Textile Today | September 2018

Bangladesh

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Optimization of indirect spending can transform retail business

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Minimum wage hike for RMG workers creates mixed reaction in workers and owners

Unveiling industry best practices

An efficient finance team can reduce cost and corruption from a business organization

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Editorial Panel Editor in Chief Prof. Md. Monirul Islam Executive Editor Prof. Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan Technical Editor Prof. Dr. Engr. Md. Saifur Rahman Dr. Engr. Md. Fazley Elahi Dr. Md. Abbas Uddin (Shiyak) Dr. Mohammad Nazmul Karim Consulting Editor Dr. NN Mahapatra Dr. Mohammed Tareque Aziz C.N. Sivaramakrishnan Ashfaque Ahmed Associate Editor Jamal Abdun Naser Md. Mominul Motin (Tusher) Sub Editor Akhi Akter Sanjoy Kumar Saha

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Technical Team Co-ordinator Setara Begum Member S.N. Abdullah Amzad Hossain Monir Mir Abdullah Al Mahfuz Rakibul Islam Al Takbir Mahim Editor & Publisher A.S.M Tareq Amin Published on 3rd October 2018 by Amin & Jahan Corporation Ltd. House-41, Road-5, Block-B, Monsurabad R/A, Adabor, Dhaka-1217 Tel: +88 02 55093682 Email : info@textiletoday.com.bd Web : www.textiletoday.com.bd Printed by: VIP Printers, Fakirapool, Dhaka.

The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher or the editor. We have taken every effort to ensure accuracy. Bangladesh Textile Today does not accept any liability for claims made by advertisers or contributors. The publisher reserves the right to edit and publish any editorial material supplied and does not accept responsibility for loss or damages of any unsolicited material or contribution. Š All rights reserved to Amin & Jahan Corporation Ltd. 2018 Volume 11, Issue 09 (September 2018) Reg 8/2012, Dhaka.

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Bangladesh

Driving business with knowledge Volume 11 |

Issue 9 | 128 Pages |

ISSN 1999-2076 Reg. 8/2012 September 2018 www.textiletoday.com.bd

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Optimization of indirect spending can transform retail business

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On the Cover

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Minimum wage hike for RMG workers creates mixed reaction in workers and owners

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Content

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GOTS Approved Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS 5.0)

September’ 18 |

16 12-14

Cover Story

30-33

Editorial

18

20-26

Exclusive Interview

Top Story

Trade and Biz

34

Optimization of indirect spending can....

An efficient finance team can reduce ...

Bangladesh government cuts source tax ...

Human Capital

42

FT-Editorial

36

Textile People

38

ITMF elected Kihak Sung as new president

Sector Analysis - Home Textiles

Bangladesh’s home textile market share is rising in global market

95-96 Do you think transforming the existing ‘Compliance Departments’ into ‘Sustainability Departments’ is the way to implement sustainability in the textile and apparel industry? How this transformation could be done?

Country Profile

A brief history of Brazilian textile industry

Processing Today How sustainability practices reduce cost ....

Textile World

US imports of textiles and apparel...

Textile alumni executive members of ...

Importance of Employer Branding ....

8

28

100% tier-1 Bangladeshi factories ....

66-67

48-54

Export Today

In Focus

Necessity of Human Resources Information ...

45-47

Retailers Today

RMG exports rose by 3.82% In July-August

Minimum wage hike for RMG workers ....

20-22

Issue 09

H&M foundation launches fourth annual global ...

Bangladesh textile and apparel manufacturing industry will continue to grow rapidly

15-16

Volume 11 |

40

Sustainability Today

H&M group and WWF unveil five-step strategy ...

56-58

Brand Development

Growing popularity of local products driving ....

60

Factory Tales

15 apparel makers get CIP cards

63-64

Raw Materials Dyes and Chemicals

Prospect of manufacturing textile chemicals...

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Content

September’ 18 |

68 70-72

Textile Icon

News and Analysis 99-100

Spinning Today

CHTC Fong’s to present onestop sustainable ...

Knitting Today

81-82 Spinning Today Environmental and social footprint of fiber

84-88 Spinning Today

Luckyfield Yichang’s success story with....

Seamless technology reduces 40% ...

92-94

124

Spinning Icon

Processing Today

76-78 PT: Tech Update

‘Cadira concept can save our resources ....

90

Issue 09

Unifill Group develops digital printing impression

‘Is it only the suppliers who need to pay the price for sustainability?’

74-76

Volume 11 |

Factory Tales

Diversification of cotton sourcing is a crying ....

81-82 ST- Editorial Environmental and social footprint of fiber Spinning sector is now being operated at loss…

105-106

Automation

‘Automation is the crying need for apparel industry…’

Knitting Today

102 Sinha Knitting is moving towards automation

47

Factory Tales

DBL and Epyllion Group honored as ‘Superbrands Bangladesh’

10

Three apparel makers get HSBC Export Excellence Awards

54

104

Sweater exports continue to rise

Factory Tales

21 RMG firms participated in Texworld Paris

121

Retailers Today

‘See-now, buy-now’ initiative of Amazon makes fast fashion even faster

122

Retailers Today

M&S builds partnership with True for latest innovations and technologies

110-111 Tech Update

Textile People

115

Trade and Biz

Donald Trump to impose $200 bn new tariffs on Chinese goods

115

Sustainability Today

Walmart is enhancing sustainability of operations and global value chains

120

Retailers Today

Amazon fashion launches new apparel brand ‘Aurique’

KARL MAYER ROTAL boosted by with the new PRODYE-R ....

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Editorial

Bangladesh textile and apparel manufacturing industry will continue to grow rapidly Tareq Amin Currently Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporter in the world. The country is producing apparel items for most of the globally renowned

12

fast fashion brands in the world.

Number of high street brands has ocked into the country already.

Mid to top end brands those who have not yet sourced directly from

When we see clearly that Chinese government is closing number of factories and we also see that the US is imposing bulk of tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods, it is understood that these manufacturing facilities will be relocated soon or after.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

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Editorial

Bangladesh are also entering the country day by day. Altogether role and importance of Bangladesh for global fashion industry is growing very fast.

Time to time we have covered stories on many macro-economic factors which have major impact on global business value chains particularly the textile and apparel.

However capability in terms of resource availability and skills has been the key factor in the shift of the industries. Particularly when opportunities were there, those countries only could attract the business who could build the capabilities. The textile and apparel manufacturing bases have been heavily subsidized and supported by the governments mainly to support huge quick employment generation scopes.

China while having facilitating manufacturers with number of benefits and subsidies to host almost all manufacturing base for the world eventually became very cheap place to manufacture textiles and apparel.

Very quickly by now, China is seeing a reality of severe environmental impact of the industries and so now in such a position that they have nothing to do but restrict manufacturing factories particularly which are putting adverse effect on environment. On the other hand, due to the change in American policy to ‘see the world’ is putting another big impact. In the latest Donald Trump speech given in the UN General Assembly, the country emphasized to become more protectionists and reducing globalization particularly for trades related to manufactured products.

There was a clear policy so far in the western world that they will outsource as much as possible of manufactured goods and provide as much as possible services to the world. But currently we are seeing a major change in this and so it is obvious that a major change in global manufacturing value chain will occur and as always the textile

14

And that’s where we see the enormous growth potential for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is well capable to fill up the supply gaps which are to emerge due to the supply interruptions from China particularly for apparel. If not for long run, at least for short to medium run Bangladesh’s apparel export will continue to grow rapidly. And naturally to cater that growth, backward linkage industry will also see enormous growth. So, Bangladesh textile industry is clearly going to put more and more impact on the global textile and apparel supply chain.

industry will follow the same trend.

So textile manufacturing will no longer be so centered in one country or in one region. It is going to scatter into capable countries and regions. When we see clearly that Chinese government is closing number of factories and we also see that the US is imposing bulk of tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods, we understand that these manufacturing facilities will be relocated soon or after.

And that’s where we see the enormous growth potential for Bangladesh. Bangladesh is well capable to fill up the supply gaps which are to emerge due to the supply interruptions from China particularly for apparel. If not for long run, at least for short to medium run Bangladesh’s apparel export will continue to grow rapidly. And naturally to cater that growth, backward linkage industry will also see enormous growth.

So, Bangladesh textile industry

is clearly going to put more and more impact on the global textile and apparel supply chain.

Bangladesh still can capitalize on the available resources like water and human resources. Currently though the cost is increasing, the supply of gas and electricity has stabilized. If the manufacturers can manage the cost and can remain somewhat profitable the sector is going to boom further.

The Government eventually has been facilitating the factory owners by reducing corporate tax, devaluing local currency taka and keeping the minimum wage as low as about 100 $ per month. The government is also establishing number of economic zones providing lands and facilities to the manufacturing companies at much cheaper rates. Despite number of odds the financial sector is still providing bulk of finances to the textile and apparel manufacturing companies.

With all important factors happening around, Bangladesh will continue to be the dream place to source fast fashion garments for top EU and US companies. However as most of the Bangladesh factories are running with very low or no profitability such growth may not sustain. Even the whole industry may become vulnerable if those top brands don’t be responsible.

They must not slaughter the duck to take out all gold eggs at one shot. They need to take care this. The global brands have to give fair, ethical and right price to the manufacturers as if they can comply with the social and environmental requirements rightly and still can remain competitive and can pay better to the people working inside and people living around the factories.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Cover Story

Minimum wage hike for RMG workers creates mixed reaction in workers and owners Wages review will not change the workers life considerably as long as our government does not consider any safety net for the workers.

Textile Today Research Bangladesh government has raised the minimum monthly wage for 4.4 million garment workers by around 51 percent to TK 8,050 ($96) from the existing TK 5,300 ($65). Earlier workers’ union demanded Tk 12,020 ($142) while garments owners offered 6,360 TK ( $75.75) as a minimum monthly wage.

Details

Nazma, who represented the workers in the 2006 wage board, said, “Bangladesh government should also provide other issues for the workers’ accommodation, food and education so that they can save some money from their wages.”

minimum wage of garments workers was at a sustainable stage. For the new gazette of minimum wage garments suddenly rose up. The minimum wage was fixed at Tk 5,300 the last time in 2013, up from Tk 3,000 in 2010.

“The owners may increase the

About the new gazette of the minimum wage that the Bangladesh government issued, small and medium types of factory owners gave different types of opinions.

Approved Allowance

Proposed Allowance

Basic

4,100 TK

7,050 TK

House rent

2,050 TK

2,820 TK

Medical Allowance

600 TK

1,000 TK

Conveyance

350 TK

500 TK

Food Expenditure

900 TK

650 TK

Washing cost of dress

0

200 TK

Education Expense

0

500 TK

Yearly increment

0

10%

Festive Bonus

0

20%

8,050 TK

12,020 TK

Total

Table: Comparison between approved allowance and proposed allowance.

What workers representatives say Begum Shamsun Nahar, workers’ representative of the board and also women affairs accepted the new gazette of minimum wage following the prime minister’s intervention. However, some trade union leaders rejected the wage hike and urged the prime minister to review it as soon as possible.

Md. Towhidur Rahman, Secretary General IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) and Nazma Akter, President of Sammilita Garments Sramik Federation and a workers’ rights group, urged the government to slightly raise the basic wage from the announced Tk 4,100 to 5,000 TK as other benefits such as bonuses and compensations are determined based on the workers’ basic pay.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

production target after the raise of wage. But it should not be overburdened and workers health should be addressed.

Negotiations for minimum wage this time were much weaker compared to the previous time.

The workers’ representative should remain strong in their demands,” said Centre for Policy Dialogue Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem.

Bangladesh government has been requested to review about the wage increment in 2 to 3 years interval and to raise the basic minimum wage to 5,000 TK said, Md. Towhidur Rahman, Secretary General IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC).

What owners say For almost 4 to 5 five years

Volume 11, Issue 09

“Small and medium types of factories can’t provide this new salary and these factories will be forced to be shut down,” said Md. Saiful Islam, Managing Director, Essential clothing Ltd. “As an owner, this salary is difficult for me. Our production cost is increasing day by day. We have already done a huge investment in compliance area according to buyers’ requirement. If buyers do not increase the price, we could not sustain. I think this wages will affect the country’s economy,” said, Shahid Rexa, Managing Director, Radiance Group.

“Many, even BGMEA, accepted the government decision.

BGMEA always think about the welfare of the workers and BGMEA hopes that workers will be more productive which will help the industry. Now if buyers increase the price of the product and government support the association and decrease the corporate tax, we can fill up the $50 billion target,” said Mohiuddin Ahmed, First Vice President, BGMEA. “Basically worker’s wage should be increased and here 51% of salary has been increased. If we try to sustain and save small industries

15

Cover Story

$50 billion. According to Saiful Islam Khan, “If minimum wage rises up to TK 10,000, 20-25 percent factory will shut down and almost 0.8 to 1.1 million workers will lose their job. So, the factory owners, workers, and Bangladesh government should come to a conclusion where the Bangladesh RMG sector can sustain.

$120 $100

$96

$80 $65

$65

$65

$65

$65

$60 $40 $28

$28

$20 $0

2010

2011

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Figure 2: Minimum wage lifts from 2010-1018.

there are only two ways: Workers has to increase productivity and buyers have to increase the price of the product,” said Mohammad

Hatem, Vice President, BKMEA. Now the growth of the minimum wage will give many challenges to fill up the expected target of

“Wages review will not affect the workers life considerably as long as our government does not consider any safety net for them.

The landlord will raise the house rent so their living cost will be higher. As a result, no changes will come in their living standards,” said the Manager of Marketing & Merchandising, York Group.

H&M foundation launches fourth annual global change award 2018 Desk Report Royal Institute of Technology, we’ve seen previous winners cut years off their timeline through our accelerator program.”

The annual Global Change Award, initiated by the non-profit H&M foundation, aims to protect our planet and living conditions by accelerating the shift from a linear to a circular fashion industry.

With over 8,000 entries from 151 countries since 2015, it’s the go-to competition for circular innovation and has been named the Nobel Prize of fashion. This year there is an extra eye on ideas within digitalization. From August 29, the third round opens for applications at globalchangeaward.com. The applications period is open until 17 October.

The Global Change Award wants to find tomorrow’s game changers.

It can come from anyone, anywhere. The top five countries with the highest number of entries since 2015 are India, the US, Italy, Nigeria, and the UK. The innovation should have the potential to make fashion circular and thereby protect the planet and our living conditions. Other criteria are its impact and scalability, that it’s novel and economically sustainable and that the team is suited to make a difference.

16

Figure: H&M Foundation Global Change Award 2018. Credit: H&M

Erik Bang, Innovation lead at H&M Foundation, said that “This year we keep an extra eye on digital innovations which can make a significant impact on efficiency, planning and resource use – all the way from making the raw material to a garment’s end of life.”

“Digitalization has the potential to disrupt at the root, reinvent how things are done and help producers, sellers, and customers to become circular,” he continued.

Karl-Johan Persson, the board member of the H&M Foundation and CEO of H&M, expressed that, “New ideas are the foundation for change, but scaling them is an enormous challenge for every innovator. Together with our partners Accenture and the KTH

He further added that “Now, we are eager to welcome five new circular heroes and encourage everyone who wants to reinvent one of the world’s largest industries to apply.”

An international expert panel with extensive knowledge within fashion, environment, circularity, entrepreneurship, and innovation selects the five winners which are crowned at the Grand Award Ceremony in Stockholm City Hall in April 2019.

“Innovation and collaboration lead fashion’s shift to circularity and a more sustainable future. The Global Change Award’s support to material and systems innovators not only helps to accelerate the success of each individual awardee but also impacts the progress of the global fashion industry”, said Steven Kolb, President, and CEO the Council of Fashion Designers of America & member of the Global Change Award 2019 Expert Panel.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

E x p o r t To d a y

RMG exports rose by 3.82% in July-August Staff Correspondent Bangladesh exports earnings from the apparel sector, the lifeline of the economy, have seen a nearly 4% growth to $5.73 billion in July and August period of the current fiscal.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data released on 11 September, in July and August period of the fiscal year 2018-19, Bangladesh’s exports earnings from the readymade garment sector stood at $5.73 billion, up by 3.82% compared to $5.52 billion in the same period a year ago.

The export earnings are 3.96% higher than the target of 45.51 billion set for the month of August.

Of the total amount, Knitwear products earned $2.91 billion, which is 1.53% higher than the $2.86 billion in the same period a year ago. Woven products earned $2.82 billion, up by 6.28%, compared to $2.65 billion a year ago.

Talking to the Textile Today, sector people opined that the export earnings less than the expectation.

This is because of slower shipment due to holidays on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha as it hurt the production hours as well as shipment of finished goods.

In July, the first month of the fiscal year, exports earnings from the clothing sector recorded a 21.72% rise to $3.01 billion, the highest single -month growth since August 2015.

“We are not worried about the export performance in July-August period as there were holidays on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, which hurt production as well as shipment. So, the sector has seen a slower growth,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Vice President Mohammed Nasir said the Textile Today.

I am hopeful that the exports earnings will see a sharp rise in next month and maintain a good

performance at the end of the year, he added.

“There may be up and down in export earnings in a single month but it does not mean negative growth. We have to see the final growth,” Former Caretaker Government Advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam said the Textile Today.

“But continuous negative growth in a single month will result in a negative growth. If it happens, the government should find out the reasons and take steps,” added Islam.

Since Bangladesh’s export earnings are mostly dependent on apparel sector, the government has to put emphasis diversification of export basket to reduce dependency on a single sector, he added.

However, the overall exports earnings posted a 2.51% rise to $6.8 billion in July-August period of the Fiscal Year 2018-19.

In the same period a year ago, Bangladesh earned $6.62 billion.

On the other hand, the country’s overall exports earnings in August has declined by 11.74% to $3.21 billion due to slower growth in the apparel sector.

18

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

In Focus

Optimization of indirect spending can transform retail business Comfortable shopping drives to increase the popularity of E-commerce, which reduces indirect cost. By utilizing this opportunity, retailers can boost return on sales by as much as two percent.

Imranul Imran Spend Visibility

Retail business in the world is facing challenges due to E-commerce emerging as a competitive sector with retailer business within shortest possible time. In this modern era, people are concerned about their shopping time and due to the boundless working hour, E-commerce is becoming a big economic catalyst in business and affects the contemporary retail business world.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that retail margins decreased from 10.5% in 2012 to 9% in 2016, as online revenues increased from 10.5% to 15.5% of total sales during the same period.

Credit Suisse has estimated, there will be 8,600 store closings this year in the US alone, which is more than the total number of closings during the 2008 recession.

To mitigate the scenario, retailers must rethink indirect spending as a potential opportunity for business growth rather than just burdening in business. Indirect spending means the goods and services that retailers purchase but do not resell—are equivalent to 10 to 15 percent of sales on average, and most retailers know that their indirect spending is far from optimized.

Moreover, retailers should be more concerned about sale procurement rather than just procurement staff in order to sustain their business and their continued growth of revenue.

To consider this data about the retail business, Mckinsey & Company shared their views

20

Figure 1: Comfortable shopping drives to increase the popularity of E-commerce, which reduces indirect cost.

as an expert to boost up retail business as well as possible transformation to keep pace with contemporary market arena. These considerations, as well as new techniques for the optimization of indirect spending, are given below: Cross-functional team The Cross-functional team acts more proactive rather than just procurement staff. The Team should not do for less pricing negotiation with suppliers that actually diminish their business in various cases. This team should find the potentiality where a company should invest and how the company gets the return on investment. Think about longtime marketing strategy rather than quick response and logistics issues that will transform the retail business in the new way and optimization of indirect costing.

Application of digital technologies supported by Artificial intelligence and digital procurement solutions can be able to decentralize the costing from root level stage that will ensure optimization of costing in business and monitor the total task spontaneously to take better future decisions for further investment.

Consumer Insight

The Customer is the key driver of business. In the age of the fourth industrial revolution, using cyberphysical systems as well as regular survey and strong research to know about consumer perceptions in retail service such as cleaning and better ambient environment for customer shopping. For growth improvement and accelerate the retail business, Authority must do product design and sourcing according to consumer perception.

Design to value By taking consideration on product dimensions, and data from cashier surveys, as well as using digital analysis, which is derived from cashiers, baggers, and vendors, the retailer determined the ideal dimensions of a shopping bag based on the distribution of physical volume and weight of products. Statistics show that

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

In Focus

Typical breakdown for a € bn retailer, € millon

the retailer reduced the cost of its paper shopping bags by 25 percent by redesigning them.

300

Clean sheeting

200

Digital clean-sheeting tools can reduce indirect costs by as much as 40 percent in a category. Such tools typically feature algorithms for determining costs in various NFR areas, dynamic databases of input costs (such as raw-material index prices), and a sophisticated calculation engine.

300 200

Rent

Privetlable packging

100

Capital Supplier- expendture managed costs

2000

Markting

900 Total scope

Typical indirects scope

Typcal savings, %

10-15

8-17

0-5

12-24

10-15

10-20

10-15

Speed control Digital procure to pay tools to give retailers better spend control by enforcing more discipline in how suppliers are set up and approved, and by supporting a more rigorous PO-approval process.

Zero-based budgeting

UNDE RST AN DI NG

G IN EL D O

RO LL

The retailer must give policy support towards supplier and to be a counterpart in their

* Cross- functional steering committee * Senior sponsorship of initiatives * Early wins

Case for changes Intelligent target External visibility Test and learn

* Personal targets * Weekly programmanagment rhythm * Inplementation level traking

S ISM AN CH

T A LE N

Business transformation Figure 3: Influence Model. Courtesy: Collected

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

M

T

D AN

Program leader and team initiative resourcing Category Experts Training

* * * *

FO R MA L

ILL SK

Closer collaboration with supplier

ON ICTI NV CO

* * * *

drivers of variances, and take swift action to close gaps named ZBB that was first gained traction in consumer-goods companies, can be powerful for retailers, especially in store-related NFR categories.

ND A

M

Using digital tools (and enabled by increased spend visibility), retailers can easily build detailed bottomup budgets, detect the exact

Figure 2: Typical breakdown of indirect costing in a retailer. innovation that is actually a win-win approach where both parties are benefited to boost up their respective business. Closer collaboration with the supplier, the retailer can easily decrease the number of suppliers that will pave the way to enhance supplier performance and credibility and reduce cost drastically in most cases such as warehousing.

In doing so, retailers are saving as much as 10 to 15 percent off their annual indirect spend, capturing impact worth 1 to 2 percent in return on sales, and seeing a more than the fifteen-fold return on the cost of their NFR sourcing team.

Business transformation By adaption these techniques, the retailer can transform their business but the challenge is to sustain these changes to keep with maintaining the business growth and returns on investment. Experts suggest retailers to use Influence model to sustain their business and handling behavioral changes in new transformation.

Fostering understanding and conviction Leading retailers lay out a clear case for change and help each stakeholder connect to it on a personal level. An important aspect of the changing story is communicating why savings are needed and what they will be used for. Allowing business units or functions to reinvest part of the

21

In Focous

Te x t i l e W o r l d

savings can increase motivation.

(One initiative leader at a retailer put it this way: “Half goes to the CFO, but the other half we get to keep.”) The head office should, of course, have enough visibility into the reinvestments to ensure they align with corporate priorities and generate strong returns.

Intelligent target setting also helps foster understanding across the organization. Targets should be based on detailed diagnostics, including benchmarking against a relevant peer set. Otherwise, stakeholders will reject the targets as arbitrary; there is also a risk of damaging the business by pushing it into “slash and burn” cost-cutting.

The diagnostics should yield not

just a single target—say, $100 million in cost savings—but also a set of quantified initiatives.

Targets should include cost ratios (for example, logistics spending as a percent of sales) rather than just absolute numbers, to ensure that cost efficiency genuinely improves even when the category experiences tailwinds. (For example, a decline in logistics costs due to a decline in sales is not really an improvement.)

Reinforcing with formal mechanisms Any kind of change in any organization depends on how stakeholders react to this environment and changed behavior. Ensuring dedicated ownership and taking company

target as personal employee target as well proper coordination within officials can change the total procurement procedure and better optimization of indirect spending in the field of NFR (Not for sale) procurement and management services.

Conclusion Most of the retailers have significant opportunities to reduce indirect costs. The first step is to acknowledge that the potential exists, and then conduct a thorough investigation to quantify it. Though challenging, a transformation in indirect spending can yield greater profitability, funding for growth, and competitive advantage.

Turkish technical textiles rise over 20% in first half of 2018 Desk Report Turkey’s technical textile exports grew by 20.1% to USD 898 million in the first half of 2018. The most exported product group from January to June was nonwovens.

Exports of these products increased by 30.6% and were worth around USD 294 million.

This product group accounted for 32.7% of total technical textile exports.

The second major product group in the first half of 2018 was packaging products, worth around US$ 182 million, accounts for 20.2% of total technical textile exports.

Products

US$ (in % of million) total exports

Nonwovens

294

32.7

Packaging

182

20.2

Table 1: Most exported products from Turkey in the first half of 2018.

22

country was Italy, with an export value of US$ 58 million and an increase of 15.8%.

Figure: Technical textiles on the rise in Turkey. Credit: Innovation in Textiles.

The product group that recorded the biggest growth in the first half of the year was parachute fabrics.

Exports of these products rose by 135.7%, compared to the same period last year.

Germany became the most important export market. Technical textile exports made to Germany during this period were worth US$84 million, with an increase of 23.6%.

The second most important

Country

US$(in Export million) increase (in %)

Germany

82

23.6

USA

58.5

19.4

Italy

58

15.8

EU(28 countries)

480

26.1

Table 2: The Country-wise export market for Turkey from January to June 2018.

The third export market was the USA. This country imported US$ 58.5 million worth of technical textile products from Turkey in the first half of the year. The share of the USA was 6.5%.

Exports worth US$ 480 million were realized in the 28 EU member countries, with an increase of 26.1%. With this exports figure, the share of the EU was 53.4%.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Human Capital

Necessity of Human Resources Information System (HRIS) for human resources management (Part-2) The field of Human Resource Management has been continuously evolving and the HR in today’s scenario is playing a strategic role and without HRIS an HR cannot play a good strategic role.

Md. Kamruzzaman Sabuj BA (Hons), MA (Eng), MBA, LLB, PGD-HRM, DSC, DISM, ITP, Director -HCM, Compliance & Admin, Windy Group Human resources (HR), is the driving forces for any industry, including textile and apparel industry, are the key success factor of any organization. More than 4.2 million people are working in Bangladesh apparel sector.

From the beginning to till today, the human resources have been playing a vital role to boost up the industry’s competitive capabilities for enjoying a competitive advantage and superior profitability over rivals.

Many industrialists have been using information technology for achieving efficiency in human resource management in Bangladesh but it is not at a satisfactory level. Actually, an HR department has a lot to do. They do more than hire and fire employees.

