on 1 January 2005. However, large tariffs remain in place on many textile products. Bangladesh was expected to suffer the most from the ending of the MFA, as it was expected to face more competition, particularly from China. However, this was not the case. It turns out that even in the face of other economic giants, Bangladesh's labor is “cheaper than anywhere else in the world.” While some smaller factories were documented making pay cuts and layoffs, most downsizing was essentially speculative – the orders for goods kept coming even after the MFA expired. In fact, Bangladesh's exports increased in value by about $500 million in 2006. Regulatory standards For textiles, like for many other products, there are certain national and international standards and regulations that need to be complied with to ensure quality, safety and sustainability. The following standards amongst others apply to textiles: CPSIA, e.g. Standard for the Flammability of Clothing Textiles ASTM Textile Standards REACH Regulations for Textiles China Product Standard for Textiles See also Drapers and cloth merchants Textile industry in Bangladesh List of textile fibres Notes References Citations Sources Copeland, Melvin Thomas. The cotton manufacturing industry of the United States (Harvard University Press, 1912) online Cameron, Edward H. Samuel Slater, Father of American Manufactures (1960) scholarly biography Conrad Jr., James L. "'Drive That Branch': Samuel Slater, the Power Loom, and the Writing of America's Textile History," Technology and Culture, Vol. 36, No. 1 (January 1995), pp. 1–28 in JSTOR Griffiths, T., Hunt, P.A., and O’Brien, P. K. "Inventive activity in the British textile industry", Journal of Economic History, 52 (1992), pp. 881–906. Griffiths, Trevor; Hunt, Philip; O’Brien, Patrick. "Scottish, Irish, and imperial connections: Parliament, the three kingdoms, and the mechanization of cotton spinning in eighteenth-century Britain," Economic History Review, Aug 2008, Vol. 61 Issue 3, pp 625–650 Smelser; Neil J. Social Change in the Industrial Revolution: An Application of Theory to the British Cotton Industry (1959) Tucker, Barbara M. "The Merchant, the Manufacturer, and the Factory Manager: The Case of Samuel Slater," Business History Review, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 297–313 in JSTOR Tucker, Barbara M. Samuel Slater and the Origins of the American Textile Industry, 1790-1860 (1984) Woytinsky, W. S., and E. S. Woytinsky. World Population and Production Trends and Outlooks (1953) pp. 1051–98; with many tables and maps on the worldwide textile industry in 19508 Industries (economics)