Global companies upbeat about Bangladesh's denim

International clothing retailers and brands are optimistic about denim products made in Bangladesh due to promising business prospects, according to experts.

These companies are either expanding their existing businesses or establishing new offices in Bangladesh as the response from local manufacturers is growing.

Another encouraging factor is that the global supply chain is rebounding from the severe impacts of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Additionally, traders of chemical products are thriving in Bangladesh as local dyers and washers are importing a significant amount of chemicals.

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Investment rises as Bangladesh conquers the world of denim

These views were expressed at a two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo, which began at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka yesterday.

A European retailer asking not to be named said he has already increased the amount of clothes his company sources from Bangladesh as the country's increasing production capacity was helping to give them more confidence.

Bangladesh has also been receiving a lot of work orders because a portion of those were ones diverted from Myanmar for political turmoil in the neighbouring country, he said.

"The confidence in Bangladesh is very high. We are in a much better shape now," he added.

Monowar Shikder, director of sales and marketing at Soko Chemicals, an Italian company, said they had been selling washing chemicals to Bangladeshi denim makers for the past 17 years.

He added that demand was growing, saying his business had grown 20 percent over the past few years and that he anticipates further growth in 2024.

Muhammad Wahidul Alam, general manager of RNT (BD), another chemical company, said the denim market in Bangladesh is growing because of three factors -- low prices, better quality and high production capacity.

He added that many local millers were adopting new washing and dyeing technologies to reduce water consumption in the manufacturing processes.

At present, many denim millers use seven to eight litres of water to wash a kilogramme of fabric, a significant reduction from the nearly 350 litres needed in the past.

Carmina Ferri, founder and CEO of Care Applications, a Spanish device and equipment manufacturing company, said her business in Bangladesh was growing because local denim makers are using new technologies to meet increasing demand.

"The response from local millers has been very positive," she said.

Mostafiz Uddin, organiser of the expo, said retailers are very positive about Bangladesh because of improved capacity of denim product here.

The buyers' responses are high for the locally made denim products which indicates that they are preferring this destination very much, he said.

Bangladesh is already the top denim supplier to European countries and to the US on having overtaken China, the largest apparel supplier worldwide. Because other emerging countries like Cambodia does not have big denim production capacity, Uddin said.

However, the prices for denim are still low, he said.

Bangladesh has been the top denim exporter to the EU since 2017, with one out of three people in the continent donning denim pants produced in the country.

Given that worldwide demand is growing, businesses are looking to enhance their capacity in order to grab a bigger slice of the $64.5 billion global denim market.

Local exporters currently supply denim products worth nearly $5 billion worldwide.

The global denim market is projected to rise to $76.1 billion by 2026, growing at a rate of 4.8 percent annually, according to various estimates.

As such, local entrepreneurs have invested nearly Tk 25,000 crore in the denim segment of the primary textile sector, which already has 42 modern mills capable of supplying over 900 million metres of denim fabrics each year.