According to Advance Systems Inc., a provider of workforce management solutions, “If your human resource department is overwhelmed or does not have the resources they need to perform their jobs, your entire company suffers. That’s why it’s important not only to staff your HR department correctly but also give them the tools they need to be efficient and productive.”

Today internet and automation have facilitated accessibility, reliability, and accuracy

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Figure: Every company needs a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) for human resources management.

of information; improved organizational effectiveness and provided a leadership edge by applying technology in various operations. The field of Human Resource Management has been continuously evolving and the HR in today’s scenario is playing a strategic role than merely a support system and without HRIS an HR cannot play a good strategic role.

The solution offered by a good HRIS Most essential HR functions, modules of good HRIS software and ten features of a good HRIS were discussed in August issue.

Other 13 features of a good HRIS have been discussed here to make it understandable for any HR

professional irrespective of industry, type or size of the organization.

1. Auto notification In an organization, top management is very busy with their regular work so sometimes they forget the interview schedule or forget to approve their subordinate leave and many other small but important issue. HRIS allow the organization to remind the top management regarding these issues through auto notification service (SMS & Email).

Not only this, it also allows to wish employees on their birthday occasion and send the interview notification to the potential candidates.

2. Employee’s disciplinary record

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Human Capital

process, while tracking training expenditure against budget allocations. A good HRIS can track the skill inventory of every individual and take advantages of that information.

Disciplinary Action-Total: 1492 467

500 400

377

138

300

138

200

Disciplining employees is a necessary matter in every organization, though an unpleasant one. Effective discipline can help to correct employee behavioral issues and can increase productivity. Effective discipline will also help to protect the company against wrongful dismiss. Through HRIS, we can maintain an effective disciplinary process and can able to preserve the disciplinary record, which is necessary for appraisal and for the future disciplinary procedure.

3. Dynamism and customizability A Good HRIS should be dynamic and customizable in all respect whether it is accommodating a new process or issuing of a letter or delivering email automatically.

HR department needs to accommodate new functions, rules, policies very frequently. HR also needs to generate thousands of letters like – offer letter, appointment letter, increment letter, promotion letter, transfer letter, disciplinary related letter, long absent letter, and many other types. A good HRIS can eliminate many manual jobs by a few clicks only.

4. Online approvals In every organization, it is a tough task to have the top management approval on different issues like recruitment, increment, leave and so on, since they are busy with the foreign meeting and their routine activates. So the online approval process of the HRIS enables them to give the approval at wherever &

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Sexual Harrasment

2 Sharp tools keep untied

Physically unfit

Physical violance

1 Negligence to work

Drugs

6 Habitual late & absenteeism

17 Indscipline attitude & Non-professional

3

Fake Punch

Attempt to theft

0

64

27 Dishonesty

38

Bribery

100

Common learning and development module features include: E-Learning portal Training recommendations linked to the role, skill set, and career aspirations Individual user learning plans

whenever they want it.

Setting and managing goals

5. HR matrix and researches

Links to competency framework

Top management always wants to see all the index or matrix at a glance. In HR matrix, we find total recurrent status and its cost, total separation status and its cost, total disciplinary record, monthly late, present, absenteeism, turnover, orientation record & so on. After seeing this, management decides where further initiative should be taken to control or improve this. Though HRIS we can maintain this HR matrix.

Streamlined learning administration (reducing the HR overhead) 7. E-recruitment management E-recruitment can allow any HRM to be efficient in sourcing right talent. Through a good HRIS, an organization can do the following series of task for a right recruitment – Manpower budget Manpower requisition

Your system should be taking all the manual effort out of reporting and should have a library of template-based reports (along with the ability to build custom reports) on attendance, performance, joiners, leavers, turnover etc… and do graphical representations. If your system has anything but a powerful, empowering and easy to use reporting system, then look elsewhere.

Manpower requisition approval

6. E-Learning and skill tracking

8. Attendance and leave management

Often using the outcomes of the performance management process as a starting point, this module may produce individual training plans for staff, deal with bookings (for training courses and other learning options), and manage the follow-on evaluation and feedback

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Job advertisement Online application Notify potential candidate through mail & SMS Notify board members through mail & SMS Online exam and screening Interview appraisal Auto-generated offer and appointment letter

The organization can maintain shift wise attendance through HRIS and have the wide range of parameter

25

Human Capital

for attendance reporting such as – late report, date wise late report, department wise late report, early out, absence report, department wise absent report.

Through HRIS organization also able to maintain the online leave in such way-first employee apply for leave on his entry screen assigning

his responsibility to someone (Except sick leave) whenever assigned person agrees to take the responsibility by clicking the agree on button then it goes to his HOD for recommendation and when HOD agree it goes to HR for approval.

9. Compensation management and final settlement Through an integrated HRIS an organization can able to generate auto calculated payroll, bonuses, incentives etc even at the separation it can deliver a final settlement bill where it includes due salary, due OT, current salary current OT, service benefit, earn leave and other form of income as an income and deduct all the loans or liabilities.

to use, you simply will not get the return on investment from the system and you should not settle for an awkward to use the system.

There are plenty of intuitive, userfriendly systems out there and if yours is not user-friendly, find one that is.

11. Database Integration to avoid human error and data redundancy

A strong database (like Oracle 10g or 11g) and integrated HRIS can offer the management I intelligence and analytics to take strategic decision for any progressive business to be competitive by being free from Human Error and redundancy of data input. Just doing payroll is no way considered as HRIS where a modern HRIS offers a lot many HR activities in the HR Application or in the software.

12. Easy Implementation of an HRIS Any success of implantation

few months to few years where customization is a continuous process to remain competitive in the industry.

13. Affordable cost Finally, it arises the ultimate question -which is the software where we can get this sort of solution at what price. There are many renowned HRIS around the world but most of them require huge investment and high-level of user efficiency. Some of them are working as a part or module of giant ERP solution software like SAP HANA HCM/ SeccuessFactor, Oracle PeopleSoft, Microsoft Dynamics 365, NetSuit, Infor CloudSuite etc. that may cost millions of dollars. Many of them are free standalone HR system like Sentrifugo, OragngeHRM, BarazaHCM, OpenHRMS, iHRMS– which are also open source and customizable. There are few locally developed HRIS like- GreenHR, Kormee, Kandaree, BaseIT, Shorol, Jibika etc. are better suits with local laws, cultures and practices where affordable price is a big factor.

In most cases, local companies are putting their effort and time to develop in-house HRIS but without having a right professional consultation and

Through HRIS organization can do following task of compensation Auto-segregation pay package Bonus & incentive Auto loan deduction OT(Compliance & Non-Compliance) Increment history Uploading excel file Auto-generate letter (Increment) Final settlement 10. User-Friendly implementation There has been such a rush to market in the HR software space that user-friendliness may have been sacrificed to get the system out of the door in some HR systems. If your system is not easy

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of HRIS must demand an easy and user-friendly system.

The respective management involvement plays a vital role to install and implement a result driven HRIS application.

It is a pretty long and tiresome process of implementation where every user’s motivation is highly anticipated. An HRIS implementation may take a

right programmer, it goes in vein.

Experts’ advice-while searching a good HRIS try to get an integrated system, which has a proven record of accomplishment with all these features. Only attendance and payroll process does not name any application as HRIS-Human Resources Information System. It should have a complete process flow of HRM functions.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

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To p S t o r y

100% tier-1 Bangladeshi factories achieved democratically elected worker representation H&M success report on ‘fair living wages strategy’ reveals that 100% of tier-1 factories of Bangladesh achieved democratically elected worker representation in December 2017.

Desk Report RIGHTS TO: Work Family life Freedom of association and collective bargaining Just and favorable conditions of work Reasonable working hours

H&M launched a fair living wage strategy in 2013 with the aim to ensure that all its suppliers pay fair living wages to the workers.

Recently H&M revealed that it has surpassed its first milestone target of implementing improved wage management systems for all strategic suppliers by the end of 2018.

Earlier 500 factories which are 67% of total factories spread across 10 countries were successfully implementing improved wage management systems; 594 factories which are 73% of total factories were implementing democratically elected worker representation which involves about 840,000 garment workers; 100 percent tier 1 factories in Bangladesh achieved democratically elected worker representation in December 2017.

H&M Group’s head of sustainability Anna Gedda said, “I’m so proud of the dedicated work hundreds of colleagues around the world have done these past five years. We’re doing something that nobody has ever done before.”

“The results of our work in creating the foundation for fair living wages are exceeding our expectations, reaching close to a million garment workers. Now, the work continues – together with the rest of the industry,” Anna Gedda added.

“These positive changes start

RIGHTS TO: Health Life

RIGHT TO: Food and nutrition

RIGHTS OF: Minorities

RIGHT TO: Water

with the fact that more and more workers are electing their own representatives. For example, in Bangladesh, 40% of all worker representatives are now women.

This means that issues that concern women are more visible and can be strategically addressed as part of the overall Fair Living Wage Strategy, which in turn has positive effects on quality, worker turnover and productivity,” said Maritha Lorentzon, H&M. “It takes time – one has to be patient. But a focused approach that identifies your salient human rights issues, sets a long-term strategy, and engages both internal and external stakeholders is the only way to systemic change,” Maritha Lorentzon added.

According to H&M, systems taking the Fair Wage Method into consideration are being implemented at an increasing

H&M’s Fair Wage Method implementation Year

Number of Factories

At the end of 2016

140 (29% of H&M’s total product volume)

At the end of 2017

228 (40% of H&M’s total product volume)

At the end of 2018

336 (50% of H&M’s total product volume)

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RIGHTS TO: Education Protection for the child

H&M’S FA I R L I V I N G WAG E ST RAT E GY

RIGHT TO: Housing

According to the report, fashion giant H&M’s fair living strategy now reaches 655 factories employing more than 930,000 garment workers, up from three factories in 2013

RIGHT TO: An adequate standard of living

RIGHT TO: Equal protection Non-discrimination

number of factories: 140 at the end of 2016 (representing 29% of H&M’s total product volume), 228 at the end of 2017 (representing 40% of H&M’s total product volume), and a total of 336 by the end of 2018, superseding H&M’s goal of 50% of the total product volume by the end of 2018.

Implementation of the Fair Wage Method takes place in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Myanmar, India, and Indonesia. Approximately 200 factories will also be enrolled in the Wage Management System Program internally developed by H&M. Implementation of the Wage Management System Program takes place in Bangladesh, Turkey, Ethiopia, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, China, and Cambodia.

To be a buyer H&M’s strategy focuses on the management process of wage standards, rather than imposing specific wage levels for suppliers. The fashion retailer is working with factories to embed fair negotiating processes between governments, employers, worker representatives and the wider labor market.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Exclusive Interview

An efďŹ cient ďŹ nance team can reduce cost and corruption from a business organization Mukit Ahmed CFO, SQ Group People interpret finances as a simple and easy task that anyone from any background should be able to manage. However, this is not so easy game and if the financial matters are not taken care of efficiently and smartly, the company loses its control over business, incur financial loses also might bear the risk of business continuity. Recently a Textile Today team met with Mukit Ahmed, Chief Financial Officer of SQ Group and discussed financial related issues

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of RMG industry. He is a Fellow member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (FCA).

Mukit Ahmed has served in different multinational organizations in various roles and possesses. He brings extensive business, financial and leadership experiences. He started his carrier with Grameenphone later moved to British American Tobacco Bangladesh in 2010. He served BATB in different finance roles of manufacturing, supply chain,

and Treasury area. He decided to establish his career in the textile sector and joined SQ Group as Finance Controller in 2015. Now he is the Chief Financial Officer of SQ Group.

SQ group was established in 1993. With the commencement of business, SQ Group paved the way and set standards for knitwear manufacturing in the industry.

Securing pole position in knitwear, SQ Group later expanded to lingerie. Today SQ Group is one of

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Volume 11, Issue 09

Exclusive Interview

the leading apparel manufactures of Bangladesh, operating under three business clusters: SQ Celsius Ltd. (knitwear), SQ Birichina Ltd. (lingerie), and SQ Hues Ltd. (backward linkage). According to the ratings of U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), SQ Group operates 3 (three) of the Top 10 Most Environment-Friendly Factories in the World.

Textile Today: Why should an entrepreneur invest in Bangladesh RMG industry rather than other industry?

Mukit Ahmed: I see a huge opportunity in this sector for investment. Let’s analyze the investment environment, from market and growth opportunity, our RMG export was $ 30.61 billion for FY18 and set the target to $ 32.69 billion for FY19 with 6.78% growth projection. Still, Bangladesh is not serving too many markets. If we consider China and India, it is about 33% of the total world population, our export to these countries are very less.

World population is now 7.6 billion and around 4 billion is effective customer who wear banded cloths or what we are exporting. If we consider China and India, it’s about 50% of our effective customer which is untouched. There are some brands that have started sourcing from Bangladesh with big quantity, which could become a big opportunity for our RMG industry to grab more market share.

Though our infrastructures are still not satisfactory and still we are struggling for better support from this area but we can foresee government’s initiatives for infrastructural development. Till now we are using Chittagong port for export. Another three seaports Payra, Mongla, and Shonadia are under development.

These will reduce pressure on Chittagong port. Government is taking more initiatives for improving infrastructure i.e.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Dhaka- Chittagong highway converted into four-lane and there are 10 economic zones are under construction and 90 more in the plan. The energy crisis will also improve as LNG is adding up with the national grid line.

Socially RMG industry is a prestigious business nowadays.

Our female workers are willing to join in this industry, as the factoryworking environment is more compliant than the previous time.

So, the huge workforce is coming to this sector.

Finally, if we think the legal aspect, it’s a legal business if maintain all government rules and regulations. The government

Bank does not invest without any mortgage, which is another financial challenge. There are many capable and wellexperienced entrepreneur in this business but the bank will not invest until they can offer some collateral to the bank.

On the other hand, some non-experts are getting a huge amount of loan by managing some way and the loans are not properly used.

also adopted many favorable policies for this industry, which are business friendly compared to other industries. The rate of return also moderate compared to other industry. There are so many other motivations behind this business that‘s why the entrepreneur should invest in Bangladesh’s RMG industry.

Textile Today: What are the major financial challenges for our garment industry and what types of the financial module should be followed?

Mukit Ahmed: Regarding the financial challenges, firstly I

Volume 11, Issue 09

should mention the cost of fund.

In our country’s cost of fund is the biggest challenge for the entrepreneurs. We recruit raw hand workforce and then train them for improving their efficiency.

They might achieve optimum efficiency after 3rd month, our customer’s don’t pay us for the learning period. We have to bid price with optimum efficiency level but we have invested behind to achieve this. There are also different types of bank interest that have to be paid i.e. machinery loan, OD loan, packing credit etc. which are not competitive compared to our competitors.

The second financial challenge is working capital cycle management. Entrepreneurs are investing in working capital from their own source. Though Bangladesh Bank (BB) has an Export Development Fund (EDF) facility that is only for raw material and other working capital has to be managed by the business.

The third financial challenge is compliance cost. The apparel industry is investing in compliance and safety but sometimes our customers are not interested to share the cost.

Bank does not invest without any mortgage, which is another financial challenge. There are many capable and well-experienced entrepreneur in this business but the bank will not invest until they can offer some collateral to the bank. On the other hand, some non-experts are getting a huge amount of loan by managing some way and the loans are not properly used. There are a few examples that we came to know from the newspapers.

Lastly overdue loan, some entrepreneurs do not pay back to the bank in due time, sometimes loans are also not used for the purpose it was obtained for. As a result, banks lost the capability and interest to invest in new projects.

I will not refer to any financial

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Exclusive Interview

module but it’s all about practice.

It is important that from existing financial practice and system, management should be provided with the correct information regarding all financial issues i.e. if any inventory is in stock more than your inventory cycle, cost per minute compared to your selling cost and other related analysis of other overheads. ERP solution can be a useful tool for managing the day to day business operations. It is also important that we recruit the people with proper knowledge and experience in the finance department.

Textile Today: Will FDI has a positive impact on this industry and how much benefit we can retain from it?

Mukit Ahmed: Obviously FDI has a positive impact for this industry.

When any FDI comes to the economy, it will increase money circulation, economic activities and employment generation etc.

Though there are some critics i.e.

FDI is not suitable for us, it is a threat for our local entrepreneurs.

But it is not correct. Our entrepreneurs need to compete globally. If we do not welcome FDI, it will be invested in some other countries.

Another controversial point in employment generation from FDI, though we see employment generation in worker level, middle or higher label management capability is still not strong in our country. We are losing huge foreign exchange as management cost of foreign expatriates.

The government needs to monitor whether the money is invested properly in the country or not. If it drained outside from the economy, we will not get any benefit from it.

Textile Today: What policy could Bangladesh take to confront world economic meltdown?

Mukit Ahmed: It is difficult to craft an exact policy in advance for the world economic crisis.

When we foresee it, we can

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prepare ourselves accordingly after analyzing related factors.

The government can make two types of policy i.e. economic policy and financial policy. Under the economic policy, the government can amend the export policy, monetary policy etc. and in financial policy, the government can adjust tax rate, bank interest rate, loan payment delay, cash subsidy on export etc. The government can also generate an emergency fund like EDF. Besides government, the entrepreneur should also foresee the crisis and take preparation

The government also need to increase investment on infrastructure development, power, and gas and in seaports.

There is a huge demand for textile graduates in the industry. The government should establish more specialized textile universities, can open a textile department in all other public universities.

Financial institutions also can make a fund for a long-term investment with less interest rate.

in advance to confront it. They should also be ethical to take the benefit from government policies.

Textile Today: How can the government and financial institutions help to boom this industry?

Mukit Ahmed: Government, financial institutions and investorsall have to be responsible for the growth of the industry. Capital should be there for an investor to accelerate business operations, but if the investor does not pay back on time then this sector will lose a source of capital to grow.

Therefore, all three parties should be involved to grow this industry.

The government has fixed the interest rate to 9% from 11-13%, all the investors should be benefited from it but they should use this fund correctly and payback at the right time. Entrepreneurs should operate the business ethically.

They must need to pay tax, deduct tax from employee salary correctly and deposit to the government.

The government can raise a fund for this industry with a lower interest rate from the existing rate.

The loan payment period should be longer. The main thing is to ensure the political stability in the country. When there will be no political unrest, many investors will invest, buyer will place more orders.

The government also need to increase investment on infrastructure development, power, and gas and in seaports.

There is a huge demand for textile graduates in the industry. The government should establish more specialized textile universities, can open a textile department in all other public universities. Financial institutions also can make a fund for a long-term investment with less interest rate.

Textile Today: Why finance graduates are not willing to join in this industry?

Mukit Ahmed: This mentality is changing now, finance graduates from reputed institutions are willing to join this industry. SQ Group recruited graduates from reputed organizations and they are continuing with us. I know many other reputed garment factories are also recruiting finance graduates from countries renowned public and private universities. However, there is a concern regarding the working environment, more corporate cultures are yet to be adopted in this sector.

Another reason is the location of the factories/offices. Most factories are located outside Dhaka city. But there is no standard residential area, good educational institution,

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Exclusive Interview

healthcare facilities etc. So our employees need to commute from Dhaka. Most of them are not willing to move outside due to lack of above facilities. The government should take initiatives to make the facilities available in areas where the majority of garment factories are located and then it will motivate them to move.

For this reason, our entrepreneur prefers to hire experts. They don’t have any urge to come back home since they are living mostly alone or even with family. But who are living in the city and office is outside, they have a headache for reaching home by through a huge traffic.

Textile Today: What are the major factors to increase the financial efficiency of a garment industry?

Mukit Ahmed: Financial efficiency depends on mainly two major areas. One is people who are

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

dealing with finance and the second one is the management information system. Entrepreneurs should recruit graduates with relevant educational background and experiences. Then train them to increase their efficiency.

Financial information is also very much important. If there is not enough information, then a company cannot understand the gap. For this, a company needs to use good financial system solution like ERP or others. Since this requires a big investment, many entrepreneurs are not willing to spend money on this. But this is very important for an organization to improve financial efficiency.

Textile Today: How can an organization control financial dealings to prevent corruption or misuse?

Mukit Ahmed: It’s important to have an effective financial

control system in every business organizations. All financial processes i.e. purchase, bank loan, asset procurement, accounting, account payable (AP), should have written policy and must have adequate financial control.

Let’s discuss a basic process of three-way matching of purchase.

It relates to PO (purchase order), GR (goods receipt) and IR (invoice receiver). All these 3 parties must be independent.

All financial activities should be designed with the adequate process for control and supervision. In most of the garment factories, we don’t find well-designed finance policy and efficient finance team. We need to invest more in the finance process and people.

I strongly believe proper policy, work environment, remuneration, and control system can reduce the cost of an organization.

Tr a d e a n d B i z

Bangladesh government cuts source tax for exports items, corporate tax for RMG makers Bangladesh government has reduced corporate tax from 15% to 12% and also brought down the tax at source on export items, except jute goods, from 0.7% to 0.6% for the current fiscal year for garments sector, the $30 billion industry and lifeline of the economy Staff Correspondent The declaration of these slashes came out at that moment while Bangladeshi apparel makers urged to cut in tax or incentives to go for implementation of new wage structure to be declared based on the proposal of workers and owners representative.

RMG manufacturers and trade body leaders made the call at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) held on 9 September.

In the budget for the fiscal year 2018-19, the government has increased corporate tax from 15% to 12% for apparel makers.

However, in face of strong demand from the apparel sector people, the government has decided to keep the corporate tax the same at 12%.

On September 6, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), which stated that corporate tax would be 12% for the garment manufacturers.

As per the SRO, the green factory owner’s will also pay 10% corporate tax but it should be certified by the internationally recognized organization. The rate will remain effective for the current fiscal year. The move is to encourage green investment in the sector considering the environmental impact. As of today, Bangladesh RMG sector established 67 green building, the

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Faruque Hassan, Senior Vice President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said the Textile Today, “I think, the government will see more investment from the garment sector as the cut in corporate tax will Figure: Bangladesh government slashes corporate tax and source tax for garments sector. encourage new investment, which will help Bangladesh to highest in the world. create jobs to reduce the country’s After the announcement of unemployment.”

National Budget for the Fiscal On the other hand, the garment Year 2018-19, the country’s apparel sector has to implement a new makers urged the government wage structure to be declared to reduce corporate tax. They soon. So, the cut in those tax argued that it would attract new will help the manufacturers to investment in the sector. minimize the pressure of increased According to the new SRO, 0.6% expenses of new wage, he added. tax at source on all exports except “Since RMG sector contributes jute products will be effective from $30.60 billion to the country’s July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. export earnings and employs 44 Admiring the government decision million people, the government to reduce the corporate tax and has considered the demand of the tax at source rates, Exporters sector of the corporate tax cut Association of Bangladesh (EAB) and cut tax at source,” Commerce President Abdus Salam Murshedy Minister Tofail Ahmed said the said, “This is an admirable and Textile Today. timely decision that will benefit the Our government is business country’s export-oriented business friendly and it tries to provide community. It has been a longpolicy support to ensure a standing demand of exporters to congenial business atmosphere, ensure a level playing field, so the said Ahmed. decision will definitely encourage According to the Export them to move forward.”

Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, Talking to Textile today, RMG Bangladesh’s export earnings from leader and manufacturers termed the RMG sector stood at $30.61 the decision as a blessing for the billion, posting 8.76% growth in the sector as it is facing challenges in last fiscal year. The figure is 1.51% meeting the safety requirement, as higher than the target of $30.16 well as the production cost, went million for FY18. up.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Te x t i l e W o r l d

US imports of textiles and apparel rise 7.3% in July Desk Report According to data from the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), overall U.S. imports of textiles and apparel increased 7.3% in July to 6.24 billion square meter equivalents (SME) compared to a year earlier. In value, imports climbed 2.72% to $46.18 billion from a year earlier.

At the same time, U.S. exports of textiles and apparel increased 4.59% in the month to $13.59 billion, with apparel shipments rising 5.61% to $3.34 billion.

Year over year, imports of textiles from around the world grew 11.2% to 3.64 billion SME, while apparel exports were up 2.2% to 2.6 billion SME in July as retailers prepare to stock up for crucial fourth-quarter selling.

Among the top 10 suppliers of apparel to the U.S., Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia were the big winners, with India and Pakistan also faring well, as importers spread out their sourcing in light of ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Figure: Textiles and apparels import climbed to the U.S. 2.72% to $46.18 billion from a year earlier. Credit: Maersk

Table 2: Negative shipments of apparel and textiles to the U.S. in July Suppliers

Decrease (in %)

Value (in billion $)

China

0.83

14.2

Indonesia

3.7

2.61

Mexico

2.38

1.99

$20.82 million and Ethiopia’s were up 167 percent to $9.9 million.

On the other hand, apparel Honduras 1.5 1.41 imports from China were down 0.83% in value to $14.2 to $126.92 billion worth of goods in July, million, Peru’s Table 1: Positive shipments of apparel and textiles continuing a recent period of increased 50 to the U.S. in July tepid or negative growth for percent to Suppliers Increase (in %) Value (in billion $) the once-dominant supplier, $73.28 million, although they bounced back a bit Vietnam 6.41 6.94 Haiti’s were up in volume, increasing 2.4% to 1.17 Bangladesh 5.61 3.21 15.1% to $81.78 billion square meter equivalents million, and India 3.92 2.42 (SME). Volume-wise, China saw its the Dominican Cambodia 15.45 1.37 combined shipments rise 8.5% to Republic’s rose Pakistan 6.85 0.781 3.22 billion SME. 7.3% to $73.05 million.

According to the Census Bureau The U.S. also imports more apparel and the U.S. Bureau of Economic At the same time, imports from from the Western Hemisphere, Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit Kenya gained 99.4% to $47.7 Africa and the Americas. Among that has been President Trump’s million, Egypt’s shipments countries in Central and South biggest main point in trade was advanced 11.1% to $80.5 million, America and the Caribbean, $50.1 billion in July, up from $45.7 Madagascar’s increased 59.4% to Guatemala’s shipments rose 14.8% billion in June.

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Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Amsler Tex – Guiding customers to profitable fashion yarns Flexible organization to serve globally its customers Experience, creativity and Swiss quality makes Amsler Tex the longstanding leader in developing, producing and distributing devices and software for the production of innovative fashion yarns, such as slub yarns, stretch yarns, injection yarns, wrapper yarns and many many more.

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The company is headquartered in Aesch Zurich, Switzerland. All its products are «Swiss Made».

Amsler Tex is represented by specialised distributors and agents in all major textile markets worldwide. Additionally, there is a global team of marketing and technical specialists for machine installations, ongoing services and support.

