Garment buying house leaders yesterday expressed concern over the terrorist attack in Gulshan, as they fear work orders from international retailers may fall. The attack will have a negative impact on the garment sector as many foreign retailers are thinking of shrinking their purchase volume from Bangladesh on security ground,” said KI Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association (BGBA). Last week, major American retailers pledged not to turn their backs on Bangladesh’s crucial garment industry, despite the series of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Moreover, in reply to an e-mail from The Daily Star, some international retailers like H&M said they will continue sourcing garment items despite the Gulshan attack. Buying houses act as sourcing companies between the garment makers and retailers. The international buyers depend on the buying houses as they always cannot source all the required items from their selected few factories. Currently, BGBA has 450 members, but the total number of such apparel sourcing companies is upwards of 700, according to the chief of BGBA. “We are worried because the months of July and August months are when the retailers place their work orders,” Hossain said. The Gulshan attack, which was targeted at foreigners, took place on July 1. The terrorists killed nine Italian nationals, some of whom were garment traders with longstanding business ties with Bangladesh.For instance, one of the victims, Nadia Benedetti, was involved in garment trade with Bangladesh for more than 17 years now, Hossain said. “She was a very good friend of Bangladesh — we had a good business relationship as well.”Benedetti’s company Studiotex sources more than $100 million worth of garment items every year for Italian retailers. And more importantly, Studiotex supplies garment items for high-end companies, he said. “She used to operate some garment factories in Bangladesh as she invested money in this sector over the years.” Hossain urged the officials of Bangladeshi embassies abroad to ease the rules for issuance of visas for foreign nationals so that they can come to Bangladesh for business purposes without any hassle.
