Why the Sourcing Map Has Shifted
Rising labour costs in China, tariff exposure and a deliberate move by major retailers to diversify supply chains have pushed a large share of basic and mid-complexity apparel production toward Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia over the past decade. Bangladesh in particular has built deep specialist capability in knitwear, denim and woven casualwear — the exact categories most UK wholesale and DTC apparel brands need — while China has increasingly retained the most technically complex, fast-turnaround and small-batch work.
Where China Still Wins
China generally wins on raw speed for complex, technical or trend-driven product, and on fabric and trim variety available in-country, since its textile supply chain is the most vertically integrated in the world. For a brand that needs a highly technical performance fabric, unusual trims, or extremely fast reorder turnaround on a complex style, China remains hard to beat — though usually at a higher labour cost and often at a higher minimum order than a comparable Bangladesh programme.
Where Bangladesh Wins
Bangladesh has built genuine specialist strength in jersey, fleece, denim and woven casualwear — exactly the categories that make up most wholesale clothing ranges — backed by a dense network of BSCI, WRAP, OEKO-TEX and GOTS-audited facilities. Labour cost is typically lower than China's, which, combined with increasingly competitive lead times for standard product categories, is a major reason buyers have shifted volume there. The trade-off: Bangladesh is generally less suited to highly technical or rapidly-changing trend product than to well-specified core and seasonal ranges.
MOQ Is Often the Real Deciding Factor
For an established brand ordering tens of thousands of units per style, country-level production capability tends to matter more than minimum order size — both China and Bangladesh can serve that volume well. For a smaller or newer brand, MOQ policy varies more by individual factory than by country: some Bangladesh and China manufacturers alike are built around large-volume programmes and simply aren't set up for 500–1,000-piece test orders, regardless of which country they're in. The right question isn't "China or Bangladesh" alone — it's which specific factory, in either country, is actually built for your order size.
Ruhrose's Position
Ruhrose is a UK-led apparel partner with development and production based in Bangladesh, specialising in hoodies, jersey, denim and woven casualwear through BSCI, WRAP, OEKO-TEX and GOTS-audited facilities, with programmes able to start from around 500 pieces per style and colour. For buyers whose range sits in these core categories, that combination of audited compliance, product specialism and accessible minimum order is often a more practical fit than chasing a lower unit price in a market not actually set up for a smaller first order.