Driving innovation of its customers Amsler Tex understands itself not only as a hardware and technology provider. Amsler Tex also aims to guide its customers in their strategic goal to grow in the markets of value added yarns, notably in the field of fashion. Amsler Tex supports spinning mills or fully integrated textile manufacturers with ideas and know how for the development and manufacturing of innovative yarns or fabrics, as well as with connecting the textile manufacturer with compatible buyers.

Such corporations are often leading to mutual successful, sustainable business partnerships.

Contact

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Linen look with cotton fibers

Amsler Tex AG Eichacherstrasse 5 8904 Aesch Zurich Switzerland T +41 44 739 91 00 F +41 44 739 91 04 sales@amslertex.com www.amslertex.com

www.factor-plus.ch

Country Profile

A brief history of Brazilian textile industry

Brazil is now the 4th largest exporter of cotton. The global high demand for cotton has allowed Brazil to grow slowly and steadily in the textile industry.

Mir Abdullah Al Mahfuz

Their two most produced textiles are leather and cotton. Originally, leather was Brazil’s largest export due to the available land and the cattle and sheep rose, however, cotton has now become even more important. Brazil is now the 4th largest exporter of cotton. The global high demand for cotton has allowed Brazil to grow slowly and steadily in this arena.

According to the Brazilian Association of Textile and Apparel Industries, the South American nation has produced 2001000 tons worth of textiles – the fifth biggest global manufacturer behind China, India, USA, and Pakistan. But this incredible amount of fabric makes up just 2.4% of the global textile production, compared to a whopping 50% from China.

Additionally, as Brazil does not have the changing seasons of the United States, it can supply cotton during the off-season when the US cannot. Since the US is one of the

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Uzbekistan

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Currently, the textile industry in Brazil is worth over 65 billion dollars, employing millions of Brazilians. Additionally, they have created over 30,000 companies that pertain to the textile industry, which makes it one of the highest employers in Brazil. And this is for a country that only really became an industry influence in early 2000.

7000

China

Brazil’s Textile Industry

(In Thousand Metric Tons)

8000

India

The textile industry in Brazil is young in comparison to other countries; however, it looks to be growing in strength and power as a green business and future fashion. The textile and apparel industry participates with equivalent amounts to more than 5% of the total Brazilian GNP in 2017.

Figure1 : Brazil ranked four among the top ten cotton producing countries in 2017-18

largest suppliers of cotton they are also a large competitor for Brazil, but not as much so due to the timing of when cotton is available for each country.

Fashion Brazil is mostly known for their summer clothing in the fashion world, though they also have influence in other fashion areas.

They also have luxury brands and other younger brands that sell in many countries all over the globe.

of more than 500% since 2006.

Brazil’s textile and apparel exports are revitalizing After the economic recession, which severely affected the country’s industrial performance, Brazil’s textile and apparel industry has finally achieved some success in terms of its textile and apparel exports, especially exports to Arabic markets.

The clothing industry has become so key for Brazil that they have the Brazilian Textile and Garment Industry Association (ABIT).

Due to ABIT, the fashion side of the textile industry has seen an increase because of investment by the state to export Brazilian fashion. The hope is to ensure that of all the textile industry, the fashion sects are given the chance to export their products all over the world.

According to recent figures from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), Brazilian exports of textiles and apparel to the Arab World have surged during the first two months of 2017, increasing by 87.5% from the same period a year ago, reaching USD 3 million up from USD 1.6 million in January and February 2016. This significant growth has mainly been led by the increasing demand for synthetic fabric and sisal rope used in ships and rigs in the Arab markets.

The ABIT reported some 60% of the garments imported to Brazil from Asia actually come from China. Garment imports from Asia have surpassed $1.450bn, an increase

The Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (ABIT) also reported that sales from rope exports accounted for USD 1 million, while beachwear,

Bangladesh Textile Today |

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Country Profile

textile yarns, and inner garments also rose during the two months. ABIT’s survey of exports covers various parts of the production chain including raw materials such as fibers, yarns and filaments, as well as technical and non-fabric industrial textiles, and clothing.

Currently, the Arab countries are some of Brazil’s largest markets for textile and apparel exports, particularly for segments such as party wear, children’s wear, and beachwear. Based on ABIT’s latest data, the United Arab Emirates had the highest imports of Brazilian textiles and clothing during this period, followed by Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Lebanon.

To boost Brazilian textile and apparel industry exports, the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency (Apex-Brazil) have launched the Texbrasil program, which serves to benefit affiliated exporters. Official figures showed that Brazilian textile and apparel companies that have participated in the program expanded their export markets to Arab countries by 40% in 2016, with a total value reaching USD 4.1 million in 2016 from USD 2.9 million in 2015.

The Brazilian textile and apparel industry is much wider than most people think, going beyond the clothing. However, as far as export is concerned, Brazil’s non-automatic import licensing system as a trade policy tool to control trade flows has led to a decrease in exports of certain community

Ethiopia expects earning over USD 200 M from apparel and textile The Ethiopian government has taken a 15-year national cotton development strategy to boost their textile industry Desk Report Ethiopia has eyed to earn 240 million US dollars from textile export in the current fiscal year. State Minister of Industry, Bogale Feleke informed that the sector is going to receive more priority in foreign currency earnings compared to other sectors.

According to an Ethiopian news agency report, textile and apparel sector is considered as one of the key industrial sectors, prioritized by the government as a source of foreign currency earnings to offset the current shortage in hard currency.

“An agreement has been signed with the National Bank and Development Bank of Ethiopia on ways of efficiently releasing the foreign currency for transactions in textile and apparel sector in the current fiscal year,” Bogale Feleke added.

Around $110 million was secured by the export sector in the last fiscal that was only 46 percent of the plan for the year.

Bogale Feleke pointed out that the drawbacks in lower export earnings is attributed to lower exports, shortage of cotton, lack of trained manpower, instability in some parts of the country.

“The Ethiopian Government has prepared a 15-year National Cotton Development Strategy to tackle cotton shortage,” he continued.

Figure: Textile workers in Ethiopia are trying hard to achieve $240 million in the current FY. Credit: REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

Figure 2: The fashion industry is growing in Brazil. Image courtesy: Bertrand Delvaux

textile products; a loss of competitiveness; a significant loss of Brazilian clients and order cancellations; an increase in financial costs; a limitation in the range of products that may be exported.

This trend is likely to change in years to come, as some of the manufacturers are now focusing on promoting their individual brands. With changes in the international market, Brazil is likely to become an open textile market, till then the Brazilian authorities are working on reviving the local markets to ensure that the textile and apparel sector continues with its present momentum of growth.

The country is showing great promise in becoming a large manufacturer and exporter of textiles.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

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According to the report, Ethiopia is going to harvest a huge amount of cotton for export and to satisfy the demand of the local textile industry.

Silesh Lema, Director General of Textile Industry Development Institute, expected, “Textile industry is generating a small amount of foreign exchange, maximum effort is being undertaken to enhance foreign currency earnings from the sector.”

He further added that to start as lack of proper market linkage with reliable buyers, the institute is striving in expanding market opportunities and obtaining potential buyers in the global market.

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S u s t a i n a b i l i t y To d a y

H&M group and WWF unveil five-step strategy on water Desk Report Nowadays, clean freshwater is becoming a scarce resource. In the textile industry, water plays a critical role. Growing cotton, dyeing fabrics, creating washedout looks — all have an impact on water resources.

Recently, WWF and H&M group share a common vision for the improved availability and quality of fresh water. Together, they have devised a five-step strategy for H&M group to enable the company to become a leading water steward in the fashion industry.

This integrated strategy goes beyond the factory lines, taking into account the whole supply chain and also covering climate action and strategic dialogue to tackle broader sustainability challenges at an industry level, such as circular production processes and the use of sustainable materials.

The five steps of the strategy are: 1. Water awareness: boosting understanding at H&M group, at suppliers’ factories and among customers of global water challenges and their dependence on freshwater 2. Knowledge of impact: assessing footprint and risk in our stores,

Freshwater Practice, WWF International, said, “Transforming the textile industry’s water management to reduce pollution is a critical part of WWF’s work to conserve freshwater resources.”

Figure 2: H&M and WWF together work to improve the use of water and reduce pollution within our operations and suppliers’ factories.

warehouses and suppliers’ factories 3. Internal action: improving the use of water and reducing pollution within our operations and suppliers’ factories 4. Stakeholder engagement: working with companies, governments, and NGOs to address water issues in their focus regions 5. Influence governments: engaging with public policymakers to manage water basins in a sustainable way H&M group is committed to doing something about this environmental challenge — not least because their long-term success depends on access to water, the sustainable management of shared resources and a consideration for the needs of local communities.

Measuring water impact and risk Collective action Building water awareness Improving the use of water

Figure 1: H&M group and WWF jointly have developed the holistic strategy for water stewardship targeting the four key themes.

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But this challenge cannot be solved single-handedly by just one company; it requires collaboration between organizations, industries and governments and a common sense of engagement.

Stuart Orr, Leader

“Our global partnership with H&M group has led the way by improving H&M group’s water management and encouraging other companies, NGOs and policymakers to collectively engage on water issues on a global level,” he continued.

H&M group and WWF have worked together on water stewardship since 2011, to further extend on water, the H&M group in 2013 partnered with WWF. This collaboration ran over three years and was the first of its kind in the fashion industry. In March 2016, H&M partnered with the WWF again, in a five-year partnership. The focus is still on water stewardship, but also includes climate action and a strategic dialogue related to the H&M group and the textile industry’s broader sustainability challenges.

Mariann Eriksson, Marketing Director at WWF, expressed, “After working closely together with H&M for the past three years, we know they are committed to being good stewards of shared resources, and eager to contribute to shifting the industry towards more sustainable models.”

H&M group engages with other organizations, brands, suppliers, policymakers, and governments to improve the textile industry’s standards on water management.

It is also working alongside other brands and stakeholders with the Swedish research institute SWEREA on the issue of microfiber contamination of the water system.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

WALKING TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS FOR THE LEATHER & FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY Customer and consumer demands are driving up standards in the footwear and leather supply chain, presenting the industry with a range of challenges to remain competitive, profitable and sustainable. Stakeholders are increasingly demanding products that are not only safe and good quality but also manufactured in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

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Technical consultancy Government maintained PSI for selected emerging markets Socially responsibility solutions Systems and services certification Carbon and energy efficiency ECOSECURE product mark certification for footwear & leather products

GULSHAN OFFICE SGS BANGLADESH LTD House 37, Road 24, Gulshan- 1, Dhaka- 1212 t: +88 02 986 2740; e: sgs.bangladesh@sgs.com

CHITTAGONG OFFICE SGS BANGLADESH LTD IIUC Tower, 7th and 11th Floor, Plot 9, SK. Mujib Road, Agrabad, Chittagong- 4100. t: +88 031 715 037, 715 074, 715 082 e: lab.chittagong@sgs.com

Te x t i l e P e o p l e

Textile alumni executive members of MBSTU visit Textile Today office Staff Correspondent Textile Engineering Alumni Association’s executive committee members of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU) attended in a meeting with Textile Today on 7 September, Friday at the conference room of Textile Today office, Uttara, Dhaka.

On behalf of MBSTU Textile Alumni, President Subrata Chandra Das welcomed Textile Today with flowers.

Tareq Amin, Editor, and Publisher of Textile Today said that MBSTU Textile Talents already proved themselves in the Textile job field as well as higher studies in different countries. Textile Today is always ready to assist MBSTU’s textile graduates to take a good position in the competitive job market through factory-based training, research and so on.

He also added that textile graduates are being benefited through different career development programs, leadership skills, training programs from Textile Today. In future, MBSTU Textile Alumni Figure: Executive committee members of the Textile will work together for the Engineering Alumni Association, MBSTU visited Textile Today office on 7 September, Friday. development of textile engineers and branding of textile.

Sanjoy Kumar Saha, Manager Industry Engagement and Sub Editor said that MBSTU Textile graduates are doing great in Textile field at home and abroad.

In future, Textile Today will work jointly for the branding and betterment of MBSTU Textile Engineers.

Subrata Chandra Das said, “Textile Today is the leading Textile Journal which upholds our textile sector to the whole world.”

In the meeting, MBSTU Textile Alumni General Secretary Amit Sarker, Vice presidents Md. Shafayet Arefin, Treasurer Mahbbur Rahman, Education, and Research Secretary A.K.M. Ayatullah Hosne Asif, Organizing Secretary Md. Sharifur Rahman Rakesh and other executive members were also present.

ITMF elected Kihak Sung as new president Desk Report Kihak Sung, Chairman of Youngone Corporation, has taken over as President of the International Textile Manufacturer’s Federation (ITMF) for the 2018-20 terms.

According to a statement, Youngone was the first foreign investor in the textile and apparel sector in Bangladesh. Almost all other subsequent investors from Korea followed in Youngone’s footstep to invest in Bangladesh.

Its production of world famous brands has greatly enhanced the image of Bangladesh in the garment and textile sector.

He assumed the presidency of the federation at a gala event held on September 7-9 in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 300 textile luminaries attended the conference.

The ITMF is one of the oldest

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sector foreign direct investment (FDI). He led investments both in Chattogram and Dhaka EPZs and of late in Korean EPZ.

Figure: Kihak Sung has taken over Presidency of ITMF for 2018-20. Courtesy: UNB

non-governmental organizations, founded in 1904 with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

“This indeed is not only a great honor for Korea but also for Bangladesh and its 80,000 workforces,” said the release.

Kihak Sung’s rise in the textile arena is associated with the success of Youngone Corporation, over the years, as a pioneering investor in RMG and textile

Because of his invaluable contribution to the development of apparel and textile industry and the national economy of Korea, Kihak Sung was conferred upon the highest class of the ‘Order of Industrial Merit Gold Tower’ by the President of Korea in 2008.

His dynamic leadership and steadfast policies led to the emergence of Youngone Corporation as one of the most reputable and recognized multinational companies which has successfully spread its wing across the globe in Korea, USA, Switzerland, Vietnam, China, India, Uzbekistan, San Salvador, and Ethiopia.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

September 2018 A Textile Today Initiative l Published with Volume 11, Issue 09 l Pages 43 to 106

w w w. f a c t o r y t a l e s b d . c o m

Importance of Employer Branding: How companies can attract top talents?

Growing popularity of local products driving entrepreneurs to open their own fashion brand

Bangladesh’s home textile market share is rising in global market

See advertisement at page 53

Editorial

Importance of Employer Branding: How companies can attract top talents?

It is vital that the company stretch its outreach, and one of the fastest ways is social media.

Abdullah Talha Deputy Managing Director, Noman Group, Chief Operating Officer, Noman Terry Towels Mills Limited (NTTML) Talents in the industry are becoming scarce. It is becoming challenging for companies to attract top talents. Talents are now concentrated within a few multinationals companies. Many of the local companies are unable to attract the talents because they are not using the right tools. We have branded our companies for attracting consumers for a long time, but it is now similarly essential to attract talents and employee.

Mission and Vision 1. The company has to establish their mission and vision. The cultural objective vastly depends on it. It is essential that the company begin the business with keeping these things in mind. However, it is possible for the vision and mission to change, as Samsung has become an electronic giant from a small local company trading text and groceries (Source: Samsung: A short history–The Mercury News).

If a long-running company does not have the mission and vision, then the top management should take responsibility and create one.

2. The cultural objective is fundamental, and many of the companies in Bangladesh do not have that. The cultural objective should be created in the beginning. However, if a long-running company does

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Figure: International and diverse marketing team of Noman Terry Towel Mills Ltd. posing for the Messe Home Textile Fair in Frankfurt 2018

not have any cultural objectives, then it should sit down with the leadership and discuss the top three cultural attributes it wants to focus. Noman Group’s top three cultural goals are, • Result Oriented, • Order and Discipline • Growth, based on that the company should share the stories in the social media.

3. The company can choose people from their current team or company to post and share activities online.

Outreach It is vital that the company stretch its outreach, and one of the fastest ways is social media. Most of the

Volume 11, Issue 09

companies do not use this, but we have to do this in this era of information and technology.

Companies should encourage employees to post their culture activities on social media such as Facebook, and LinkedIn. Companies must encourage them to join groups and enhance their online profile, like in LinkedIn. Ask them to share the top internal stories in the social media as much as possible. Tell the employees to expand their offline and online networks. Instruct them to upload all the business cards and information on cloud and use tools to always keep in touch.

Promote engagement It is vital that the company put

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An initiative of Textile Today

Find your unique positioning and stand head-high...

The Team Tareq Amin Founder & CEO Amzad Hossain Monir Head of Business Development Rakibul Islam Soma Akter Nepal Nath Naznin Wahed Business Development Akhi Akter SN Abdullah Sub Editor Rahbar Hossain Editorial Coordinator

‘Factory Tales’ is an initiative of ‘Textile Today’ for ‘Branding Bangladesh Textile & Apparel’. The initiative is to investigate and explore positives and significant stories from sites of the industries. Articles, news & analysis, interviews, photo and video contents will be developed to highlight & promote best practices; product and process development stories; social and environmental contributions etc. of Bangladesh textile and apparel manufacturing companies.

Sanjoy Kumar Saha Engagement & Communication Major Factory Tales Services are

Nizam Uddin Shipan Head of Design and Branding

Brand Strategy Making (Identity & Positioning) Best Practice Story Building

Mosfikur Rahman Video & Graphic Editing

(Marketing/Branding Story)

Brand Manual Making

(Designing, Publishing & Printing Brand Materials and Websites)

Photography & Videography

(Corporate/Product/Process/Facility)

Brand Communication- PR Services

Yeasin Mia Graphic Design

Ashraful Alam Cinematographer

Sujon Mohalder Asst. Cinematographer

Riasad Rion Executive, Web & IT

Amenities of Factory Tales

Identical position in the industry

Buyer and consumer loyalty

Vantage in price negotiation

Employer Branding

New business possibility

Robust & sustainable business

Award on best practice

Md. Ariful Islam Md. Masudur Rahman Mir Abdullah Al Mahfuz Abir Basak Editorial Contributions www.factorytalesbd.com

25 A (2nd Floor), Lake Drive Road, Sector 07, Uttara, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh Tel: +88 02 55093682 Mobile : 01775999368, 01775999748 Email: info@factorytalesbd.com, Web: www.factorytalesbd.com

Editorial

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

their fun activities out there. They can post fun events to celebrate success, promote team building with picnics and trips, and more.

Make sure that the employees spread the positive word of mouth, and this will create a strong impression. The company can post stories with pictures and data is the second best way.

The local companies such as textile and other manufacturers are going through a difficult transition. It is essential that the company take advantage of these tools and start generating a strong talent pool.

The professional way to grow The talents in the industry are not only motivated by money, but Noman Group research has also found

a few ways to motivate employees.

• Involvement: The Company needs to make sure that the employees in the company are involved in most of the decision making and work. The company has to give employees challenging projects and rotate their jobs regularly. They must be engaged fully in their work, and this is the best way to involve them.

• Learning and Growth: The talented professional always want to grow, and the best way is to teach and coach them regularly. Training them in-house and from top schools, these are a few ways to do so.

• Higher Purpose: It has been found that higher purpose plays

a significant role in employee retention. Human as a species has developed to be a part of the community and help it; it is how we have been a part of a tribe or civilization in ancient times. If the company can treat its primary goals by assisting the universe, the employees will be highly motivated. It is how the NGO employees are motivated enough to travel to the poorest and riskiest areas in the world, to achieve the higher purpose.

All companies should start planning for Employer Branding across the board. The Human Resource department must put it on priority. Employer Branding is an extensive subject, and we should pursue it.

DBL and Epyllion Group honored as ‘Superbrands Bangladesh’ Total 29 companies have achieved ‘Superbrands Status’ for two years. They can use the ‘Superbrands Awards Seal’ on their advertising materials and product packaging during the period.

Staff Correspondent DBL Group and Epyllion Group from textile industry along with 27 brands from different industries have been honored as ‘Superbrands Bangladesh’ for two years period (2018-20) at a ceremony at the Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden hotel on 1 September 2018. A distinguished panel of 12 prominent brand experts known as ‘Brand Council’ selected the Superbrands.

Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Kazi M Aminul Islam illumined the award ceremony as chief guest.

Superbrands is a global media, communications and publishing business, which operates in more than 90 countries around the world.

It is an organization that promotes the discipline of branding.

Brands which have achieved

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Superbrands and recognizing Bangladesh’s Superbrands will play a key role in our economic journey,” Shariful Islam, Coordinator of Superbrands Bangladesh, said at the ceremony.

“Superbrands Status” can use the ‘Superbrands Awards Seal’ on their advertising materials and product packaging. A Superbrand offers significant emotional and physical advantages over its’ competitors which consumers want, recognize and are willing to pay a premium for.

“As Bangladesh steps into the next phase of progress and development, being part of global

Volume 11, Issue 09

DBL Group, Epyllion Group, Abul Khair Steel, Eastern Bank, Grameenphone, IPDC Finance, Singer Bangladesh, The Daily Star, ACI Aerosol, ACI Salt, Bashundhara LP Gas, Bashundhara Paper Mills, Bata, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, BRB Cable Industries, Channel i, Elite Paint, Energypac Power Generation, Matador Group, Meghna Group of Industries, North South University, Parachute Advanced, Pride Ltd, Radio Today, Rupchanda, Shah Cement, Shanta Holdings, Shwapno and Super Fresh Drinking Water are selected as the Superbrands.

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S e c t o r A n a l y s i s - H o m e Te x t i l e s

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Bangladesh’s home textile market share is rising in global market The country is emerging as one of the leaders in global home textile production and export arena.

Abir Basak Home textile is one of the first line export sector in Bangladesh also known as decorative textile.

Due to quality and diversified range of products, the country’s production of the home textile is being increased day by day. In the mid-nineties, local industry entrepreneurs concentrated in making home textiles, while Bangladesh entered the export market in the 1980s with knit items. This sector, initially has seen losses, has gradually started to return to the growth trend over time. In this fiscal year, the export revenues of this sector can touch billions of dollars - that is the expectation from the concerned people.

Home textile factories in Bangladesh are very less compared to woven or knit garments. 25-30 companies in Dhaka, Gazipur and Chittagong arena are producing home textile items. However, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, Mosharraf Group, Saad Musa Group, Alltex, ACS Textile, Apex Weaving, Regent, JK Group, Classical Home etc. have established as strong exporters.

Among them, Noman Group’s Zaber & Zubair Fabrics is the pioneer home textile marketer in Bangladesh.

In recent times, many entrepreneurs are showing keen interest to invest in this sector and they are coming forward.

Big groups are extending their manufacturing plants for home textile. Bangladesh exports different types of home textile products including bed sheet,

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Figure 1: Home textile items are displayed at Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd.

home textile products, which is 60 to 70 percent of the global market. In addition, the exporters of these products are China, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladeshi entrepreneurs mainly. In 2016, global textile and apparel trade stood at US$ 743 billion, while the share of other categories such as fiber, yarn and fabric has decreased. Home textile has maintained its share of 6% over the past five years.

Major producers of home textiles in Bangladesh Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, Saad Musa Group, Alltex, Mosharraf Group, ACS Textile, Apex Weaving, Regent, JK Group, Classical Home bedspreads, pillow, pillow covers, cotton table napkins, furnishing fabrics, curtains, window and door curtains, cushion, cushion covers, carpets, table covers, kitchen accessories, mattress covers, bath linen, and other home furnishings etc.

Global home textile market The home textile market registers a robust growth and experts say the demand is expected to reach 160+ billion dollars by 2025. The United States and EU countries import lion’s share of

According to Technavio, a research firm, the global home textiles trade is valued at US$ 118 billion in 2017 and will reach US$ 131.5 billion by 2020 and US$ 180 billion by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% or more during 20182025. Carpets were the top traded category valued at US$ 14 billion.

While table linen, furnishing and carpets have been growing at a negative CAGR of 5%, 2% and 1% respectively, bath/kitchen linen has shown the maximum positive CAGR of 3% and an increase in the share of 1% too.

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S e c t o r A n a l y s i s - H o m e Te x t i l e s

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Figure 2: Home textile items are displayed at Mosharraf Group.

The top 10 importing nations contribute to about 80% of the home textiles market. EU-28 is the largest market for home textiles with a share of 36% and import value of $17 billion. This is followed by the US with an import value of $11 billion and a share of 24%.

Japan, Canada, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Thailand constitute the top markets for global home textiles.

Thailand has emerged as a market for home textiles in the last five years with a CAGR of 22% but at a small base value. Japan is the third largest market for home textiles is declining with a CAGR of 6% over a period of five years due to the economic downturn and demographic issues. Russia, facing similar issues, has shown a downfall of 18%, thus losing ranks in the list of major markets but is expecting some growth going forward.

According to the Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned US$ 150 million by exporting home textile products in the FY 2004-05. In addition, this export income has been increased to about US$ 753.01 million in the FY 20152016. In the middle years, the export growth had fluctuated, also indicated to earn better revenue as well. the most popular segments and contribute to two-thirds of the total home textiles market while kitchen linen, curtains, upholstery and carpets/rugs make up for the rest of the share.

According to the Bangladesh

Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned US$ 150 million by exporting home textile products in the FY 200405. In addition, this export income has been increased to about US$ 753.01 million in the FY 20152016. In the middle years, the export growth had fluctuated, also indicated to earn better revenue as well. Exports of Bangladesh touched the highest revenue of US$ 906.07 million in the 2011-12 fiscal years. EPB has set an export target of US$ 900 million for the home textile sector in the current fiscal year.

The scenario of Bangladesh’s rival countries China, Pakistan, India and Turkey are the main competitors of Bangladesh in this case where the country is in the 5th position.

Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia or other manufacturers cannot reach at the level of Bangladesh yet but their gains are remarkable. In 2016, more than $26.86 billion worth of home textiles were imported from outside the EU, according to the data from the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex.

Of the sum, China accounted for 33%, Pakistan 25%, India 16%, and Turkey 11%. Bangladesh’s share was 7-8%.

According to the South China Morning Post & China Home Textile Association, China exports now

The booming Bangladeshi trade Just a decade ago, buyers thought that home textile products are only produced in China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. However, the situation has been changed; the name of Bangladesh has been added with these countries. The growth of home textiles is inevitable in the Bangladeshi market as customers look out to have a unique showcase at their home and office, and do not hesitate to spend the same. Bed and bath linen are Figure 3: Mosharraf Group also has a range of unique and exclusive home textile products.

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markets towards the increasing demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products and quickly adapts itself to developments in legal and technical regulations. Many manufacturers in the sector are able to produce with quality and environment management systems. Buyers always want quality fabrics when it comes to home textiles products. To manufacture quality fabrics, the latest technology is must for any company.

800 600 400 200 0

2016-17 2015-16 2014-15 2013-14 2012-13 2011-12

Figure 4: Bangladesh home textile exports in million US$ (source: BTTLMEA)

around US$ 18bn valued home textile item in the world and expects to grow minimum US$ 32bn within next four years.

