On the Line is a weekly roundup of sourcing and labor quick hits in the apparel and footwear industry, from worker protests to boardroom maneuvering, tracking the developments shaping conditions on the factory floor and beyond.

Beximco tries again

Beleaguered Bangladeshi conglomerate Beximco Group is seeking government approval for a new leasing model to partially reopen its shuttered apparel and textile factories with investment from British firm Charter HCP and Chinese company Besting, according to officials.

Once one of Bangladesh’s largest private sector employers, Beximco built a business empire spanning textiles, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, real estate, media and energy that collapsed following the fall of the Awami League government and the arrest of co-founder Salman F. Rahman, a key adviser to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. More than a dozen garment units at Beximco Industrial Park in Gazipur shuttered as a result, leaving some 40,000 workers unemployed.

But Khalid Shahrior, senior general manager of Beximco’s Textiles & Apparel Division, and Huda Mohammed Faisal, CEO of Revival Global, the asset manager for the investors, told The Daily Star this week that they hope to partially restart Prefix Fashions under the proposed leasing arrangement. If greenlit, the factory could reopen in April next year, with jackets for export accounting for about 90 percent of production and other products making up the remainder.

Under the proposed arrangement, Charter HCP and Besting would sign a five-year deal with Beximco, with loan repayments flowing directly from the factory’s export proceeds through banks holding liens on its assets to prevent Beximco from interfering with the process, Shahrior and Faisal said. The factory would initially employ around 2,500 workers, they added.

If the model proves successful, Beximco plans to reopen the other 15 closed units in phases, potentially restoring jobs for more than 30,000 workers laid off when the factories closed, officials estimate.

Dyeing facilities in crisis

Roughly 460 dyeing facilities in India’s “knitwear capital” of Tiruppur shut down operations on Monday to protest input price increases of as much as 100 percent amid widespread dye and chemical shortages, resulting in a production loss of up to 16.8 crore Indian rupees, or $1.7 million.

The Dyers Association of Tirupur attributed the problem to exports of raw materials used to manufacture dyes from India to neighboring countries. Speaking to local media, the trade group said it had urged the state and central governments to restrict exports of essential raw materials to ensure sufficient domestic availability and stabilize prices.

“The situation has made it difficult for dyeing units to complete existing job-work orders and accept new orders,” said P Gandhirajan, president of the Dyers Association of Tiruppur. “As a result, both the domestic and export trade of knitwear are being affected. The central and the state government must intervene immediately and take steps to prevent further increases in the prices of dyes and chemicals and bring them under control.”

The affected facilities employ more than 50,000 workers, he added. Gandhirajan estimated that the one-day shutdown cost the government around 84 lakh rupees, or $86,800, in GST revenue.

Pension protest

More than 2,000 women garment workers from Shahi Exports and Laguna Clothing in Maddur, a city in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, staged a flash strike in late September to protest the central government’s new pension withdrawal rules. The changes will require workers with less than 10 years of eligible service to wait three years, up from two months, to withdraw their pension savings from the Employees’ Pension Scheme. They also restrict withdrawals for illness, education, marriage and housing.

“With poverty-level wages, workers cannot afford to lose their only savings under PF, making this a do-or-die struggle. KIGWU has campaigned against the new changes for the past month despite threats to our leaders on the shop floor,” Dithhi Bhattacharya, president of the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Karnataka Garment Workers Union, said in a statement, referring to the provident fund. “The protest at Shahi Exports in Maddur, along with similar protests elsewhere, was the culmination of this campaign.”

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, textile, garment, shoe and leather sector director at IndustriALL Global Union, said that brands sourcing from Karnataka cannot stay silent but must instead “use their influence” to support workers’ demands and back robust social protection systems in the countries where they source their clothing.

“The right to social protection is recognized in international labor law,” she said in a statement. “These women are fighting for savings they have earned, often on poverty wages, and they should not have to wait years to access them. We stand in solidarity with Karnataka’s garment workers, who are taking up the mantle to defend their rights.”

Colombia’s forced labor ban

Colombia has banned imports of goods made wholly or partly with forced or compulsory labor, becoming one of the latest countries to adopt such restrictions following the United States’ Section 301 declarations concerning trading partners it deemed insufficiently effective at blocking forced labor imports.

The South American nation has faced an additional 12.5 percent tariff since July, following the U.S. Trade Representative’s determination that Colombia’s policies on forced labor imports were unreasonable and burdened or restricted U.S. commerce.

The ban covers every stage of production, from raw material extraction to final manufacturing, reflecting what Juan David López, partner at international corporate law firm Baker McKenzie, said reflects a “growing international consensus that supply-chain integrity is a prerequisite for market access.”

Because the decree introduces a new compliance and enforcement framework for importers, he wrote in a client note last week, companies operating in Colombia should treat forced labor not just as a human-rights concern but also as a customs and trade compliance issue that “requires businesses to understand their supply chains, identify high-risk suppliers and maintain adequate records to demonstrate that imported goods are free from forced labor risks.”

“Unlike earlier proposals, which focused primarily on supply chain due diligence and preventive risk management, the decree establishes an express import prohibition supported by customs enforcement mechanisms,” he said. “Under this new framework, the Colombian Customs Authority (DIAN) will be empowered to conduct investigations, request information, gather evidence and, where goods fall within the scope of the prohibition, order their seizure and forfeiture and impose the sanctions provided under Colombian customs legislation.”

Albania’s manufacturing woes

The Albanian Manufacturing Association warned this week that nearly 150 garment factories have closed and roughly 25,000 jobs have been lost in recent years amid declining exports, high production costs, labor shortages and the euro’s depreciation.

“We are at a point where we are facing enormous difficulties,” Florian Zekja, the trade group’s chairman, told reporters after a meeting with business owners. “We have gone from 65,000 to 40,000 employees. Exports have also declined, from 1.4 billion euros in 2023 to 960 million euros last year.”

Zekja previously said many small and medium-sized factories closed in January because they could not afford the higher labor costs following an increase in the minimum wage from 40,000 Albanian lek ($490) in 2025 to 50,000 lek ($612) in 2026.

Business owners called for support to modernize machinery, arguing that automation would boost productivity and help protect jobs as competition in foreign markets intensifies.

“One of the forms of assistance the government should provide is investment in new machinery and technology,” Agron Hyseni, a businessman from Gramsh, told Euronews. “It would be beneficial to receive support through grants under the 2027 Fiscal Package.”