The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has instructed its members not to do business with British clothing brand Peacocks.
Citing the court restriction, the trade body in a circular on September 12 last said Dhaka’s First Joint District Judge issued a temporary injunction restraining from doing business with any readymade garment factories in Bangladesh using the name of the brand.
The BGMEA move came after the Bangladesh Bank (BB) in a letter to the president of the BGMEA on September 11 informed the opinion of the legal retainer of the central bank seeking support in implementing the court order.
Insiders said the BB’s letter came after it might have found some of the readymade garment (RMG) factories that are doing business with the United Kingdom’s brand despite the court’s restriction.
Earlier on March 14, four local RMG exporters jointly filed a case alleging that British retailer Edinburgh Woollen Mill was trying to evade payment worth Tk 59.7 million on the pretext that its subsidiary company Peacocks, which imported the products, was bankrupt.
The BB in the letter said that the subject matter of the dispute is within the purview of readymade garments and the BGMEA is the guardian authority of the RMG sector.
“In such a situation, the Bangladesh Bank may also write a letter to the BGMEA referring to the order of injunction of the learned court and seek help for coordination in the implementation of the order of temporary injunction,” read the BB letter.
When asked, BGMEA vice president Khandoker Rafiqul Islam said they are making their members aware of the court’s restriction and advised not to do business with the brand.
He also noted that Peacocks canceled a good number of work orders during the pandemic taking ‘undue’ advantage of bankruptcy.
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