Cotton cultivator the Indian domestic consumption of home textiles contribute US$ 4.8 bn according to statistics, a research firm. Considering the advantages of raw material base, design content, skilled manpower-the home textile industry can achieve higher levels of growth than the present.

Pakistan already remains apex in this sector than Bangladesh due to having its own cotton and GSP+ facilities. Besides Pakistan government gives some extra subsidy packages for lifting up the industry. Technological advancement brings the country’s revenue up to US$ 6.2 billion in 2016-17. On the other hand, the implementation of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor, the Chinese industrial zone Xinjiang is going to join the Arabian Sea through Pakistan. This means a China-Pakistan export trade is going to be more dynamic.

The Turkish home textile industry is the world’s fourth-largest supplier and the EU’s second largest supplier. As a result, at the end of 2017, the total exports of home textile is recorded as 3.6 billion USD out of 25 billion USD of their apparels & RMG, according to Turkey Economy Ministry. To accelerate their business every year Turkey arranges trade fair on home textiles named ‘Evteks’ &

Bangladesh Textile Today |

‘Hometex’.

The reasons behind the upcoming lead of Bangladesh Experts believe that Bangladesh’s position in this sector will reach in the top soon.

• Investments in research New investments in fabrics and garments manufacturing are playing a key role in establishing Bangladesh’s dominance in the US and EU markets. However, manufacturers are also investing in research and development of high-end products, helping them get a better price. Meanwhile, improvement of the safety standard in the apparel industry has also drawn the attention of more global buyers.

• Quality and latest technology Today the Bangladeshi home textile industry is aware of the trend in international

In addition, the country’s many factories have already established that and other are establishing.

Bangladesh still cannot reach in China or Pakistan level in this sector, but the buyers keep confidence on Bangladesh so much.

Nazrul Islam, Lab & Product Development Officer of Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd (Noman Group) said, “Some renowned world manufacturers have also started making home textile products in natural fabrics such as soya and bamboo along with silk, polyester, and many others. We should also give more focus on the production of diversified products rather than traditional quality and design.”

• Designing and Invention In a rapidly changing world, the home decoration field is very sensitive to all changes. That is why the creation of collections with innovative and modern

Others

7% 8% 33% 11%

Bangladesh Turkey India

16% 25%

Pakistan China

Figure 5: Contribution (%) of different countries in the global home textile market (source: Euratex)

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S e c t o r A n a l y s i s - H o m e Te x t i l e s

designs and motifs is essential.

Bangladeshi home textile manufacturers are very conscious about fashion creation and design, which enables them to gain a special place in international markets. New and modern designs and unique motifs in this specialized sector, created by Bangladeshi intellectual designers, keep a finger on the pulse of world home decoration fashion and meet tastes and preferences.

Although Bangladesh depends on more buyers’ provided design since earlier, some houses have created their own design studios to develop this lagged site.

Industry insiders say, buyers are choosing manufacturer’s design gradually such as 2 or 3 own designs are being selected out of 10 which was stood at zero in previous. Hopefully, it’s a positive sign to uplift the sector and earn growth as well. If Bangladesh can make its footing stronger more in developing design and innovation, then the sky is the limit for the local home textile industry.

• Sustainable growth It has to be believed that Bangladesh now considers the maximum sustainable environment to make products.

Factories are working to produce numerous products through the sustainable practices, which are being appreciated by the buyers.

Therefore, this culture will keep ahead to the home textile business of the country.

• Government Support Bangladesh has a stable and supportive government, who has launched various support schemes for textile and apparel manufacturers to make them globally competitive. The schemes targets are technology up gradation, infrastructure development, to develop more EPZ zones, export promotion etc. Various ministries- including industry, commercial, finance, jute & textiles, planning- have also announced their textile policies

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F a c t o r y Ta l e s

aimed at attracting investments in the country.

The Bangladeshi government has made focused efforts in improving economic systems to attract foreign investors, enhance international trade, and increase transparency. As a result, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into Bangladesh in 2017, 2016 & 2015 calendar year were recorded to be US$ 215 crore, US$ 233 crore & US$ 223 crore respectively, according to United Nation’s Trade and Development Organization named ‘The United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Remaining difficulties Traders say that there was no expansion of the home textile market since last few years as per expectation. Currently, there is a lot of work orders coming from abroad, but it is not possible to provide. However, if the uninterrupted gas-power and low-interest bank loans will be available, then it will be possible to increase the export earnings rate within the next five years.

Europe and America’s major retailing companies like IKEA, Carrefour, Asda, Littlewood, Maurice Phillips, Wal-Mart and Redcats are importing home textile products from Bangladesh.

As demand is increasing, domestic producers are also increasing their product range, and they’re going to expand the industries.

Major importing brands of home textile products from Bangladesh IKEA, Carrefour Asda Littlewood Maurice Phillips Walmart Redcats However, the price of cotton and its continuous supply for the home textile sector are the biggest problem, said the entrepreneurs.

Bangladesh is far behind here

than China, India and Pakistan.

They can control 40 to 50 percent production costs easily themselves because of their own cotton supply.

Bangladesh has to depend on the fluctuations in the price of the world market. Because Bangladesh can meet only 2 percent of the domestic demand by cotton. The remaining 98 percent is imported.

In addition, despite having huge potential in home textile, Bangladesh is slightly unable to expand its market share in the European Union because of duty benefits extended to Pakistan, a cotton grower.

Md. Jahangir Alam, Deputy General Manager (Production) of Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd (Noman Group) said about this matter to Textile Today, “As cotton is a seasonal product, we have to import cotton for five to six months together. It stops a huge amount of money. Higher interest rates are to be counted for bank loan. Moreover, to import cotton, 5% imported cost is spent. Due to these reasons, the price of our products has increased.”

But, Md. Jahangir Alam does not want to see the problem of cotton as the main reason. He added, “If we get gas and electricity according to demand, it will never create a barrier. In many factories, it seems huge scarcity of gas pressure almost at the half-time of batch production.

If the government reduces the interest rates of bank loans, improves communication and port competency, then it is believed a revolution can happen in this sector.”

Addressing the importance of arranging and participating in intarnational fair Md. Jahangir Alam said that home textile product’s exhibition is being organized in Germany, China, and Turkey. By participating in this type of exhibition, it is actually understood that how backward we are and where the need to develop.

“In Bangladesh, though fiber-

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

S e c t o r A n a l y s i s - H o m e Te x t i l e s

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

of home textile sector. Their proposal asks everyone to show their interest to work with GSP+ instead of GSP so that Bangladesh can increase her ability to survive in export trade with competitor countries-China, Pakistan, Turkey, and India.

Proposal of BTTLMEA (for the next 10 years) 1.

To set the income tax rate is 10% and income tax deduction rate of the source is 0.25% of the home textile sector

2.

Allowing to import duty-free dyes and chemicals

3.

Providing project loans for 10 years from banks at the reduced interest rate,

4.

Providing 10% subsidy on electricity, gas bill, and market expansion at 10% rate

5.

Tax holiday opportunities for this industry

6.

Prioritizing the shipping of home textile products

yarn, dyes or denim product’s exhibitions are arranged, but only a separate exhibition for home textile products has not been organized yet. To showcase our products and to convince the world’s small and big buyers to invest in Bangladesh, there is no

Conclusion

alternative to organize such fair in this country,” he continued.

Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) has given some suggestions to the government for the promotion

Bangladesh’s home textile business has a bright future.

However, there is needed to create updated thinking and sufficient research opportunities. New entrepreneurs and investors have to come forward in the sector. At the same time, the government’s continuous collaboration and opposite policy supports can boost up the industry.

21 RMG firms participated in Texworld Paris Desk Report

Dress Shirt, Everbright Sweater, DD Sourcing, Hellenic Sourcing, Stylelead Fashion, Team Sourcing, and Shangu Group displayed their products in the Paris show.

A total of 21 Bangladeshi fabrics, garment, and leather manufacturers took part in an international apparel exposition titled “Texworld – Apparel Sourcing” in Paris on September 17-20, 2018.

They participated in the four-day international fair under the support of Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau. EPB set a national pavilion for the Bangladeshi participants.

Among the Bangladeshi participants— nine are knitwear, five denim, four fabrics, and three leather manufacturers partook the world’s largest trade fair.

A wide range of fashion products from major manufacturing countries like China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Pakistan also displayed at the fair, said a press release of the Messe Frankfurt.

Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest trade fair companies, organized the Texworld, which is one of the best options for Bangladesh RMG sector to improve their market share not just in France but all over Europe.

It is considered as one of the 54

Figure: A total of 21 Bangladeshi fabrics, garment, and leather manufacturers took part in ‘Texworld – Apparel Sourcing’ in Paris. Courtesy: Messe Frankfurt

most effective apparel sourcing exhibitions in Europe for Bangladeshi exporters as a good number of buyers always visit the stalls. Bangladesh had its 7th National Pavilion under the banner of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) for the Bangladeshi participants in the fair.

Exhibitors from Bangladesh which took part in the expo under Fabric category include Experience Textile, Evince Textile, Mahmud Fabrics, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, and NZ Textile.

Under Denim category Argon Denims, Chittagong Denim Mills, Mahmud Denim, and Nice Denim attended the event.

Under the Apparel category- DK Sweaters, Delphitex Industries, Eve

Under Leather category- Amass Footwear, BLJ Bangladesh Corporation, and Megumi Footwear attended the program.

Omer Gias, Joint Secretary (Communication and Trade fair) of BGMEA, said that, “We consider Texworld Paris one of the most effective apparel sourcing expos in Europe to participate as a good number of buyers always visit the show.”

He also added that, “The Messe Frankfurt has been very successfully organizing this fair twice in a year for decades. We also witnessed the interest of our members to exhibit their products in the show”.

The organizer said that, combined with Apparel Sourcing and Leather world, a total of 1,742 exhibitors participated in this edition but the fair recorded almost 15,000 visitors. Visitors came from all over Europe with a large number of buyers from the UK, France, Turkey, Spain, Italy, and Germany.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Brand Development

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Growing popularity of local products driving entrepreneurs to open their own fashion brand Developing own fashion brands will facilitate to grab the growing demands for fashion wears in the domestic market. In addition, those brands will spread out in the international arena in near future.

Textile Today Research Local entrepreneurs are expanding their footprints in developing own brands while new entrepreneurs are coming to join the race.

Besides, many export-oriented companies are launching their own branded showrooms or outlets eying the local market. They also have the desire to take their brands into the global arena.

A number of companies having diversified business especially involved in readymade garment manufacturing for the export purpose are entering in the local markets in last couple of years.

Yellow, Texmart, Trendz, Amber Lifestyle, Plair and Sailor have already made their strong foothold with their unique products, with the other domestic marketoriented brands like Aarong, Kay Kraft, Dorji Bari, while Sara, Klubhaus, Red, and O’code are the recent ones.

Local customers are accepting these brands very positively and they feel comfortable to purchase

Figure 1: Aarong is the most popular local brand in Bangladesh.

their fashion products from local brands’ outlets.

Dorzi Bari, Aarong, Anjans etc.,” said Tania Khan, a housewife.

“Local brands are offering a quality product in reasonable price. They are also providing the most up-todate trends and style. I prefer to buy all fashion wear for my family members from local brands like

Majority of them are focusing on establishing their brand names among the customers. They are targeting to capture the latest trends and style focusing the demands of consumers especially the taste of the youth. Here we portrayed some local brands set up by both local and exportoriented companies.

Sara Snowtex—the export-oriented garment manufacturer has launched its own brand ‘Sara’ on May 12 this year mainly to establish retail business in the local market with ensuring own-designed and quality products at affordable prices.

Figure 2: Local brands like ‘Sailor’ are getting popularity day by day.

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The investment made by the company is worth Tk 150 million to open its first outlet in Mirpur.

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Volume 11, Issue 09

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Brand Development

leading exporters of readymade garment (RMG) produces highquality garments for major players in the international market including Zara, Espirit, and Tommy Hilfiger, said Sabbir Hasan brand manager of Klubhaus.

They work with a theme to design their produced clothes for local customers and one design for one item. The company initially targeted to establish its brand value among the consumers within a couple of years to let Figure 3: Snowtex Ltd. has launched its own brand ‘Sara’ on May 12, 2018. people know the brand name of ‘Klubhaus’.

The company’s managing director SM Khaled said he wants his local The brands find local brands brand not only in the country but recognition, as one of the major also to set the footprint in outside challenges as there are a number the country. of such brands. However, they They want to sustain their business for a long time even during the period when Bangladesh might not be competitive in the export market.

Snowtex– the $130-million annual turnover company– manufactures woven items like outwear and sportswear and exports to Europe and other countries including Canada, Russia and Japan and is in the export trade for last 20 years.

The company plans to open three more outlets in the capital by the end of 2018 by blending its experience of export business with its own designed products.

want to create a brand image with quality and reasonable rate.

Red Origin Red Origin is a venture of Partex Group, that have diversified business including RMG exports, furniture, and plastic manufacturing. Launched in 2013 initially, the brand came into a bigger way in 2016. Now it has six showrooms in the capital city.

Sourced fabric from the local market, they have own factory

where nearly 150 people work to design and produce the clothing for the domestic market.

The people who traveled across the world and purchase different types and quality of products are one of the targeted customer groups of the brand. In addition, they want those people to buy quality products from the local market.

Many export-oriented companies are entering the local market and to reach the people and let them know about the quality products.

Dorji Bari Md Fazlur Rahman Managing Director of the local brand—Dorji Bari—started his venture in 2003.

Now the brand has a total of 38 showrooms. He has a plan to enter each district of the country with the brand name-Dorji Bari—that mainly produces men’s wear.

The main targeted customer of Dorji Bari is the youth who have frequently changed their tastes. The brand tries to combine western fashion with the traditional ones.

Chase the youth’s taste and cope with it is the major challenge to sustain and compete, as Dorji Bari’s main target group is the young generation, Mr. Rahman believes.

The brand has a plan to expand its venture in producing kids and women wear gradually. He

Klubhaus Dekko Group having 19 business concerns joined the competition of making fashionable wears with launching its first branded showroom namely ‘Klubhaus’ on May 11, 2018. Introducing its product lines after the name of four rivers of the country—Boral, Atrai, Mogra, and Kalindi, the group now operates four outlets across the city.

The group, one of the country’s

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Figure 4: Dekko Group launched its first branded showroom ‘Klubhaus’ on May 11, 2018.

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Brand Development

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

The uniqueness of it is that a customer can have a glimpse of products of some 10 renowned boutique houses at one place.

They can compare at least 10 varieties and designed products and choose the one they cherish for.

Yellow

Courtesy: Yellow

cherishes the dream to turn Dorji Bari as a global brand in near future.

Dorji Bari welcoming the exportoriented companies in the local trade believes that it would create a competition to ensure quality products at a reasonable rate and also help develop owned designed items.

Anjan’s On 15 February 1994, Anjan’s fashion started from Siddheswari in Dhaka. In 1998, it introduced the second branch in Dhanmondi.

Currently, Anjan’s fashion has 22 showrooms, which includes key places of the country like Banani, Gulshan, Uttara, Panthopath, Jamuna Future Park, Chittagong, Narsingdi, Bashundhara City, Mirpur and Wari.

Shaheen Ahmmed, Anjan’s proprietor and fashion designer, has brought contemporary designer collections for all seasons.

“We used to participate in different fashion competitions, which are organized by different fashion magazines. As a result, we eventually gained a good reputation among the people,” he said.

Yellow is one of the oldest fashion brand launched by an exportoriented entity– Beximco group—in 2004. Currently, it has 19 showrooms in Bangladesh and Pakistan. It also operates its online store.

Since origin, they have been offering world-class designs at an amazing value price. Its product line includes a wide range of fashion clothing, fragrance, and accessories for men, women, and children; textiles for home decoration; avant-garde ceramic items; paintings; books; and many more. The brand is most distinguished for its true international quality designs and fabrics.

Explore YELLOW and look through our windows for contemporary global fashion trends.

Richman Richman is another contemporary fashion brand in the country that designs clothes and accessories for men. It has a total of 47 showrooms across the country

including 21 in the capital city.

According to Richman, ‘Committed to Quality’ is their only success story. They only design timeless clothes and accessories for men. The brand is getting huge popularity in the country.

The authority has plans to establish the brand Richman in the International arena, starting from the South-Asian Market.

Starting from Richman at Bashundhara City Shopping mall, fashion-forwarded formal and casual Menswear, in addition, makes the brand unique in the market.

Capitalized the overwhelming response from customers, they have launched more outlets one after another in a row such as; Metro Shopping Mall, Rapa Plaza, Rifles Square, Gulshan Avenue, Uttara, Sylhet & Chittagong.

“Cause of our affordable price range, trendy design, and quality product builds long lasting relation and partnership with the customers,” expressed Nazmul Hoque Khan, Managing Director, Lubnan Trade Consortium Ltd., registered as Join Stock Company and certified by ISO 9001:2000 for Quality and Assurance, which is the mother company of Richman.

Currently, Lubnan Trade Consortium Ltd. is making all kinds of ethnic wear, casual wear, formal wear, ladies wear and kids wear under the brand name LUBNAN, RICHMAN & INFINITY.

Deshi Dosh Deshi Dosh is the combination of 10 major local fashion houses. They are Deshal, Nipun, Rang, Banglar Mela, Bibiana, Shadakalo, Anjans, Probortona, Nagardola, and Kay Kraft.

Launched in 2009, Dehsi Dosh is now available in six locations including two in Dhaka, each one in Narayanganj, Chattogram, Sylhet, Bogra.

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Courtesy: Richman

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

aamra resources FOR APPAREL & TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

15 apparel makers get CIP cards Staff Correspondent In recognizing the contributions of the RMG sector to the national economy by establishing industry and creating jobs, Bangladesh government has awarded 15 apparel makers Commercially Important Person (CIP) for the year 2016.

On Thursday, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu distributed CIP cards to 56 business people, including those 14 apparel makers, at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.

On a regular basis, the Industries Ministry honored the country’s business people with CIP cards.

Universal Jeans Limited, Zaber and Zubair Fabrics, Cosmopolitan Industries Limited, Pahartali Textile & Hosiery Mills, Fariha Knit Tex Limited, Viyellatex Limited, Shohagpur Textil Mills, Pacific Jeans, Envoy Textile, Badsha Textile received CIP card under the large category.

While Auco Textile Limited, Madhabdi Dyeing Finishing Mills Ltd, Citadel Apparel Limited and Mosharraf Hossain Spinning Mills received CIP card under medium category and AB Fashion Maker got in cottage industry category.

Figure: Distinguished figures were present in Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel at CIP awarding ceremony for the year 2016..

In attracting investment from home and abroad, the government is establishing 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs). However, we will give importance to create local entrepreneurs, said the minister.

“Our government always aims to create new entrepreneurs and the recognition through

CIP card received in the large category

CIP card received in the medium category

Universal Jeans Limited

Auco Textile Limited,

Zaber and Zubair Fabrics

Madhabdi Dyeing Finishing Mills Ltd.

Cosmopolitan Industries Limited

Citadel Apparel Limited and Musharraf Hossain Spinning Mills

Pahartali Textile & Hosiery Mills,

AB Fashion Maker

Fariha Knit Tex Limited Viyellatex Limited Shohagpur Textile Mills Pacific Jeans Envoy Textile Badsha Textile

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CIP card would encourage new entrepreneurs to come into the business,” said Amir Hossain.

“The CIP card is recognition to the business people who contributed a lot to Bangladesh economy by investing money in industrialization and created jobs for the countrymen,” said Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu.

He also stressed on the proper use of natural resources, as there are no limits to natural resources in Bangladesh. If Bangladesh can properly utilize the resources, it will be a developed county much before 2041, he added.

“To create new entrepreneurs, Bangladesh government has to ensure single-digit loan interest as it is quite impossible to create new entrepreneurs with a 12% to 15% interest,” said the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Md Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin).

A total of 20 business people received CIP cards in the heavy industry (production) category while five in the same category for the service sector. Under medium industry (production) category 12 industrialists received the CIP cards and three other people in the same category for the service sector.

In small industries (production) category five business persons received CIP cards while one person in the same category for the service sector.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

U n ve i l i n g i n d u s t r y b e s t p r a c t i c e s

Knit & Woven Dyeing & Finishing

Unifill Group develops digital printing impression

How sustainability practices reduce cost of S.F. Washing

Knit & Woven Dyeing & Finishing

Prospect of manufacturing textile chemicals in Bangladesh

U nve i l i n g i n d u s t r y b e s t p ra c t i c e s

A Textile Today Initiative l Published with Volume 11, Issue 09 l Pages 61 to 78

A Tex t i l e To d a y I n i t i a t i ve

S e p te mber 2018

Raw Materials - Dyes and Chemicals

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y

Prospect of manufacturing textile chemicals in Bangladesh

Besides government support, the mind set of dyes and chemicals users in Bangladesh and the mid set of global brands also has to be changed towards locally manufactured dyes & chemicals.

If locally manufactured chemicals can comply with the quality and other requirements then why would we prefer using imported chemicals? Using local chemicals will reduce cost significantly.

Textile Today Research The textile processing industries in Bangladesh are seeing a momentum in orders and growth in recent times. Such companies have been suffering for gas supply for quite a long time.

As currently Bangladesh could resolve the supply shortage of gas by importing LNG, the dyeing, finishing and washing mills are quite in a good shape now.

Though the government is going to increase price of gas, now at least the factories will not have to keep machines stopped due to gas supply shortage.

On the other hand when China is closing bulk of the factories which are polluting environment, huge orders of dyeing and finishing of fabrics is flooding to Bangladesh.

Growth in apparel export is also boosting the backward linkage dyeing industries. Buyers prefer to source fabric locally as it provides lower lead time and quality support benefits to them.

So, the textile processing mills in Bangladesh is growing fast which is creating huge demand for textile dyes and chemicals.

Bangladesh is mostly dependent on import to cater the demand of textile chemicals for the dyeing printing and washing factories.

But with the increase of the size of the industry, now there is huge potential to manufacture textile chemicals in Bangladesh.

Some companies are already manufacturing textile chemicals and it is growing fast.

Md. Amanur Rahman, Managing Director, Dysin which is one of the leading companies supplying dyes chemicals and equipment

Bangladesh Textile Today |

has told to Textile Today recently, “Keeping the growth potential in mind we are increasing textile chemical manufacturing in Bangladesh. Dysin has increased

The local manufacturing companies have to have long term vision and plan in the business.

Besides manufacturing right products they need to invest in branding communication and marketing. The local companies also need to invest in getting certificates and make sure compliance towards RSL (Restricted Substance List) and MRSL of ZDHC and other global brands.

100 percent export oriented chemical industries into 5 units in a short span of time.” He also told that their manufacturing chemicals have global compliance certificates like GOTS to comply with the global requirements.

Currently there are some companies who are manufacturing some basic chemicals which are being used on textile industries there are few companies who are producing textile auxiliary chemicals. But still bulk of the textile dyes and chemicals are being imported. Globally leading chemical companies who have lion market share still have not set their manufacturing bases

Volume 11, Issue 09

in Bangladesh yet. Experts have opined that the government has to provide right policy support for farther growth of textile chemicals manufacturing in Bangladesh.

The current policy supports duty free import of chemicals for textile processing mills so there are no incentives for the local manufacturers.

Recently Textile Today was talking to a Pakistan based textile chemicals manufacturing company and explored that in Pakistan textile chemical manufacturing became very matured mainly because of the policy support. Even the company like Archroma has manufacturing units in Pakistan. Most other globally leading textile chemical manufacturing companies also have their own manufacturing plants in Pakistan. Now when Bangladesh textile dyeing printing and washing industry is one of largest in the region definitely, government should come up with the policies to facilitate raw materials manufacturing inside the country which is to make the supply chain more stable.

Many Chinese and multinational companies are interested to invest and manufacture dyes and chemicals in Bangladesh. Even though dyestuff manufacturing is a large scale industry and requires huge land and infrastructure, leading Chinese company Color Root was keen to invest about USD 500 million to set up manufacturing plants in Bangladesh. In an interview with Textile Today Mr. Delwar of D&D Chemicals who is Color Root’s

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Raw Materials - Dyes and Chemicals

local agent in Bangladesh told that the investment went back as they didn’t get proper support and facilities in Bangladesh.

Besides government support, the mind set of dyes and chemicals users in Bangladesh and the mid set of global brands also has to be changed towards locally manufactured dyes & chemicals.

If locally manufactured chemicals can comply with the quality and other requirements then why would we prefer using imported chemicals? Using local chemicals will reduce cost significantly.

The local manufacturing companies have to have long term vision and plan in the business.

Besides manufacturing right products they need to invest in branding communication and marketing. The local companies also need to invest in getting certificates and make sure compliance towards RSL

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y

(Restricted Substance List) and MRSL of ZDHC and other global brands.

Keeping the prospect of the dyes and chemical manufacturing in Bangladesh, Bangladesh University of Textiles recently opened a dedicated department for producing graduates for textile dyes and chemicals manufacturing. Many Bangladeshi professionals have foreign degree and experiences on the subject.

Chemical engineers from BUET and other universities are also quite capable of producing right quality chemicals for textile industry. And so the country won’t have shortage in human resources for the sector.

A report published in Textile Today August 2018 on the trend of global textile chemical manufacturing, it has been said that, the estimated dyes & chemical demand for Bangladesh’s existing export

oriented processing mills is USD 800 million. And this market is expected to grow by about 10 percent every year. Companies producing dyes and chemicals here in Bangladesh also will be able to export to the regional and other countries in the world if they rightly comply with the international requirements.

Pakistan could be a good model to follow for further flourishing the dyes and chemicals manufacturing industry in Bangladesh. Existing infrastructure and gigantic local demand can be good enough to attract global chemical companies to manufacture here in Bangladesh. However major changes will still require like providing fast track services for legal approvals other utilities and business related things, making international trade and transactions easier and faster, increasing the efficiency of ports etc.

Alliance member brands to continue monitoring Bangladesh factory safety Total 400 factories have completed Alliance Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), remediation progress reaches 91 percent.

Desk Report After the dissolution of the Alliance, Alliance member brands will continue to monitor conditions in Bangladesh factories from which they source to verify that those factories remain safe and going forward, an official press release said this quoting Alliance Executive Director Amb. Jim Moriarty.

“We are confident that the vast majority of factories operating under the Alliance that supply our member companies will be in excellent shape and will function fully in accordance with our rigorous safety standards at the time of our transition at the end of this calendar year,” he said.

“We are pleased to report that remediation of Alliance factories continues at a rapid pace,” said Jim Moriarty.

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completions, five factories were suspended in August, which brings the total number of factories suspended to 173. This is the first time since March that the Alliance has had to suspend factories that did not make adequate progress.

Figure: Alliance member brands to continue monitoring Bangladesh factory safety.

