Retailers like Marks & Spencer and Primark are taking steps to stop sourcing from Myanmar.

Marks & Spencer will cease sourcing from Myanmar by March 2023. Apart from Marks & Spencer, at least 32 global fashion brands and retailers have manufacturing links to Myanmar, including Adidas, Inditex, Fast Retailing, H&M, Next, Matalan and Primark. H&M ceased production in Myanmar in March 2021 in response to two protesters being shot by police. Primark has decided to exit Myanmar saying there are significant challenges to its ability to ensure the standards it requires protecting the safety and rights of the people who make its clothes and products.Retailers are having to decide whether their customers think that it is ethical for them to be buying from Myanmar. The Rohingya persecution issue has caught the imagination of large parts of the UK customer base. On the other hand organisations campaigning for the rights of garment workers have urged retailers exiting Myanmar to ensure that what they think is a responsible exit actually has a beneficial impact on the workers that they are leaving behind. Campaigners say the threat to workers’ quality of life by brands leaving is very real and financial compensation is the only way to prevent workers falling into destitution.So brands have been called on to set up a fund to provide garment workers with a basic income over the next year.