Textile Today | September 2017 by Textile Today

Bangladesh

Driving business with knowledge Volume 10 |

Issue 09 |

years of Publication

ISSN 1999-2076 Reg. 8/2012 September 2017 www.textiletoday.com.bd

BDT 150, USD 10

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Dynamics of continuous processing

Way-outs Human Capital

What could be the possible way outs for recent challenges of Bangladesh textile & apparel industry?

Branding Sustainability Infrastructure Others

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Textile Auxiliaries ZDHC Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals

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Textile Auxiliaries ZDHC Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals

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. Mohammed Tareque Aziz C.N. Sivaramakrishnan Ashfaque Ahmed Associate Editor Jamal Abdun Naser Md. Mominul Motin (Tusher) Sub Editor Akhi Akter Technical Team Co-ordinator Setara Begum Member Md. Muddassir Rashid Amzad Hossain Monir Md. Abdul Jobber Rakibul Islam Tania Khatun Editor & Publisher A.S.M Tareq Amin Published on 30th September 2017 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. ÂŠ All rights reserved to Amin & Jahan Corporation Ltd. 2017 Volume 10, Issue 09 (September 2017) Reg 8/2012, Dhaka.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Issue 09 |

Bangladesh

years of Publication

Reg. 8/2012 September 2017

Driving business with knowledge Volume 10 |

On the Cover

www.textiletoday.com.bd

BDT 150, USD 10

Dynamics of continuous processing

ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ Mosdorf GmbH & Co. KG is a well know Germany based textile auxiliaries and specialty chemical manufacturer. Their high performance auxiliaries are easing the textile finishing process.

What could be the possible way outs for recent challenges of Bangladesh textile & apparel industry?

Way-outs Human Capital Branding Sustainability Infrastructure Others

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See Huntsman advertisement at page 15

Textile Auxiliaries ZDHC Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals

12-16 3.1

2.78

2.72

FEB

MAR

APR

3.06

3.04

MAY

JUN

3.2

3.64

JULY

AUG

Export in billions of $

September’ 17 |

Volume 10 |

Spinning Today

Factory Tales

52-55

Issue 09

Dynamics of continuous processing

Bangladesh Export Update 3.31

Content

Editorial

JAN

Driving business with knowledge

See advertisement at page 05

See advertisement at page 17

Export in August hit record in the Bangaldesh history

Cover Story

18-27

What could be the possible way outs for recent challenges......

Indian cotton spinning mills running at 60 - 65 percent capacity utilization, GST hits export further low

Rahim Textile Mills Ltd– a pioneer in ‘All Over Printing’

Value Chain Upgradation

40-41

Textile and apparel companies should be allowed to invest abroad

Viyellatex gets low interest foreign currency loan from HSBC

Esquire Knit Composite to invest to set up green factory in Mymensingh

Akij Jute Mills looks to invest $20m in Malaysia

Weaving Innovation

Time required for tying-in process won’t be a headache anymore in weaving

Energy & Power

Cotton Today Egypt’s Cotton Production 2005-2017 1200

000s of Bales

1000 800

975

970

938

745

600 550

983

400

490

525

435

932

395 370

200

000s Bales

320

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Years

44-47

Production and exports increasing significantly

Exclusive Interview

Bangladesh setting example in using ‘Retained Heat Cooker’ made of waste cloth and cock sheet

Fashion Today

48-49 30-32

Legging is in top of fashion trend

Anything good and big can be done only by the .....

Naimul Haque Khan, Director, Richman-Lubnan, Infinity

Country Proﬁle

Smart Textile

82-84

Inclusive banking for RMG workers

Apparel export growth & FDI flow are declining

Observed 2.3% drop in export to the US

Minimum wage for garment worker is increased

34-37

Graphene to make revolutionary changes in smart clothing technology

Major challenges of Cambodia’s garment sector

Cotton Today

Cotton in a new way

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Content

September’ 17 |

Trade Body

Trade & Business

77-78

BGMEA wants one year more to shift its headquarters

Textile People

Expected free trade agreement between Turkey and Bangladesh can boost trade among them

News & Analysis

ITET distributes relief to flood affected people

Textile Talent Hunt

Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) gets new Committee

Volume 10 |

Issue 09

Retailers Today

H&M Foundation makes breakthrough in recycling garments

Campus Today

TED of Southeast University organized ‘Community Day’

Trade & Business

59-60

Textile Talent Hunt 2017-18 launched

Labib Group celebrates its success

News Analysis

The champion of TTH 2013 has joined GEMTEX as researcher

Sustainability Today

ZDHC recognizes ECO PASSPORT by OEKOTEX® as indicator of MRSL conformance

In Focus

68-71

Tangail’s ‘Karatia Tant Hat’, a hundred years of tradition

BGMEA urges Georgia to invest more in Bangladesh

Bangladesh to remain top destination for international retailers and brands over the next 5 years

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 online space application is now open

Campus Today

News Analysis

More value addition on denim products can lift the sector further, says BUTEX BC ‘Professional Talk’ program

Advertorial

72-75 A revolutionary start of the first ecological alternative to potassium permanganate

China University offers 14 BUFT Students for Scholarship

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Editorial

Dynamics of continuous processing C.N.Sivaramakrishnan, Bsc Tech C Col FSDC (UK) Developments in textile wet processing have been truly remarkable during the last 100 years based on actual published reports and actual happenings. Initially, the sole purpose of dyeing was to color the textile substrates for fancy fabric appearances. With the advent of functional fibers, (such as micro fibers) and complex blends, the pressure was on machinery and specialty chemical manufacturers to develop processing machineries and auxiliaries through advanced dyeing and finishing processes for higher value added applications. Another major contributor and success to the development of continuous processing is the cost of energy, water and eﬄuent treatment operations in batch wise processing.

continuous processing. Thrust is also to reduce the foot print both of water and carbon on our Eco system. Continuous processing is a step forward addressing many of the concerns. It is observed that 95% of shade variations come from batch wise operations, with 25% coming from grey fabrics and substrates, 35% from dyeing and finishing operations. Continuous dyeing operations contribute only 5%. Continuous dyeing method is the most suitable technique for dyeing large lengths of fabrics to maintain consistency of shade, which are particularly intended for defense and school uniforms. Continuous dyeing reduces the tolerance gaps substantially, unlike batch dyeing, where liberal tolerance limits for a given shade are permitted.

Quality control in batch wise processing involves keeping output of individual processes in control through the use of control charts. Batch wise dyeing with all the precautions has the limitations with problems of variation of shade and material handling and inability to carry out large orders of a given shade at a stipulated period of time. The use of such control systems are static and ineffective tools for accommodating complex and dynamic operations like

Continuous dyeing of cotton and polyester /cotton blends has many variables. Diﬃculties in producing the exact shade and right quality are exacerbated by the very nature that the process is continuous. Factors which affect shade control are substrate, pretreatment, dye-mix preparation, dye-range application, and specialty finishing. Identifying and controlling the variables are at the heart of shade control operation. Different types of dyeing and application methods - are more or

less complex - depending on the chosen substrate. For example, complex blends create greater diﬃculty than single fiber fabrics. Following factors bear signiﬁcance to shade control and shade variation: Fiber content, fiber specifications, yarn and fabric formation, composition of the blend types and nature of chemical auxiliaries used are key factors. The most popular blends compositions are spun poly/cotton yarns in ratios of 65% poly/35% cotton, 50% poly/50% cotton and 40% poly/60% cotton. There are also blended fabrics which combine blended spun yarns with textured or spun filament polyester yarns. Each and every one of these different mixes creates variations in dyeability. In addition to the content or type of fiber, the basic nature of those fibers present are factors that have a direct effect on dyeing and or dyeability. The most fundamental of these specifications are maturity, base color, fineness, crystallinity, orientation, ionic character and micronaire. With these characteristics, the most important point to remember is the mixing of variations in them that contribute to shade variability. Variations

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Editorial

are introduced through the degree and type of blending, two or three phase drawing, spinning type and tensions as well as loom tensions and reed spread. Slashing is also critical in a number of ways. The size formula is very critical, as are the differences in size pickup, speed differences, creep speed, duration of creep and temperature settings. All these factors affect as to how well the size is removed. The product texturing, core-spinning or other specialty processes also have a large bearing on subsequent shade control. It is very important that all chemical auxiliaries are selected carefully and controlled with accuracy. Lubricants, waxes, oils (natural or synthetic) and warpsizing chemicals are the most obvious of chemicals which affect the shade control. Complete removal of all auxiliaries used in fabric preparation is extremely critical because redeposition of these agents will cause huge quality and/or aesthetic problems. Warp size specifications are of extreme importance. PVA, CMC and starch may be used, but they must adhere to guidelines that promote excellent removal characteristics. Any size mix and/or additive that include agents that are not water-soluble will result in a myriad of problems later on. The use of animal fats or tallow is detrimental in continuous processing. In a number of ways, these products have a large effect on dye distribution. Some of them promote dye uptake while others are dye inhibitors. Warp size specifications are of extreme importance. Several of the natural and synthetic components in the fiber/fabric tend to migrate over time. Levelness and degree of dye uptake are affected by the distribution as well as by the type of component that is present. Long-term storage of yarn or grey fabric has an effect on shade.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Fabric stored for long duration in a hot warehouse is quite different than that processed more quickly. All chemicals, even moisture, will act as a carrier system. In continuous dyeing, the dye applied to fibers by padding and then fixed in a separate operation by hot air, steam or contact heat, but the most interesting of these methods of dyeing is composed wholly or partly of polyester is the thermosol process. Thermosol process is based on the principle that certain dyes (mainly disperse dyes and some vat dyes) penetrate very rapidly into the interior of polyester fibers under the action of dry heat or superheated steam. With this process, very long yardages can be dyed in a relatively short time. Many variations in the textile material, which are liable to cause warp streakiness or other unevenness in batch dyeing operation can be covered or eliminated by thermosol dyeing. Thermosol process involves the following operations: Padding the dye liquor on to the textile substrate Drying the goods Fixation of the dyes (Thermosol treatment) The following factors are essential for faultless results in thermosol dyeing: A: Careful and uniform pretreatment of the textile material B: Use of dyes and auxiliaries specially selected for this process C: Uniform operation of the thermosol dyeing range If dyed goods fulfill the above conditions, then this is a sign that the Thermosol range is operating under uniform conditions: Levelness is observed across the whole width of the fabric (no listing)

Volume 10, Issue 09

Levelness of both sides of the fabric (No two sideness) No tailing No unevenness across the entire length and width of the fabric Good reproducibility Automation system: An interconnected automation system is a pre requisite for any equipped modern dye house. The process starts with the automation of dyeing machines through the system and futher goes on to automatic transport and even to weighing systems of dyestuffs and chemicals. The automation system carries out systematically the overall management as well as the organization of the dye house. A Dye house system can integrate all the products, PC-control systems or host-computers. This integrated approach also includes in itself order handling system, recipe formulation system for the all with the aim to maximize the dye house processes. This way the network of all the individual components within a dye house ensures a continuous and flawless data flow along with a clear cut structure and full flexibility in production. Under the umbrella of a common operating surface, that operates on state-of-the-art latest computer packages the system transmits process programs. This transmission is done strictly according to the pre- arranged pre-defined sequence of the control unit of a dyeing machine. Subsequently production recipes are transmitted to (a) weighing station, (b) solving station i.e. (c) chemical dispensing unit. Ready signals and request needs of any sort also gets exchanged automatically between the color kitchen components and dyeing machines. It is from the dyeing machine control units that all the set, actual values and disturbances get transmitted

