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Global Fashion Brands Say to Raise Purchase Prices for Bangladesh-made Clothes

Garment workers gather along a road during a protest in Gazipur on November 9, 2023, after the Minimum Wage Board authority declared the minimum wage of 12,500 taka ($113) for garment workers. (Photo by AFP)
Garment workers gather along a road during a protest in Gazipur on November 9, 2023, after the Minimum Wage Board authority declared the minimum wage of 12,500 taka ($113) for garment workers. (Photo by AFP)
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Global Fashion Brands Say to Raise Purchase Prices for Bangladesh-made Clothes

Garment workers gather along a road during a protest in Gazipur on November 9, 2023, after the Minimum Wage Board authority declared the minimum wage of 12,500 taka ($113) for garment workers. (Photo by AFP)
Garment workers gather along a road during a protest in Gazipur on November 9, 2023, after the Minimum Wage Board authority declared the minimum wage of 12,500 taka ($113) for garment workers. (Photo by AFP)

Global fashion retailers including H&M and Gap are committed to raising purchase prices for Bangladesh-made clothing to help factories there offset higher workers' wages, a U.S.-based association representing more than 1,000 brands said.
Bangladesh is the world's biggest garments exporter after China. This week, after deadly protests between police and factory workers, the government mandated an almost 60% raise to the minimum monthly wage to 12,500 taka ($113) from December, the first increase in five years, Reuters reported.
Factory owners had said the wage hike, which comes ahead of a January general election, would eat into their profit margins by increasing costs 5-6%. Labor accounts for 10-13% of total manufacturing costs, industry estimates show.
Asked if they would raise purchase prices by the 5-6% that costs will rise, Stephen Lamar, chief executive of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), told Reuters: "Absolutely".
"As we and our members have reiterated several times now, we are committed to responsible purchasing practices to support the wage increases," Lamar said in an email.
"We also renew our pleas for the adoption of an annual minimum wage review mechanism so that Bangladeshi workers are not disadvantaged by changing macroeconomic conditions."
Low wages have helped Bangladesh build its garment industry, which employs about 4 million people. Readymade garments are a mainstay of the economy, accounting for almost 16% of GDP.
Even after the increase in minimum wage, which some workers said was too little, Bangladesh lags other regional garment manufacturing hubs such as Vietnam, where the average monthly wage is $275, and Cambodia, where it is $250, data from the International Labor Organization shows.
Last month, several members of the AAFA including Abercrombie & Fitch and Lululemon, told Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina they wanted worker wages to rise, and to take into account inflation, which is currently at 9%. Lamar also wrote to Hasina in July.
Retailers in the United States and Europe are the main buyers of Bangladesh-made clothes. Like most consumer goods retailers, fashion companies are grappling with high inventories and a slowing global economy, where shoppers in key markets are buying less as they feel the pinch.

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80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
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80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.