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (Alliance) announced on 10 September that 36 more Alliance-affiliated factories completed all material components outlined in their Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) since the month of July, bringing the total to 400. To date, 91 percent of factory remediation is complete across all Alliance factories. Alliance suspends five factories for failing to progress.

In addition to the new CAP

“This milestone is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the remediation process, from the engineers and inspectors who have guided the process, to the factory owners, managers, and workers who have made safety a priority within their factories,” said Alliance Chief Safety Officer Paul Rigby.

“These factories now meet international standards of safety, something for which they should all be proud.”

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Kusters Calico Machinery Pvt. Ltd. N.H. no 48, PO. Bamangam, Taluka: Karjan, Dist.: Vadodara - 391210 India.

Landline: 9624065533, 9624065511 Fax: 02666-271087 Email id: marketing@kuesters-calico.com; info@kuesters-calico.com Web: www.kuesters-calico.com

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

How sustainability practices reduce cost of S.F. Washing Biological ETP in washing sector is rare, but S.F. washing Ltd has set an example to others.

FT Research Team Denim is a fast growing industry in Bangladesh in terms of production volume, quality and development.

Recently the concept ‘sustainability’ has emerged as an obligatory part for the industry and many giant buyers, including H&M, Zara etc., are driving the concept to be established in the industry. Many Bangladeshi denim factories are practicing sustainability as a buyer’s requirement, however, S.F.Washing Ltd., one of the renowned and leading washing factories, is practicing sustainability in a different way.

They are aware of a holistic approach to sustainability, have installed state of the art biological ETP plant and added cooling pad. They are using transparent sheets for sunlight, condenser recovery pump for saving energy and building awareness for the employees.

S.F. Washing Ltd. mostly produces kids and boys items where per kg fabric’s needed avg. 45-50 liter water. Currently, their washing capacity is around 55 thousand

Figure 2: Biological ETP of 100m3 per hour capacity at S.F. Washing Ltd.

pieces per day. They are producing garments for many of the world’s renowned brands like C&A, H&M, Benetton, Mothercare, Tom Tailor, and ICS etc.

Shamim Bhuiyan, ED of SF Washing Ltd, said, “The company has installed highly efficient and cost-effective biological ETP plant considering the water and energy sustainability aspects compared to other methods because of least operation and maintenance cost due to very low chemical

consumption, low labor cost, less sludge treatment, and disposal cost as well as eco-friendly.”

“Joseph EGLI has supplied this treatment plant and they continuously follow up the plant and all the processes. Its treatment capacity is 100m3 per hour,” he added.

Diponcor Chowdhury, Asst.

General Manager of S.F. Washing Ltd said, “Earlier we had biochemical ETP plant for wastewater treatment but since 2017, we have set up a biological ETP plant aiming maximum treatment of wastewater. Also, the rainwater harvesting project is under construction.”

Biological ETP in washing sector is rare, but S.F. washing has set an example to others. In the dry process, they use 3D whisker machine, 3D wrinkle demy, destroy machine and so on, which generates high temperature.

This hot environment is not work friendly for the workers and considering their comfort, the

Figure 1: Ranges of denim products at S.F. Washing Ltd.

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Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y

management has placed cooling pad in the entire dry process floor.

“Cooling pad creates a sustainable working environment for the workers and it always keeps the temperature in between 25-30 degree Celsius,” added Diponcor Chowdhury.

To avoid the effects of hazardous chemical on the environment, they follow the international chemical mixing guideline strictly. And wearing safety equipment’s is a must for the workers.

“Instead of fluorescent light, S.F washing installed LED light, which saves 3% electricity cost. Moreover, we are saving 20% light energy by installing a transparent sheet on top of our production floor. In

Figure 3: Transparent sheet installed on top of the production floor to save energy.

addition, to reuse the heat energy, we are using condensing recovery pump, which is remarkable,” he continued.

As part of their sustainability

practice, they arrange weekly meetings, in-house training to increase the awareness of the employees by using different innovative tools and means.

H&M picks 70% of Z&Z development collections Different fashion fabric manufacturers from around the globe participated in H&M’s ‘Mill Week’ with their autumn-winter collections.

Desk Report Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd, a major integrated textile producer in Bangladesh, participated with their own woven product development in the ‘H&M Mill Week’ at Shanghai, China on 27 August 2018. Zaber & Zubair hit the pitch most successfully and more than 70% of their developments has been chosen by the H&M selection team.

and new idea and they encourage the suppliers to bring new developments.

It’s their continues process to guide their valuable suppliers all over the world.

Figure: Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd showed their products at H&M Mill Week in Shanghai, China.

SubodhTalukder, General Manager, Business Development; Eftekharul Islam, Sr. Manager, Sales & Marketing and K.M. Saiham Siddique, Manager, Sales & Marketing of Zaber & Zubair

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Fabrics Ltd were present at the fair and showed their developments.

Every year H&M arranges this ‘Mill Week’ for their supplier. In the fast fashion era, before every season H&M hunts innovative products

Volume 11, Issue 09

“Three months prior to every season, we submit our developments. They choose design and product depends on their to requirements developed and right quality. As the core supplier of H&M, we always try to meet their requirements and regularly participate their ‘Mill Week’,” said Mozzamal Hossain, General Manager, Marketing, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics Ltd.

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P r o c e s s i n g To d a y

P r i n t i n g To d a y

Unifill Group develops digital printing impression FT Research Team Printing is one of the rising sectors in Bangladesh. Considering the customer needs, digital printing demand has been increasing rapidly across the decade, which is financially rewarding for the industry.

Unifill Composite Dyeing Mills Ltd, one of the renowned factories of Unifill Group, revealed an innovation in printing arena by developing a design, which seems nearly digital printed fabric in all over printing machine by employing their own strategy.

Sayedur Rahman, General Manager (operation), Unifill Group, shared, “Now buyers are looking for variety in designs, they don’t want to take single design clothing much. Two years ago, as per as M&S buyer requirements, we added more colors in AOP design to get digital printing impression in all over printing machine by adopting pressure and other relevant technology.”

“Buyers have willingly accepted this attractive product and appreciated us for this innovation.

Moreover, we are getting more prices for digital impression than normally printed fabric,” he added.

very positive for the future digital printing industry as they offer different choices for the end users. Digital printing can satisfy the customers demand without increasing cost and waste.

However, digital printing is expensive, but some forwardlooking Bangladeshi companies have started making the digital printing to fulfill the customers’ demands.

Figure 2: UDCML developing new design and concept in AOP.

In near future, we have plans to install digital printing machine in our factory because we are seeing digital print as an attractive location for investment.

A report shows that 1.9 billion sqm of digitally printed fabric represent only 5.5% of the total printed fabrics, which means the other 95% is an opportunity for digital printing technology.

SAYEDUR RAHMAN, GM (OPERATION), UNIFILL GROUP The dedicated and expert design team is continuously working on the Unifill Group to seek the attention of buyers for their designing creativity. This effort has achieved different buyers order for long terms.

Sayedur Rahman expressed, “In near future, we have plans to install digital printing machine in our factory because we are seeing digital print as an attractive location for investment.”

Unifill Group has 12-color two printing machines with knit fabric printing capacity of 8-20 ton per day and woven fabric printing capacity of 60-80 yards per day.

Figure 1: Sayedur Rahman, GM (operation), Unifill Group has shared their success story with Textile Today.

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It is creating new value and adding business opportunities for fabric printers and this development is

Figure 3: Digital printing impression developed by Unifill group through AOP.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Te x t i l e I c o n

‘Is it only the suppliers who need to pay the price for sustainability?’

As long as the customers are not giving better prices for their products, the demand to ensure sustainability and compliance will create a burden for the manufacturers.

Rubana Huq, Managing Director, Mohammadi Group Mohammadi Group started operations in 1986 in garments industry with merely 52 workers; today its employees over 9,000.

While the focus remains on garment manufacturing, the company has over the years diversified and excelled in various industries including Real Estate, Power Generation, Information Technology, Media and Entertainment. Mohammadi Group Achieved ‘Gold Supplier’ award from H&M for the Year 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

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Rubana Huq, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group, revealed her thought on automation, skilled manpower, sustainability, fair price and so on. The prominent women entrepreneur also suggested women entrepreneurs to come forward and take entrepreneurial positions. Here is the glimpse of the discussion for Textile Today readers.

Textile Today: As far as we know, the knitting process of Mohammadi Group is fully automated. How is automation

helping your company in terms of production cost, labor cost, and lead-time? Do you think automation is a threat for garments workers?

Rubana Huq: Human resources actually are the best asset of Bangladesh. So, when we talk about automation, we also talk about some threats that come along with automation. As a group, we are not fully automated. We are semi-automated. Especially we have applied automation to our sweater sector. But automation is

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Te x t i l e I c o n

not the only thing that basically brought the industry forward.

It is value-addition in terms of designing and also beating the seasonal challenge in sweater remains as the biggest challenge because we work for 8 months and we do not work for four months.

Labor is the biggest asset for Bangladesh. Therefore automation does pose some threat to our manufacturing sector. However, when we consider automation we also consider a reduction in labor cost and we also consider the factor of efficiency. Productivity is not something that Bangladesh is great at. The average productivity is less than 50 percent still. So when it comes to sweaters, for design capability and for the pace automation is required.

And as a group we are semiautomated, we are not fully automated. We have done a careful balancing. The point is a careful balance has to be carefully considered as well. Because in our woven sector when we have been trying to cut down on labor and when we have tried eliminating the helpers from the lines we have seen productivity with the automation but also these jobs have been lost. Not to a great extent but they have been lost.

Now I hope that these labor would be able to go somewhere else and find some work. The point is that the lack of diversification in this sector still poses a great threat.

Because unless we diversify into other sectors labor will face a challenge because it is the era of automation and automation will continue to grow. And yes it does help to reduce our production cost.

Textile Today: You know that the scarcity of skilled manpower is a big problem for the industry.

What do you think-Should we hire foreign employees or improve the skills of existing manpower to remove this problem?

Rubana Huq: Lack of skilled labor has always been a challenge for

Bangladesh Textile Today |

the industry because of a lack of skilled labor we have limited productivity and we are still struggling to achieve the optimum.

Sri Lanka is way ahead of us. They have almost 80-85 % productivity.

In terms of being competitive, we also need to improve our labor skills. But labor skills are not the only challenge. There is more.

There is a mid-level management challenge that we face as well.

Most of the times we cannot delegate much to our mid-level management because we have not been able to train them up as well.

So most of the times, when there are some problems or disturbance in the factory its mostly coming from the challenges of mid-level management not being able

The point is in order to be that sustainable we also require our products to secure better prices. You know, as long as our customers are not giving us better prices and as long as they keep on demanding our levels of sustainability and compliance to grow up I don’t think it is going to be a very fair deal. to address the concerns of the workers properly. So, there comes the question of hiring experts from abroad. We have Indians, we have Sri Lankans we have other nationalities as well in the industry. This has to come down.

Because it is a mature industry and we have reached a point where we really don’t need foreign supervision or direction to run our industry. In terms of compliance, in terms of management, in terms of productivity and you know the level of Bangladeshi product has also not gone up to a great extent. We are still at a very basic level. So, I think that we have

Volume 11, Issue 09

that capability of managing our factories by ourselves. In case if we cannot then we should see consultants only in products which are value-added. Suppose, if it is a suit factory then we may need to hire consultants from abroad. But for basic products that we are very used to in this country, I see no reason behind employing experts in our soil and watch a huge foreign currency loss.

Textile Today: Maintaining sustainability is very important for the planet, people and profit. How do you maintain the sustainability issues on your garments factory?

Do you have any sustainability management department?

Rubana Huq: Sustainability has been an issue which has been our production discourse lately quite a lot. What has been happening is that we have more conscious consumers abroad who worry about where the product is made. We have more conscious customers wondering about where the cotton is coming from. We have more consumers wondering clothes are washed. So, you know it’s a whole chain of sustainability.

Sustainability is not anymore an option. It is a definitive choice. So, in order to be sustainable all of us have to grow up our sustainability department. For ourselves, we still let our HR & compliance people manage our sustainability.

However, it’s a department that required a full pledged concentration.

The point is in order to be that sustainable we also require our products to secure better prices. You know, as long as our customers are not giving us better prices and as long as they keep on demanding our levels of sustainability and compliance to grow up I don’t think it is going to be a very fair deal. So, we need to put additional pressure on our customers just to make them aware that as long as they are putting enough pressures on us on improving our sustainability levels

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Te x t i l e I c o n

and compliance levels they also need to be critically aware of their own margins. Because we need to be paid the right and the fair price.

If you are talking about fair supply and if you referring to fair supply chain all the time you need to also conscious about fair sourcing practice as well. Therefore, sustainability has come into the industry in different forms. For instance, we now have a Higg Index. Higg is an index, which asks us to even mark our secondary & tertiary suppliers. Therefore, that is another challenge, which is coming up. We are happy to do that.

We are happy to be sustainable.

Because the earth has to be a sustainable place for the next generations to come. However, the point is who is paying the price for sustainability. Is it only the suppliers who need to pay the price for sustainability or buyers are also part of the challenge game?

Textile Today: Mohammadi Group mainly produces woven garments, lingerie garments, and sweater. Do you have any plan to increase your product range?

Rubana Huq: We have woven, we have laundry and we have sweaters in our group. As far as the expansion plans are concerned I sincerely believe that you know it’s the value-addition that we should be targeting and not just capacity extension of what we have. Because that is not going to bring any good results for any of us. In addition, whoever is in the industry I would also like to appeal to all of them to optimize their production lines and think about producing the next better product instead of just increasing lines. Because adding another 100 lines will only get me an order of another basic product which I am not interested in. So, for us the suppliers the keyword should be the fashion challenge, the lead time challenge and of course the product challenge. If we are able to somehow address these three areas, we should be set for the

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next two decades at least.

Textile Today: As a prominent women entrepreneur what is your suggestion for the new women entrepreneurs? How should they start, what types of challenges will they face and how should they overcome that?

Rubana Huq: Very unfortunately, we do not have enough female entrepreneurs in this sector. Maybe because there is a hick of access to capital is still very much no deal for anyone who seeks a loan in this sector. I do not think it’s just women not getting loans or not having access to loans that creating the barrier for women

If you are talking about fair supply and if you referring to fair supply chain all the time you need to also conscious about fair sourcing practice as well. Therefore, sustainability has come into the industry in different forms.

sector. So the gender priority must come in. In terms of trade union leaders, in terms of workers getting promoted to supervisory levels and managerial positions and of course for more female entrepreneurs to be able to come there must be an incentive. There must be an incentive for female entrepreneurs to come into this sector. Because I believe it makes a difference being a woman in this sector. We have more empathy than men. So, when I work on a production floor, I automatically display a lot more empathy. I communicate a lot more than any of my male counterpart and I am absolutely confident about that.

So my walking creates another level of confidence for my female workers. So for the betterment of the industry and for the smooth functioning between owners & labors I sincerely believe that female should come forward and take an entrepreneurial position to change the current scenario.

Textile Today: After the death of Mr. Anisul Haque do you find any management problems in your business?

getting to the next level, I also think that it is the age-old mindset which stops women from going to the next level. If you talk about my challenge, I think I just fought back hard enough to be where I am today. However, I do not know where I am going to be the next 5 years. Because being a woman is something that conceptually we need to deal with. There is a male gage everywhere; there is a male mindset that we need to battle.

If you look at today’s board of BGMEA there is not even 1 single female director in the entire board.

Strangely, the sector is filled with women. 80% percent of the manufacturing is done by women.

We do not even have enough female trade union leaders in the

Rubana Huq: We have been in this business for the last 20 years.

We not only have garments, but we also have power plants, and we have full on a television channel.

We have digital distribution, we have software, we have real estate and I am the group head. A group or a commercial entity is actually very much process based. And my late husband used to say that you are never a great CEO unless you are not missed in the office. The point is business goes on, life goes on and if you are in a leadership position your job is just to focus on the sustainability of the group and of the economy in general and just move on. Because life would not stop. Because somebody has left us, life still demands continuity.

And I hope to experience no tremors in my journey because I haven’t for the last 20 years, anyway.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Maximum Design variation Available the market

SDS - Space Dyeing Station

Customer Reference-

Small Surface Required Giant Hanks New Effects Low Liquir Ratio Water Saving Time Saving

○ Epyllion Group ○ GMS Composite Knitting Ind. Ltd.

Country Representative

House-B148 (2nd Floor), Road-22, New DOHS, Mohakhali, Dhaka-1206 Mob: 01711558828, 01625387580 E-mail: info@traderay.net, Website: http://www.traderay.net

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y - S u s t a i n a b i l i t y

Cadira®- a new initiative of DyStar to reduce water, waste and energy consumption Cadira ® is a new module in DyStar’s Resource Efficiency program. The concepts considerably reduce water, waste and energy consumption.

Staff Correspondent DyStar Singapore Pte Ltd. organized a seminar on ‘DyStar Cadira® concept-saving valuable resources’ to launch Cadira® concept in Bangladesh on 20 September at Le Méridien, Dhaka. In the program, they discussed their new products and other accessories to show the beneficiary aspects not only for the environment but also for the supply chain of the industry.

DyStar Singapore Pte Ltd. is a supplier of products and services for the textile, leather, paper, plastic, and other chemical industries. Cadira® is a new module in DyStar’s Resource Efficiency program.

Their concepts considerably reduce water, waste and energy consumption.

Cadira® will help brands & retailers and their production partners to save valuable resources and to reduce the carbon footprint of their textile goods.

Eric Hopmann, CEO of DyStar Group, shared his perspectives on the vision of DyStar and discussed on the environment of the global textile market. He said, “I have been working for 30 years in this industry and China has had a tremendous influence on this industry from which we have however learned many lessons.”

“According to the analysis of WTO in 2016-2017, the textile industry export market is about 800 billion and the Chinese industries take about 45% of this market, which is around 350 billion in exports of garments and textiles. However, in the last 3 years the global exports of Garment and Textiles have started to fall by about 100 billion USD and those of China by 50 billion USD.” he said.

He mentioned two reasons behind this. “First of all, the costs of China’s Textile production

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production processes better and have invested in waste treatment facilities which are effective for the industry and will help them to stay.

Figure 1: speaking at the program, Eric Hopmann; CEO, Head of Global Sales and Marketing, DyStar Group.

Strengths of garment making, dying, finishing is so much developed in Bangladesh and the cost of manpower is so effective to grow the businesses here.

That’s why we are saying Bangladesh is the key market for DyStar.

“Small and medium companies were shut down for not enhancing their processes. But Bangladesh is developing very nicely and it has reached in 2017 more than 30 billion dollars export sales. This is only the beginning of fruitful years for the Textile Industry in Bangladesh,” stated Eric Hopmann.

Bangladesh has a big advantage now as compared to China. But the local producers should not repeat here what has happened there!

- ERIC HOPMANN; CEO, HEAD OF GLOBAL SALES AND MARKETING, DYSTAR GROUP are rising day by day, especially manpower but also the energy costs which are important in this sector. Another most important issue thing is the environmental situation in China as the government has embarked in cleaning up the country, forcing various textile and chemical factories to shut down.”

Nowadays the textile industry is moving progressively out of China to overseas for these reasons.

Many provinces in China are extremely polluted and this is why the Chinese government is pushing down the industry, which is one of the most polluting sectors in the country. 1000 chemical industries will be shut down in coming three years in the Jiangsu province as recently announced by the central government. However, big Textile Groups are handling their

Eric Hopmann said, “Strengths of garment making, dying, finishing is so much developed in Bangladesh and the cost of manpower is so effective that business will continue to grow here. That’s why we are saying Bangladesh is the key market for DyStar and we are here to give our best services to every factory for developing a concept of pollution-free industrialization, which can be cost effective too.”

Jayant Khera, Vice President of South Asia said, “Firstly I am very glad to announce that we are starting a branch of Texanlab in Dhaka. We are testing here different type of dying and printing quality. Also, we are working on the development of a different type of printing auxiliaries of DyStar Company. We are also ready to provide complete digital printing solutions to our customers.”

The DyStar econfidence® program is planned to provide a guarantee to our textile customers such that the dyes and chemicals we supply comply with legal requirements and to consult so that the selected products are compliant with voluntary and brand & retailer

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y S u s t a i n a b i l i t y

P T : Te c h U p d a t e

RSL (Restricted Substance List) requirements. It allows DyStar to build partnerships along the textile supply chain to foster a more sustainable textile production.

The econfidence® program allows DyStar to build partnerships with the textile supply chain to foster more sustainable textile production and to meet the retailers’ RSL. Emphasizing on the word ‘econfidence®’ Jayant Khera said, “In the word econfidence®, the first part of this word ‘eco’ which have a different meaning for different people. For someone it is economy and for someone else, it is for ecology. But here from this word econfidence®, we prefer both meanings. Here we also ensure that the economic issue of the industry and resolve the ecological value, which is very much needed to make the environment clean. Because DyStar believes in quality, not quantity.”

Bertram Seuthe, Global Business Development Manager discussed on ‘DyStar Cadira® Reactive/ Disperse dyes for continuous’. He explained about their different new products such as Levafix®, Remazol®, Dianix® etc. He also showed the effects of SERA

processing auxiliaries and introduced the benefits of their web-driven program – eliot®.

Figure 2: Distinguished guests from the industry were present at the program.

In the word econfidence®, the first part of this word ‘eco’ which have a different meaning for different people. For someone it is economy and for someone else, it is for ecology. But here from this word econfidence®, we prefer both meanings.

Here we also ensure that the economic issue of the industry and resolve the ecological value, which is very much needed to make the environment clean. Because DyStar believes in quality, not quantity.

Reiner Werschnitzky, Global business development manager highlighted ‘DyStar Cadira® Disperse concept for polyester’ where he said about their “Optidye PES” machine and the full operation procedure of this.

He also discussed their Cadira® process optimization and Cadira® full optimization process.

Ghanshyam Mishra, Regional Business Development Manager Printing pointed out on ‘DyStar printing package-reactive, printing and digital’. He said about their new concept “Jettex4.0” in which they provide DyStar reactive inks like Jettex® inks. He also discussed DyStar Vat inks for digital printing and technological evolution of textile printing.

Eric Hopman also said, “We need to also sometimes to cancel some products because of ecological issues. Again, for environmental protection, cost increases will be inevitable, as wastewater treatment and other waste management do have their price now”.

JAYANT KHERA, VICE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH ASIA, DYSTAR GROUP

CHTC Fong’s to present one-stop sustainable solution in dyeing and finishing at ITMA ASIA+CITME 2018 Desk Report The CHTC Fong’s Group will present the “one-stop” sustainable solution in dyeing and finishing range of “pre-treatment, dyeing, post-treatment and wastewater treatment” at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 in Hall 6, D05 and yarn conditioning and heat setting in Hall 2, E04, National Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai, China from 15 to 19 October.

CHTC Fong’s has been committed to the development and manufacturing of dyeing and finishing equipment for more than 50 years. In the past decades, CHTC Fong’s devoted to the

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Monforts, CHTC Fong’s dedicated in the development of Smart Dyeing and Finishing and join with the customers to build the intelligent dyeing factory.

Figure 1: most advanced heat recovery and air filtration technology.

development of energy-saving and emission reduction machines and now it becomes the basic conditions for dyeing factories.

Together with its well-known brands: Fong’s, Monforts Fong’s, Xorella, Then, Goller, FWT and

CHTC FONG’S will exhibit a full line of the most advanced and innovative products and technology including our new products- Fong’s TECWIN High Temperature Dyeing Machine, THEN AIRJETWIN Aerodynamic High Temperature Dyeing Machine, GOLLER DYEPADDER ECONOMICA Nip-in-Trough, MONFORTS FONG’S MONTEX 6500 Stenter Frame Range, MONFORTS FONG’S MONTEX 6500 AIR FILTRATION OMNI

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

P r o c e s s i n g To d a y - Te c h U p d a t e

Product Name

Description

FONG’S TECWIN

High-Temperature Dyeing Machine

THEN AIRFLOW AIRJETWIN

Aerodynamic High-Temperature Dyeing Machine

The 2018 New GOLLER DYEPADDER ECONOMICA

Nip-in-Trough with Double Impregnation Mechanism

MONFORTS FONG’S MONTEX 6500 AIR FILTRATION OMNI

Stenter Frame Range- The most advanced heat recovery and air filtration technology

FONG’S WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM

By this system, one can reuse any kind of qualified discharge water

Stenter Frame and MONFORTS FONG’S MONFONGS STRAHM HiPer Shrink Astra.

In addition, CHTC Fong’s will also demonstrate the innovative smart dyeing and finishing at the booth, according to an immediate release.

The potential of Industry 4.0, in combination with the drive to reduce waste and minimize raw materials usage, has led to some significant new developments by Monforts.

At this year’s ITMA Asia + CITME, in Hall 6 at booth H6/D05, visitors can learn about the company’s latest Qualitex 800 control system, which along with the Web-UI app, allows the remote visualization of Monforts technologies via smartphones and tablet devices.

“We are already embracing many Industry 4.0 principles in our approach to new machine concepts and the Qualitex 800 has all the intuitive features operators will be familiar with from touchscreen devices,” explains Monforts Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Klaus Heinrichs.

“It is making navigation extremely easy for operators, cutting down the time required for becoming familiar with a new system and allowing complete control of all 78

Figure 2: Fong’s water recycling system.

machine parameters,” he continued.

Resource efficiency is being addressed via the latest technologies such as the company’s Eco-Line for denim, based on two key technology advances – the Eco Applicator for minimum application of the selected finishing chemicals and the Thermo Stretch.

In many textile mills globally, the cost of energy for running integrated manufacturing lines – especially those for fabric finishing that can involve numerous sequences of heating and subsequent drying – is now eclipsing the cost of paying people to operate them.

The ability of the Eco Applicator to significantly reduce energy costs has seen it rapidly accepted on the market.

The Monforts Thermo Stretch unit meanwhile carries out the skewing (weft straightening), stretching and drying in a continuous process.

“The Eco Line system reduces energy requirements and losses, increases thermal transfer and keeps the drying energy on the textile material longer,” says Monforts Area Sales Director and Head of Product Management for Denim Hans Wroblowski. “As a

result energy savings of up to 50% are being achieved.”

Monforts is also the only manufacturer which is able to offer completely integrated coating lines from a single source and at ITMA Asia + CITME 2018, the company’s specialists will be on hand to explain how its latest coating heads are being tailored to drying technology for maximum benefits.

For an unprecedented range of options, Monforts now offers multi-functional coating heads for both its industrial texCoat and All-round coating units. Module options include those for screen printing, magnetic coating and knife coating, either integrated into new lines or retrofitted into existing installations.

“Our system has the shortest fabric path from the coating unit into the stenter and all of these options are available in wider widths,” says the company’s Head of Technical Textiles, Jürgen Hanel.

