From 130 Trainees to $39 Billion: How Bangladesh Built a Garment Giant

Story summary

The story

The short version

Look at the label inside a T shirt bought in London, Berlin or New York, and there is a good chance it says Made in Bangladesh. In the year to June 2025 the country exported $39.3 billion of ready made garments, according to its Export Promotion Bureau. Clothes and home textiles made up about 83 percent of everything Bangladesh sold abroad.

It started with one factory and 130 people on a plane to South Korea. And in October 2026, the story reached a new turning point.

One factory, one partner

In the late 1970s Bangladesh was a young, poor country with almost no export industry beyond jute. Noorul Quader, a former senior civil servant, set up Desh Garments at Kalurghat in Chittagong in 1977. On 27 December 1977 Desh signed a joint venture with Daewoo, the South Korean industrial group, the first export focused garment operation in the country.

The partnership was about skills more than money. In 1978 Desh sent a team of 130 people, including 18 women, to South Korea to learn how a modern garment factory runs: cutting, sewing, quality checks, production planning and dealing with foreign buyers. The Daily Star reports that the factory began operating in 1979 and made its first shipment in January 1980, 120,000 boys' shirts for a German company.

The know how spreads

What happened next is the part of the story most often told in Dhaka. Many of the people trained in those early years did not stay at Desh forever. They went on to start or run their own factories, taking the skills with them. In 1978 Bangladesh had only nine export oriented garment units, according to Wikipedia. By 2013 there were around 5,000.

The global trading rules of the time also helped. From 1974 to 2005 the Multi Fibre Arrangement set quotas on how much clothing big exporters could sell to rich countries. Quotas on countries like South Korea pushed buyers to look for new places to make clothes, and Bangladesh had cheap labour, willing entrepreneurs and, soon, experience. Many expected the industry to shrink when the quotas ended in 2005. It kept growing.

The cost: Rana Plaza

Growth came with a terrible price. On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building near Dhaka, which housed several garment factories, collapsed. More than 1,100 people were killed, most of them garment workers.

The disaster forced change. More than 180 mostly European brands signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a legally binding agreement with unions and Bangladeshi employers to inspect factories and fix dangers. North American companies formed a separate Alliance. Factory safety in Bangladesh is still debated, but the inspections that followed changed how buyers and factories work.

Read the ledger

The latest full year numbers show how big the industry has become. In FY25, garment exports were $39.35 billion, up 8.8 percent from $36.15 billion the year before. Knitwear brought in $21.16 billion and woven clothes $18.19 billion. Total exports were $48.28 billion.

The industry employs about 5 million people, and about 55 percent of them are women, according to Wikipedia's figures for 2024. For millions of families, a factory wage was the first regular cash income a woman in the household had ever earned.

The weak spot is concentration. One product makes up most of the country's exports, and one market dominates the buyers. Textile Excellence reports that the European Union takes 64 percent of Bangladesh's apparel exports.

The new turning point

Much of that European trade depends on a special status. As a Least Developed Country, Bangladesh can sell clothes into the EU without paying import duty. It was due to graduate from that group on 24 November 2026. Graduation is a sign of success, but it would have meant losing those trade preferences after a short grace period. The industry warned of tariffs of around 9 to 10 percent on goods that now enter the EU duty free. A UNCTAD study reported by The Daily Star estimated that graduation could cost Bangladesh more than $17.5 billion in exports.

The government asked the United Nations for more time. On 29 October 2026, the UN General Assembly approved a three year deferral "on an exceptional basis," moving graduation to 24 November 2029, The Business Standard reported. Bangladesh must report its progress every year.

What the ledger teaches

Bangladesh's garment story did not start with a big investment. It started with 130 people learning a craft and passing it on. That is why it worked, and that is why it spread.

The next three years test a different skill. To keep growing without special trade help, the industry will need higher value products, more buyers outside Europe and factories that can prove they are safe and fair. The deadline has moved. It has not gone away.

Questions to ask about any export industry

• Does it depend on one product or one market?
• How much of its advantage comes from trade preferences that could end?
• Is the know how spreading to new local firms, or staying with a few?
• Who carries the risk when safety is cut to keep prices low?

The ledger

Munshi's noteAn industry is built by people who learn a skill and then teach it to others. The money follows the know how, not the other way round.

Sources

1. The Daily Star, 3 December 2014Building blocks of garment industry
2. WikipediaTextile industry in Bangladesh
3. Fibre2Fashion, July 2025Bangladesh's RMG exports up 8.8% to $39.3 bn in FY25
4. Textile ExcellenceBangladesh to enjoy duty free market access benefits until 2029
5. The Daily Star, 2026LDC graduation could cost Bangladesh $17.5b in exports: UNCTAD
6. The Business Standard, 30 October 2026Bangladesh gets 3 more years before LDC graduation

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