Bangladesh: hotspot for denim buyers

Bangladesh is increasingly becoming a destination for denim business because of the country's well-established ability to supply huge volumes at comparatively lower prices, industry people said yesterday.

“We would like to invest in Bangladesh,” said Thomas Dislich, head of Europe and Asia region for Vicunha, the world's largest denim maker.

Denim has huge potential in Bangladesh given its strong footprint in the global apparel market and reliance on imports to meet 60 percent of its demand.

“Bangladesh will remain an unavoidable sourcing destination for jeans for the next one decade at least. There is so much capacity in the country,” he told The Daily Star.

Dislich said the demand for denim products are growing around the world by leaps and bounds. “Globally, there is demand for a pair of pants per inhabitant every year.”

Plus, denim is being used from shoes to caps and in cars and furniture. He went on to praise Bangladesh's recent improvements in the denim sector.

“Bangladesh is evolving from purely cheap products to diversified products. A lot of new products are coming up. Still, the country will have to make the most of the talent it has.”

Dislich's comments came on the sidelines of “Denim in Fashion Dhaka” at the capital's Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday.

Denimsandjeans.com, a website dedicated to the world denim industry since 2007, organised the two-day show in association with the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, and German state agency GIZ.

The two-day exhibition began yesterday in order to expand the footprint of denim and denim products made in Bangladesh.

Some denim makers from Bangladesh and India, Pakistan, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey are taking part in the show.

DK Jain, a director of India-based Nandan Denim Ltd, the world's fourth largest denim producer, said the future of denim is very bright as the young generation around the world wants it.

“Bangladesh is a good market for denim,” he added.

Sabina Chandrakant Ingale, sourcing head of Bershka, which is part of the Spanish Inditex group, told the Apparel Resources, a media outlet dedicated to the apparel and textile industry, that Bangladesh's denim industry has improved a lot in the last three to four years.

She said 80 percent of Bershka's denim comes from Bangladesh, with plans to bump up sourcing from Bangladesh by another 25 percent over the next two years.

Gowher Rizvi, international affairs adviser to the prime minister, who inaugurated the exhibition, said Bangladesh exports nearly $2 billion worth of denim products and fabrics a year.

“But we can increase it significantly.”

He said there is no reason for Bangladesh not to be able to do so seeing that manufacturers are leaving China and are considering Bangladesh as their alternative destination of choice.

Bangladesh is already the largest denim exporter in the European Union and holds the third largest position in the US market, said Humayun Rashid, senior vice-president of the DCCI.

“There is a huge opportunity for innovation in Bangladesh. I think we will be able to reach our denim export target to $7 billion by 2021.” 

The global denim market is worth $60 billion, according to Sandeep Agarwal, founder of denimsandjeans.com.

“Bangladesh has become an important part of the global denim market. In fact, the country is uniquely positioned because of its infrastructure, workforce and financial capability,” he said.  

Apart from selling denim fabrics directly to Bangladeshi exporters, about 20 manufacturers also sell the fibre to foreign producers directly.

Envoy Textiles Ltd, the largest denim manufacturer in Bangladesh, directly exports 5 to 10 percent of its 4.5 million yards of monthly production to 13 countries.

“The demand is increasing very fast. We are struggling to cope with the demand,” said Rizwanul Karim, assistant general manager for marketing at Envoy Textiles.

Bahzad Ahmed, general manager of Jamuna Group, said customers are demanding fancy items produced from denim.

Daud Bin Jafar, deputy manager for sales and marketing of Square Denims Ltd, said his company will open the second line of its factory in Habiganj in 2018 to double its manufacturing capacity to 3 million yards a month.