“Whatever your company’s specialism, we have the technologies and the process knowledge to help you take your business to the next level,” adding this Klaus Heinrichs also said, “We look forward to meeting customers old and new in Shanghai.”

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Unveiling industry best practices

F i b e r to Ya r n Se pte m be r 2 018

A Textile Today Initiative l Published with Volume 11, Issue 09 l Pages 79 to 96

Diversification of cotton sourcing is a crying need for spinning industry

Environmental and social footprint of fiber

Unveiling industry best practices

A Tex t i l e To d a y I n i t i a t i ve

F i b e r to Ya r n

Foundation Training on

Factory Skills Development Yellow Belt

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Editorial

Environmental and social footprint of fiber Currently, the majority of industry-scale recycling process exist solely for the mechanical recycling of cotton pre and post-consumer waste. However, mechanical and chemical innovations are coming up for blended compositions and to assure the quality of recycled fiber.

Abdul Wadud CEO & Management Consultant, TRANSFORM Almost 150 million metric tons of clothes and shoes are sold every year worldwide and it is growing with the increase of population. These huge consumption is negatively impacting environmental and social footprint. If we look at the history and the future trend of the fashion industry and the focus of type of fiber consumption, we can broadly divide into three clear eras: Table: Focus fiber of fashion industry in a different era.

Time

Focus Fiber

Before 1990

Era of Natural and manmade fiber

From 1990-2020

Era of Sustainable fiber

2020 & beyond

Era of Circular Economy focusing on reuse of clothing & recycling of Pre & Post Consumer Waste + Sustainable Fiber – Animal Fiber

Global Fashion Agenda says, “73% of the world’s clothing eventually ends in a landfill, of which less than 15% is collected to recycle.” Under 1% of this regenerated into new clothing, according to research undertaken by Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

The circular economy is a hot topic at the moment and it is the demand of time as over-population and over-consumption have reached a level that demands a new system of fiber production. Current

fiber system alone is not really sustainable, as a world needs more food and urbanization, we must focus to “Re-use” and “Re-cycle” on a larger scale which is basically “Circular Economy”.

The challenge in the retailer side is creating growing consumer demand for the “Circular Economy” and the challenge to the recyclers of pre and postconsumer side is segregation of different types of fiber while recycling those into the fiber.

It is better not to do or try it alone. There are two mentors worldwide who can help in recycling postconsumer waste, namely: • The Copenhagen Fashion Summit and • The Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

At a first step, re-use production leftovers. In the second step, re-cycle Pre-consumer waste. There are two methods of re-cycling pre-consumer waste: 1. Mechanical recycling and 2. Chemical recycling Currently, the majority of industry-scale recycling process exist solely for the mechanical recycling of cotton pre and post-consumer waste. However, mechanical and chemical innovations are coming up for blended compositions and to assure the quality of recycled fiber. We have to go a long way to achieve a fully closed-loop fashion industry and we need a coordinated effort from all side in order to

Old Clothing from Consumer

by Retailer

Recycled into Fiber

er um

ns Co

Sp k inn dy intt ing Ga e in rm ing g en & tin g

Retailer

cled Recy iber F into

Old C lo t h in colle cted g by Reta iler

Spinning kintting dyeing & Garmenting

Consumer

-u Re

sed

Retailer

Pre &P C o nsu ost Wa mer ste

Figure 1 & 2: Circular Economy

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Volume 11, Issue 09

Figure 1& 2: Circular Economy

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S T- E d i t o r i a l

take it forward.

Noble fibers such as cashmere, mohair, and wool are natural and renewable resources with low impact on the environment. A number of key retailers take a stance against using animal-derived fibers and with Topshop, H&M and Marks & Spencer banning the use of mohair asos.com removing mohair, silk, and cashmere from production by 2019, things are set to change.

The 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment asks brands to commit to the increased collection and recycling of garments, plus an increase in recycling Post-consumer textile fibers. So far 93 companies, representing 207 brands and 12% of the global fashion market have signed up.

Circular Economy

Recycling of clothing

Pre-consumer waste

Post-consumer waste

Re-Use of clothing

Recycling of clothing

We wish innovative solutions would come forward to improve the environmental and social footprint and the world in the future would be a better place to live.

H&M and HKRITA to set up recycling facilities in Hong Kong Desk Report The H&M Foundation and The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) have developed the opening of two textile recycling facilities which will put HKRITA’s hydrothermal method for recycling cotton and polyester blends to use.

In the last year, within four-year( 2016-2020) long partnership between HKRITA and nonprofit H&M Foundation, HKRITA presented a technological breakthrough with a hydrothermal method for recycling cotton and polyester blends into new fibers. Blends are the most common, yet unrecyclable, type of textile in the world.

Erik Bang, Innovation Lead at H&M Foundation, said in a statement that this is a significant step towards a new fashion industry that operates within the planetary boundaries.

“As we scale up and make this technology freely available to the industry, we will reduce the

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speech, “After successfully developing revolutionary recycling technologies, we have devoted sustained effort to put them into practice.”

dependence on limited natural resources to dress a growing global population,” he said.

H&M and HKRITA added that the purpose of the facilities is to invite fashion companies and their stakeholders to see, test and implement the technology. HKRITA will license the results widely to make it available to all and enable a bigger impact.

Erik Bang also added, “Seeing is believing, and when customers see with their own eyes what valuable resource garments at the end of life can be, they can also believe in recycling.”

Edwin Keh, Chief Executive Officer of HKRITA, said in his

He further added that their recycling systems represent the industry’s well-applied innovation efforts. These not only revitalize a decades-old major industry but also do it most sustainably for the benefit of their community and as a responsible global citizen.

The facilities will be located at the Novetex Factory in Tai Po Industrial Estate, Hong Kong.

The opening date has not been disclosed. The H&M Foundation is set to invest approximately 7 million US dollars in the project, over the next four years.

The H&M Foundation allocates 50% of the total surplus to research on textile recycling and the other 50% to projects focusing on equality and inclusion of marginalized groups.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

from field to fashion

S p i n n i n g To d a y

Raw Materials - Cotton

Diversification of cotton sourcing is a crying need for spinning industry Imranul Imran In spite of being the 2nd largest RMG exporter country in the world and the upcoming denim king in the field of export, our primary textile sector i.e. spinning industries are totally depended on cotton import to manufacture the required amount of yarn in spinning industries. Bangladesh imports cotton from almost 42 countries around the world.

high time for us to diversify our cotton sourcing to overcome this situation.

Why single dependency can ruin our emerging sector gradually In 2010, the Indian Government imposed restrictions on cotton export to Bangladesh that affected our textile value chain badly at that time. In recent

the production of home textiles, and another is for export-oriented RMG and supportive industries.

Actually, export-oriented yarn quality has a far difference with local yarn. Local spinners consume Indian cotton for producing local yarns for several reasons.

• Unavailability of several types of cotton like 29mm, 30mm, 31mm except for India. Sometimes they collect from other sources but cannot meet the quality yarn.

• The price difference between Indian cotton and another sources cotton on the context of same quality.

• Spinners are not so much concern about yarn quality.

Shohel Rahamman, CEO of Bridge Asia Ltd opined that at present there is no alternative without Indian cotton for the production of local yarn due to the affordable price and lower lead time as well as availability.

Figure 1: Diversification of cotton sourcing is a crying need for the spinning industries.

Statistics show that Bangladesh imports cotton from India approximately 26% but the real scenario is not exactly known. According to a business report of Maasranga Television, approximately 60 percent of cotton is imported from India.

This means that we are going to push this emerging sector towards single-source dependency. This type of dependency especially towards India on the context of cotton business between India and Bangladesh is not good for sustainable cotton business. It is

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years, the anti-dumping policy is imposed on Jute and jute products of Bangladesh. As a result, one of the main concerns of cotton-related industries is the unexpected implications from India to Bangladesh. This type of circumstances can create a catastrophic situation in our emerging Textile Industry.

It is a good news that some local entrepreneurs of Bangladesh are trying to replace Indian cotton with West African cotton. But, this is not on a large-scale production stage.

According to Director of Infinia spinning Ltd, Mominul Motin Tushar, “For proper coordination and proper quality management, we can replace Indian cotton with West African cotton.’’

No alternative except Indian cotton for local yarn

Local yarn market is in a critical situation due to wastage export to Abroad

The spinning industry is producing yarn for two different market segments, one is the local yarn for

In many cases, the yarn which is produced from cotton wastages in the spinning industry known as

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Raw Materials - Cotton

S p i n n i n g To d a y

2% 7% 2% 2% 3% 2% 4%

Export oriented yarn market consume the huge amount of Indian cotton every year that pushes the spinning industry towards single-source dependency.

The rate of consumption of Indian cotton is increasing at an alarming rate. Previous year cotton import statistics from India is given below:

26%

5% 7%

16%

7% 8%

9%

India

Uzbekistan

USA

Brazil

Cameroon

Benin Chad

Mail

Turkmenistan

australia

Burkina

Ibory

Tajikistan

others

coast

faso

Figure2: Country-wise cotton import shares; courtesy: USDA, Bangladesh Bank

Rotor yarn that is used in home textiles and denim production.

Continual improvement of the denim industry, which is totally export-oriented, the demand for the local yarn is increasing. The whole denim market consumes local yarn that is generally used in home textile in huge amount and collected from the market at a higher price than the home textile consumer. As a result, local spinners are showing an unwillingness to sell their yarn to home textile manufacturers. This causes the crisis of local yarn in home textile and affects their production at a serious rate as well as they feel concerned about losing the competitive market of USA with India and Pakistan.

According to a Daily star Report, Bangladesh Terry Towel and Linen Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BTTLMEA) proposed that the government should give permission for the duty-free import of 10 single, 16 single and 20 single open-end yarn (for towel production) through land or sea port from India or Pakistan, which would be 15-20 percent cheaper in price.

It was also proposed that a five-year cash incentive scheme for exports to the US market that would increase the export basket of these products from USD 1.2 billion to USD 2 billion

Bangladesh Textile Today |

over the period. Putting in place measures to open up the market for importing raw material at most competitive rates and the implementation of policy measures that would not only protect the industry but also allow Bangladesh to effectively take advantage of the China-USA trade rift, where China’s textile exports to the US may soon face further duties.

It is a prime time to cash in on the China-US trade war and put Bangladeshi home textile/terry towel export in an advantageous position over India/Pakistan.

The possibility of source diversiďŹ cation of cotton in export-oriented yarn market Owing to lower lead time, comparatively better quality, availability and competitive price,

But, there are several possibilities in hand to go out from single dependency to diversification of cotton import source in Exportoriented yarn market to ensure sustainable cotton supply in our existing spinning industry. Various possibilities are given below: Bangladesh can enter the supply chain of the dierent cotton initiative Due to the worldwide environmental issue, sustainability and sustainable goal as well health and safety, different cotton initiatives are becoming popular day by day. They are keeping their great impact in global cotton supply chain continuously. Different global brands and retailers have acknowledged the works worldwide. They offer various privilege towards manufactures whether manufactures use the different initiative cotton for their product manufacturing. It is a good time for Bangladesh to join this new revolution and consume cotton from these sources and giving the privilege to attain

Cotton Imports (in millions of bales)

Total

8

Import from India

7 6 5

5.2 4.37

4.87

5.18

5.59

4

2.99

3 2 1

6.1

2.2 1.66 1.12

1.31

1.73

Figure 3: Cotton Import trend from India.

Volume 11, Issue 09

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S p i n n i n g To d a y

Raw Materials - Cotton

Selection of raw materials in coordination with price and desired quality from different sources is an important factor in the cotton industry. Mill owners should be concerned about the cotton quality of different sources and go out from using cotton from the same source in the whole Year. The Technical persons in the industry should think out of the box and use different sources cotton of the same quality in different time, and make them understand the owners about its importance for getting desired quality yarn as well as increasing profitability and resource optimization.

Figure 4: Partners of ‘Better Cotton initiative’.Courtesy: BCI

Selection of cotton in an innovative way and better policy research optimization

According to Shohel Rahamman, “At the time of any cotton harvesting and initial storage, cotton quality is optimum and cotton quality is deteriorating with the time period. I give a suggestion towards spinners that you will collect any type of cotton from any source at the time of cotton harvesting.’’

He also added, ‘‘ Generally Indian cotton is harvested at the month of October. On the other hand, Australian cotton is harvested in the month of April. Everyone should use cotton at the time it’s harvesting. Generally, Mill owners are usually using the same type of cotton around the year and arise different quality issue. Mill owners should use same type of cotton from different sources in the different time by proper cotton

PRODUCTION IN THOUSAND METRIC TONS 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000

B ra Pa zil ki st an A us tr al ia Tu rk U ey zb ek Tu is ta rk n m en is ta n B ur ki na

a St at es

in ni

te d

ch

a

0

U

Mohammad Mahamud Alam, Deputy General Manager, Noman spinning Mills Ltd opined that “In our Noman Group, we use different types of cotton initiatives cotton according to buyer requirement because RMG exporters generally get extra privilege for using different cotton initiatives cotton for manufacturing products from foreign buyers.’’ But, some uncertainties are existing in our country about the cotton quality of different cotton initiatives especially cotton made Africa and other initiatives.

Many manufacturers seem that European and other western investors are trying to establish their business agenda in the name of sustainability and other issues.

Actually, the possibility of consumption of different cotton initiative cotton creates the opportunity of diversification of cotton sourcing in disguise for Bangladesh. If Bangladesh capitalizes this opportunity, our spinning industry will be more stable and hassle-free.

di

According to a cotton specialist, Abdul Wadud, CEO & Management Consultant at TRANSFORM opined that “There is no concern about the cotton quality of different cotton initiatives. Many manufacturers are using their cotton simultaneously.’’

According to Md. Majibur Rahman, General Manager, spinning Division of Envoy Textile Limited “We have several unpleasant experiences about the cotton quality of cotton made in Africa. At this moment, For the sake of buyer requirement, we use cotton made in Africa with cotton to attain our desired quality yarn as well as customer satisfaction.’’

In

higher price in their product as well as promoting the possibility of promoting sustainability that helps to diversify our RMG market.

Different cotton initiatives are such as Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Cotton Made in Africa (CIMA), Organic Cotton.

Figure 5: Worldwide cotton production (Country wise). Source: STATISTICA.

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Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Raw Materials - Cotton

S p i n n i n g To d a y

constraints and higher price create an unwillingness to import cotton from the USA.

Major export of U.S. cotton

3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000

er s th

O

ia gl ad e Th sh ai la nd

B

an

S. Ko r

In di a

ke y In do ne si a M ex ic o Pa ki st an

Tu r

hi na C

V ie tn

am

0

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

Figure 6: Major Export destinations of USA Cotton (USDA).

management and better policy as well as establish strong research and development wings where they test different sources of cotton in sample size’’ Potential sources for cotton sourcing around the world Besides India, Bangladesh is importing cotton from West Africa, East Africa, Brazil, CIS countries, The United States of America, Latin American countries and Australia. A proper balance should be considered for future cotton sourcing to reduce supply chain risk. Though it is not easy to collect cotton from diversified sources in the perspective of Bangladesh, an investment for this in cotton import and corresponding financial and technical management will be worthy enough to remain safe in a volatile world.

Mohammad Mahbub Alam said, “Africa could be next big destination for cotton sourcing.

In spite of the contamination problem, African cotton quality is increasing day by day. At present, we import approximately 20% of our total cotton import from Africa. If they can reduce lead time and ensure reliable financial technical structure in importing from African region that will provide a sustainable spinning sector in Bangladesh.”

Shohel Rahamman, CEO of Bridge Asia Ltd, said that most of the mill

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owners are feeling the interest to buy afloat cotton from West Africa and East Africa because it takes 10-15 days to rush our Chittagong port. This procedure is very cost effective and hassle-free buying procedure rather than direct shipment from the African region, actually, shipment of cotton from Africa takes above 2 months or more to rush Chittagong port due to some unavoidable system loss.

As a result, afloat cotton takes a great impact to consume a higher amount of African cotton every year.’’

The possibility of increasing US cotton consumption due to the battle of the commercial war One of the biggest cotton producer’s countries of the world, USA is trying hard and soul to find out any alternative market due to the embargo on China.

Recently, Cotton Council of USA and big merchants of Cotton USA reveal that they see Bangladesh as potential alternative market and trying to increase their export in Bangladesh at 10 percent rate in every year to sustain their cotton business around the world.

Cotton Council of USA addressed our government for the amendment of cotton fumigation rule, the capacity utilization and increasing the capacity of Chittagong port that causes for higher lead time for importing USA cotton. Actually, these

If Bangladesh resolves this issue, US cotton is going to get a level playing field in Cotton Business. Moreover, US cotton is in a critical condition to find out their potential alternative market.

At this moment, If Bangladesh is successful to consume a higher amount of US cotton by proper price fixation, will create the huge possibility of product diversification in RMG industry and minimize the risk in the field of cotton business as well as to go out from single source dependency.

Shahriar Ahmed is a dynamic manufacturer whose company, Apex Spinning and Knitting Mills Limited, does weaving, all over printing, cut and sew, placement prints and make stitching. He had problems with needle breakage and shade runs…until he was introduced to COTTON USA. Now, this valued partnership allows him to forge a long-term partnership deals with premium brands and retailers.

According to Shohel Rahamman opined that Pricing of US cotton is a major concern for Bangladeshi Importers. Manufacturers of Bangladesh use US cotton in most cases for the production of white yarn where higher quality cotton is required. They can’t increase their customer at a satisfactory level in Bangladesh. Without price reduction, they cannot grab the Bangladeshi market in this competitive stage.

Conclusion Proper coordination of all measures taken by the top to bottom stakeholders of cotton business in Bangladesh, strong and contemporary legislation Act as well as strong policy research and capacity improvement in Research and development and creation of required technical persons can gift us a sustainable spinning industry by diversification of cotton import at the supreme level.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

S p i n n i n g To d a y

Green technologies can ensure green processing of cotton Microplastics and effluent issues have heightened the need for green processing of textiles.

Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA Discharge of textile mill effluents and disposal of single-use textiles such as hygiene pads are watched very carefully by regulatory bodies. Therefore, the textile industry has been working to find costeffective solutions to tackle these environmental issues to become green.

Recently, a collaborative research between scientists from Kerala, the southwestern state of India, and Florida has utilized supercritical carbon dioxide as a carrier to size and resize cotton.

They have identified supercritical carbon dioxide attractive chemistries such as sucrose octaacetate, glucose pentaacetate and polyethylene glycol that can be applied to textiles via supercritical carbon dioxide at a pressure of about 90 bars, making the process cost-effective.

The researchers claim the process is cost-effective as it avoids other costlier functional chemistries and is environmentally friendly. Sucrose octaacetate in supercritical carbon dioxide system provided good results for cotton and polyester and the chemical is inexpensive as it is an agricultural product.

Green technologies such as supercritical fluids and plasma have been getting serious attention these days.

“Typically, wet-chemical treatments used to create surface hydrophilicity to woven and nonwoven textile materials can damage the polymer matrix and produce, as a byproduct, large volumes of hazardous waste effluents. Atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) technology is an eco-friendly alternative for obtaining similar or better results with these materials, compared to wet chemical treatments. It is also commercially recognized that the APP process can Figure: Green processing of cotton also significantly will help to find cost-effective reduce dye solutions to tackle environmental consumption due issues. to enhanced dyne uptake and wicking,” stated Rory A. Wolf, Business Unit Manager, ITW Pillar Technologies.

Consumers prefer sustainable processes and clothing. Stating a survey, Melissa Bastos of Carybased Cotton Incorporated said, “63% of consumers globally put time and effort into finding sustainable clothing.”

S p i n n i n g To d a y

S p i n n i n g To d a y

Luckyfield Yichang’s success story with Rieter cards Luckyfield Yichang, a customer company of Rieter, has been using four generations of Rieter cards from C 4, C 51, and C 60 to C 70. And they recognize card C 70 as their key to success for constant high-quality ring yarn Desk Report Luckyfield Yichang, a customer company of Rieter, was able to boost its production significantly with the latest generation of cards C 70, said a press release.

Luckyfield Yichang is located in Yichang City, Hubei Province, China. The company is very well known in its province as the leading producer of combed cotton ring spun yarn with a high and constant quality (5% USTER Statistic level). Luckyfield operates 80,000 ring spindles. All fiber and spinning preparation machines are from Rieter. Over the years, the customer has invested in four generations of Rieter cards, which are all in production.

The challenge: High-quality yarn at a high production level

Figure: Cards C 70, the key to high-quality ring yarn.

required production increased continuously. So it was important for the customer to produce the same high quality with every new card generation at a higher production level.

The solution: The card C 70

For many years, Luckyfield has utilized Rieter C 4, C 51 and C 60 cards. These cards meet the full expectations of the customer in terms of economic production and quality. Based on the excellent experience with those previous Rieter card models, Luckyfield decided in 2012 to purchase four sets of C 70 cards with the Integrated Grinding System IGS (IGS classic and IGS top). C 70 cards with an IGS system secure the quality at an excellent level Data Comparisons: Combed Cotton, Ne 40.5% and require little USTER STATISTICS maintenance. The Card No. Production Sliver Delivery new C 70 cards (kg/h) count speed produce 90 kg/h of (g/m) (m/min) sliver at the same C4 8 40 4.6 145 quality level as the C 51 21 50 4.9 170 C 60 card at 75 kg/h, the C 51 at 50 C 60 6 75 6.5 192 kg/h and C 4 at 40 C 70 4 90 6.5 231 kg/h.

For Luckyfield as a high quality combed cotton yarn spinner, it is important to set the quality parameters at the beginning of the spinning process. In order to achieve this, already at an early stage, Luckyfield decided to use Rieter cards to lay the foundation for the yarn quality. Luckyfield’s customers appreciate the high quality of the yarn. Along with an expanding customer base, the

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The customer benefits: Increased production at minimal maintenance costs Every new generation of Rieter cards realized a significant increase in production (see table, fig. 1). On the same machine space, the silver production was doubled. This led to lower investment in the building.

With the IGS system on the C 70 card, the customer is able to produce up to 3,800 tons of sliver with one set of wires and flats before they need replacing. Since the commissioning of the C 70 in 2012, the customer exchanged the wires and flats only once. This is far above the industry standard of around 1,000 tons per set of wires.

The savings are tremendous as regards the wire maintenance and low downtime for the wire.

“We are a loyal partner of Rieter.

We now have four generations of card from C 4, C 51, C 60 to C 70 in use. Rieter cards are the best in the world. We will keep on buying Rieter cards when we have a new project,” the release said quoting Shengwu Yi, Mill Manager of Luckyfield Yichan, a customer of Rieter cards.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Spinning

Icon

Spinning sector is now being operated at loss…

Modern technology and efficient manpower can revitalize the spinning sector of Bangladesh.

Abu Hasan Mahmud Director (Operation), Amber Cotton Mills Ltd. The resiliency of the spinning industry directly dominates the other forward industries utterly. In the last few years, total industry environment has changed dramatically due to some unavoidable issues like utility problem, cotton price increase, workers wage hike etc. All the circumstances of Bangladesh spinning industry came out in a recent discussion between Factory Tales Research Team of Textile Today and Abu Hasan Mahmud, Director (Operation), Amber Cotton Mills Ltd., some important conversation revealed here for the readers.

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Textile Today: What is the present scenario of Bangladesh spinning sector?

Abu Hasan Mahmud: To meet the export target ‘USD 50 billion by 2021 set by RMG leaders, the spinning sector has the potentiality to play a leading role for bridging the gap in value contribution. As much as it supplies the yarn to make fabrics for RMG, it can gain the maximum price of the profit.

According to Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA), there are 425 spinning yarn-manufacturing mills in Bangladesh. Value addition in knit and woven RMG are over

70% and 35% respectively. Around 90% yarn demand for knit RMG and 35-40% yarn demand for woven RMG are met by Primary Textile Sector (PTS). Local fabric demand and the yarn demand for handloom are also met by PTS. Backward and Forward linkage industries provide employment for more than 5 million people where 80% are female.

According to the report of USDA (November 2017), yarn and fabric consumptions in Bangladesh is expected to rise to 1.13 MMT and 7.4 billion meters on strong international demand for clothing due to population

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

01

Present Situation of

B an g l ad e s h

02

Spinning sector at a glance.

03

04

425 spinning yarn manfacturing mills.

Around 90% yarn demand for knit RMG are met by Primary Textile Sector (PTS).

Around 35-40% yarn demand for woven RMG are met by PTS.

Value addition in knit and woven RMG are over 70% and 35% respectively

growth, urbanization, and disposable income growth.

Demand for quality cloth also increases in domestic markets as wages and living standards rise. The retail market size of clothing in Bangladesh is nearly $8 billion a year, according to industry insiders.

Albeit having greater opportunity to ourish considering the strong demand, the spinning sector at present is undergoing through various obstacles and situations, which are getting more crucial day by day. The price of raw cotton is increasing drastically and very volatile as usual. We do not have any control over it and cannot make a sustainable stock what China, India and other countries do. The price is around 20% higher comparing to the corresponding month of last year. Price of electricity, wages, and transportation costs have also increased concurrently whereas the yarn prices are the same as before.

Hence, the spinning sector is now at a breakeven point or often being operated at a loss.

Textile Today: Government is importing LNG and announced for yet another round of gas price increase. How will it affect your business and how will you manage the additional cost?

Abu Hasan Mahmud: The price of gas may go up in captive power and industrial sector, which is like to pour water on a drowned mouse. Any increase in prices of gas will deal a blow and have a negative effect, forcing front-end industries to suffer further.

Production costs will be higher than before. To mitigate the additional cost we need to increase productivity by means of increasing unit production and increasing output realization as well which can be possible if the other factors like availability of raw materials, manpower, financial facilities, and even electricity are available.

Besides, we need to pay concentration on increasing

Visit us at ITMA ASIA 2018 October 15 -19 Hall H1 / Booth D01

Spinning

Icon

Spinning

the efficiency of both man and machinery. Reduction of electricity consumption has important environmental and economic benefits, which can be achieved by replacing old machines with new machines equipped with advanced technology where we get more output by consuming less electricity. Setting automation is another way of reducing cost.

Moreover, there are value-added products for earning more premiums.

automate elements of the RMG industry, then that would be a very positive outcome. Productivityenhancing technology, after all, is a crucial pillar of social and economic progress. Hence, the RMG industry needs to increase their overall efficiency. As it is not yet fully able to produce high value-added goods, it needs to concentrate on it, which can mitigate the excess production cost by earning more value.

Textile Today: How will RMG makers cope up with the current wage hike?

Finally, RMG millers must emphasize on escalating its export to the emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and America. As much as it expands its market, it can have a remarkable success.

