As soon as the shift to a free trade regime emerged, alongside competition with countries like China and Indonesia, the he rapid collapse of Bangladesh's textile industry has been predicted. However, the opposite happened. We can point out three main reasons for what happened: first, labor costs are low, even lower than in China. Obviously, the low hourly wage rates explain this, but not only that. Investments by textile manufacturers in productivity-increasing technologies have reduced labor costs in Bangladesh, making it one of the world's low-cost producers. Indeed, this was an advantage during the recession as large importers increased their purchases at low prices. Second, there is a strong network of supporting industries. Thus, garment manufacturers save transportation and storage costs, import duties which increase their productivity. “People stayed two weeks without food or proper shelter while waiting to recover the bodies of their loved ones so they could bury them in their villages” (Estrin,