The people who sew your clothes can’t see the stitches clearly – $10 glasses could turn into a $27 billion profit

Aktari’s work is demanding, and each employee is expected to make thousands of clothes a day. Accuracy is essential, and even small errors can slow down production or lead to rejected products. Aktar said her new glasses have helped her faster than needles — and they’ve also eased headaches and eye strain.

« Before I got the glasses, it took me a long time to thread a needle. Now I can thread it in just a short time. I make a lot less changes than I used to, » he said.

In Bangladesh, home to the world’s second-largest garment industry after China, some factory owners are looking to supply workers with more glasses to boost productivity. The country’s clothing sector accounts for about 11 percent of the gross domestic product, and it employs about 4 million workers.

VisionSpring, a global nonprofit social enterprise that supplies low-cost glasses to people in poor countries, estimates that about one in three Bangladeshi garment workers need glasses but don’t have them.

The group has supplied glasses that cost less than $10 a pair to some workers in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents factory owners.

VisionSpring CEO Ella Gudwin said the benefits were immediate as employees were better able to meet quality and production goals. Better vision also reduces errors such as skipped stitches, uneven beads and misplaced buttons, reducing the need for rework, he said.

Fahima Akhter, director of Bangladeshi clothing company Masco Group, said managers initially did not realize how many workers had vision problems because they rarely complained. He said the Masco Group has screened about 5,000 workers, of whom about 30 percent have received glasses.

Akhter said his company plans to expand the program to the remaining 20,000-plus employees.

« We don’t think of it as a cost. It’s an investment. If employees work with a better vision, their productivity and job security will improve, and ultimately this will lead to better productivity and results for the company, » he said.

A randomized controlled trial in India, authored by Gudwin, suggested that sewing machine operators who were given reading glasses increased productivity by 6% while making fewer mistakes. A study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology in April found that every dollar spent on eye exams and glasses increased productivity by $3.37 over 12 weeks.

It estimates that expanding similar programs to the global textile and clothing industry could generate $27 billion in additional production annually.

Gudwin said that vision correction has long been overlooked because glasses were often seen as a luxury rather than a necessary tool. He said many factory workers develop age-related myopia in their 30s and 40s, but delay treatment because they assume the glasses will be expensive.

Gudwin said bringing vision inspections directly into factories removes those barriers.

Masco Group’s Akhter said Bangladesh’s garment industry should make vision screening a standard workplace benefit.

« Clear vision is not a luxury, it is now a necessity, » he said.