Abu Hasan Mahmud: The government of Bangladesh has raised the minimum wage of RMG workers to Tk 8,000 that is 51 percent higher than the current minimum wage Tk 5,300. At this stage when RMG is struggling hard to meet their export target by competing with the other countries who are playing well for their highly value-added goods, the wages hike can be very crucial to sustain. On the other hand, if minimum wage hikes really do spur the creation and adoption of high-quality new equipment to

Textile Today: What are the initiatives Amber Cotton Mills Ltd has taking for a sustainable business?

Abu Hasan Mahmud: Amber is one of the prominent local conglomerates having an integrated textile unit of 3 Ring Spinning mills, 2 Open-end spinning mills, and 2 Denim mills.

We strongly believe the proverb

To d a y

“First reach your target in your mind, then reaching your target, in reality, will just be a formality.”

As we cannot cut down the fixed cost and in some cases, variable costs are also unavoidable, we are going for productivity-enhancing technology by replacing age-old machinery phase by phase, which enables us to achieve more output with less input. We are incessantly striving to reach our targeted goal. At present, commissioning of compact yarn attachment is going to dig up more unit output with improved quality.

Undoubtedly, our textile sector needs to concentrate on more value-added products and we are no exception to that. We are producing slub, ciro, core-pun, multi-count, multi-twist and blended yarns like Viscose, Modal etc.

Considering the market demand for quality and value-added products, we have planned for another fully automated new project where efficient use of power (both electricity and manpower) will be ensured.

Graf to share wide range of solutions at ITMA ASIA Graf + Cie AG, a subsidiary of the Rieter Group, will present its wide portfolio of spinning and fiber preparation process solutions at ITMA ASIA 2018.

Desk Report Graf + Cie AG, the world’s leading supplier of clothing and comb in the field of carding-, combing- and nonwoven-processes, will present its wide portfolio of solutions at ITMA ASIA which will be held in Shanghai from October 15 to 19, 2018 at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The company Graf is a complete system provider, which offers a comprehensive package from the product and technical advice through to service and service equipment. This full range of products and services are designed to deliver maximum value to customers. Graf also supports its customers by

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trade fair. With 35 or 40 teeth respectively, NEP values can be improved by up to 30%.

Figure: GRAF_Fixpro_C30_ Imagebild_1. developing custom-made solutions for all their application needs.

Ri-Q-Comb flex, the innovative circular comb series with adjustable height for up to 20% lower imperfections.

The new top combs FIXPRO C35 and C40 will be presented for the first time at an international

The EasyTop System of flat clothing stands for optimal settings of the carding gap and reduces the loss of good fiber.

In addition, the handling of flat clothing replacement is much easier and can be done without special equipment.

The reputable product line of flexible flat clothing’s, well-known by the brand names resist-O-top or InLine-X-Top, stand for better quality in combination with higher lifetime compared to competitorproducts in the short to medium staple range.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Textile Today Question of the Month All the textile and apparel industry has ‘Compliance Department’. In recent times Bangladesh has done a revolution in terms of compliance and eventually, the industry has become one of the safest textile and apparel industry in the world. But at the same time, the factories are suffering for profitability crisis. The transformation achieved in social and building safety and the improvements done in the environment is not being well reflected in the economics of the companies. To achieve sustainability holistically, efforts should be taken in all three pillars Economic, Social and Environmental of ‘Sustainability’.

Do you think transforming the existing ‘Compliance Departments’ into ‘Sustainability Departments’ is the way to implement sustainability in the textile and apparel industry? How this transformation could be done?

Kazy Mohammad Iqbal Hossain South Asia Regional Sustainability Manager Lindex HK Ltd., Bangladesh Liaison Office.

Compliance is something, which requires money from a company but may not give anything in return, the reason is simple as it’s all about the legal requirements to set up an industry. Everybody has to keep in mind, it is not enough to just meet the basic legal requirements, more needs to be done to make the organization popular with skilled workers. Once, the factory will be known as one of the safest and most reliable workplace in the market, then efficiencies of the employee, workers, and stakeholder will be increased which in turn will give better outcome and the factory will realize profitability.

Transforming compliance to Sustainability will increase the profitability for sure. However, the scope of work for the sustainability team should not be the same as of compliance department, it has to come out of the box. The ideal scope of work for Sustainability team would start from beyond compliance. So, to me, the Sustainability team of a factory will only get enough things to do once all the compliance issues are solved. And of course, the skill set of the professional is required, who can work on Energy, water, chemical efficiencies as well as building the culture of cost saving in all possible ways like print both sides of the paper. And to get a most desirable result, the Sustainability Team need to work hand in hand with the production department. A clear communication with all concern department of the factory as well as with the stakeholders will ensure efficiencies, transparency, and accountability, which will increase the profitability.

Ayesha Shefa, Director of Sustainability, Simco Spinning and Textiles Ltd. If the compliance departments become more manageable, sustainability will more likely be achievable. If a company wishes to be sustainable they usually benefit in many ways- for instance, better public perception and enhanced cost savings- as toxic substances and hazardous waste are removed from manufacturing processes. It is a goal worth working for because not only companies will benefit themselves but also the three pillars “Economics, Social and the Environment will be benefitted.”

Companies can achieve this by taking the necessary steps depending on which sector they are in. Making and encouraging to make ECO-FRIENDLY choices is the first step towards sustainability.

Sustainability is one of the major pillars and most of the factories, brands, and suppliers are working on it. As a manufacturer definitely compliance department will transform into the sustainable department, we trying to save our inventory cost to sustain, because day-by-day production cost is increasing but the price is decreasing. Now, Bangladesh has the highest number of green factories in the world. More skilled set of professionals are required, who can work on Energy, water, chemical efficiencies as well as building the culture of cost saving for sustainable business.

Faiaz Rahman, Director, Urmi Group

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Volume 11, Issue 09

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“

Textile Today Question of the Month

Sabina Yasmin Shurovi Manager, Sustainable Development LBL Bangladesh Ltd.

Yes, it is going on the perfect way. A lot of factories/textile are implementing LEED certification, most of the factories/textiles are now implementing modern technology in regards of energy saving, water recycling method, heat transferring, transform the chemical ETP to biological ETP. In the production history, organic textile production growth in Bangladesh is now 32% from the conventional cotton.

Transforming sustainable business practices means to create strategies that preserve the longterm viability of People, Plant, and Profit, the proverbial triple bottom

line. Sustainability requires that we see the world as an integrated system that connects businesses to society and the environment through both space and time.

Pollution in one part of the world affects others thousands of miles away. Socially responsible corporate strategies impact communities not only today but also leave lasting impressions for generations to come.

If the compliance department can make sure of the above activities easily can transform its pattern to sustainability. Compliance department’s Head, responsible Compliance officer, Welfare officer, Safety officer they all are can play roles as follows. They can Implement changes and

“

Maher Abdullah Al CEO, Fakir Fashion Ltd.

The question of fair price and sustainable business model is being heard among the RMG community which is sounding better as first step towards the solution. Some raised the question, when we are going to get a better price as we have completed the 100 % remediation in our factories in terms of structural, fire and other safety scopes among other social compliance (need to do much more here yet within scopes). It is time to realize all these safety measures and so-called compliance factors

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have nothing to do with fair price or profitability. Let’s think! then another point of view, without a safe building, happy workers and proper working condition - how one can we even sustain production?

But to achieve a better profitability, one has to revisit own business units irrespective of the production facility to the corporate office, upgrade the basic things and look for ‘excellence’ to move forward. Again, ‘innovation’ is the key here to excel, and to increase profitability.

communicate to the employee effectively. They can make sure creating strategies to make the workplace greener. They can conduct effective training gradually to all factories/textiles employees on sustainability and transfer of knowledge. They should attend national/ international seminars on Sustainability to provide proper roles and responsibilities and its authority of implementation.

Compliance department’s responsible persons can measure the factories/textile’s sustainability performance. They can take control of the development, implementation, promotion, and monitoring of environmental strategies within a factory/ textile. They can manage the budget, liaising with marketing departments to promote a sustainability strategy, and communicating plans. Since the compliance department has the sufficient knowledge and skills, so no separate department is needed to be in.

By making green buildings, green factories and ensuring all the safety measures we had surely accomplished a great job but is this bringing any benefits in terms of prices from customers yet? On the other hand, customers are facing a yet bigger challenge to stay in business too. It is time to start a sustainable joint venture or bigger co-operation among local suppliers, all stakeholders need to find a sustainable business model by cutting all unnecessary fats. We do not have to go far to learn this - let’s just watch how Amazon has chopped the unwanted wings and ensured the delivery to the door stops of the Clients right from the machine. For the end consumers, it is ‘ Oven fresh - healthy products’. They did not check the factory yet - green or not but checked the price tags and loved the speed!

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Unveiling industry best practices

Knitting & Knitwear

A Textile Today Initiative l Published with Volume 11, Issue 09 l Pages 97 to 106

Seamless technology reduces 40% production time of Fakhruddin Textiles Mills Limited

S ep tem b er 2 01 8

‘Automation is the crying need for apparel industry…’

Sustainability Management for implementing sustainability management system (SMS) in textile industry.

5 years Textile Industry will require more than 2000 sustainability professionals.

In next

Compliance departments will be transformed into Sustainability Departments.

Knitting & Knitwear

Certificate on

Unveiling industry best practices

?

Sustainability Professional

A Tex t i l e To d a y I n i t i a t i ve

Do you want to be a

K n i t t i n g To d a y

Seamless technology reduces 40% production time of Fakhruddin Textiles Mills Ltd. Fakhruddin Textiles Mills Ltd. brings seamless technology in Bangladesh for the first time. The State-of-the-art technology will help Bangladesh to cater different market segments in active wear.

FT Research Team Bangladeshi knitting industry is currently going through major technology shift from low valueadded shirt and sweaters to high value-added seamless activewear.

The Seamless technology is an innovative concept in producing clothing almost free of seams.

The technology introduced almost 30 years ago in Europe.

However, Bangladesh experienced the seamless technology in 2015 via Fakhruddin Textiles Mills Ltd. (FTML) a sister concern of Urmi Group who brings the technology to Bangladesh.

In 2015, the company started a pilot project with five Santoni machines and now 40 modern seamless machines are in production. Seamless garmenting

Figure 2: Santoni seamless machines at FTML.

is highly technical and innovative job, it needs technically sound and creative design and development team. When the company was planning to adopt the technology, the machine manufacturers thought that Bangladesh might not be ready to adopt it.

However, the futuristic company showed confidence to step into the new era.

Figure 1: high value-added seamless activewear in FTML.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

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Leading sports and fashion brands across the world know all too well that the demand for seamless activewear is rising rapidly.

Sports brands like Adidas, Puma, Nike, Reebok, and Decathlon are some big players, also other fashion brands are leaning towards it.

“Initially the response from the buyers were poor, customers couldn’t get confidence that such high-tech production can be done in Bagladesh, but over the past three years we demonstrated our ability,” Faiaz Rahman, Director of Urmi Group said to Textile Today FT Research Team.

In the beginning, the company developed designs for multiple customers and closed their first order from NEXT. PUMA boosted up the company with plenty of orders and they became the main buyer. Other brands like Celio, M&S and Target are also showing great interest. Currently, it is producing seamless t-shirts, underwear and sports bra. With current capacity and order, they are producing 50,000 pieces of garments every month.

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Although the technology eliminates the fabrication process and reduces production time to almost 40%, but the machines are very expensive. The two major tasks of this process are product design and machine operation.

Also, machine operation and maintenance is very complex. The company assigned two foreign specialists to look after the issue.

“We are working with Santoni to train our people, we sent four of our people abroad for training.

Now Santoni technical team and foreign experts are providing training to our local designers and machine operator/technicians,” said Faiaz Rahman. He also expressed, “Generally one operator should operate five machines but our people still did not reach that level of technical expertise and now one operator is handling only two machines which should be improved.”

R e t a i l e r s To d a y

shape and measurement of the product. Currently, our product rejection rate is high but we are moving in the right direction to bring that within a competitive range,” Faiaz Rahman added.

Today’s consumer wants something beyond requirement-based garments and they prefer activewear with variation in design and characteristics.

Figure 3: Faiaz Rahman, Director, Urmi Group Seamless apparel is beautiful and offers comfort and As it is a new technology for support that is superior to cut Bangladesh, technical knowand sew garments.

There is an how is a big challenge for the enormous possibility and scope entrepreneurs. The technology for Bangladesh to adopt the adaptation and the learning curve seamless technology to penetrate is a lengthy process. the activewear market with value“Raw materials and yarn selection added product. Setting up this requires more technical expertise. industry will help Bangladesh to In dyeing and finishing stage, even move up in the new value chain. a little deviation could affect the

‘Gina Tricot’ will increase imports from Bangladesh to 1 billion dollar Swedish fashion company Gina Tricot launches its sourcing office in Bangladesh and it has declared to increase its imports from Bangladesh to one billion dollars by 2019.

Desk Report One of the biggest Swedish fashion company Gina Tricot has launched their sourcing office in Dhaka on 6 September at Banani in the capital. The Swedish company has more than 2000 employees worldwide.

“Bangladeshi manufacturers should go diversify products and also need more sustainable product for sustainable business,” said Charlotta Schlyter, Swedish Ambassador to Bangladesh, at the launching ceremony.

“Our aim is to increase and develop business. We will increase imports from Bangladesh to one billion dollars by 2019,” said Magnus Månsson, CEO, Gina Tricot.

“Last ten years we have been

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Figure: Swedish ambassador, brands representative, factories owners were present at the launching ceremony.

staying in Bangladesh market.

More than nine factories are working with us who make all kinds of women items for us,” said, Ahasan Mahmood, Country Manager, Gina Tricot.

We are so proud of our new office and we hope this will create a positive impact on both our factories and for our business, added Ahasan Mahmood.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

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Knitting

To d a y

Sinha Knitting is moving towards automation

For several reasons, including productivity increase and fast fashion trends, automation is becoming a crying need in the garments manufacturing process. Following this latest trends, Sinha Knitting Ltd is adopting automation in their production process.

FT Research Team Sinha Knitting Limited, a sister concern of Opex and Sinha Group, has taken a challenging decision of adopting automation. The company is going to install 54 new state-of-the-art machineries that will allow producing 30 tons of finer quality fabric per day.

The knitting division is going for a major technology transformation very soon to cater to the growing demand of the textile industry.

As its machinery were installed back in 90’s and updated time to time, but still a large portion of the machines remain semi-automated.

and they are using Fong’s high temperature and high-pressure fabric dyeing machine. Additional four machines are going to be added in dyeing and finishing section that will increase the dyeing and finishing capacity to 20 tons per day.

“For knitting garments production, now they have Figure 2: Sinha Knitting Ltd going for significant 24 lines, in November of this automation within next few months. year, it will be 32 lines and group is the country’s largest within one year, total lines will be integrated company. They have 60,” he added. spinning, weaving, knitting, yarn Levis and Levis Hybrid is their dyeing, fabric dyeing, main buyer, in addition, they are washing, and sewing also manufacturing garments for line. Being a fully VF Asia, Crocodile, Tola Vintage compliant factory and Norwest. The environment they accomplished is always a big concern for Sinha the majority of the Knitting, it has central biological ETP. parameters set by the In Sinha Knitting Ltd, workers Accord and Alliance. enjoy obligatory 5% compensation Shah Alam Dalim, who increment as per company rule and has 25 years combined service benefit after their retirement. experience in the textile Figure 1: Opex and Sinha using state-of-the-art machinery industry, for fabric dyeing. said, “Sinha “We are reinvesting on this Knitting Limited started plant to be fully automated. We its journey as the have already started working subsidiary of the group. with suppliers and technical The project is very much supporters,” emphasized Md. Shah quality concern and Alam Dalim, Director of Knitting & at present, the knitting Dyeing, said Textile Today. capacity is 12 tons per day.”

Opex and Sinha Group started Currently, the dyeing its journey in 1996 at Kanchpur, unit capacity is 14 tons Dhaka. Opex and Sinha Textile

Figure 3: Md. Shah Alam Dalim, Director of Knitting & Dyeing.

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Sweater exports continue to rise Staff Correspondent Sweater, a sub-sector of the apparel sector, has seen a sharp growth in the last fiscal year, thanks to prolonged winter in the western world. According to latest data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in the fiscal year 2017-18, Bangladesh earned $3.67 billion, which is 9.32% higher compared to the $3.36 billion it earned in FY16-17.

sweater manufacturers made a huge investment to upgrade machinery to move for automation.

As a result, Bangladesh’s sweater production capacity, as well as workers’ productivity, have increased,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Vice President Mohammed Nasir said the Textile Today.

Sweater has contributed 11.98% to overall readymade garment exports of $30.62 billion. In the Fiscal Year 2017-18, Bangladesh’s export earnings from the apparel sector have seen an 8.76%

On top of that, the winter season in the western countries has expanded due to global climate change. It has increased demands of winter clothing products. So, it brings blessing to Bangladeshi

opportunity for Bangladesh that has quality products at a reasonable price, Salam said, also a Former President of BGMEA. In reaping the benefits of China, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a trade analyst and economist, asked the manufacturers to move for diversification of products and making new investment on product development.

He also urged the government to take measures in exploring new markets. On the other hand, manufacturers have to identify the new products, which are being left by the Chinese manufacturers.

Barriers to grow

2.93

2013-14

3.36

3.18

2.82

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

Despite having a sound growth, there is more room to grow.

However, there are also challenges, which is hindering the prospects of the emerging sub-sector.

3.67

Exports earnings from sweater even could be more, if there are no barriers such as port congestion, delayed delivery and transportation hindrance,” Target Group Managing Director, Azharul Islam said the Textile Today.

2017-18

Sweater exports earnings in $ billion

Figure 1: Sweater exports earnings in $ billion for FY 2017-18. Source: EPB

growth to 30.61 billion. While, the country’s total, exports earnings rose to $36.66 billion in the same period.

Bangladesh, the second largest exporter of clothing products, has a huge opportunity in increasing exports of sweater products, as it is upgrading technology.

While the global demand is increasing due to expanded winter in the Western world. On top of that, Bangladesh offers quality products at an affordable price.

These have pushed the export earnings from the sector up.

Technological upgradation helps to grow “In the recent years, Bangladeshi

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sweater manufacturers, said Nasir.

Meanwhile, China’s business relocation and rise in wages have brought more work orders in Bangladesh.

“If you look into the recent export trend of clothing products of China, it is losing its market share in the global markets. Since the workers’ wages in China is increasing, manufacturers are shifting their businesses to include higher-end products, and buyers are searching for new sourcing destinations,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Abdus Salam Murshedy said Textile Today.

So, the business shifting from China has created an enormous

Talking to the sector people opined that as a sub-sector of RMG, sweater industry can contribute over $8 billion to meet Bangladesh’s export target of $50 billion by 2021, said Islam.

He urged Bangladesh government to increase port capacity to reduce lead-time.

“Bangladesh has good quality product at a reasonable price.

But there is a shortage of raw materials to produce high-end goods, technical expertise,” said Md Moshiul Azam Shajal, Managing Director of Posmi Sweaters.

To remove these barriers, we need a stable and long-term policy to ensure the business-friendly atmosphere in the country, he added.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Automation

‘Automation is the crying need for apparel industry…’

Customer choices are changing rapidly, they want value-added product and in this regard, automation can offer value addition in garment products.

H N Ashiqur Rahman, General Manager, Brother International Singapore Pte Ltd. Bangladesh RMG industry, the second largest ready-made garment exporter in the world, has scrambled many challenges and still it is overcoming many hard situations. Now the industry is moving forward with the latest technology. Many apparel millers are using the latest technology for better productivity to cope up with fast fashion trends.

Machinery companies also continuously working on bringing new featured machinery. H N Ashiqur Rahman, General Manager, Brother International Singapore Pte Ltd, is one of the most wellknown professionals, working as a technology provider for more than a decade in the apparel industry.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Recently he shared his views on apparel trends, technology, and market in a recent conversation with Textile Today.

Textile Today: How do you see the transformation of the Bangladesh textile industry in terms of Garments trends and technology?

H N Ashiqur Rahman: Thanks for your thoughtful question.

You know the entire textile industry is mainly sewing based.

Our factory owners give capital investment for ends product operation process which means sewing and finishing section. So, industry transformation depends on how sewing technology is shifting. I have been serving in

Volume 11, Issue 09

this industry for the last 15 years.

Once upon a time, I saw sewing machine was operated by button, extra sewing thread was cut manually by helper and oil leaking from machines. At present, the technology is shifting rapidly.

Now we are using computerized sewing machine, auto trimming system, direct drive technology, and digital flexibility feeding system. The industrial sewing machine has changed the way of whole clothing industry operation.

It has increased the speed of production, which is unmatched with the speed of hands. Because of the technological revolution, now we have bargaining capacity to achieve a higher price in case of

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Automation

K n i t w e a r To d a y

high-quality product.

Textile Today: China is the giant player in the textile manufacturing industry worldwide, though they are closing their basic garments manufacturing industries and Bangladesh is trying to grab that market. So, how do you see the prospects of Bangladesh textile and apparel market in future?

Ashiqur Rahman: Bangladesh textile and apparel industry is continuously growing and looking for new opportunities. In JulyAugust 2018, our export growth increases more than 10%. In the last five years our factories went through massive changes and now maximum factory introduces themselves as a compliant factory.

Seven out of ten green factories of all over the world are in Bangladesh.

In 2017-18, export earnings from the RMG sector is USD 30.16 billion, posting a 9% growth in the last fiscal year. I hope after five years; our industry growth will be double. Because last few years buyers were slow to place an order due to ongoing safety inspections in the apparel sector. But now they are changing their mindset as the safety inspection has almost come to an end showing significant progress and that restored buyer’s confidence to place more orders here. In addition, Bangladesh will be the next popular hotspot of apparel sourcing after China.

Textile Today: What is the recent innovation of industrial sewing machine and how does it helps the industry to increase quality and productivity?

H N Ashiqur Rahman: Industrial sewing machines are updating day by day. Many companies are adding new features to increase productivity. For example, they are using direct drive technology, it reduces the two-thirds portion of total energy while the needle is running. In past, there was no such energy efficient technology.

Another addition is auto-trimming technology, using this technology

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Figure 2: A Brother sewing machine in operation.

we can cut up to 3mm or less as per as buyer requirements. It is a new innovation for the industrial sewing machine. I can also add, in the past, the rate of needle breakage was higher but the new innovation of technology reduces needle breakage percentage and also increases the rate of production.

Textile Today: Day by day, the whole supply chain is getting compact and technology replacing the workforce. Do you think automation is a threat for garments workers?

H N Ashiqur Rahman: I think automation creates an opportunity to expand our garments industry in terms of productivity and value-addition. It’s true that, naturally human involvement will decrease in cases of automation but our worker’s efficiency will grow. Workers salary also will be increased. Customer choice is changing rapidly, they want the value-added product.

Automation can offer valueaddition in garments product for the international market. Brothers understand this trend and we have already started to supply IMB automation for the industry. In this situation, automation is the crying need for the industry to sustain the business.

Textile Today: What is the latest

addition ‘Brother’ offering to the apparel industry?

H N Ashiqur Rahman: Brother is a 110 years old world-renowned sewing machine manufacturing company having worldwide operation origin from Japan. It is continuously doing R&D to introduce new solutions for the textile and apparel industry. In the apparel industry, what ‘Brother’ do is always an example for others.

Recently Brother introduces a new single needle machine called S-7250A with new technology DFF (FigiFlex Feed). This DFF system is the latest solution for our apparel industry. This technology offers 3mm remaining thread after sewing. Needle breakage is an acute problem for the sewing machine, it hampers productivity hugely. But DFF technology reduces the possibility of needle breakage nearly 50% compared to previous technology. This machine is integrated with complete sealed aluminum oil tank, which will reduce oil stain problem and unnecessary expenses of the factory.

The most beneficial feature ‘puckering free sewing quality’ is possible with this machine because of the adaptation of DFF technology as this machine can change the feed motion depending on sewing material and process.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Innovation

New textile material designed to mask Russian military Desk Report Ros Electronics, a leading Russian producer of electronics, and TsNIITOCHMASH, a major designer and producer of weapons for the Russian military and MVD Internal Troops, have designed a new textile material to mask soldiers and their equipment.

Rostec Chief Sergei Chemezov said that the new material has chameleon-like properties and can adapt to the color of the environment. At the initial stage, the new development will be used for the needs of the Russian military, with a range of other applications being significantly expanded later.

The level of investment in the design of the new textile material could be in the range of US$100150 million, according to a source of Rostec. The project also involved some leading Russian producers of technical textiles and nonwovens.

“In recent years the demand for innovative textile materials from the Russian military and defense complex has significantly increased. This is very important for us, as, from our side, we constantly improve the equipment of Russian soldiers, making it more secure and safe,” commenting these Sergei Chemezov also added that “the industrial production of the new product has already begun.”

In particular, the new material will be used in the production of a special invisible military helmet, designed by experts representing Russian military design bureaus, affiliated with Rostec.

In addition to soldiers, the new development will be used for the masking of tanks and other military equipment. Meanwhile,

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Figure: A new textile material has been designed to mask the Russian military and their tools. Credit: REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

scientists at Rostec plan to continue their activities for the improvement of technical properties of the material, as they want to expand its use to various industries.

expand in this promising market in recent years. Russian holding AFK Systema announced its aim to start the development of innovative textile materials several months ago.

This unique development is capable of radically changing the concept of design and production of clothing. Such unique textile materials will be especially in demand during the production of clothing, particularly those, which can withstand extreme temperature conditions or radiation.

Government supports

According to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, currently, the Russian innovative and smart textiles market is estimated at US$ 1.3 billion, however, its annual growth rates are significantly higher, than those in the EU and the US, at 7%-9% per year. Still, the consumption of innovative and smart textiles in Russia is two times lower than in developed countries.

In addition to Rostec, several other Russian industrial groups, including Russian holding AFK Systema, have unveiled plans to

The Russian government is supporting the launch of new investment projects in the industry, considering them to be very promising. Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, who oversees the development of innovative textile materials, said that the demand for technical textiles in Russia will grow fourfold in the medium term.

Russia has practically no chances to maintain traditional textile’s production on the same volume as in the past. The transfer of laborintensive industries to countries with cheaper labor has resulted in the influx of cheap, low-quality products, which made local producers non-competitive.

“In this regard, a particular focus of the government is currently on the expansion of the domestic technical textiles production,” commented Denis Manturov.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

KARL MAYER WE CARE ABOUT YOUR FUTURE

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WARP PREPARATION

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KARL MAYER ROTAL boosted by with the new PRODYE-R and a huge project in the rope dyeing sector Desk Report The denim business is as lucrative as it is varied. In 2015, 6.5 billion metres of this indigo-coloured fabric were produced worldwide and delivered to the three market segments of fashion/ premium, genuine/standard and commodity. In the fashion denim business, producers have come to rely primarily on KARL MAYER ROTAL for their warp preparation operations. This Italian subsidiary of KARL MAYER has developed the PRODYE-S indigo dyeing machine to cater for the stylish jeans collections of well-known brand manufacturers, and has thus become a world leader. The “S” stands for Slasher dyeing, a dyeing process in which the yarn is wound onto warp beams. On the other hand, there is rope dyeing – which is normally used to produce genuine/standard denim – in which the yarn is dyed in rope form.