Editorial

back into control station. It is important here to note that all the machines from other departments also get directly connected only through a control system. Lastly this method also allows all the data to be signaled back into the central EDP. Dispense tank requirements Automatic level control for filling Steam heating and temperature control Stirring device of the correct design Gravity feed to the dyeing machine Drain to waste for cleaning Rinse ring, usually a perforated pipe in the top of the vessel Hot and cold water, often supplied through the rinse ring In matching blends, the resultant shade and ultimate control of the shade are dependent on whether the polyester is dull, semi dull or bright. Other factor of equal significance is the residual moisture content in the fabric, as many dyes are sensitive to moisture, for instance a shade may appear different after drying as conditions change. Sometimes the difference is subtle and many a times it is quite large. At times, that “conditioning difference” is large enough to render a sample completely off-shade when initially it may have appeared to be perfectly okay. Tailing: This term refers to the depletion of dye concentration in the pad liquor that takes place gradually during continuous running. The higher the dye substantivity and the lower the applied depth, the more pronounced is the depletion or tailing effect. If the component dyes in a trichromatic combination differ significantly in substantivity, tailing may be more obvious because it manifests itself as a gradual change in hue. This fault can be minimized by rapid recirculation of the pad liquor from the trough back into the stock feed tank. However, it is also essential to consider

carefully the relationship between the laboratory pad, stock tank and pad liquor formulations. A lab-scale padding gives a similar shade to that of the first few meters dyed in bulk, whereas the equilibrium shade reached after several minutes of bulk-scale running may be significantly paler or off-shade relative to the lab result. Quantification of these differences can be used to calculate allowance factors, so that the stock feed and lab-scale formulations can be adjusted to ensure that the pad liquor at equilibrium yields the target shade on the finished goods. Creasing: This is probably the most common fault to occur in continuous dyeing. Sometimes these are retained visible folds formed during preparation or the dyeing process itself, but more often they are temporary folds that have appeared and vanished again in a preparatory process, their presence only being revealed later by differential dye uptake. The source of such problems may be diﬃcult to identify with certainty. Excessive, insuﬃcient or variable tension in running fabrics can be important causes of crease formation. Tight selvedges, differential shrinkage, the development of bowed or skewed weft incorrectly bowed expanders and worn or badly rotating rollers can all produce rippled or irregular patterns of creasing. The build-up of lint, loose threads or other insoluble debris as hard deposits on roller surfaces is another potential source of variability in fabrics running over them. Importance of pre-treatment and precautions to be taken The result of a thermosol treatment largely depends on the manner in which the goods have been pre-treated. Any pitfall or mistakes made in the

pre-treatment will get reflected in the appearance of the dyed goods. Fabrics must be pretreated with the same intensity and in the same manner across the length and width of the fabric and incorporated evenly in padding and drying, so that it can penetrate evenly in to the interior of the fiber during the thermosol treatment. The surface of the fabric must be smooth and free from soiled stains. Often, it is seen that thick knots and protruding ends of yarns are not removed, thereby putting pressure in padding, which can produce pale parts of the dyed fabric. Goods containing tiny knots, slubs, other irregularities are not suitable for thermosol dyeing. Oil spots and stains to be removed using combination specialty surfactants having oil soluble properties. Stain removing formulations containing solvents can also cause trouble. Apart from the possibility of edge formation in drying, the solvent has the ability to change to aﬃnity of the fiber for the dye at the treated parts. Excessive rubbing of the stains must also be avoided, because this would cause an uneven nap at the treated parts of the fabric. Ring marks are seen at the treated parts which will distinctly be seen after thermsol treatment. Fabrics composed wholly or partly of polyester fiber are normally preset. Thermosol treatment is carried out on the hot air stenter and under these conditions; heat setting effect on polyester fibers takes place. Pre-setting is only carried in cases, where it is necessary to release tensions in the material that are liable to disturb running of the goods or to avoid irregular shrinkage in length and width, as often occurs in the thermosol treatment in the thermosol chamber or on heated cylinders. Pre-setting can also be carried out if the goods have to be stabilized for the pretreatment or

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

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Volume 10, Issue 09

Editorial

if the pretreatment involves the danger of running and cutting creases becoming fixed in the fabric, so that they become visible in subsequent padding operations. If polyester blended fabrics are to be dyed by the thermosol process, singeing is carried out as part of the pretreatment. In the thermosol process, the molten ends of the fiber do not get dyed in darker shades, as they do when the fabric is dyed in an aqueous

bath. The most economical and safe bet is to singe the goods in the loom stage. In some cases, better results are obtained by desizing and washing prior to singeing. This treatment causes the ends of fiber to stand out better, thus facilitating singeing and eliminates the danger of impurities being burnt into the fabric. Singeing must be effected uniformly across the whole width of the goods (by staggered arrangement of burner). Uneven

singeing of the fabric results in much the same variation in aﬃnity of the polyester fiber for dyes as uneven pre-setting. It is advisable to singe twice with a small flame and at a high speed of the goods. It is expected of a continuous processing plant to mechanized weighing and dispensing systems in place. In today’s manufacturing environment, it is mandatory to have a good color kitchen to achieve consistent quality and eﬃciency.

Export in August hit record in Bangaldesh history Staﬀ Correspondent

3.31

Country’s Exports fetched $3.64 billion in August, the highest in a single month in the country’s history, on the back of increased shipments of garment, frozen fish, agricultural and leather products. According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau, August’s receipts, which comfortably beat the target of $2.90 billion, were an increase of 10.64 percent from a year earlier and 13.75 percent from a month earlier. Leather and leather goods, which is the second-largest export earning sector, fetched $248.16 million in the July-August period, up 9.45 percent year-on-year. Industry people also said the exports shot up in preparation of Christmas, the peak season for retailers. Earnings from footwear stood at $52.59 million, up 30.24 percent from a year earlier. Garment, which typically accounts for more than 80 percent of the export receipts, raked in $3.04 billion last month,

3.1 2.72

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3.04

MAY

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Export in billions of $ Figure: National export graph in billions of USD (Source: EPB)

an increase of 11.76 percent from a year earlier. The EPB data showed that the earnings from RMG product exports in the two months of FY18 grew by 14.05 per cent to $5.52 billion from $4.84 billion in the same period of FY17. “Export earnings of the garment sector showed higher growth in August because of lower growth in the last few months,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu, vice-president of the Bangladesh

Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said that the export earnings’ growth in the first two months of current financial year was encouraging but it would not be wise to make any comment on the overall export situation based on only two month’s data. “I think the export earnings growth in the month of September will register a negative growth as production and shipment remained suspended at least nine days in the month due to Eid-ul-Azha vacation”, he added.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

C ove r S t o r y

What could be the possible way outs for recent challenges of Bangladesh textile & apparel industry? Textile Today Research Textile and apparel industry is the biggest manufacturing industry of Bangladesh, which is playing a major role to convert the country to middle income from lower-middle one. Bangladesh apparel industry, the second largest exporter of the world and more than 82 percent national foreign currency earner, is facing stringent competition from India, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. In the meantime apparel export growth hits 15 years low in 2016-17 fiscal year. According to the provisional data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), export earnings stood at $34.83 billion with a shortfall of more than $2 billion from the government-set target of $37 billion. Apparel export growth was only 0.19 percent reaching to 28.15 billion USD at that period from USD 28.1 of previous fiscal year. Table 1: value of total apparel export- ﬁscal year basis. (Source- BGMEA) Year

USD (billion)

YonY Growth (%)

2007-2008

10.699

16.1%

2008-2009

12.347

15.4%

2009-2010

12.496

1.2%

2010-2011

17.914

43.3%

2011-2012

19.089

12.7%

2012-2013

21.515

13,8%

2013-2014

24.491

13.8%

2014-2015

25.491

4.08%

2015-2016

28.094

10.2%

2016-2017

28.149

0.19%

According to table 1, Bangladesh’s apparel export was growing significantly in previous years, but in 2016-2017 FY, the growth rate declined drastically, which has created an anxiety over the whole

industry. A few days ago, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Md Siddiqur Rahman said that the RMG industry had never before fallen into such crisis earlier as it is facing now. Mohammad Hatem, 1st vice president, Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) and former 1st vice president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers Association (BKMEA) told this reporter that if the current status moves forward Bangladesh won’t be able to achieve its target of exporting 50 billion USD by 2021. Faruque Hassan, Senior Vice President of BGMEA said, “The international global apparel export business is observing a negative growth. In 2015 the negative growth was 7.88 percent, in 2014 total market of export was 483 billion US$ and 2015 it reduced to 435 billion US$, which is alarming. However, in 2015, despite the negative growth we

Extensive intervention by Accord & Alliance

Figure 1: Showing the major challenges faced by Bangladesh textile and apparel industry as resulted in Textile Today ‘Knowledge Demonstration’ sessions.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Figure 2: Glimpse of the Textile Today ‘Knowledge Demonstration’ sessions organized within Textech expo 2017 in Dhaka from 8 to 11 August 2017.

had a growth of over 8.21.percent. In 2016, we had also a growth of over 7.76 percent but in last FY, we had no growth at all.” However whatever the challenges are Bangladesh can overcome them as the country could do previously believed Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman, President, Institute of Textile Engineers and Technologists Bangladesh. He told this reporter that even if we have around three years only till 2021 we still can achieve the target of 50 billion USD if our policy makers take time worthy dire approach and the public sector and infrastructure service providers wholeheartedly support the textile and apparel sector of Bangladesh. Recently Textile Today organized some Knowledge Demonstration sessions from 8 to 12 August at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) to get respective feedback from the participants on recent challenges of textile and RMG sector and possible way outs. In the sessions, participants highlighted some challenges that are faced by the industry and they also recommended some way outs to overcome this situation. This article give an in-depth analysis by incorporating aspects related to textile and apparel industry of Bangladesh engaging

Bangladesh Textile Today |

However whatever the challenges are Bangladesh can overcome them as the country could do previously believed Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman, President, Institute of Textile Engineers and Technologists Bangladesh. He told this reporter that even if we have around three years only till 2021 we still can achieve the target of 50 billion USD if our policy makers take time worthy dire approach and the public sector and infrastructure service providers wholeheartedly support the textile and apparel sector of Bangladesh.

key stakeholders opinions through Textile Today Knowledge Demonstration sessions and one to one interviews. The challenges Tareq Amin, Editor and Publisher of Textile Today pointed out some major challenges of textile and apparel industry. Increasing cost of business and production could be the biggest one among other challenges. In last few years cost of production has increased by 18 percent according to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and

Volume 10, Issue 09

Exporters Association (BGMEA), he mentioned. Md. Mehraj, Research & Development Manager, Mahmud Washing Ltd said, the pressure from Accord and Alliance is one of the main reasons of increasing production cost as we are investing a huge amount for remediation. Amzad Hossain, owner of a buying house, blamed government for this, as government is not solving the energy crisis problem, bureaucratic red tapes and corruptions in public services. He added cost is rocket high due to many pilferages in doing business here in Bangladesh most of them you won’t be able to show in the account books. Other observers opined that sudden rocket growing salaries of public sector has pushed private sector to multi facet problems. Now private sector won’t get enough talented people as it was getting previously. Sharp increase in the salaries in the public sector has imposed enormous pressure on the private sector. Particularly the textile and apparel industries had to pay much higher salaries and wages now compared to few years back. If another increase in minimum wages is declared by the government before next general election the sector will be hit hard again. A head of HR of a textile

