For years, Kowloon was where you stayed if you were doing business in the garment trade.

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Labor relations are less than ideal in the garment trade, but Hays has built loyalty right down to the people who cut the cloth and assemble the garments.

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With the garment trade moving offshore, a lot of old companies were for sale, and Hays could buy them cheaply and, at the same time, earn the gratitude of the union by saving jobs.

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'My family were in the garment trade.

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The recent spate of accidents in the garment trade, especially in Bangladesh, where in addition to the building collapse more than 100 have also died in factory fires over the past year has led labor unions and worker-safety groups to press Western retailers to tighten oversight of their supply chains.

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On Monday, the government agreed to allow garment workers to form trade unions without permission from factory owners.

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With Asok joining him soon thereafter, the brothers expanded Royal into a chain of garment stores that did a thriving trade, notably in jeans.

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"This whole notion that you'd grant a patent to anyone who adds a seam or two to a waistband is quite problematic, " said Ilse Metchek, the president of the California Fashion Association, a trade group that represents some manufacturers, domestic and international garment suppliers, and others close to the fashion industry.

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Indian garment makers are joining others in calling for a formal protest to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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But such efforts can fail to uncover some dangers: At least two garment factories at Rana Plaza had passed international labor and safety standard audits under a European trade organization which addressed specific safety concerns at the factories but didn't assess the stability of the building that housed them.

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Under a trade deal with the European Union called GSP-plus, Sri Lanka's garment exports (its second-largest source of foreign exchange) enjoy duty-free access to the EU. But GSP-plus hinges partly on human rights.

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Apparel imports would be the first to benefit, extending a lifeline to garment entrepreneurs in Myanmar who used to export half their output to the U.S. until trade was frozen in 2003.

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