Cooling measures at garment factories in Bangladesh, including reflective paint, roof insulation and airflow ventilation, are commercially viable and recover their costs within four years, according to researchers at Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute. The findings are based on temperature readings collected over six months at eight factories in Dhaka, where indoor temperatures often surpassed outdoor levels and ironing and finishing workers faced the greatest exposure to extreme heat. Heat stress reduced annual revenue by an average of 4.1% at the factories, creating financial risks for manufacturers and the global brands they supply. Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, said the report helps buyers and suppliers assess the scale and cost of cooling investments. Apparel brands have been examining payback periods while negotiating mitigation costs, greenhouse-gas targets and alternative energy sources with manufacturers. The report recommends that brands ease prices for suppliers that invest in cooling workers and share costs when resilience measures do not generate sufficient returns for manufacturers. It follows research three years earlier that projected heat and flooding could eliminate $65 billion in apparel export earnings from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Vietnam by 2030. The American Apparel and Footwear Association released a toolkit last week for protecting workers from extreme temperatures, with American Apparel and Footwear Association Executive Vice President Nate Herman saying the industry must act as extreme heat becomes more common.