Figure 3: Textile Today organized ‘Knowledge Demonstration Sessions’ through 4 days at its Textech 2017 booth in 4 topics. One of those topics was ‘Recent Challenges of Textile & RMG and Way Outs’

and apparel making group having 17000 employees told Textile Today that if another increment of scale for private sector is declared in next one year many of the companies will disappear because they simply will not be able pay those. Low value addition is another challenge. Bangladesh exports low value added products and it is exporting 80% product in five main items like trouser, shirt, sweater etc. It hardly exports other high value items like lingerie, swimwear, sports item, functional fabric, functional textile etc. BGMEA meanwhile informed that product price has been decreased in last few years by 40 percent. Meaning when cost of production is increasing by 18 percent companies are getting 40 percent less for the same products they were producing before. That means a very tight proﬁt margin. Some top level employee of textile and garment industry blamed Bangladeshi exporters for this reason as they are competing each other to sell the product in lowest price. As a result everyday textile and apparel companies are losing its proﬁtability. On the other hand, Bangladesh is facing reputational crisis at its country level. Foreign buyers want to pay low price for a Bangladeshi product; however, for a same quality product of other countries like Turkey, India

the average price is much higher. Director of one of the largest denim manufacturing companies told Textile Today that we are producing same fabric what globally leading Turkish and Indian companies are doing but still buyers are not ready to pay us the price closure to them only because they think Bangladesh is for producing cheap fabrics. He identified this as his greatest challenge for business at this point of time. M M Uddin, Executive Dirctor of T&M Sourcing, requested not to sell product at a low price which would create more competitive situation for Bangladesh and then we could not survive. Safety and sustainability concerns is another big challenge, highlighting the problem, Tareq Amin said to adopt a holistic approach towards sustainability, which will reduce cost and increase productivity and profit margin. Quick response and adaptability to fast fashion is now a precondition to survive the fast fashion world. The buying pattern of western world and consumer behavior are changing. The new generation is buying new dresses in every week. This is resulting to lead time reduction. Value chains are being redesigned by many brands as their customers want new design, new idea on their dress. To cope up with ever changing fast fashion Bangladeshi equally have to reduce its lead

Major challenges of T&A industry ␣

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␣ ␣

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Increasing ‘cost of business and production’ Decrease of product price & tight proﬁt margin Low value addition Reputational crisis for country Bangladesh and Industry Bangladesh Inconsistent supply of gas & electricity Skilled manpower shortage Sloth pace and corruption in public service and bureocratic red tapes. Safety and sustainability concerns Quick response and adaptability to fast fashion

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

C ove r S t o r y

time and also adopt new value chain shifts. Some participants of the Knowledge Demonstration sessions said to expand investment in distribution and marketing and even to consider opening stores in the USA, the UK and other western countries. Infrastructural deficiencies are main bottleneck in reducing lead time for Bangladesh. Participants blamed that road transport, ports and customs are not eﬃcient in Bangladesh. Bangladesh could produce items from manmade fiber as it is getting more and more popularity in the world. We are trying to make value added item for branding Bangladesh. If you just provide same item, same product, buyers will never give better price.

incentive and policy support?” he added. Meanwhile others also echoed with him saying ‘bureaucratic red tape’ is a great problem for Bangladeshi manufacturers. CEO of a joint venture company in chemical manufacturing for textile industry told that to get all necessary approvals from government they needed around 4 years. He expressed his doubt how many companies will wait such long time to start his business here in Bangladesh. In each steps of government services companies are facing tremendous problems. Possible way outs ‘Textile Today Knowledge Demonstration and Stakeholder Interviews’ revealed a list of areas where Bangladesh and its industries should work extensively to make the transformation possible.

Shortage of skilled manpower is another big problem, said chairman of a garment manufacturing factory located in Mawna, Gazipur. In many disciplines of textile and apparel in Bangladesh Human capital- the next transformation there is no trained midlevel to entry level people to be hired by the companies. Tareq Amin highlighted He urged organizations some possible way like Textile Today to take In this regard Mr. Amin showed a way outs to overcome the up training programs how an organization can develop its challenges. Human not only for engineers or human capital holistically eventually capital transformation executives but also for improve workers and management was discussed as a major supervisors and technicians. productivity, increase value addition, medicine to develop the A senior merchandiser reduce cost and can lead the company sector. He showed how working in the local oﬃce to a real transformed value driven human could be a great of an international brand successful organization. Organizations capital for him or herself in Bangladesh told that should go through a process for this, and for an industry or for a every year more than requiring analyzing its processes to country. Human or people 2.0 billion USD are being develop Standard Operating Procedure working in an organization paid as salaries to the in each and every place, and then it is one of the most important foreign experts working does Organization Development with capitals or assets of the in Bangladesh textile and proper designation, organogram and company. The organization apparel industry. A recent job description. For the process proper should have a holistic and research report done by Goal Setting is vital. complete plan for increasing SIEP project and Ministry of value and generating Industry has suggested that outcome in human capital 3.6 million skilled people are terms. And so it would needed for Bangladesh textile and apparel industry. require potential investment behind the people of the Bangladesh Textile and RMG businesspersons are facing several problems in getting emergency public services. Amzad Hossain a garment exporter from Bangladesh told, “If we see one of our competitor countries Vietnam, they have a policy that first five years there is no tax, next nine years there is 10 % tax. But in Bangladesh there is no stable tax policy, so how could an entrepreneur be inspired to invest?” “The textile and RMG sector is not ruining the country or country people rather it is contributing more than any other sectors accounted for 82 percent of national export earnings. Then why government will not give us proper energy, necessary

company. In Bangladesh productivity of a worker is lower than that of a Turkish, Indian or Chinese worker. However, more importantly the productivity and effectiveness of management is more important for countries like Bangladesh. ATM Mahbubul Alam Milton, Executive Director, Masco Group told that most of the time people talks about eﬃciency and productivity of workers but the eﬃciency and productivity of the management and its staffs is several times more important than that of workers. In this regard Mr. Amin showed a way how an organization can develop its human capital holistically eventually improve workers and

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management productivity, employee, though there is no lack increase value addition, reduce of textile engineers and other cost and can lead the company graduates and educated people in to a real transformed value Bangladesh. Md. Mehraj said, we driven successful organization. do not use our own people. We Organizations should go through are giving huge salary to a foreign a process for this, requiring employee, but we do not give this analyzing its processes to develop to a national employee. At the Standard operating procedure in same time owner is not prepared each and every place, and then it to invest to make skilled people. does Organization Development An organization must have a with proper designation, human capital transformation organogram and job description. Process in place that will itself For the process proper Goal create future leaders within the Setting is vital. Once the organization itself has a goal, corresponding Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman told departmental goals could that most of our companies are be easily developed. not producing experts they are just From the departmental hiring them. This trend is creating an goals departmental and unhealthy pressure on the companies personal KPIs will be itself. They are like competing to able to be developed. hire existing experts in the field and And then through vibrant offering more and more salaries so internal continuous cost for experts for mid to high level sharing, motivation and managers are increasing day by day. If positive communication the companies could focus in creating activities the staffs will experts and management staffs remain focused towards through their system, the industry their goals. At the end of didn’t have such shortage of right the day a proper effective people. Mr. Rahman urged textile and appraisal will be able to apparel companies to recruit talented be developed. Mr. Amin textile engineers and invest time and further added that to money behind them to build expertise make whole process and management skill sets in them. successful companies will He urged professionals also to be require doing continuous prepared to improving them through training need assessment hardship and commitment. and organizing training programs accordingly. A recruitment strategy and process has to be in place as well. organization. In this regard Textile Today organized separate set of Knowledge Demonstration session on the topic ‘Human Capital- the Next Transformation’. Separate story on this topic will be coming in the next issues of Textile Today. In the sector still many of the top level employees are foreigners from India, Sri Lanka and other countries. Every year about 5 billion US$ is being taken outside from Bangladesh by foreign

Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman told that most of our companies are not producing experts they are just hiring them. This trend is creating an unhealthy pressure on the companies. They are like competing to hire existing experts in the field and offering more and more salaries so cost for experts or mid to high level managers are increasing day by day. If the companies could focus in creating experts and management staffs through their system, the industry didn’t have such shortage of

right people. Mr. Rahman urged textile and apparel companies to recruit talented textile engineers and invest time and money behind them to build expertise and management skill sets in them. He urged professionals also to be prepared to improving them through hardship and commitment. Tareq Amin said, if worker eﬃciency and management eﬃciency increase, worker performance would increase automatically. Job time and pre-job time training is very essential for increasing those. When a company invests for upgrading skills of its existing employee, it will add to profit margin. Sustainability requires holistic approach People are now very concern about the globe where they are living as day-by-day the earth is becoming more unsustainable and unfit for living. World leaders and environment organizations are expressing their concern over the issue and trying to make world sustainable. However, in this era of industrialization and capitalism it is very tough to control pollution, global warming and bad social impact of businesses. Over the few years, sustainability issue has emerged as a buzzword in textile and clothing (T&C) industry as it is putting many hazards to human being by polluting environment and consuming resources though it is filling one of the basic needs of human being by providing clothing. In Bangladesh, particularly the safety issue came to the notice after the incident of Rana Plaza building collapse, which killed 1138 people and injuring 2500 others. Afterwards the discussions of building and fire safety get a new height globally. It is not only an issue of

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environment; rather it is an issue of social and economic also. Tareq Amin said, concern for worker health and safety created many movements and activities. The consumers became more aware of fashion supply chain. Fashion Revolution has introduced the tagline #WhoMadeMyClothes. Few concern groups come together to raise awareness of the issues encouraging people to break their habit of buying fast fashion and to seek out more information about the clothes that they are buying seeking transparency and accountability of the sweat shops. Mr. Amin added that for ensuring a sustainable textile and apparel industry all the stakeholders have things to do, it is not the responsibility of the manufacturing units only. Most of the audience expressed their concern on ensuring a harmonized system of governance in the sustainability arena. Jahangir Alam Sheikh said, “For an example, it is very diﬃcult to certify organic cotton or fabric. In most cases real organic is simply impossible. But still stringent regulations are

Meanwhile Tareq Amin showed the participants of Knowledge Demonstration sessions how sustainability interventions can reduce the cost and add value to a company. If someone invests for this, in return profitability will increase. He urged all to make sure that each and every sustainability intervention must come with a business case. In tough world of competition no one can do anything which doesn’t increase profitability. And so regulations, requirements, guidelines or bylaws everything should improve economic sustainability besides social and environmental sustainability.

certifications are there in GOTS and many other areas. Besides for textile and apparel business you need tons of certificates and accreditation from many counterparts. So many steps are taken here; many people are related in the field. I would say, in fact most of them see just their own interest. This kind of certification is nothing but another business for many, which gives us more and more cost pressure in a reality of tight profitability of the business.” Some participants of ‘Textile Today Interview’ on this opined that the initial investment is

huge for making a factory safe and sustainable as per different sets of regulations from different authorizes, i.e. government, buyers, agencies like Accord & Alliance. And so entrepreneurs are afraid as current profit margin of the business is not enough to cater them. They urged buyer’s help in this regard. Meanwhile Tareq Amin showed the participants of Knowledge Demonstration sessions how sustainability interventions can reduce the cost and add value to a company. If someone invests for this, in return profitability will increase. He urged all to make sure that each and every sustainability intervention must come with a business case. In tough world of competition no one can do anything which doesn’t increase profitability. And so regulations, requirements, guidelines or bylaws everything should improve economic sustainability besides social and environmental sustainability. Still there are some problems in understanding the concept sustainability, said Mr. Amin. Is green factory a solution as it covers one part, which is mostly all about building? It does not cover its water, energy and

Figure 5: The ‘Knowledge Demonstration’ sessions were focused and immerged points for interaction.

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resource usages. Of course, green factory is a positive initiative for ensuring sustainability but other issues should be taken into consideration as well. More importantly the green factories and corresponding investment must increase profitability of the business. If not, even a highly graded LEED certified green factory may fail in business. Participants of Textile Today Interview echoed that ‘Sustainability should not be considered as a burden it must be another opportunity. If a business is not financially sustainable how it could be sustainable socially and environmentally?’ Some audiences, who were top-level employee of some factories, opined that without government help they could not adopt the sustainable concept properly in the industry. ‘Brand Identity & Positioning’today’s demand It has been discussed earlier that Bangladesh textile and apparel industry has been facing negative branding and consequently a reputational crisis. The country made many remarkable improvements post Rana Plaza collapse, Tazreen fire and has been transformed in to one of the safest industries in the world, But globally negative propaganda is not yet stopped and country is suffering for this while similar incidents are a lot more common in other manufacturing countries like China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia etc. An industry known for its core competence of ‘cheap labor’ is causing another big identity crisis. Intentionally or unintentionally somehow the country has been positioned itself as the heaven for producing ‘cheap products’. But now at a cruel reality of

increasing cost and reducing price, this identity is hardly hitting the industry. When Bangladesh has gained experience and skill of about 40 years in export oriented textile and apparel making, the country must come out of ‘cheap product & cheap price’ market positioning. It has been already proved that Bangladesh has all capacity to produce value added medium to high end products for globally renowned brands. And so participants of Textile Today Knowledge Demonstration

Bangladesh. All these reputational threats could be overcome by strong foreign policy and diplomacy.

