Apparel Retailer Gap Forges Ahead in Myanmar

[DagonKhan]

Apparel Retailer Gap Forges Ahead in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar— Gap Inc. plans to produce apparel at factories in Myanmar, becoming the first major U.S. apparel retailer to tap the country's garment industry since Western sanctions were lifted two years ago.

The San Francisco-based retailer said it has signed a sourcing deal with South Korean-owned factories in the country, producing outerwear for its Old Navy and Banana Republic stores. Shipments to malls across the U.S. are set to begin this summer.

Myanmar's sizable garment industry—which employed approximately 300,000 people in the early 2000s, according to government figures at the time—was hit hard by a U.S. trade embargo imposed in 2003. The Obama administration started lifting those sanctions in 2012, after a new nominally civilian government in Myanmar enacted a series of economic and political reforms.

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