Savar (Bangladesh) (AFP)

Put on the verge of bankruptcy by the cancellation of billions of dollars in international orders, the ready-to-wear industry of Bangladesh is converting to the latest fashion to save its activity: equipment for protection against coronavirus.

The sudden drop in demand for clothing caused by global containment has hit the economy of the world's second-largest ready-to-wear exporter.

Overnight, hundreds of thousands of textile workers found themselves unemployed.

However, some Bangladeshi manufacturers quickly adapted to the new situation and launched into the production of masks, overalls, gloves and other protective equipment.

In the huge factories of the city of Savar, north of the capital Dacca, thousands of workers work in eight-hour shifts, six days a week, to make personal protective equipment (PPE).

"We saw the opportunity in February and immediately went into production," Syed Naved Husain, CEO of Beximco, one of the main Bangladeshi conglomerates, told AFP.

"Now, almost 60% of our 40,000 workers are engaged in the manufacture of PPE," he says.

A major supplier to the Spanish textile company Inditex (owner of the Zara chain) and to the American PHV (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), Beximco shipped 6.5 million combinations last month to the American brand Hanes.

"Coronavirus has changed the world," says Husain. His group plans to export nearly $ 250 million in PPE this year.

Inside the Beximco workshop in the Savar industrial park, hundreds of workers are busy on roaring sewing machines. Their full combination and white mask reveal only their eyes.

- "Work for the year" -

At the end of the chain, Sumaiya Akter is one of the seamstresses bringing the last touch-ups to the products. This 34-year-old mother was one of the battalions of workers made redundant at the start of the crisis, many of whom remain unemployed.

"I feel fortunate to have obtained a job in this factory while so many others have lost their jobs," she told AFP. "At least I can feed my family and my parents".

Over the past twenty years, Bangladesh has grown in importance in the textile sector, to the point of becoming the second largest supplier of clothing in the world after China.

Before the pandemic, ready-to-wear made up almost 80% of the country's $ 40 billion in annual exports. The industry employed more than four million people there, mainly women from poor rural villages.

When global containment started, 4,500 textile manufacturers in Bangladesh saw their shipments fall in April by 84% over a year.

Orders worth nearly $ 3.2 billion have been canceled or postponed, according to the Bangladesh Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), resulting in cascading layoffs and unpaid wages in the local industry.

To limit losses, at least 30 textile factories have already started to produce PPE and "this figure is growing," Khan Monirul Alam Shuvo, spokesman for the BGMEA, told AFP.

Some companies already present in this niche have increased their production capacity to meet the sudden demand from international customers.

"Three days ago, we received an order from abroad for 20 million surgical suits. All our factories have work for the whole year," says Mashiur Rahman Shommo, director of Fakir Apparels.

"We have first class factories," said Syed Naved Husain of Beximco. "Bangladesh is well positioned to become the new hub for PPE manufacturing."

© 2020 AFP