Textile Today editor criticized the branding ‘Bangladesh means cheap products and cheap labor’. Our industry leaders as well as country leaders all the times propagate the concept nationally and globally to attract buyers and for this reason millers do not get proper price despite to export many value added products. For a same quality of product, global buyers offer cheap price for the Bangladeshi When Bangladesh has gained products than that of experience and skill of about 40 years India, Vietnam and Turkey. in export oriented textile and apparel Mahbubul Haque, Managing making, the country must come out of Director of a chemical ‘cheap product & cheap price’ market manufacturing company positioning. It has been already proved told, due to reputational that Bangladesh has all capacity to crisis, they are not getting produce value added medium to high enough price and market end products for globally renowned competing with foreign brands. And so participants of Textile chemicals even though Today Knowledge Demonstration they are producing similar session opined that Bangladesh or better products that require a careful approach and plan in those of them. brand identity and positioning.

session opined that Bangladesh require a careful approach and plan in brand identity and positioning. While terrorist attack is almost common phenomenon in the west even, after Holy Artisan Cafe incident many foreign buyers didn’t visit Bangladesh for a while and so its export in last financial year could achieve its target, opined industry insiders. Even though Bangladesh has full filled all the recommendation of the US government the country has not yet restored GSP (generalized system of preferences) facility for Bangladesh after its withdrew it in 2013. In recent time the EU and other western countries are continuously giving threat to cancel GSP facility for

Textile Today reporter talked with Prof. Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan, Pro Vice Chancellor of BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT) about the possible way outs of the problem. He said, “We should change the way of branding. We should say that we offer products with reasonable price. And in case of labor issue, we should say our labor is cost effective.” In the issue ‘offering cheap price for the Bangladeshi products’ he emphasized on changing our tune of marketing. Prof. Khan said, “We should do marketing for our products in right manner, as the foreign buyers understand that we are not begging from them rather we want cooperation. We are a RMG producing country and they need our products. Therefore, it will be win-win situation.”

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Volume 10, Issue 09

Figure 6: Beside ‘Knowledge Demonstration’ sessions Textile Today extensively took interviews of different stakeholders of the sector to reach the conclusions on the discussed topic.

Mr. Amin said, like a personal identity, every company has its own identity and it is the especial cream of once business that sets its uniqueness from every other. A company’s brand identity is how that business wants to be perceived by its consumers and others. Most of the audience said on their feedback that brand identity of RMG industry of Bangladesh is in very bad condition due to negative propaganda by national and global media derived from several international rights bodies and NGOs with the support of some ill fatted people. They said, accident and terrorist attack are the global problems, but we see bad propaganda only against Bangladesh. Mr. Amin emphasized on creating value added product, which will help to make a new identity for Bangladesh RMG industry. He reminded that for long time Bangladesh’s ‘Muslin’ was the costliest fabric in the world which has been used by queens and richest fashion savvy ladies only. Now Bangladesh is exporting more than 28 billion dollars of apparel products which are mostly used at the cheapest bottom level of consumption. He reminded that scarce and valuable resources of Bangladesh and Bangladeshi people should never be exhausted for producing cheap products to get cheap returns and living in misery even though the country is the second largest apparel exporter in the world.

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Other way outs- last but not least Amzad Hossain asked for a comprehensive friendly policy for the industry like Vietnam. Our competitor country Vietnam have a policy that first five years there is no tax, next nine years there is 10 % tax. However, in Bangladesh every year tax, VAT and price of fuel is increasing. However, government should make a policy like Vietnam as new entrepreneurs would be inspired to invest in textile and apparel industry. Infrastructure development is very urgent to maintain competencies for the sector. Export business including readymade garment is losing their market due to the delay of cargo handling in the Chittagong Port and Airports. As a result, cost of their business is increasing for each day delay. So government should focus on this issue, said Tareq Amin. Road and transport condition needs to improved and further well managed. Industry staffs and workers are being stalk in traffic jam and losing valuable working hours every day. Engr. Salim Reza, Executive Director of Divine Group told this reporter that every day I need 3+3=6 hours on the road to come and go to my office which is only about 20 kilometers from my home. And then progressing fast is so difficult you can imagine.

participants in ‘Knowledge Demonstration’ sessions, emphasized on Research & Development (R&D) from public and private sectors to develop the industry. R&D will help to understand consumer demand, design new and value added products and analysis market situation, he added. To reduce energy crisis solar system could be solution, said the NITER student. However, it is so costly and not capable to fulfill all demands of Bangladeshi factories, opined Tareq Amin. He pointed out the Govt. plan to provide LPG, which will fulfill 50 percent demand of industry is going to be a solution for current gas crisis but again will increase cost for the factories. For getting grid power factories again need to invest huge amount of money even though they have functional captive power plants. Frequent increase of gas price is hitting hard as well. Altogether a consistent energy policy is a great need of time. Otherwise so much of policy changes are being tremendous shock for the factories.

Sankar Mandal, one of the

Volume 10, Issue 09

Egyptian cotton

Production and exports increasing signiﬁcantly Desk Report Recently Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi announced that he would support the expansion of cotton planting as a way to boost the national economy. Cotton production and exporting is a strategic sector of Egyptian economy because it contributes 26.4 percent of the gross industrial product and generates 7 billion U.S. dollars in annual exports.

production and exports of the cotton, used in luxury bedding, have increased. According to the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt’s cotton exports jumped by 63.9% during the first quarter of the planting season of 2016/2017. Egypt’s cotton exports were 202,500 bales in the period from September to November compared to 123,600 bales in the same period a year earlier.

to suppliers and manufacturers all over the world to ensure the quality. Now carrying the logo means that the association certifies the authenticity of the Egyptian cotton through DNA analysis. In the same period, Egypt banned all but the highest quality cotton seed, dramatically shrinking the area under cultivation but restoring quality, for saving its historic crop.

000s of Bales

For hundreds of years The US cotton has been grown in Department Egypt. Egyptian cotton of Agriculture Egypt’s Cotton Production 2005-2017 is the best around the (USDA) world because of its long forecasted 1200 975 970 fiber that makes it softer on a report 1000 and stronger. The silky that Egypt’s 938 745 800 soft cotton once known cotton area 600 as “white gold” was so would double 525 000s Bales 435 550 983 490 395 valuable that products to 110,000 400 932 370 made from most of the hectares and 320 200 crop was exported to production 0 the European countries. would almost 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Egyptians themselves double Years could hardly purchase and reach Figure 1: Showing the trends of Egypt’s cotton production from 2005 to 2017. items that made from 340,000 its cotton. However, for bales in the a long period the business of In August 2016, a US retail marketing year (MY) 2017/2018. cotton was not significant for chain accused an India’s textile On the other hand, imports are the country, especially since 2011 manufacturer for using cheaper, forecast to drop by 20% to a the production of the cotton has non-Egyptian cotton in bed record low of 420,000 bales, declined sharply. It was time of sheets and pillowcases. The while exports are forecast political turmoil that coincided Indian manufacturer did not deny to increase by 66% to reach with looser regulations that ruined the accusations, rather admitting 200,000 bales. the quality of local cotton. Earlier, that some of their products were However, manufacturing in Egypt after 1994, when ‘free market’ falsely labeled as 100% Egyptian has developed considerably economy started in Egypt, the cotton. After the incident, over the last thirty years, which government made a decision to internationally, retailers have is a reason of increasing cotton liberalize the market. That meant begun to monitor their products production. Many textile factories Egyptian farmers no longer had more closely that labeled as 100% have opened all over Egypt, direct government subsidies, Egyptian cotton, many requiring where 25 percent of the labor which discouraged farmers to manufacturers to provide force is working. harvest cotton and they started to evidence for products labeled as cultivate other crops. such. In 2016, the Cotton Egypt Association started licensing the After a period of slumping output, use of the Egyptian cotton logo

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E xc l u s i ve I n t e r v i ew

Anything

good and big can be done only by the young generation...

Naimul Haque Khan,

Director, Richman-Lubnan, Infinity

The US$ 28 billion apparel industry of the country not only contributes to earning the largest share of foreign currency and creates employment of 4.4 million people but also plays a significant role in developing other businesses. The sector has established a stimulating private sector producing thousands of successful entrepreneurs that helped put the economy on a firm footing. Recently entrepreneurs are facing many struggles and being hopeless to go ahead. To gear up these entrepreneurs need to take a view on such an idol who will show them new hope and confidence. Recently Tahsin Sadia Rupkatha of Bangladesh Textile today met Naimul Haque Khan, Director, LubnanRichman-Infinity, and discussed several issues, where he shared his success story. He started his career as an entrepreneur, overtake many challenges and ultimately reach in the pick of success. Mr. Khan’s experience and success is critically important not only for the people of ‘Bangladeshi Fashion Retail Industry’ but also for the people of export oriented apparel 30

industry. As textile and apparel companies are looking for opportunities to upgrade in the value chain to keep them competitive, they may find a path to invest in branding, marketing and retailing from Naimul Haque Khan’s life. Here is the glimpse of the conversation for Textile Today readers. Richman-Lubnan and Infinity are the top Bangladeshi fashion brands. Their Mission ‘Committed to Quality’ is the story behind their success. Starting from Lubnan fashion-forwarded ethnic-wears in addition with exclusive bridal flavor makes them different in the market. Textile Today: What switched you to start a New Bangladeshi Brand 15 years ago which is now became one of the leading fashion houses in Bangladesh? Naimul Haque: After completing graduation it is tough to decide a suitable career for anyone but I had ideas about garments and wanted to start my own business. Those days there were only few fashion/ boutique houses in Mirpur Road but they used to make only clothes for females. So an idea came to my mind to open

an outlet of Men’s Wear. Me, Md. Junaid, Chairman and Nazmul Hoque Khan, Managing Director, Lubnan Trade Consortium Ltd., started Lubnan. We started with a small shop of Panjabi made of traditional Rajshahi silk fabric and western cloths for men. Than within 5 years capitalized the overwhelming response from our valued customers, we have proudly launched more outlets one after another in a row such as Bashundhara City, Rapa Plaza, Rifles Square, Gulshan Avenue, Uttara, Sylhet & Chittagong. Textile Today: From the beginning what type of challenges you faced to establish your business. Naimul Haque: Bangladesh is highly depending on fabric from India and china. In a reality of comparative high price, variety and quality of fabric, shorter lead time and smooth supply still now Bangladesh only full-filling the demand of 20% of fabric for rest of the demand we heavily depend on China and India. It was a big challenge to overcome this fabric supply chain issue and at the same time offering a reasonable price to the customers.

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Textile Today: Do you have any plan for going international? Naimul Haque: Most of the international brands passed 100-150 years and we are comparatively too young. Still as we are ensuring the standard in short time we got very good response. Meanwhile Bangladesh has already gained the reputation in garment making all over the world. European countries are very fond of Bangladeshi clothes. So eventually we have plans to establish the brand Richman as International Brand, starting from the South-Asian Market. Textile Today: How it will affect the local brands’ business if international brands like H&M or Walmart starts outlets in Bangladesh? Naimul Haque: The standard an international brand carries if they tries to ensure the same quality they have to offer their products in high price which will definitely going to be tough for them to catch attention of maximum regular customers. This is the era of communication already people are getting their desired international branded product from online but cause of our affordable price range, trendy design and quality product builds long lasting relation & partnership with the customers. So, I don’t think it will be a threat for our business. Textile Today: Every product under one roof “Infinity Mega Mall” how this idea came to your mind? Naimul Haque: Due to the lacking of time and traﬃc jam it’s become really tough for the people to reach from one place to another easily. So we stepped to open a mega mall where we ensure every quality product for a family- clothes for elders and kids, at the same time footwear, jewelry, branded cosmetics etc. It

Bangladesh Textile Today |

has become very much beneficial for those who have less time but lots to buy.

