The 7th edition of the Bangladesh Denim Expo concluded in the capital Dhaka on Thursday highlighting the need for transparency within the entire denim supply chain to attract global buyers.
Exhibitors as well as buyers expressed their satisfactions over the expo, saying that Bangladesh’s denim business is growing gradually with setting up hi-tech for producing high-end products to attract buyers particularly from the European Union and the United States.The observations were made at the two-day long expo held at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka on November 8-9. The exhibitors and buyers also said some foreign companies have already shown their interests to expand their businesses in the country as they think Bangladesh will be a hub for denim business in the near future. They urged the Bangladesh government for taking effective measures to help the emerging denim sector through ensuring infrastructure facilities along with utility services particularly power and gas for industrial areas. More than 5,123 visitors along with buyers from 1,015 companies of 51 countries from across the world took part in the expo which theme was ‘Transparency’ for this edition, according to the organizers.
“Bangladesh’s denim industries are growing gradually with using latest technologies for attracting global buyers,” Osman Gazi Izci, country manager of Koton Bangladesh, told the SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL in Dhaka while explaining the latest development of denim business in Bangladesh. Such expo helps establishing a platform for denim stakeholders and will make Bangladesh as a one stop sourcing platform for denim industry, the Istanbul-based Koton Bangladesh’s official added.
Currently, Bangladesh has 32 denim mills with a total annual production capacity of about 443 million meters. Existing investment in the sector is more than US$1.0 billion, according to the industry insiders. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs supply denim to major retailers and brands, including H&M, Uniqlo, Levis, Nike, Tesco, Wrangler, Hugo Boss, Puma, Primark, JC Penney, C&A, Tommy Hilfiger, Inditex, Walmart, M&S, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Gap, Channel and Dior and G-Star.
Talking to the SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL, Masudul Karim, manager merchandising of Pacific Jeans, said local manufactures are now using modern technologies to produce high-end products for attracting foreign buyers. “Our local mills have already taken initiatives to protect environment pollutions,” Mr. Karim said while replying to a query. Guillermo Fernandez, sales manager of Iberlaser, came from Barcelona of Spain for taking part at the expo to search business prosperity in Bangladesh.
“We’ve planned to set up an office here to boost our business in Bangladesh,” the sales manager of the company told the SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL in Dhaka while sharing his observations about denim sector of Bangladesh. Amit Mazumder, product developer of Tesco, said local manufactures are being benefited about latest trend in the denim business across the world through such expo. “It’s a culture of mixing.”
“The transparency will help attracting foreign buyers,” Mostafiz Uddin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Denim Expo told the SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL while explaining the main objective of the theme. He also said: “Our goal is set to improve the whole country’s denim and apparel industry to create excellence made in Bangladesh, increasing cooperation, knowledge sharing and collaborative approach that is able to highlight best practices and potentialities to make denim more and more transparent.”A special event titled of "Denim Innovation Night" was presented by Pacific Jeans Group, the largest producer of premium denim in Bangladesh, in the evening of the first day of the expo. This evening was celebrated to mark the beginning of a new era of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ denim in global fashion and trend arena.
A total of 65 exhibitors from 12 countries including Bangladesh, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Singapore, Turkey, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Spain and Hong Kong participated in the exhibition to showcase their denim pants, fabrics and modern machinery.
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