How We’re Strengthening Hi-Vis Manufacturing in Bangladesh

At Lyfcycle, we believe that great sourcing doesn’t happen from behind a desk. To truly understand how products are made and how they can be improved, we make it a point to spend time on the ground with our partners. That means walking factory floors, handling materials, asking direct questions, and seeing how technical decisions impact real-world outcomes. This hands-on approach allows us to bring sharper insights and stronger solutions to our customers.

In April, we travelled to China with one of our trusted garment manufacturing partners from Bangladesh. The trip had three key objectives. First, we wanted to strengthen our high-visibility supply chain by visiting our primary material and component suppliers. Second, we met with several of our Chinese garment factories to identify new opportunities for improving production efficiency. And third, we explored emerging digitisation technologies that are shaping the future of garment manufacturing.

As Bangladesh continues to build its position in the hi-vis apparel space, experiences like this are essential. They allow us to transfer best practices, identify capability gaps, and support our partners in scaling into more complex, compliance-driven product categories, all while ensuring that our clients benefit from a more resilient and responsive supply chain.

Up Close with Hi-Vis Materials

Our journey began with our textile mills, where we met with both long-standing and newly vetted suppliers that specialise in technical & high-visibility fabrics. Each supplier presented new developments, including the latest advancements in colour, reflectivity and physical performance properties. Seeing and feeling these innovations in person always gave us more valuable perspective on how this segment is evolving.

We took a deep dive into different weaving techniques and fabric constructions to better understand how they affect product performance. Some were geared for durability under heavy industrial use, while others prioritised moisture-wicking and airflow for more active applications. We also reviewed each material’s compliance with EN ISO 20471, the key international standard governing hi-vis apparel in Europe.

These direct evaluations are critical. They allow us to filter what’s marketing from what’s actually fit for purpose, ensuring we bring clients only the best-performing materials for their specific risk environments.

From there, we visited one of the largest reflective tape manufacturers in the world. These are the factories responsible for producing the narrow, often-overlooked components that are essential to visibility and safety. We were given a full technical walkthrough of how reflective tapes are made, from the coating of base films to the embedding of microscopic glass beads that give the material its retroreflective properties.

One highlight was reviewing tapes made with recycled polyester backings. This newer generation of reflective tape combines high visibility with a reduced environmental footprint, making it an appealing option for our clients working toward stronger sustainability.

We also compared continuous tapes with segmented options, which offer improved flexibility and airflow. We took a close look at reflective printing as well, particularly how it performs under visibility and durability testing. While visually striking, reflective prints typically struggle to meet the reflectivity requirements of EN ISO 20471 and ANSI/ISEA 107 due to the uniform size of beads required to achieve a sharp print.

In addition to tapes, we explored a wide range of trims, heat-applied logos, and custom branding applications that our reflective material suppliers can provide. Being close to the right suppliers can accelerate the product development process and enables us to respond quickly to client requests, test new ideas at speed, and ensure every component meets both performance and compliance standards before full-scale production begins.

Benchmarking: Efficient Hi-Vis Manufacturing in Bangladesh

While in China, we also spent time on the production floor with several of our nominated garment factories, not just to visit, but to learn. These were opportunities to explore operational improvements that we can apply to hi-vis manufacturing in Bangladesh through our local partners.

We paid close attention to how each factory managed key areas like inline quality control, workflow design, workstation ergonomics, and team coordination. In several cases, we saw smart production strategies in action - such as how segmented reflective tape is handled at scale, or how small layout changes can dramatically improve output.

Part of our role at Lyfcycle is to make sure every link in the supply chain is not just functional, but evolving. These visits allow us to leverage learnings across our suppliers, Xand It’s this kind of cross-regional insight-sharing that strengthens our network and ensures our clients benefit from a smarter, more resilient supply chain.

Bangladesh vs China

We work with garment factories in both Bangladesh and China to offer our clients flexibility based on their specific needs. Each production base brings distinct advantages. China has a long-established legacy in hi-vis and safety apparel, supported by a mature supply chain and a dense network of manufacturers, from agile small workshops to large-scale operations dedicated entirely to hi-vis production. Lead times are often shorter, minimum order quantities are more flexible, and overall efficiency is high due to deep specialisation. This makes China a highly competitive option, especially for technically demanding or fast-turnaround programmes.

Bangladesh, by contrast, is a newer player in the safety apparel space. While it is a lower-cost producer overall, the safety garment segment is still developing and lacks the same scale and infrastructure as China. Not all factories in Bangladesh are equipped or experienced enough to manufacture hi-vis apparel at a competitive price. That’s why we work closely with a select group of partners, helping to build capability, ensure compliance, and support them in scaling responsibly into this product category.

Exploring the Role of Digital Technology

As part of our visit, we met with a factory digitisation specialist offering IoT-enabled systems designed to bring greater transparency and control to garment production. While factory software isn’t new to us, this was a valuable opportunity to see the capabilities of the latest generation of tools that can be implemented on the ground - not just to track output, but to optimise entire workflows in real time.

The platform we explored provides live dashboards on the factory floor, giving supervisors and managers instant visibility into key performance metrics like units-per-hour, downtime frequency & line balancing. Sensors positioned at each workstation feed into a central system, flagging slowdowns, bottlenecks, or quality issues as they occur, enabling faster response and better resource planning.

For our Bangladesh partner, this technology demonstration illustrated how digital integration could reduce production lead times by more than 30% while improving quality consistency. They saw the immediate value of this technology and are now preparing to implement a pilot phase within their own operations. The goal is to improve production visibility, reduce inefficiencies, and build the right digital foundation as they expand into more complex product categories.

Beyond Visibility: The Lyfcycle Difference

High-visibility apparel is just one part of the equation. True safety wear requires thoughtful design tailored to specific working conditions, materials that can withstand demanding environments, and consistent compliance with evolving safety standards across global markets.

At Lyfcycle, we take a hands-on approach at every stage of the process and work closely with our partners to strengthen every link in the supply chain. Our recent visit to China reaffirmed a core belief. Expertise is not built from behind a desk. It comes from showing up, asking the right questions, and working directly with the people who make the product. Through close collaboration and technical oversight, we continue to push standards higher and deliver more value to our customers.

We choose this approach not because it’s easy, but because it leads to safer, smarter solutions that our clients can depend on.

Get in touch if you're looking for a reliable sourcing partner for responsible workwear & safety apparel production in Bangladesh or China.