For all the garment industry's success, its future hangs by a thread. Nearly half the exports go to America, where a quota system on imported clothes has favored Bangladesh, limiting some of its biggest competitors to a smaller share of the United States market. But those quotas expire on Jan. 1, 2005. After that, the lure of cheap labor may not be enough. Other circumstances make Bangladesh a less practical supplier.
Power outages are epidemic.
Floods wash away roads. The port is overwhelmed. More important, raw materials for manufacturing need to be brought in at added expense. Without quota restrictions, China and India, which grow their own cotton, are likely to capture far more of the business from the United States. Two-thirds of the garment workers are women.