Is ‘ Greening ’ the Key to Sustain in Global Market for Bangladeshi Readymade Garments Industry ?

RMG (Readymade Garments) industry is life-blood for the economy of Bangladesh since she contributes around 82% in the export revenue and 14% in GDP. In the backdrop of ‘Savar Building Collapse’ in 2013, the second most horrifying industrial disaster of all time, the country image of Bangladesh has suffered. As a consequence of which GSP facility was withdrawn. The industry now faces a new set of challenges to sustain in the global market. Vietnam exceeded Bangladesh in apparel export to US, just last year in 2015. Another threat has been developed when Vietnam signed TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) in February, 2016 which would leverage Vietnamese export to US market. There is pressure from US to make RMG in Bangladesh safe and sustainable. Safety pushes the cost equation up but lack of which pulls the image of the country down. Bangladesh RMG enjoys the greatest cost advantage of all the nations due to the lowest wage paid to the workers. With a standing of $25 billion export revenue in RMG, now Bangladesh projects to reach $50 billion in 2021. This paper would look critically into the role of greening in sustainability of the industry, in particular, reaching the 2021 target. The authors would approach critical analysis through exploratory study of academic literature and newspapers.


Introduction
Bangladeshi RMG industry that stands today at $25 billion, with around 14% contribution to GDP and 82% to total export has set an ambitious goal of $50 billion worth of RMG export by 2021.
The year 2013 appeared critical. That year had begun with the stock of a horrific fire of the last year on 23 November 2012, in Tazreen Fashions Limited. The accident cost more than one hundred lives. Tazreen Fashions Ltd. is a supplier to several world renowned retailers; namely Wal-Mart, Sears and The Walt Disney Co. Time was yet waiting to witness the 2nd most horrifying industrial disaster of all time, 'Savar Building Collapse' after the 'Bhopal Gas Tragedy' in terms of death toll where the former took 1127 lives and the latter 3787 on the spot (Note 1).
The injustice spreads through a wide network that includes factory owners, BGMEA andthe government of Bangladesh as direct and global retailers as indirect parties (Muhammad, 2015). The world's lowest wages are paid to the RMG workers of Bangladesh while Cambodia is paying double; others are also paying more than double; such as: Vietnam, India and China (Hossain et al., 2016;Siddiqui & Uddin, 2016;Haque & Azmat, 2015). A series of accidents in the RMG factories since 1990s is outcome of several factors: structural problem of factories; insufficiency of fire exits and fire alarms, erroneous wiring of electrical equipments, narrow stairways and exit route, weak foundation, and locked doors (Muhammad, 2015). All these primarily point fingers at the owners. Secondarily, BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) comes into the picture that is officially responsible for overseeing compliance and prescribing for high industrial standards rather turns out to shield the owners. That there has been no case of punishment reported for the responsible party the role and related standpoint of the government of Bangladesh is understandable. The response of government of Bangladesh in the budget of 2013-14 within two months of Savar Building Collapse is a testimony. There was no allocation in the budget either for improving rescue facilities or staff employment for factory inspection. Rather police was deployed to tackle workers' protest. (Muhammad, 2015) Vol. 12, No. 3; Textile and Apparel Association). Among these factories Bangladesh has got 6 Platinum and 13 Gold certified factories whereas Vietnam has got only 1 Platinum and 1 Gold LEED Certified factories. Though the percentage of LEED certification for Bangladesh is also very poor but as initial stage the trend is promising.
The factories of Bangladesh are going for green building projects in order to grow further (Mridha, 2015a). Green buildings offer a range of benefits; i.e. reduction of about 24% energy consumption and 50% water consumption (USGBC, n.d).Vice president of BGMEA Shahidullah Azim said, " since Bangladeshi garment makers are going for high-end garment production, green initiatives will help a lot in building their confidence, as LEED certification indicates practice of good compliance and environmentally safe procedures". Number of Managing directors of these LEED certified Bangladeshi garments for example, David Hasanat, managing director of Viyellatex Group, Fazlul Hoque, managing director of Narayanganj-based Plummy Fashions, Zillur Rahman, managing director of Ishwardi EPZ-based Vintage Denim Studio said that green building projects are mainly initiated in Bangladesh by keeping marketing as the main mission (Mridha, 2015a). There is perception that cost of Green Building is burdensome but closer attention reveals this to be misleading (USGBC, n. d.). World Green Building Council's research shows that integration of cost strategies, program management and environmental strategies in to development process of green building lowers the cost of green building (WGBC, 2013).
Zillur Rahman, managing director of Ishwardi EPZ-based Vintage Denim Studio said to The Daily Star : "I started the operations of the factory three years ago and now I have been receiving overwhelming responses from retailers in Europe and the US due to the green initiative," Through 'Greening RMG' Bangladesh can earn the confidence of retailers which will translate into more order for Bangladesh in near future.

Conclusion
37-year old Bangladesh RMG is in the midst of opportunity and threats. In the next 5 years global RMG market will experience an attractive growth of 44% which is an astounding $200 billion; from $450 billion in 2014 to $650 billion estimated in 2020. Bangladesh RMG eyes into doubling her export; from $25 billion in 2015 up to $50 billion in 2021. It took 7 years for the industry to make a journey from $12 billion to $25 billion. The race for her to reach the $50 billion mark appears intense that the industry needs to grow faster than the world growth rate.