Terry towel maker's story: Big things start small

A worker operates a machine at a Qualitex plant at Chittagong Export Processing Zone. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

It is often said that from tiny acorns, mighty oaks grow, and this could very well sum up the narrative of Qualitex Group, the 2011 winner of the HSBC Export Excellence Award.

In 1989, with a monthly capacity of mere 40,000 pounds, Qualitex Group set up a plant at Chittagong Export Processing Zone.

In a space of 25 years, it has gone on to become the country's largest terry towel exporter, with big names like Wal-Mart, Ikea and Carrefour as its clients. Two years ago, the company was renamed as Premier 1888 Ltd.

Today, it has six composite factories at the zone, which add up to a monthly capacity of upwards of 3 million pounds, enough to account for more than half of the country's towel export volume, according to its General Manger for accounts and finance Lalith Nandana Wijekoon.

Its sales turnover last year stood at $81.61 million, a nearly four-fold increase from 2003.

The key to the company's success has been high-quality assurance, competitive pricing and timely delivery, Wijekoon told The Daily Star in an interview last week. Terming the business growth in Bangladesh as fast and satisfactory, he went on to credit the leadership of Mohammed Sulaiman, Premier 1888's managing director, for it.

Part of US-based 1888 Mills, a leading global manufacturer of bath, bedding and commercial apparel with manufacturing plants in Georgia in the US and Karachi in Pakistan, the company benefitted immensely from this association, Wijekoon said.

“We obtained technical, logistical and commercial support to help us overcome the many challenges we faced.”

Going forward, the main challenge for the company is to nullify the low-cost products from India, China and Vietnam, said Wijekoon, a Sri Lankan national.

The company plans to update its production facilities, which, Wijekoon expects, would not only increase its production capacity but also improve the quality of its products, which include bath towels, hand towels, wash cloth and hooded baby towels. At present, the fully export-oriented towel manufacturing company employs more than 6,000 workers and experts. The workers receive education and their children stipend from the company, he said.

It harvests rainwater, an initiative which has brought down its water supply usage by 21 percent. It also has three effluent treatment systems for effective waste treatment.