So I think we need more time to gain the same trust from the foreign buyers.

Textile Today: What is the specific reason for declining growth of textile and clothing business in Bangladesh these days?

Textile Today: What Bangladesh needs now to develop this textile and apparel sector?

Naimul Haque: At least a sum of money should be granted by the government for the textile and apparel sector. The government was about to add 5% of subsidy in their last budget but unfortunately it was removed last moment. Lacking of the security of business environment and most specifically government is not showing that much interest required ensuring the labor law and the rights for the labor. I or individual business parson cannot ensure it alone. Increasing rate of electricity and gas is another big reason. Textile Today: How Bangladesh can achieve more confidence of the foreign investors in Bangladesh? Naimul Haque: Countries from

Due to the lacking of time and traffic jam it’s become really tough for the people to reach from one place to another easily. So we stepped to open a mega mall where we ensure every quality product for a family- clothes for elders and kids, at the same time footwear, jewelry, branded cosmetics etc. It has become very much beneficial for those who have less time but lots to buy.

China, Japan to other competing countries are ensuring 100% security even in the middle of the night which it is absent here. A sound and secured business environment is highly required for our country. When the Japanese buyers were too much interested to come for establishing business that time the holy-artisan terror attack incident affected so badly.

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Naimul Haque: Bangladesh requires an industrial zone dedicated to the textile processing and related industry “A Textile city” for its development. Bangladesh government should consider this fact that the economy of Bangladesh is largely depending on the textile and apparel sector so it is high time to develop a textile city of Bangladesh with facilities like a Hospital for the workers and proper security. The main power is the man power to ensuring investments in workers’ health will boosts this textile sectors. The textile industry city in China is the largest in the world in both overall production and exports that’s how they are leading all over the world. Textile Today: What is the main strategy to build a brand and maintaining the reputation of it? Naimul Haque: By taking any situation positively even when a customer comes to get back any product we feel it is a chance to learn from our fault and to upgrade our lacking. Our affordable price range, trendy design and quality product build long lasting relation & partnership with the customers. Textile Today: Even a few years ago there were only 2 seasons for fashion producers but now people are not buying 2 months old designed cloths. What this ‘Fast Fashion’ trend and corresponding pressure on solid waste mean to you? Naimul Haque: Obviously this will mean a change for businesses, but that change can be a positive

Figure 1: Naimul Haque Khan with Bangladeshi super models who work with Infinity, Richman & Lubnan.

one. It can be used as a catalyst to examine how my business handles its waste, leading to recycling more, and reducing the amount of waste produced, along with the associated costs. By giving almost 60% sell we tries to recover it and launch new fashionable clothes. Dubai and China is buying our clothes and selling it like a high project but if we start this trend and book one side of a shopping mall to sell those products expired for ‘Fast fashion’ could bring better result for us. Even our space is limited; we’re still not experts at providing waste collection solutions in tight spaces. But only thing will help us to reduce this waste inside business premises, by collect it back and like other countries like Middle East than we never have to worry about collection windows. Fast fashion is really big fact for environmental pollution. In short, now we have to invest for waste management and also in supply chain management.

expert designers and marketing merchandisers to create our own market value. The strategy is to ensure quality, good marketing policy, secured investments. We need to make sure workers satisfaction and most importantly a business policy without hampering our dignity. By hard work and with governments help it is possible for Bangladesh Textile sector to fulfill the challenges and soon we may see Bangladesh transforming from developing to a developed one. Textile Today: Any suggestion or advice for the young entrepreneur and students? Naimul Haque: Students are the future of this country so their dreams must be big but ‘need’ must be limited. When a graduate makes his/her first move to career, he/she should have a big dream but not ‘high expectations’. The reality is tough to survive they must practice

to start with some part time job related to their subjects or department from their early age not because they need it but for the practical knowledge that how they have to handle any tough situation when they will start their own dream projects. Youth have power to work hard, innovative and modern ideas, knowledge about technologies, so anything good and big can be done only by the young generation. A student may not have knowledge about every department or sector but if he/she feels that any sector after graduation will be career friendly to him/her than they should divert to learn the practical facts and should not be afraid of being failed. They may have cash capital problem but important is the confidence and the ideas to be an entrepreneur. Young Generation must have the practice to travel and research and potential to introduce big things in small budget.

Textile Today: May we know your opinion about the challenge for our textile and apparel industries to increase earning by export from today’s 28 billion to 50 billion USD by 2021? Naimul Haque: I must say it’s a great challenge but as I said “A Textile City” is required to ensure the development. The innovative attempt to enlarge Green factory around the country is also a big sign where we can ensure the sustainability without wasting much resources. We need 32

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Volume 10, Issue 09

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Volume 10, Issue 09

S m a r t Te x t i l e

Graphene to make revolutionary changes in smart clothing technology Kayes Mahmud Throughout the human history, cloth remains an integral part of daily life. Its raw material natural fibers have been used for apparel and home furnishings for thousands of years. The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century was a breakthrough in the textile sector and another revolution in this sector was the discovery of synthetic fibers at the start of the 20th century. In the 21st century, advancement in textiles have been directed to the development of smart textiles and E- textiles by employing fibers equipped with specific properties, including the electrical, thermal, waterproof and other technical characteristics. Several strategies have been developed to fabricate conductive textiles for various purposes. But still now the main obstacle in the development of smart textile is integrating smart devices, conductive materials with fibers, fabric structure and different parts of cloth due to overweight, rigidness, nonresistance to water etc. All these drawbacks are going to be overcome by Graphene. In 2004, Andre Geim, Konstantin Novoselov and collaborators in the University of Manchester (UK) (Manchester is known as the city

of Gaphene) and the Institute of Technology in Microelectronics Chernogolovka (Russia) succeeded in isolating graphene sheets. The development of this technique called exfoliated graphene. It is an amazing new two dimensional material, consisting of carbon atom

diameter of a single human hair. It has some amazing properties, it is fantastically strong, very light, extremely flexible, highly transparent and it conducts electricity and heat better than almost any other material. This new material of the future will revolutionize all sectors, including

Figure 1: Separation of graphene from graphite

arranged in a perfect hexagonal lattice. Another structure of carbon is graphite where the carbon atoms are laid out and stacked up in sheets. If we separate out just one atomic layer of graphite, this is graphene. Recently the UK particularly is investing heavily in this advanced material. Graphene is the thinnest material known to the world and only one atom thick, an atom is a million times thinner than the

the textile sector, both from the technical point of view and from the design of intelligent clothing. It can be applied in smart textile temperature sensors, electrical sensors and can replace synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon), due to the lightness, greater elasticity and greater conductivity. It can also reduce weight in clothes, and decrease the storage volume of them. The graphene fibers can be used to introduce chemical sensing properties into textile

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Volume 10, Issue 09

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

S m a r t Tex t i l e

of incorporating G+ is that it enables the fabric to act as a filter between the body and the external environment, ensuring the ideal temperature for the wearer. Due to the thermal conductive properties of graphene, the warmth produced by the human body is preserved and distributed evenly in cold climates and allows an even body temperature during physical activity. A Chinese company called Shanghai Kyorene New Material Technology has also developed a graphene fiber that has been used to produce clothes, sportswear and underwear products. Figure 2: Model wears world’s first graphene dress at Manchester launch. (Source: Guardian)

materials by means of a screen printing method. Recent development of graphene based smart textiles Graphene has already made a huge blast in the next step of wearable technology. Recently, researchers teamed up with a wearable technology company to unveil the world’s first Light Black Dress (LBD) containing graphene at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. The dress has changed color in sync with the wearer’s breathing, using tiny LED lights where graphene was used to power the LED lights and as a sensor to record the wearer’s breathing.

Figure 3: Graphene Plus (G+) SKI Jacke (Source: https://www.graphene-info.com/tags/textiles)

Another renowned company Directa Plus, a producer and supplier of graphene-based products, teamed up with Colmar, the high-end sportswear company has launched a new collection of SKI jackets containing graphene based products. The new technology SKI jacket contains graphene Plus (G+) and worn by the French national SKI team for multiple successful tournaments. It was explained that the key benefit

Figure 4: Preparation process of RGO/cotton and photos corresponding to (a) pure cotton, (b) GO/cotton and (c) RGO/ cotton

Recently, researchers have designed a low-cost, sustainable and environmentally-friendly method for making conductive cotton fabrics using graphene. These fabrics could lead to smart textiles and interactive clothes that will find applications in healthcare, wearable and more. Functionalization of these conductive cotton fabrics was done by thermal reduction of graphene oxide (GO) adsorbed on cotton. Besides researchers have created two ways to apply thin graphene sheets that either make fabric super-hydrophobic or super-hydrophilic. A team of scientists in Korea also announced the successful development of a technology to make a washable, flexible and highly-sensitive textile-type gas sensor. This technology is based on coating

Figure 5: Graphene-based textile sensor for gas detection

graphene using molecular adhesives to fiber like nylon, cotton, or polyester so that the fabric can check whether or not gas exists in the air. When graphene oxides meet the NO2 found in methane gases at room temperatures, their resistivity changes based on the gas density. Consequently, when putting out a fire or entering an area in which air conditions are hard to determine, it will be possible for firefighters to check the condition of the air through a connected device by wearing work clothes with gas sensors made from graphene. Graphene has also strong cytotoxicity towards bacteria. So, this can be highlighted for maternity clothes to create coatings that prevent the growth of bacteria on the surface of the fabrics, thus protecting

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

S m a r t Te x t i l e

the pregnant against possible diseases transmitted by bacteria. This type of protection will be very useful in gynecologists, nurses and midwives clothing who assist the birthing woman in order to avoid spreading bacterial infections in newborns. From the time of the invention of graphene, it is magically changing the modern technology and researchers predict that it is going to make science fiction comes true. It has a wide range of applications in almost every sector and it will highly contribute in $22 billion technical textile market by 2027. After all, we have to keep in mind that graphene is made of carbon, which is everywhere in nature and in fact

it’s a part of our body as well. The problem with graphene is the same that, this size nano material could be harmful. Therefore more research has already undertaken to determine if graphene is harmful to the body and this is very crucial for the commercialization and development of graphene based products. References: 1. Mari Luz Jiménez Castro, Fuenllana Technological Institute of Madrid, Spain, a revolution in textile & fashion design,Global Fashion 2014 2. Xua, Mengyun Yanga, Bin Tanga,b,*, Xungai Wanga,b, Functionalization of cotton fabrics through thermal

reduction of graphene oxide, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, China b Deakin University, Geelong, Institute for Frontier Materials, Australia 11 October 2016 3. Yuanqing Li,*a Yarjan Abdul Samad,b and Kin Liao*a,b, From Cotton to Wearable Pressure Sensor, January 2012 4. https://www.graphene-info. com/tags/textiles 5. https://www.theguardian.com/ uk-news/2017/jan/25/firstdress-graphene-unveiled-inmanchester-wonder-material 6. https://www.graphene-info. com/etri-scientists-developgraphene-based-textile-sensorgas-detection

PPI Training on

Goal Setting

Transforming Human Capital

goal

Set your & push your limit to gain your

success.

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. Mentor’s Profile

Course Fees: BDT 1,800 (regular fee)

Date:

Time:

BDT 1,500 (for students)

10-11 November, 2017

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

Indian cotton spinning mills running at 60 - 65 percent capacity utilization, GST hits export further low Desk Report India is one of the largest producers as well as exporters of cotton yarn. Recently Indian cotton yarn exports witnessed a great slowdown. In the first four months of fiscal 2017-18, the country witnessed a fall of 9.79 percent according to data compiled by the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL). Cotton yarn import from China and Bangladesh, the two big target markets comprising around half of the cotton yarn shipments from India, has decline, which is a major reason for this downhill. According to Texprocil, India’s cotton yarn exports stood at 283.18 million kgs for the first four months of FY18, which value was worth $916 million between April and July, where exports to China, which accounts for 31 per cent of the overall export figure, have declined by 48.58 per cent during the period. The export decline has put at risk substantial investments in this sector due to a 60-65 percent fall in capacity utilization due to weak demand from domestic and global markets. Industry experts of India opined that there is an impact of GST levy of 5 percent that came to force after the goods and services tax (GST) was rolled out on July 1. Cotton yarn manufacturers never paid any taxes in the past. Demonetization and the imposition of GST creates tremendous pressure for the domestic cotton yarn manufacturers.

