Leading fashion retailers H&M and Zara will both go live online in September.

From next month, shoppers who are based outside of the London store range will be able to buy their favourite outfits via the internet as the clothing providers attempt to buck the increasingly dour trends hitting the high street.

Zara, which is owned by the Spanish company Inditex, will launch its new website simultaneously across the UK, Spain, France, Portugal and Italy on September 2, and while they have previously offered a range of homewares online, the revamped website will mark the debut of fashion lines that have in the past been only available in-store. H&M will launch its new online venture a fortnight later, offering men’s, women’s and children’s clothing in addition to their own range of homeware.

The current gloom facing that has beset consumer confidence in the UK and across Europe has led several major retailers to warn that widespread cuts in public sector spending will have a knock-on effect for individual customers. The recent austerity budget from Chancellor George Osborne had created increased worry across the UK over employment and wage prospects, leading to a tightening of the purse strings.

Both Marks & Spencer and Next have warned that consumer spending is likely to be constrained in the coming months as the new coalition government’s emergency budget combines with the rise of VAT at the end of the year to keep customers out of high street shops.

For the third day running, Bangladeshi garment workers have clashed with police over wage rates.

UK fashion retailers such as H&M, Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Zara are among the world’s leading companies that source much of their clothing from the factories in the Southeast Asian nation.

Despite the proclamation of a new, improved minimum wage for garment makers being announced by the government on Friday, union leaders have rejected the deal as being well below what was asked. The government has offered 3,000 taka (£27) per month to workers, almost double the previous minimum wage. The unions are holding out for 5,000 taka (£45) which they argue matches the rising cost of living.

With no work being done, the predominantly female labour force in Bangladesh’s second-largest industry have taken to the streets, where, urged on by union leaders, they have protested with bitter abuse and throwing stones – in some cases bricks – causing authorities to respond with batons and rubber-bullets. Around 80 people have been injured in the latest clashes, which are taking place across the country, taking the total number close to 300. Police have also claimed that in the outskirts of the capital Dacca, where at least 20 factories have closed, protesters have looted shops and blocked roads.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called on workers to prevent major damage to the industry and livelihoods by accepting the new offer. A peaceful resolution is seen as crucial to sustaining the £10bn export sector, which makes up close to 80 per cent of the country’s annual income.

The long-disputed wage structure across garment factories in Bangladesh has at last received some positive news.

After months of protests, many of them ending in violence, the Bangladesh wage board has announced that the minimum wage for garment workers will be almost doubled.

Under the terms of the new arrangement, the average monthly wage will rise from 1,662 taka (£16) to be set at 3,000 taka (£16). A formal announcement of the wage increase will be made by the labour ministry tomorrow. Despite the increase, the wage limit falls short of the 5,000 taka called for by workers.

Leading UK retailers such as Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Zara, Carrefour and H&M all source their clothes from Bangladeshi factories, where the garment industry is the financial backbone of the country’s economy. The industry accounts for some 80 per cent of the nation’s exports and generates around USD$12 billion per year.

Earlier this year, many western fashion labels pressured the Bangladeshi government into reviewing the minimum wage structure after allegations that the country’s factories were using exploitative labour. As a result, the wage board convened an emergency committee made up of union leaders, garment manufacturers and government officials to address the crisis.

The conflict saw angry workers clash with local police in recent weeks and it is not yet clear if union leaders will agree to the new government offer, which, despite the increase, still leaves the garment industry in Bangladesh as one of the world’s lowest paying.

The slow pace of economic recovery has not appeared to have slowed down spending on fashion.

That is the verdict according to the latest just-style Apparel Industry in 2010 report, which found that fast and value fashion operators will be the most likely businesses to succeed in 2010, leading the way in profit forecasting.

The report  claimed that retailers who offer fashion collections at low prices are in the best position to take advantage of the current consumer climate in the UK, with organisations such as Primark set to  boom thanks to their strategy  of high volumes at low prices.

 The just-style survey also found that in the value fashion sector, where Primark is joined by the likes of New Look, the growth rate was at a high 59 per cent, while respondents also suggested that chains such as Mango and Zara, which are classified as fast fashion, could also expect to see growth of 56 per cent.

However, it was traditional favourite H&M that was seen as being the retailer who will see the greatest levels of growth in the remainder of 2010. 26.5 per cent of those polled said they expected H&M to top growth tables, while Zara was second with 20.6 per cent of the vote. In the five company query, Primark was third on 14.4 per cent, ahead of New Look on 7.5 per cent and Mango at 6.6 per cent.

When it comes to the dress sense of her daughter Lourdes, pop icon Madonna says she is no different from any other mum.

Despite being consistently named as one of fashion’s pioneers over the past quarter of a decade, the music legend claims that her daughter’s school wear remains understated and modest. She even admited that she has had to ask her daughter to remove three-inch and six-inch platforms and wear her skirt a little longer.

Madonna, 51, says she has had OMG moments where she won’t let little Lourdes out of the house in some outfits, but no worse than any other parent. The celebrity mother was speaking to reporters at the launch of a new line of fashion wear that she and Lourdes have collectively been the brains behind, which is set to hit shops in the US next month. The range has been christened Material Girl, after the classic 80s song which featured Madonna is mesh vests, torn tutu, multiple scarves and combat boots. It continues Madonna’s association with fashion creation, having helped H&M design a line of women’s wear in 2007.

Unsurprisingly, Lourdes has said she is obsessed with the 80s period – although arguing that short-shorts tended to make your bum look quite big. According to her online blog, she is also celebrating that her mother had finally allowed her to dye her hair

Pop’s leading lady said she has had a couple of moments where ‘Lola’ ‘has appeared before her in an outfit which Mads has deemed ‘inappropriate’. The proud mum claims she is usually stunned by her daughter’s taste in clothes, be it in a good or bad way.