Bangladesh has demanded better prices for its apparel products considering the huge investments made by apparel manufacturers that have helped improve safety measures and the working environment. Garment manufacturers say they have modernized readymade garment factories and ensured building and fire safety with an improved working environment in place. Though they have invested a lot in these areas prices of apparel products have not risen.

Brands are generally paying less for garments from Bangladesh today than they did before the Rana Plaza disaster. The price of cotton boys’ and men’s trousers going from Bangladesh to the US has fallen 13 per cent in the years since the disaster. In the same period, the price paid for T-shirts exported to the European Union has fallen about five per cent. This happened even as cotton prices went up more than 20 per cent between 2015 and 2017.

The price drop over the last five years underscores the dynamics at play in the global garment supply chain. As clothing sales have become increasingly concentrated in the hands of massive multinational retailers who place gigantic orders, the buyer’s power—and ability to get cents shaved off the cost of an item of clothing—has become increasingly concentrated too.