Bangladesh Should Go For High-End Apparel: European Buyers

Apparel, Footwear, Fashion

Bangladesh Should Go For High-End Apparel: European Buyers

Bangladesh should focus more on value added, high-end apparel items rather than basic, traditional products to make the business sustainable amidst the fierce competition in the global garment trade, a group of European garment buyers have said.

The European fashion market is rebounding as retail sales of garment items have been increasing by 3-4% year-on-year over the last few years, the retailers said. The sale of denim products is especially on the rise, said Serge Leon, a freelance adviser to the Modint, a European clothing brand.

Bangladesh's performance with denim has been very strong having already overtaken China and capturing 21.8% of the market share. Bangladesh exports over US$ 1 billion worth of denim products to European markets annually and one out of every three jeans being worn is made in Bangladesh. The cost of production in Bangladesh has been increasing and the price of basic garment items is not so high. So, value added items can make the business more sustainable for Bangladesh, Leon said. Bangladesh's opportunity has been increasing in European markets.

Europe is the largest garment export destination for Bangladesh. Nearly 64% or nearly US$ 18 billion worth of garment items were shipped to Europe in the last fiscal year.

Leon also spoke about some homework which Bangladesh needs to complete to attract more international retailers and brands and to grab more of the global market share. Bangladesh now has factories which are very much compliant with regulations, he said. This was a result of inspections carried out by the Accord and Alliance, two foreign inspection, remediation and monitoring agencies for repairing the fire, structural and electrical in nearly 3,800 garment factories.

"This is a very positive side of Bangladesh," Leon said. Bangladesh should keep up the good job of remediation as any bad news goes viral worldwide due to the widespread reach of social media. For instance, European customers were able to immediately know about the boiler explosion at Multifabs in Bangladesh, he said. Leon's comments came on the sidelines of a daylong meeting of retailers and manufacturers in Dhaka. Nearly 15 European clothing retailers like G-Star, Tricorp, Hema and Knits Only took part in the meeting. This is the second meeting in Dhaka this year and more such gatherings will take place in Dhaka next year.

The programme was organised by the CBI project, an initiative of the Dutch foreign ministry to boost imports from developing countries. Dhyana van der Pols, programme manager of CBI, said the 28 Bangladeshi garment companies which participated in the event would go to Premiere Vision - a highly regarded trade show in Paris - in September. The compliance rate in all these factories is 90%, she said.

The political storm in Europe is over after the election in major countries like the UK, the Netherlands and France, Pols said. The consumers' confidence is rebounding with the recovery of major economies in Europe, she said. Such events help direct businesses between retailers and manufacturers, she said. In case of Bangladesh, a good percentage of garment businesses are carried out by a third party or through buying houses, causing manufacturers to lose out on profits they could have attained.

"We do not get fair prices from the retailers and brands. We will go for the value added items," said Faruque Hassan, vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, in his inaugural speech.