 190 due to financial strain. Another 11 shuttered from labor unrest, and 51 closed because of political instability, banking issues, gas and electricity shortages, raw material scarcity or relocation.

Bangladesh Chamber of Industries President Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez told Bonik Barta: "An initial shortage of orders later morphed into a working capital crisis. Many factories couldn't open letters of credit, which cut off raw material imports and disrupted production." He tied the contraction to Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and the recent Middle East crisis.

How are Indian garment workers feeding AI training datasets?

Across the border, Indian apparel workers are wearing head-mounted cameras that record their hands and gaze while they sew. The Guardian reported that EgoLab, an Indian data aggregator, sells this egocentric footage to clients including Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk has said he expects humanoid robots, not EVs, to drive 80 percent of the company's future value.

Puneet Jindal, founder of egocentric-data firm Labellerr AI, told The Guardian: "South Asia remains the workshop of the world for many labour-intensive industries. If you're trying to teach a robot how humans work, there are few places that offer the same combination of scale, diversity and density of human labor as India."

The recordings also feed productivity software that ranks operators by active working time and quantifies "idle" losses. The Guardian found no evidence workers are compensated for the data, raising consent and labor-replacement questions for any brand whose Tier 2 or Tier 3 supplier participates.

What reskilling commitments have Bangladeshi suppliers just signed?

Back in Dhaka, speakers at a national dialogue titled "Ensuring a Just Transition in Bangladesh's RMG Sector" warned that automation and digitization could displace low- and semi-skilled workers. Raju Ahmed, project coordinator at women-focused nonprofit Karmojibi Nari, said displaced workers may be pushed into domestic work, street vending and home-based garment production unless industrial modernization is paired with social protection.

The Export Promotion Bureau has signed agreements with BGMEA, the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology to train 22,815 garment workers, employees and mid-level officials over three years. Curriculum goals cover modern-machinery operation and compliance with international quality standards.

What sourcing decisions does the news force?

Buyers sourcing from Bangladesh must requalify Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners for solvency through Q3, since 205 of 457 recent closures cited order shortfalls and 190 cited working-capital strain that could repeat. Brands with Indian vendors should demand written confirmation that no egocentric data collection occurs on their order without informed consent and worker compensation, before AI-linked footage from their supply chain trains systems that may automate the same sewing stations.