India’s cotton yarn export trend Year

Quantity (million kgs)

Value ($ million)

2013-2014

1310.14

4,555.38

2014-2015

1253.33

3,938.19

2015-2016

1307.11

3,610.56

2016-2017

1203.25

3,352.25

2017-2018

283.18

916

(April-July period)

Source: Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil)

Figure 1: Inside of an Indian Spinning Industry- sorting out cotton fiber.

India faces direct competition from Vietnam as China has allows zero duty import from there. According to TEXPROCIL Executive Director Siddhartha Rajagopal, “Vietnam is gaining market share in China at the cost of India primarily due to zero tariff on imports to China and investment by Chinese textiles mills in Vietnam.” Previously, for the April–December 2016, India’s cotton yarn exports slumped by 12 per cent to 872.19 million kgs from 987.21 million kgs in the corresponding period last year, though, cotton yarn production was increasing after declining by 10 percent in 2011-12 by over 14 per cent y-o-y to 3,583 million kgs in 2012-13. In 2013-14, production increased by about 10 percent to 3,928 million kgs. However, in 2016-17, cotton yarn production observed a fall by about 5-7 percent to 3,936 million kgs on back of sluggish derived (Domestic yarn demand) demand with substitution taking place from MMF as well as distressed direct yarn exports due to lower demand from China.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Va l u e C h a i n U p - g ra d a t i o n

Bangladesh Textile and apparel companies should be allowed to invest abroad MM Uddin Bangladesh is very potential country in terms of sub-continental connectivity because of its great strategic location. The market-based economy of Bangladesh is the 46th largest in the world in nominal terms, and 33rd largest by purchasing power parity; It is classified among the Next Eleven emerging market economies and a Frontier market. According to the IMF, Bangladesh’s economy is the second fastest growing major economy of 2016, with a rate of 7.1% but till now Bangladesh Bank (BB) has not allowed any Bangladeshi national to invest fresh money in overseas. The top business mover and a researcher of the country have advanced the government to liberalize the process of making abroad investment from Bangladesh. Investing overseas can become a means of enhancing the country’s GDP growth and poverty alleviation while it can increase income from investment abroad for the country. For the companies particularly from textile and apparel to upgrade in the value chain, finding out international investment opportunities is a must. Designing to marketing, if a Bangladeshi textile and apparel maker want to add more value adding stage in the operations, they will require investing in other countries where designers and the market is present. To cater market opportunities, Bangladeshi textile and apparel makers now need to invest in building design houses and in the marketing part of it.

even in opening their own apparel brands. This is a demand of time now. There are brave entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who want to invest in abroad to elevate the positive images of Bangladesh and they said “we are well capable to invest abroad to enhance the country’s GDP growth”. But only Bangladesh Bank has acknowledged permission to five companies to invest abroad from their export incomes with conditional basis. Three of them in health sector, have invested $9.1 million in six countries between 2013 and March 2016, according to the BB. Within the list below there is a textile company DBL group who are investing in building production facilities. Earlier some Bangladeshi manufacturers have built there garmenting operations in Mauritius. Firms allowed to transfeer fund BD company

Invested country Amount in USD

DBL Group

Ethiopia

$ 3,000,000.00

MJL & AKT Petrole Ethiopia

$ 5,10,000.00

MJL

Singapore

$ 100,000.00

Square Pharma

USA

$ 5,000,000.00

Incepta Pharma

$ 13208.00

Incepta Pharma

Estonia

$ 2,954.19

ACI Healthcare

USA

$ 4,47000.00

Table 1: BB allowed companies to invest abroad. (Source: Bangladesh Bank)

According to the BB reports ACI Healthcare Ltd got As per figure 1 if any Bangladeshi company wants to invest in doing product research and development, doing fashion design and sourcing materials from all around the world Bangladeshi Companies mostly they will require to have international involved in engagements, transactions and Shops/ Research Brands investments. Value Added

Marketing Design On the other hand as per the figure 1 to reach more closure to the western Distribution Purchasing markets in the post-production Production value up-gradation, they will require opening their marketing oﬃce in EU and US. For catering the markets in Pre-production Production tangibles Post-production Middle East, Asia Pacific and in Africa intangibles activities intangibles the garment makers can go there and invest in building marketing, distribution and Figure 1: Value chain up-gradation opportunities for Bangladeshi textile and apparel companies.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Va l u e C h a i n U p - g r a d a t i o n

the permission to invest $447,000 for production and marketing of oral solid dosage in the US. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd will set up a subsidiary of its own in the UK, investing £10,000 and €2,500 for building a joint venture investment company in Estonia.

investment opportunities from now.” When Bangladesh government will have been allowing more foreign investment the major concern will be Balance of Payments and foreign exchange

Square Pharmaceuticals got the permission to invest $5 million for expansion of its business in the US. MJL Bangladesh Ltd received permission to invest $547,000 for expansion of its business in Myanmar and to form a subsidiary in Singapore. Textile and apparel companies can follow the examples of pharmaceuticals companies of Bangladesh. They need to understand that investment doesn’t necessarily mean only for production. This is the time to increase investment behind intangible value addition activities. Intangible value addition steps provide higher profit margin. The International Monetary Fund has advised Bangladesh to make capital accounts convertible by liberalizing foreign exchange rules further. The International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) had arranged a round table discussion about liberalize the process of making overseas investment from Bangladesh. The speechmaker said Bangladesh is potentially losing a significant amount of tax revenue through capital flight (figure 2), if local investors are allowed to invest overseas legally and competitively, they can gain potentially higher rates of return available in overseas market. Director of IBFB M S Siddiqui presents the keynote and said, “Global experience shows that investing overseas can become a means of boosting the GDP growth and poverty alleviation while it can also enhance our capability to become a middle-income country by 2021.” Bangladesh restricted the outward FDI through the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 and in September 2015, the government amended the 1947 Act Section 5(v) that allows ‘conditional provision’ for opening up overseas investment through converting capital accounts. Due to the modified act, the opportunity of FDI is strictly limited to the approved investors and BB has also made provisions to allow overseas FDI from export retention fund. The provisions are still incompetent, so the speakers request for further liberalization of the related rules and regulations. Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) said, “The competitive advantage that exists in overseas market may erode in future due to competition. So, Bangladeshi investors need to explore the untapped overseas

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Capital Flight From Bangladesh In Billion Of $

15 12.6

12 9.66

9 6.44 6.13 5.41

6 3 0

3.35

4.26

3.38

7.23 5.92

4.1

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Figure 2: Increasing trend of foreign currency flight from Bangladesh mostly in illegal undeclared way. (source: Global Financial Integrity)

reserve. Now this time the foreign exchange reserve is higher than other time and this high forex reserve may also lead to decreased asset value, higher opportunity cost and inflationary pressure said by expert observer. So the government has better understanding about present investor capability to make investment abroad with more technical soundness who already have shown their outstanding performance on the RMG sectors and others. On the other hand, according to the scarcity of big investment opportunities in Bangladesh, many big entrepreneurs investing many areas where the SME’s should invest and if they are allowed to make big investment abroad while it would open up space for more local investment for SMEs. Most potential countries for better investment. The government needs more research, accurate data and proper analysis to identify potential areas for outward investment for Bangladeshi companies to reduce risk. And also Bangladesh has to maintain strong diplomatic relation with those countries for providing security of Bangladeshi assets in those countries. The investor has to take necessary permission from Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) for remittance from the country if further investment is required. The policies should also state that entities investing abroad would be required to submit audited financial statement while income tax file should reflect the FDI. A strong monitory cell must be ensuring the entire investment should be taken back to the country while on failing to meet terms and conditions, the counterpart at home will meet the obligations.

We av i n g I n n ova t i o n

Time required for tying-in process won’t be a headache anymore in weaving Kaisul Kabir Tying-in is the process of tying the ends of a new warp beam to the corresponding ends of the old warp beam after the depletion of a warp beam on the weaving machine, if there is no change in design. During the tying-in process the weaving machine needs to be stopped which discontinues the weaving process. As a result, time for producing fabric is increased, at the same time, loss of yarns is also an issue. Previously, tying-in process was done manually, which consumed a lot of time. But thanks to technology providing automatic tying-in machine, which can knot single or ply yarns of cotton, wool, synthetic and blend warp yarns as well as of different thickness at a speed of 60-600 knots per minute. TOPMATIC and MAGMA of STAUBLI are such kinds of warp tying machines in association with TPF3 tying frame provide high performance warp tying. A small portable robot is also used to turn on or off the weaving machine for tying-in. However, these machines and gadgets provide a cut in the production time but still the looms have to be stopped for tying-in and cause yarn wastage. An investigation from NC state textiles researchers indicates that depending on the size of the beam 4-8 hours of downtime is observed for about

Figure: A Tying-in machine (left), an accumulator (center) and the weaving machine (right).

40 looms. As time is a precious thing in terms of production, it became a headache for the weavers. In spite of improvements in yarn quality and high-speed weaving machines, manufactures haven’t been able to solve the problem of long stops in production to replenish the warp sheet. Weavers are in search for a solution of this issue for hundreds of years. However, Abdel-Fattah M. Seyam and Willam Oxenham of NC State University College of textiles invented a nonstop tying-in process. They have tested a prototype of a new accumulator and tail beam support in the weaving lab on campus. The researchers have estimated

that this nonstop tying-in process could result in a 4-6 percent increase in weaving process eﬃciency and cutting the downtime to 1-2 hours. “The next step is finding a machine manufacturer to build full-scale versions. After that, full-scale trials can take place at P&A Industrial Fabrication in Roxboro, a frequent corporate partner that welcomed two NC State industrial engineering students for assignments this year”, says Oxenham. The invention will be a game changer if it comes to play in the industry by reducing downtime incredibly and by saving yarns and labor. As a result, downtime, the headache of the weavers will be reduced a lot.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

3 technologies, 1 brand

Rapier

Airjet

Projectile

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

www.itemagroup.com 43 contact@itemagroup.com

Energy & Power

Bangladesh setting example in using ‘Retained Heat Cooker’ made of waste cloth and cock sheet Md. Imranul Islam Owing to increased energy cost and environmental sustainability issue, scientists are trying to provide sustainable energy saving solutions in every aspects of life. Households consume huge amount of energy for cooking and lighting every year which is approximately 7% of world’s total primary fuel consumption. The industrial sector and households are suffering severely due to limited resources and natural gas shortage as well as system loss in Bangladesh. To mitigate the scenario in the strategic way, ‘Retained Heat Cooker’ (RHC) might be a possible solution that ensures sustainable energy solution and provides hazard free cooking environment. Irrespective of urban or rural in all places the cooker can reduce the sufferings of fuel crisis at households. What is Retained Heat Cooker? Retained heat cooker is a standalone, non-electric insulated bag designed to reduce the amount of fuel required to cook food. Instead of being placed on a stove for the entire duration, food is heated to a boiling temperature and transferred to the cooker. It uses the principle of thermal insulation to continue the cooking process without requiring any additional

heat. Retained heat cooker provides the possibility of smooth cooking by retaining the heat within the enclosed space using thermal insulation. It reduces the emission of CO2 and fuel consumption that will be creating a positive impact in our environment. In fabrication process, 180-190 GSM polyester microfiber made fabric with air porosity properties is used. Here two layers of fabric are sewn according to desired shape. For getting thermal insulation properties; polystyrene beads from EPS are used. Recycled materials such as wool blankets, old sweaters, newspaper can be used as good insulation material for fabricating this bag. The speciﬁcations of the RHC which has been used for the piloting: Weight = 0.472 kg Height = 22 cm Outer Dia (full open) = 95 cm Outer Dia (full closed with a pan having capacity of 3 liter) = 45 cm Base Dia = 38 cm Insulation Thickness = 12 cm Holding capacity = 6 liter pan Working procedure: Heat the pot of food on any cooking medium such as strove until it reaches in the boiling stage and few minute simmering. Place the pot inside the cooker. Keep the pot inside the cooker until finish the work. Bring out the pot from the cooker and serve the food.

