Crisis after COVID-19 for Sri Lankan women who dress the West

Thousands of garment workers faced reprisals and worked in tough conditions as COVID-19 protocols were violated and outbreaks swept through factories, said a report by a global labour rights group this month

The pandemic was hard enough. Now, Sri Lanka faces an economic crisis of its own making that is taking a heavy toll on low-paid female garment workers sewing clothes for wealthier women in the West.

"I have never seen anything like this in my 20-year career," said one factory owner, who employs 20 women to make vests and slips, some of whom have been on his payroll for over a decade.

Now Anthony - not his real name - says he is leaving the rag trade, hit by rolling power cuts, soaring costs for raw materials, shrinking orders and a labour shortfall, a fistful of problems for an island that depends on exports for income.

"The game is over," said Anthony, whose small textile operation in Moronthuduwa lies close to Sri Lanka's main city of Colombo. "I am compelled to close my factory."

And with it, 20 local women will be compelled to find new jobs or else 20 families will be short of cash.

"I can only imagine the desperation their families will feel," Anthony said. "But, is it my fault?