The success of PRODYE-S is based on its unique performance.

Compared to conventional machines available on the market, this innovative slasher dyeing machine gurarantees a much lower water consumption, less waste, and deeper, brilliant indigo shades.

The proportion of dyestuff out of the total yarn weight is 5.5% maximum. The production rate can also be doubled when processing lightweight denim fabrics.

Figure 1: General view on PRODYE new segment of the market, KARL MAYER ROTAL has been able to build on solid foundations.

The KARL MAYER site in Mezzolombardo was expanded to be a centre of excellence for the denim sector in 2011 and, to this end, took over all the technologies of the company group. With the integration of the product portfolios of Sucker and Benninger and subsequent in-house production, KARL MAYER was already supplying a slasher dyeing range, which was selling very well. This manufacturer was also successfully involved in rope dyeing. With the acquisition of Ira Griffin, a BALL WARPER and a LONG CHAIN BEAMER became part of the production repertoire of KARL MAYER (China).

KARL MAYER ROTAL itself

The PRODYE-R indigo rope dyeing machine is based on the knowhow and proven technological systems developed by KARL MAYER ROTAL.

KARL MAYER ROTAL – a centre of excellence for the denim sector

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Fusing all these operations together has resulted in the acquisition of extensive knowhow and experience, and the development of innovative machines featuring well-thoughtout systems for delivering maximum benefit. The Double Vario (Fig. 2) is one example of the high level of technical engineering excellence. This machine has a particularly long immersion zone of 11.2 m and delivers perfect bath circulation in the cross-flow process to guarantee extremely uniform dyeing results. The ECOWash is also a well-thought-out system, which reduces water consumption by as much as 30% compared to conventional washing processes. Finally, quick oxidation involves a 30% shorter oxidation stretch than normal (Fig. 3). This reduced length results in fewer yarn rejects, and the shade of the warp yarn sheet is more uniform.

The PRODYE-R increases efficiency and reduces costs in rope dyeing

KARL MAYER ROTAL’s PRODYE-R indigo dyeing machine can deliver all these benefits and can also be used in the genuine/standard segment. In 2015, roughly 27% of total global turnover was generated by denim with its deep, pure indigo shades and rustic fabrics.

When taking the leap into this

brought many years of expertise in the building of sizing machines to the centre of excellence. This manufacturer’s PROSIZE® sizing machine has become extremely well established on the market.

Figure 2: Design of the Double Vario dyeing unit

This innovative new machine operates with just eight dyeing units to produce deep, pure shades with a dye application of up to 5.5% of the yarn weight. The

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Te c h U p d a t e

short wet zone reduces the bath volume by up to 25%. Furthermore, when changing the ball, the warp length remaining in the machine, which is unusable, can be reduced by 20%. Overall, the machine uses less energy and water and fewer chemicals. In fact, the water consumption can be reduced by roughly 30%. The programmable cans, into which the dyed ropes are laid in a precise arrangement, also make the long chain beaming process more efficient.

Market penetration thanks to a large project The PRODYE-R complements KARL MAYER ROTAL’s product portfolio. With the new dyeing machine, the BALL WARPER, the LONG CHAIN BEAMER and the PROSIZE®, this company is the only global manufacturer involved in the one-stop provision

Figure 3: A view of the quick oxidation zone

of highly innovative rope dyeing technology. This concept is impressive. One of the biggest companies involved in makingup denim clothing in Turkey, the Taypa Group, is cooperating with KARL MAYER ROTAL on a huge project in Algeria. A textile complex for producing textiles and apparel is to be built on an area of 250 hectares in this North African country, which will create 25,000 new jobs. The planned annual output is 60 million metres of fabric per year.

In December 2013, Taypa set up a joint venture with two staterun Algerian textile companies to implement these ambitious plans. This project in the province of Relizane is to be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, eleven integrated factories, mainly for producing jeans and other apparel fabrics, will be set up by the spring of 2018. KARL MAYER ROTAL will supply the warp preparation technology for producing the denim (Fig. 4). The first large shipment left for Algeria in the middle of May 2017. 60 containers were needed to ship the PRODYE-R machines alone, of which several were ordered.

The second stage of the project envisages the building of ten more factories for producing fibres and nonwovens, among other things, which will be completed by the end of 2020.

DOS&DYE® by Tecnorama increases the dyehouse productivity Desk Report washing.

Tecnorama will show Dos&Dye®completely automatic system composed by a Dosorama dispensing machine and a Dyrama robotized dyeing machine able to work autonomously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the upcoming at ITMA Asia: hall H6 stand C19 , said a press release.

The textile machinery exhibition will be held on 15 to `9 October, at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai, China.

Figure 1: DOS&DYE® by Tecnorama

Conceived and manufactured by Tecnorama, it can manage and perform all laboratory dyeing cycles increasing the productivity both for laboratory and bulk.

In the laboratory, it reduces the dyeing trials to obtain the EXACT recipe thanks to the COMPLETE reproduction of dyeing cycle exactly as in the bulk machines in preparing, dyeing, soaping and

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Figure 2: DOS&DYE® system goes green

Volume 11, Issue 09

The ‘Right First Time’ result grants the EXACT recipe coming from the laboratory in order to drastically reduce the corrections after dyeing and the re-dyeing into bulk machines with a huge saving of the time dedicated to a production batch and the increase of the whole productivity of the dye house, said the release.

The optimization of production processes and the overcoming of those limits inherent manual management of the laboratory, the system allows to reduce water and energy consumption for an environment friendly approach and for a considerable saving of time and money.

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Events Review

Three concurrent exhibitions displayed latest textile machinery and technology Staff Correspondent Though Bangladesh garments exports are increasing, apparel makers are facing different challenges day by day. In order to stimulate the rapid economic growth of the country, particularly through industrialization, the government has adopted an ‘Open Door Policy’ to attract foreign investment to the country by establishing economic zones in all potential areas, including backward and underdeveloped regions.

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad said this as the chief guest in the inauguration ceremony of a series of three textile exhibitions ‘19th Textech Bangladesh International Expo 2018’, ‘14th Dhaka International Yarn & Fabric Show 2018’ and ‘33rd Dye+Chem Bangladesh Expo 2018’. The three concurrent exhibitions were happened from 12 September at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB), Dhaka, where Textile Today is one of the media partners. These exhibitions continued until 15th September.

“We should focus on traditional textile and needs more diversify products to meet our local demand,” Shirin added.

In the exhibition, around 1250 companies with 1500 booths from 25 countries around the world are displayed a large number of accessories, textile and apparel making machinery, colors and essential chemicals.

The special guest Md. Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin), President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) highlighted the

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Figure: Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, was present as the chief guest in the inauguration ceremony of the three concurrent textile exhibitions.

recent challenges of textile and Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry.

“We need latest and modern machinery to increase our productivity,” said Mirza Azam, State Minister for Textiles & Jute.

“Government has made 100 economic zones where many textile factories will be set up and the government will also set up textile Institute in all district to make skilled textile professional,” Mirza Azam added.

The export volume from Bangladesh has increased, but the price has decreased. Mirza Azam urged exporters to explore potential in the new market and go to diversify products.

Bangladesh garments industry is now more sustainable. RMG makers should focus on valueadded products for sustainable business, said Harsh Vardhan Shringl, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka.

As a fabrics supplier, Bangladesh is our potential market. Day by

day new factories have been established but the price is becoming a challenge for us due to a competitive market, said Hasan Tarique Imam, Country Manager, CHTC Dayao Textile Co. Ltd. “Sustainability is a big issue for us, we need more sustainable technology and solutions for sustainable business,” said Md. Amanur Rahman Managing Director, Dysin.

Inaugural session, seminars, business to business meetings, interactions among visitors all have geared up the people of textile and RMG industry and giving another boost to move further.

Fazly Shamim Ehsan, Vice President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BKMEA); Mehrun N. Islam, President and Group Managing Director, CEMS Global and CEMS Bangladesh; Faruque Hassan, Senior Vice President, BGMEA, were also present among others in the inauguration ceremony.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Tr a d e a n d B i z

Donald Trump to impose $200 bn new tariffs on Chinese goods Apparel and clothing accessories will be hit with the new 10 percent tariff and the tariffs will jump to 25 percent from next year, according to President Donald Trump’s announcement.

Desk Report President Donald Trump is going to impose 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, beginning from September 24 and those duties will rise to 25 percent on January 1, 2019. The Trump administration confirmed the information on September 17.

Apparel and clothing accessories made of leather, fur, plastic, rubber, and hooks, eyes, and eyelets used for clothing, footwear, handbags and travel goods are some of the products that will be hit with the new 10 percent tariff. While some textiles will be spared from the tariffs, the new list does target some textiles and machinery, plus handbags, hats.

Trump said in a statement, “If China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”

The action will only increase tensions between Washington and Beijing. The president seeks a new trade agreement amid complaints about alleged theft of intellectual property by Chinese companies.

Trump also concerns about the U.S. trade deficit with China.

Figure: Donald Trump is going to add new tariffs on $200 Billion in Chinese imports.

Credit: The White House

unwilling to change its practices.”

The two sides have failed to reach a deal to resolve the White House’s concerns with China’s trade practices despite a series of talks.

In a statement immediately following the news, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) expressed concern for American consumers and they are extremely discouraged by the Administration’s announcement to levy tariffs on millions of products American consumers buy every day.

Trump further added, “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly, but so far, China has been

Consumers of America– not China – will bear the brunt of these tariffs. On the other hand, American farmers and ranchers will see the harmful effects of retaliation worsen.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

The National Retail Federation (NRF) President and CEO Matthew Shay pointed that, “With the additional $200 billion in tariffs, many hardworking Americans will soon wonder why their shopping bills are higher and their budgets feel stretched.”

“We cannot afford further escalation, especially with the holiday shopping season right around the corner. The mere talk of tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports is of serious concern to retailers since tariffs of that magnitude would touch every aspect of American life,” he continued.

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S u s t a i n a b i l i t y To d a y

Walmart is enhancing sustainability of operations and global value chains Desk Report Walmart recently released its eleventh annual Global Responsibility Report (GRR), highlighting the company’s progress and accomplishments in the fiscal year 2018 to increase economic opportunity, enhance the sustainability of supply chains and strengthen local communities.

Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue—over US$ 500 billion, according to Fortune Global 500 list in 2018—as well as the largest private employer in the world with 2.3 million employees.

“At Walmart, we believe strengthening societal systems is not only the responsible thing to do, but it also maximizes business value,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, President of the Walmart Foundation and chief sustainability officer for Walmart.

She also hoped that, through their initiatives, we hope to accelerate progress and spark collective action on the issues that matter most to their customers, business and communities – helping to transform retail and retail supply chains for economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Walmart aims to lead on the environmental, social and governance issues that matter most to customers, associates, shareholders and communities. To become the most trusted retailer in a way that creates value for business and society, Walmart works in partnership with suppliers, NGOs, thought leaders and elected officials to positively create an impact on entire systems.

According to the ‘2018 Global Responsibility Report’, the company plans to achieve ‘zero waste’ in its American, Japanese, Canadian, and British supply chains by 2025. It has also set a goal to be powered by 50 percent

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to suppliers representing over 40 percent of its U.S. sales volume for apparel and home textiles.

Figure: 2018 Global Responsibility Report outlines Walmart’s milestones toward increasing economic opportunity. Credit: Walmart.

renewable sources by 2025 and has currently achieved 28 percent of the same. With such impressive targets and work that have been done so far, this report explains Walmart’s efforts for being sustainable.

With regards to its stakeholders and their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities, understanding Walmart’s standards, responsible sourcing, emissions, deforestation, water, waste, safe and healthy products; and opportunity for diverse suppliers are the main points.

Walmart is pursuing with suppliers and others in apparel and textiles including promoting safer working conditions, encouraging responsible recruitment practices, collaborating with industry stakeholders and setting expectations for responsible labor practices with suppliers. To ensure transparency in this product category, Sustainability Index and Higg Index are being used by the company.

For improving practices in the textile and apparel value chain, Walmart is supporting efforts across the textile value chain to help improve sustainability while delivering high-quality apparel, towels, and other fabric products which cover sustainable cotton and sustainable mills.

For sustainable mills, it launched the Mill Sustainability Program in October 2016 with 10 suppliers and their mill partners to improve environmental-impact areas of the mill. Since the program’s launch, the participation has expanded

The company is challenging suppliers to deliver Every Day Low True Cost (EDLTC) products that are more sustainable—without raising the price. For example, Hanes Max Cushion Crew Socks are made with 20 percent recycled Repreve polyester in an efficient facility that derives an average 70 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2017. To engage customers in these products, the company will be soon highlighting the key sustainability attributes of the EDLTC story alongside the product.

Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Walmart Inc., proudly stated, “Today, we’re leading a new transformation—one that combines our stores and clubs with e-commerce to make every day easier for busy families. At the same time, we know our transformation is about more than the shopping experience. Technology has created a new level of transparency and, increasingly, customers want to do business with companies they trust.”

Walmart has made significant progress towards ambitious goals set more than a decade ago including to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy, create zero waste and sell products that sustain people and the environment.

The report highlights a number of initiatives including significant investments in higher wages, training and increased parental leave for eligible associates; a collaborative initiative with suppliers across the value chain to reduce one billion metric tons, or one gigaton, of emissions by 2030 known as Project Gigaton™; and further collaborations with suppliers, nonprofit organizations and others to help combat forced labor in the global supply chain.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Te x t i l e P e o p l e

C a m p u s To d a y

‘14% students are receiving technical education in Bangladesh’ Day by day demand of technical education is increasing. At present, about 14 percent students of Bangladesh are receiving technical education.

BUTEX Correspondent A seminar on ‘Use of Jute-Geo Textile to prevent landslide, rural road construction and river protection’ was held successfully on 16th September in BUTEX. Dr. Abdul Jobbar Khan, Member of Bangladesh Public Service Commission and Professor of BUET, was the keynote speaker where Vice Chancellor of BUTEX, Prof. Eng. Mashud Ahmed presided over the seminar.

In this program, scholarships were given among the undergraduate and Masters students for outstanding academic results which are jointly funded by Abdul Motin Trust Foundation and M.A Sabur Trust Foundation. 14 students from different departments and different categories received this acknowledgment.

education for the sake of growing us as a skilled manpower to fulfill the prime minister’s dream of 2041. Citizen from all classes should work on it and will gift a prosperous country,” he added.

Figure: scholarships were given among the undergraduate and Master’s students for outstanding academic results which are jointly funded by Abdul Motin Trust Foundation and M.A Sabur Trust Foundation.

Attending in the program Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said, “In the Past, technical education was not popular at all.

We took the initiative to expand the technical education. At present, about 14 percent students of Bangladesh are receiving technical education. We should develop skilled new generation.”

He also inaugurated the construction of BUTEX Main Gate containing the mural of Bongbobondu Skeikh Mujibur Rahaman. Proposed expenditures of this project is about 47 lakh taka.

Registrar of BUTEX, Prof. Md. Monirul Islam; Director of student welfare, Prof. Dr. Eng. Shah Alimuzzaman; Head of yarn Engineering Department, Prof. Dr. Hosne Ara Begum and President of Bangladesh Student league (BUTEX unit) were present.

The program ended with a colorful fashion show where students of BUTEX from different departments took part.

“Our education should not be just a certificate seeker-based education. We should get the

Bangladeshi graduates from Wuhan Textile University get together in Dhaka Desk Report

Wuhan Textile University Alumni Association of Bangladesh (WTUAAB) has recently organized a reconciliation event in Dhaka.

A large number of alumni from WTU who are successfully working in different leading companies globally, doing a doctoral degree in world-leading universities, among other professionals, joined at the event.

With the aim to promote strong cooperation among former and new students, to strengthen the collaboration between WTU and Bangladesh and to expand their activity globally, the WTUAAB

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the betterment of their members and the textile industry as well.

WTUAAB members are advising the Bangladeshi students who are going to WTU for their study.

Figure: Bangladeshi graduates from Wuhan Textile University recently organized a reconciliation event in Dhaka.

members pledged a strong support in this endeavor.

The alumni shared their experiences they have achieved while working in different positions. WTUAAB members are committed to work unitedly for

Already Bangladeshi students have created a prestigious image at WTU by their merit and performance. The WTUAAB members expressed their pleasure of joining at the event.

Senior members mentioned that such an initiative will strengthen the spirit of brotherhood and encourage the young members to be motivated to move forward.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

Zhejiang Runhe Chemical New Material Co. Ltd.

R e t a i l e r s To d a y

Amazon fashion launches new apparel brand ‘Aurique’ Desk Report Amazon, an e-retail giant, has launched their first exclusive activewear label ‘Aurique’ in a view to grab the top spot in apparel retailers across the world.

The stand-out pieces are ranging sports clothing as such all the bases for high energetic functional gym wear, featuring tops, blue patterned leggings, sports bra set, metallic hooded running jacket, outerwear and bottoms ‘from bare to brunch’ style seekers.

With the athleisure trend showing no signs of slowing down, Amazon has now got on-board with a promise to offer high-end and trendy apparel that would fall in simple but stylish where one can definitely imagine mixing pieces with non-gym clothes or wearing the range for relaxed errandrunning or relaxing at home.

Aurique’s four other private labels are: Truth & Fable for women’s casual wear; Find, an everyday women’s and menswear brand; Iris & Lilly, contemporary innerwear brand for women, and Meraki ‘premium basics’ line for men and women.

The US-based retailer Amazon Fashion with its upcoming Aurique collection, promises to offer

Selected fabrics

Well finished and neat stiched

Stylish, Comforable, Functional

Casual and performance wear

Figure 2: The things Aurique focuses on.

merchandises like other offerings of the brand is this too ‘won’t break the bank’.

Furthermore, the new range of performance wear, as well as casual wear with gym-to-street clothing, offers workout apparel and other activewear products like tops, running jackets, and leggings.

In a bid to attract more customers, the retailer is offering an additional 20 percent discount to those shoppers who spend US$ 20 or more during the first week of the

Figure 1: Amazon fashion launches its new apparel brand ‘Aurique’. Courtesy: Amazon

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Affordable price starting with only £10

brand’s operations.

Frances Russell, Vice President for Amazon Fashion Private Brands Europe said, “Aurique was created to fit our customer’s busy lifestyles and complement their wardrobes with beautifully designed, fashion inspired active wear.”

“We want to provide our customers with comfortable and stylish athleisure outfits, which are affordable and make them feel great at every occasion,” she added.

More than 100 pieces wear start at £10 for a racer back vest and go up to £32 for thermal running legging can offer a pocket-friendly price bracket. It’s cannot but a strategy that’s helping it to beat the competition.

While figures around Amazon’s global market share are often hard to come by, recent estimates from Morgan Stanley suggest that it will become the top US apparel retailer this year and its market share is expected to be 14% in 2020 compared to just 5% in 2015.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

R e t a i l e r s To d a y

‘See-now, buy-now’ initiative of Amazon makes fast fashion even faster

Amazon collaborated with Nicopanda, a clothing brand that is increasing pressure to speed up their supply chains to compete.

Desk Report The e-commerce company Amazon announced on Friday that it is using its Merch by Amazon screen-printing business to collaborate with a fashion brand, Nicopanda. During its London Fashion Week show on Friday, Nicopanda debuted multiple designs on T-shirts created by queer writer and artist Hilton Dresden.

Utilizing Amazon’s relatively littleknown instant screen-printing business, Merch by Amazon, show attendees and viewers anywhere were able to immediately buy the T-shirts seen on the runway.

“Coupling Merch by Amazon’s print-on-demand technology and Amazon smilecodes enables customers around the globe to shop fashion with a convenience and speed like they’ve never experienced,” said Miguel Roque, director of Merch by Amazon.

“We’re thrilled to bring our innovative technology together with Nicopanda’s fashion ingenuity.”

for an instant gratification effect.

Credit: amazon

There were four designs in total, each with images of anthropomorphized animals appearing underneath lyrics from pop songs.

For customers who were actually at the show, Amazon enabled its “smilecodes,” which were like QR codes people can scan with their Amazon app to take them directly to the online shop. Everyone else can visit Amazon’s dedicated page.

Orders were shipped with the full force of Amazon’s e-commerce machine behind it and were eligible for free two-day Prime shipping. It is the latest example of how Amazon is using its merch program to empower creators and others to instantly capture moments, Roque said.

The “see-now, buy-now” power, combined with the fast shipping, allows

Another recent collaboration was with New York magazine’s The Cut, which took headlines from its website and printed them on T-shirts using Merch by Amazon.

One benefit is the low startup costs involved with creators taking part in the business. Since Amazon manages everything from buying shirts, stocking them, printing them, and shipping there, there is no overhead involved in putting a design on a T-shirt. Creators are then given a royalty for every sale.

It is not just small brands and artists that use Merch by Amazon, either. Disney, Marvel, Blizzard Entertainment, Cartoon Network, Universal Studios, and Epic Games have all used the program, according to its website.

The “see-now, buy-now” program touches on a hot topic in retail and fast-fashion retailers including Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 are facing increasing pressure to speed up their supply chains to compete.

Are you planning for a Customer event, Product Launching, Seminar, Conference, Workshop, Knowledge Sessions, Case/Piloting, Best Practice sharing sessions or awarness building sessions ?

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R e t a i l e r s To d a y

M&S builds partnership with True for latest innovations and technologies Desk Report Marks & Spencer Group (M&S) is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London. M&S has joined hands with True, together to get pre-emptive access to its retail and consumer expertise, emerging technologies, proprietary research and sector-specific international network.

According to a press release, True’s business model and Live Network enables the firm to see over 2,000 enterprise-ready technology and consumer-product businesses each year.

M&S will draw on the Live Network to access the latest innovative technologies and expertise from within the sector that can best support M&S’ digital ambitions, said the press release.

and make us fit for the future.”

Figure: Marks & Spencer joins hands with True. Courtesy: M&S.

Chief Executive of M&S, Steve Rowe, hoped that their partnership with True will give them unparalleled access to the latest innovations and technologies that have the potential to transform the way they operate and run our business.

Digital-first retailer, we will be on the front foot thanks to True’s deep sector knowledge and the exposure they will give us to new enterprise-ready technologies which will benefit our customers

Mike Tattersall, True Chief Commercial Officer, expected, “The explicit focus of our partnership activities is to deliver positive commercial outcomes with clear and tangible ROI for our partners. M&S exemplifies a business that has not only helped shape the British retail landscape but understands the need to evolve – and the importance of innovation to achieve this.”

Through the True Live Network, they will support M&S in enhancing its operations and ensuring it is a retail business that is strongly positioned to navigate a continuously changing landscape, he continued.

H&M launches new e-commerce site and app in the US Desk Report Swedish retail giant Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has introduced its all-new e-commerce site and mobile application for customers in the USA. The all-new site and mobile app will have many new features including Visual Search, payment via PayPal, and Scan and Find.

It also offers new shipping options, live chat, and visual search, as well as tools to rate and review online orders and scan items in-store to check additional sizing and color options online.

Later this year, H&M said it will launch a ‘find in store’ tool to enable customers to locate an item in their nearest H&M. The site and app will also feature user-generated-content tagged

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The online site has been updated with all the new features automatically, but to see the changes reflected in the mobile app, users will need to delete the old app and download the new version, for both iPhone and Android.

Courtesy: H&M

with #HMxME in an inspiration gallery. A statement from H&M cited the rapid digitalization of the fashion industry and the new opportunities it has created.

The statement said that “H&M is accelerating its transformation to take advantage of these opportunities to create a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience online, on your mobile device and in our physical stores.”

The changes come on the heels of H&M’s new sizing structure, which was introduced earlier this year to better reflect the North American industry standard and to be in line with the customer expectation in the market.

Visual Search enables one to find and search for items by using images. The feature, Scan, and Find, offers a wider product assortment and one stock availability for the customer between the physical and online store.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

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F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Three apparel makers get HSBC Export Excellence Awards Staff Correspondent

Three garments manufacturers have been awarded 8th HSBC Export Excellence Awards for their contributions to the Bangladesh economy as well as in exports earning. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed handed over the crests to the winners at a ceremony held in Dhaka on 22 September.

The winners of the 8th HSBC Export Excellence Awards from the apparel sector are: DBL Group, Urmi Group, Etafil Accessories.

While Western Marine Shipyard, Mazen (Bangladesh) Industries Ltd, and Walton Hi-tech Industries Ltd also won the awards for their contributions to the country’s economy through their respective business segment.

For the last few years, Bangladesh exports are showing good performance. This is because of the government initiatives were taken to diversifying products and market, said Tofail Ahmed. He was present there as chief guest.

For the garment sector, Bangladesh government has increased cash incentives from 3% to 4% for exports in the non-traditional export destination to diversify the market, said Ahmed. We also offered cash incentives for nine new products this year, he added.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), on a regular basis recognizes exporters for their leadership in promoting the country’s economy and maintaining a sustainable growth in earnings.

In the selection process for the award, companies’ corporate social responsibility practices, regulatory compliance, sustainable business practices, contribution to the local

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Figure: winners of HSBC Export Excellence Awards with distinguished guests.

economy are taken into consideration.

Bangladeshi English daily the Daily Star, Bangla daily the Prothom Alo, research organization Nielsen Bangladesh and KPMG were program partners of this year’s event.

DBL Group, a leading exporter of apparel products, has won the award as the exporter of the year in the readymade garments category.

The company exported products worth more than $100 million.

In the same category, Urmi Group, another clothing product has won the award for its annual export turnover of less than $100 million.

As a manufacturer of quality garments accessories and for maintaining good supply chain,

Etafil Accessories became the exporter of the year in the backward linkage category for an annual export turnover of $10 million.

MA Jabbar, Managing Director of DBL Group, Gulzar A Chowdhury, Managing Director of Etafil Accessories and Asif Ashraf, CEO of Urmi Group, received the crests on behalf of their respective companies.

Addressing as the special guest, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said: “manufacturers have to be ready to face the difficulties after the graduation from LDC to developing country status by 2024.”

HSBC deputy CEO and country head of wholesale banking of Bangladesh Md Mahbub ur Rahman said: “exporters are taking HSBC Export Excellence Bangladesh economy Awards winners from apparel sector to a new level through their contributions in exports and job creation.”

DBL Group

Urmi Group

Etafil Accessories

“So, for their tireless efforts and contributions to the country’s economy, we give them recognition to encourage others,” he added.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 11, Issue 09

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