Figure 1: Many women are taking Retained Heat Cooker as an improvised cooking tools inspired by the slogan ‘Less time in the kitchen, more time for family’.

Beneﬁts of Retain heat cooker: Simple and easy cooking process. Saves up to 50% of the required cooking energy. Keeps food hot or cold up to 10 hours. Portable, cost effective and safe. Reduce strove time by two thirds. Actually one strove can save 1.7 trees, 1000 liters of water and 12,500 hours’ of time spent in cooking time.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Energy & Power

Cooking time: Types of Food

Strove using time (minutes)

RHC using time (Minutes)

Total cooking time (Mins)

5-8

20-25

Potatos

8-10

20-25

Chicken

10-15

20-25

30-35

Vegetable Mix

8-10

20-25

Rice

Potato

10-12

20-25

30-35

Lentil

8-10

20-25

Khichuri

10-10

20-25

Source: GIZ

Limitations of retained heat cooker: 1. Cooking time varies in winter and summer season that creates some problem to realize the cooking time for cooks. 2. Can’t be used for frying. Safety issues: 4. Extra clean fabric should not be used for keeping clean inside the cooker. 5. Lukewarm water should not be kept inside the cooker because it is very convenient to produce bacteria. 6. Keep the cooker far from fire flame. 7. While using pressure cooker or crock, it must be surrounded with coarser fabric before taking place inside the cooker. 8. When the temperature of pot is more than 180, it is not allowed inside the cooker. 9. Always keep away from children. Bangladesh advancing towards sustainability In order to spread this new suitable energy solution concept, sustainable energy for development (SED) which is funded under energy ministry and German corporation representative GIZ are jointly working in Bangladesh. They are trying to support all local manufactures for creating new market. According to SED and GIZ, they will develop at least 10 manufacturing plants to ensure effective supply of retained heat cooker. They are also working for supplying to 100,000 households by 2018. GIZ believes that this will create a huge amount of employment opportunities and increase possibility of getting better lives in the urban areas. Managing Director of Crest International, Sonjoy Kumar Biswas opined, “Heat cooker can play a vital role in our RMG workers life style. Scarcity of time is

Boil it

Bag it

Stand it

Figure 2: Cooking process by using Retained Heat Cooker.

Figure 3: Graph shows 4 liter water of 100 deg. C with RHC takes more time to cool down compared to without RHC.

the main issue of their life for not to take proper and fresh food. Application of RHC ensures better food in time that increases their productivity. We have a big plan to promote our product among garments worker with reduced prices. We are successful to supply 150,000 cookers by UNHCR to Rohinga refugees. At present, we are supplying to almost 40 districts in our country. We are satisfied to fulfill the customer demand and satisfaction because we give two years’ service warranty which paves the way of providing good service towards customer. We also provide technical, manufacturing support towards our stakeholders, different NGO’s to extend our market share.” Senior Adviser (Renewable Energy) of GIZ, Engr. A.N.M Zobayer said, “We use recycled material for the production of retained heat cooker such as garments wastages (Polyester micro fiber) for fabric production, Recycle polystyrene beads locally known as cock sheet which is generally lying randomly in our drainage systems that causes lots of problem caused of non-biodegradable properties. As a result, we can manufacture and sell in less price than other countries where heat cooker prices vary from 30 euro to 80 euro”. “We are working with lots of NGOs and companies to manufacture and promote by means of arranging campaign and practical demonstration of cooking system in different parts of country such as Crest International, SMC, House hold energy platform under SREDA (Government organization), Keya Samaj Unnayan Sangstha, WDP development program, NDP, NACOM, DESH GORI where crest works as manufacturer and SMC works only for promotion and selling Serve it the products. At present,

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Energy & Power

Figure 4: A.N.M. Zobayer, Senior Advisor, GFA, Renewable Energy and Energy Eﬃciency Programme, GIZ demonstrating Retained Heat Cooker (RHC) to State Minister for Power, Energy & Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, MP.

we are successful to sell 32,000 RHC through our partner organizations and attain customer’s satisfaction by providing good quality products which will be durable up to minimum three years according to our different field research. Textile Engineers should come forward to enhance the polyester micro fiber fabric properties that can impact in the thermal insulation properties of cooker”, he added. It’s time for us to rethink about our available energy resources consumption and must give focus on sustainable and environment friendly energy solution to meet up the challenges of future energy crisis and climate changes issue. Actually, Retained heat cooker can change total issue of household energy consumption rate and garments wastages management that will create a convenient and green environment for our civilization. If we coordinate the total task properly by creating social awareness, proper marketing and promotion about the new energy solution, our country will be one of most prosperous and energy sustainable as well as self-dependent country in the field of Primary energy consumption arena.

Modular Soft Skill Programs

Business Communication

Leadership Behavior

Date: To be announced Duration(each of above programs): 2 Days, 4 Classes, 8 Hours Course Fees(per programs): BDT 2,500 (regular fee) BDT 2,200 (for students)

Fa s h i o n To d a y

Legging is in top of fashion trend Mohammad Nurul Alam Leggings have been fighting for many years to be the top of the fashion trend. However, it is not so easy to hold the top position as only this can stand on top that can present new trends to the fashion world. The recent trend of body hugging is getting popular, which creates an opportunity for Leggings to attract the young as well as the mature one. Leggings are a fitted, body hugging under wear made from cotton-lycra, or cotton-polyester-lycra combination. It can also be made from spandex, nylon, polyester, silk, wool and jute. Typically, it is not only wear for fashion, but also wear for exercise. In the 1960s, this body-hugging, form-fitting pant entered the retail market. Designer Mary Quant and Emilio Pucciwere has a great contribution on leggings when working for under shift dresses.

Later on 1970’s the film Grease made it great craze when actress ‘good-girl’ Sandy went ‘bad’ in her disco bottoms. The 80’s fitness craze made leggings acceptable for both workout and everyday wear when Madonna also participated in the leggings trend. Decades later in the 2000s, shiny spandex pants made insanely popular. However, suddenly leggings lost its appeal when tight-fitting garment was seen less and loose fit dress got popular for a little while. In 2010, leggings continued to expand in fashionable forms when Lady Gaga wore her shredded leggings every chance she could. There are various types of leggings such as: Work out leggings: This is designed to be comfortable during work out session where 90% nylon, 10% lycra blended fabric are traditionally used. Sometimes knee patch is put on it to give extra support if wearer gets hit on the floor. Functional leggings: These give support to the wearer if any part of body get injured or necessary to protect from the surrounding objects like seam costume. These types of leggings are made for man for comfortable workout. Yoga leggings: Unlike workout leggings, this is not made aiming to multiple functions. Special care is given to make it more flexible to move body part. Every day wear leggings: Girls usually wear black leggings for everyday use, made of 90% cotton, 10% lycra in single jersey. These are very simple in design and stitch. Party leggings: It is more shiny and more fashionable & good to look at. Leggings are popular for many reasons that make love for this clothing: Comfortable & easy to wear: The wearer can easily pull and down it without extra hassle

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

and in hot weather, this is very comfortable and gives freedom to move body part. Cheap: Leggings cost is less than $ 10 where a pant cost is more than $50. Easy to carry while traveling: Travelling is always boring while need to carry a big luggage. Generally, girls have to carry extra item than that of boys and so only leggings or short can help to reduce weight . Easy to wash: It can be washed by simple detergent and required no iron after dry. It does not take long time be dry also. Attractive: The new trends that crazily burning the girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fashion mind is to be more open. Hence, affection for leggings is not getting off rather increasing. However, leggings have popularity but it should not wear in every place like in super conservative workplace, it is also forbidden for the airlines passengers. Besides, as it is body tight dress so it should not wear in summer or hot season. How long leggings will remain in the top of fashion mind and what new form will come for it that is not predictable. However, undoubtedly this is not going to out of sight in the retail market for coming years. New brands of leggings are coming every day in the market for sale and the wearer also happy to see new design and color.

Country Profile

Major challenges of Cambodia’s garment sector Desk Report Cambodia’s garment exports grew at a slower speed in the first half of the year. The industry experts of the country opined that Cambodia is facing huge competition from several countries, which is the reason of this low growth. The central bank of the country said, possibly due to stronger competition from Vietnam and Myanmar for U.S. sales, garment exports grew just 4 percent in the first six months of the year, less than half of the 9 percent pace seen in the same period in 2016. National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) revealed its semiannual report, where the growth is mentioned. “The garment sector, which is the strongest force in expanding the economy, maintains fair growth even though it is at a little slow pace if compared with the same period last year,” National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said in its semiannual report. Cambodia’s garment exports observed a 2.3 percent drop in exports to the United States amid stronger competition from Vietnam and Myanmar, according to the report. On the other hand, Cambodia’s minimum wage is increased, which is also a factor, leading to higher production costs, the report said. Cambodia’s new minimum wage is $153 for garment workers, more than double from many competitive countries like India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia etc.

Apparel export growth & FDI flow are declining Observed 2.3% drop in export to the US

Minimum wage for garment worker is increased Figure 1: Showing the recent challenges faced by Cambodia’s garment industry.

The country’s exporters may face more challenges ahead as the World Bank’s upgrade of the economy last year to lower-middle income country status. Cambodia will no longer receive preferential trade access in the European Union (EU) over the next three years, the report noted. Foreign direct investment in the garment sector also declined. It is dropped by about 30 percent in the first quarter of 2017, compared to a 5 percent drop in the same period last year, according to the report. Cambodia’s textile and footwear industry generates $6 billion annually for the economy. The industry is very important for the economy of Cambodia that has created 600,000 jobs, sustaining many rural families.

Cotton in a new way

Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA

Incorporation of biological molecules to cotton may lead to novel functional cottons. Cotton is a natural fiber from seedpod of cotton plant, which adds applications for cotton, enabling it to be wearable smart textiles & will be the next phase of R& D in the cotton sector. The quality of cotton has to develop from farm level to industry focusing its effort on yield & quality aspect. A team of international scientists from Israel, Germany and Austria has used a biological approach to impart functionality to cotton. They combined two molecules, one that plants carry of its cell and other that causes fluorescence. In this way, cloths can be used thousands of years & glows under a fluorescent light.

have functionalities that are durable. Wash ability, durability and wear abilityare some of the challenges faced by the smart textiles sector. The exploitation of biological methods will give new opportunities for natural fibers to penetrate in to technical textiles sector. The author expected that the method also be used to other fibers such as flax and bamboo. It would be really useful for the cotton industry, if the procedure can be used from field to industry level because fiber coating are suffering from function loss during wear.

External biological molecules that contain glucose moieties enable cotton to be magnetic. Besides, the incorporation of exogenous molecules enables fibers to Figure : Using sugar molecules as the cotton can be glowed 50

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Fa c t o r y Ta l e s

Rahim Textile Mills Ltd– a pioneer in ‘All Over Printing’ Abir Basak Rahim Textile Mills Limited is a listed company in the capital market. It is a sister concern of New Asia Group which started first ever all over printing technology in Bangladesh. Basically the company is well known for all over printing and woven dyeing. In 1987, it started commercial operation with dyeing, printing and finishing unit in Safipur area of Gazipur near Dhaka aimed at making quality clothing. The founder chairman of the company is Didar A. Husain. With the advancement of technology, the combination of the latest machines and designs, the products have been made here are meeting up the needs of foreign buyers. Recently Bangladesh Textile Today team visited this company which is undergoing massive vertical expansions.

printing sections and other textile factories are heading towards setting up this section. And so in recent times Bangladesh is seeing a revolution in AOP. Initially, there was an eight-color rotary printing machine from Stork at Rahim Textile. Stormac machines having 12 colors were brought from India due to increasing demand day by day, and afterwards 12 colors MHMS machine brought from Australia. As they were getting continuous order from buyers, they increased production capacities and for Sharp designs, Dusan injects were brought from China 7 years ago. For laser exposing, the company added to their machine list the stork machine imported from the Netherlands. Now this is the latest technology of printing.

