STOCKHOLM – Swedish fashion giant H&M has assured its garment suppliers in Bangladesh that they will receive payment for orders that have already been manufactured in a move that will ease the financial pressures exerted on local garment factories in the country.
“We will stand by our commitments to our garment manufacturing suppliers by taking delivery of the already produced garments as well as goods in production,” said H&M in a statement, which will pause new orders for the foreseeable.
Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert Ltd., in Bangladesh, heralded the decision, saying: “H&M has become the first – and so far only – retailer to agree to pay its suppliers for cancelled orders where products have been manufactured ... Only if brands operate in this way can we create a genuinely sustainable industry.”