At present, their printing capacities are 16 tons/day. The main buyer of this 100% export oriented Rahim Textile is H&M and C&A. They get orders from Next, Marks and Spenser, George, Wal-Mart, Carrefour, S. Oliver, Sainsbury, Lindex, Tesco as well. They have business relationship with many local companies including CRONY, AKH, Meghna, MM Knitwear, Auko-Tex, Fakir Fashions, Masco Group etc. New Asia Group has 7 more sister concerns. They are: 1. Aurum Sweater Ltd. 2. J. M. Fabrics Ltd. 3. Knit Asia Ltd. 4. Malek Spinning Mills Ltd. 5. New Asia Ltd. 6. New Asia Fashions Ltd. 7. Salek Textile Ltd.

The legacy and its policy Rahim Textile is one of the oldest and most trusted companies in Bangladesh. They printed first knitting clothes in the country. When no one else could have thought of ‘All Over Printing’ (AOP), Rahim Textile started it in the country for the very first time. Robintex Group, Divine Group, Comfit Composite, Taqwa Group and various textile industries used to print clothes by Rahim Textile and met their buyer’s needs. Later, due to the huge demand and popularity, these companies themselves have installed all over

Figure 1: The operation team of Rahim Textile Mills Ltd.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Fa c t o r y Ta l e s

Keeping mind the sustainability issue, Rahim Textiles management gives highest priority to produce green products. They run biological ETP plant 24 hours a day and use Azo-free chemicals to protect the environment and health. Daily 3000 cubic meters eﬄuent treatment is done here. Rahim Textile is also planning a future route about discharged water so that it can be reused. Worker safety and opportunities The Company is very aware of the facilities of workers. The workers are being trained on different courses at different times. There is a reward system to encourage workers. Fire drills are held in every week. There are free medical care facilities to ensure worker’s healthcare. To ensure safety, hand gloves, masks, gum boots, goggles are provided to the workers and in the event of any kind of accident, the company bears all cost of treatment. Besides, the employees of the management are sent abroad for higher training. Recently, a seven-member team completed their higher training course in Thailand. Industry outlook Although they are not getting uninterrupted power supply, their production capacity utilization has been increased by 3.95% compared to the previous year. At present, their installed production capacity is 265.20 lac yards. The turnover growth of this company over the past few years are also amazing. Years

Company growth rate

2015-2016

5.29%

2014-2015

4.06%

2013-2014

0.49%

2012-2013

21.75%

2011-2012

14.90%

Figure 2: Turnover growth of Rahim Textile Mills Ltd.

Future plan 60,000 yards/day woven dyeing and 16 ton/day all over printing are done in Rahim Textile Limited. Around 1000 strong workforces give their effort for the growth of this company. They are extremely dedicated and can adapt to new technologies and opportunities. Rahim Textile has no garments section, yet they have plan to build a garments section in the future. SM Abdur Rahman, General Manager (operations) of Rahim Textile Mills Ltd. said, “Rahim Textile could be called as the father of ‘All Over Printing’ in Bangladesh. Our mission is to produce and provide world class textile and garments products and

services and uplift our country’s position in the higher value segment in the international market. Demand is increasing of it day by day.” Product range Rahim Textile can produce and process high quality fabrics in various constructions within the weight range of 70 to 350 GSM with the maximum variation of weave patterns such as twill, canvas, poplin, voile, rib-stop, oxford, dobby etc. They offer all kinds of woven fabrics with the composition of 100% cotton, poly cotton, viscose, poly viscose and blends, cotton spandex etc. • In dyeing range- reactive, pigment, disperse, fluorescent. • In printing range- reactive print for both woven & knit fabric, pigment print on reactive dyed ground for both woven & knit fabric, discharge print on both woven & knit fabric, denim blotch print, denim discharge print, denim pigment print. • In finishing range- peach finish, paper touch, water repellent, teflon coating, soft finish. Current production capacity • Pre-treatment 60,000 meter/day (for woven fabrics only) • Dyeing 60,000 meter/day (for woven fabrics only) • Printing 60,000 meter/day (if woven fabrics) or 16,000 kgs/day (if knit fabrics) • Finishing 1,70,000 meter/day • Inspection & folding 80,000 meter/day (for woven fabric) Particulars

20142015

20152016

% Increase/ decrease

01. Production Capacity: a) Dyeing, Printing & Finishing unit (Lac yards)

265.20

02. Actual Production: a) Dyeing, Printing & Finishing unit (Lac yards)

220.20

230.68

10.48%

03. Capacity Utilization: a) Dyeing, Printing & Finishing unit (Percentage)

83.03

86.98

3.95%

Figure 3: A comparative statement of production capacity and its utilization.

Opinions Talking about vision 2021 of taking RMG export to 50 billion USD, SM Abdur Rahman, General Manager (Operations) said, “The decision should be taken collectively. The governments’ high-level oﬃcials should take opinions from well-established engineers, industry owners. Based on the type of problems at the root level, we all need to consider moving forward to resolve them. But by not doing so, the government is giving responsibility on non-

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Figure 4: Rahim Textile well known for All over printing.

technical personnel. Non-textile people are being appointed in the upper sections of Directorate of Textiles. Those who are leading BGMEA, their initiatives to implement the vision 2021 are not much noticeable. To highlight our products, it is badly needed to widely publicize in the textile fair organized in different countries.” “There should be adequate opportunities for research in this country. Where more than 80 percent of export earnings comes from the readymade garments sector, there is no allocation from the government for research. Our limitation is, we don’t have much brand. We are making products as per

Figure 5: Rahim Textile uses advanced technology and machineries to ensure product quality

buyer’s order requirement. We only survive with the quality”, he added. Rahim Textile has made a great reputation in the world for producing quality products. The company has gradually become a place of confidence for the buyers. For the recognition of work, they have received several encouraging awards. They are certified by Oeko-Tex Standard 100, Product Class-1 also certified for Organic Content Standard (OCS) and have BCI membership.

14th & 15th October 2017

Naznin Wahed (Executive-Admin & Training)

Transforming Human Capital

Tr a d e B o d y

BGMEA wants one year more to shift its headquarters Staﬀ Correspondent Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) wants one-year more time to shift it’s headquarter from existing BGMEA Bhaban from Hatirjheel. “We have filed a plea with the department concerned of the Supreme Court seeking one-year time”, said BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman. The government already gave BGMEA 5.5 Bighas land by half cost at Uttara in the capital. BGMEA already appointed consultants for the construction of their new building. More than 300 staffs of 40 companies are now operating their business in BGMEA complex. “The logistics involved in moving the oﬃce is huge as missing one day of work could adversely affect the reputation of Bangladesh’s RMG sector in abroad”, said BGMEA President. “As we are an association for over 3200 factories taking care of 44 lac employees, many administrative work such as UD, UP, C/O and machineries import letter attestation etc. are being done here. For this, now we are 28 billion industry while starting with 12 thousand dollar only”, he added. On March 12, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court granted BGMEA six months to demolish its complex located in Hatirjheel-Begunbari Lake, rejecting a plea of the RMG producers’ seeking three years’ time.

Figure; BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman speaks at a press briefing. BGMEA vice-presidents Mohammed Nasir (L) and Mahmud Hasan Babu (R) were present.

The Supreme Court (SC) on 5th March 2017 has rejected a petition seeking review of its judgment that upheld a High Court (HC) order for demolishing the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) building. BGMEA later filed a leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the High Court judgment, but the apex court on June 2, 2016, dismissed the plea as well as asked the RMG producers to demolish its headquarter at once and at its own cost. In 2011, the High Court ordered demolition of the 16-storey building as it was constructed in defiance of relevant laws, calling it a “cancer” in the lake.

ITET distributes relief to ﬂood affected people Staﬀ Correspondent The Institution of Textile Engineers and Technologists (ITET) distributed relief to flood affected people on August 25, 2017 at three districts of namely Sirajganj, Jamalpur and Faridpur at a time. Three teams of the newly elected ITET central executive committee visited three districts with tons of relief items and reached to the doors of flood affected people in those districts.

Engr. Md. Rafiquzzaman Rony, Sports and Cultural Secretary were present. Before the distribution of the relief the ITET staffs offered special prayers for all flood affected people and the textile engineers and their families.

ITET Secretary General, Engr. Md. Shakhawat Hossain Talukder; Vice President, Engr. Md. Shakhawat Hossain ; Join Secretary General, Engr Md. Touhidul Islam Kakon; Executive Member, Engr. S.M Abdur Rahman and ITET general members, local business people were present at the relief distribution program in Sirajganj district. Among others in the team of Jamalpur were Engr. Mozaffar Hossain, Managing Director, SIM Group, Engr. Md. Salim Reza, Senior Vice President, Engr. Md. Abul Hossain (Sentu), Executive Member,

Figure : Another part of ITET relief distribution team at Jamalpur district.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Te x t i l e Ta l e n t H u n t

Textile Talent Hunt 2017-18 launched StaďŹ&#x20AC; Correspondent 6th Season of countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first ever competition for textile, garments & fashion designing students, Textile Talent Hunt, TTH 2017-18 has been launched in a gala launching ceremony at BUTEX (Bangladesh University of Textiles) Auditorium on 20 September 2017, wednesday afternoon. After successful completion of TTH 2009, TTH 2010, TTH 2012, TTH 2013 & TTH 2015, Bangladesh Textile Today started the 6th season of TTH 2017 with larger coverage and larger focus. Textile Talent Hunt is a research promotion program organised for the undergraduate

Figure 1: (from left to right) Tareq Amin, Prof. Dr.Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan, Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman, Prof. Syed Fakhrul Hasan Murad & Engr. Md. Amanur Rahman were launching TTH 2017-18.

Guest Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman launched the event at the presence of hundreds of teachers, students, professionals and journalists. Professor Engr. Mashud Ahmed, Vice Chancellor, Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX) was the Chief Guest of the event. Prof. Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan, Pro vice Chancellor, BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT), Professor Syed Fakhrul Hasan Murad, Chairman, Department of Textile Engineering, Southeast University, Engr. Md. Amanur Rahman, Director, Dysin Chem Ltd, Tareq Amin, Editor & Publisher, Textile Today & many of the students of different universities were present on the occassion. Figure 2: Special guest Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman speaking at the panel discussion.

students who are studying B.Sc. in textile engineering and similar textile, garment and fashion related subjects. It changes the

Bangladesh Textile Today |

mind-set of students so that they can be change maker for future. On the occasion of TTH 201718 launching ceremony, Special

Volume 10, Issue 09

Prof. Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan thanked Textile Today and told that Textile Today is one & only media in textile sector who organizes a competition every year called Textile Talent Hunt

Tex t i l e Ta l e n t H u n t

Figure 3: The gallery was houseful with students and teachers from different universities, textile professionals, TTH alumni and journalists.

which is very important for the textile students who want to improve their innovative mentality. He also said that it will help the industry owners to improve more & more. Engr. Md. Shafiqur Rahman told, “Textile Today is the first publication in Bangladesh serving the textile sector with knowledge. Textile Talent Hunt is a great initiative by them which helps students in research work for bringing positive changes to the industry and open up scopes for higher study.” Champion of TTH 2009, Rakibul Hasan Rocky (Deputy Manager, Knit Concern Group) shared his experience how it helped him to reach his goal and in the current position. He added that “TTH is a great opportunity which the students can take and its impact will be clearly visible in few years in their career because TTH builds its participants completely differently add many competencies.” Engr. Amanur Rahman (Director, Dysin-Chem Ltd) told, “Textile Talent Hunt is a platform that will help you to challenge others by developing personal skills & technical skills”. Tareq Amin, Editor & Publisher of Textile Today, talked about the transformation of the industry

and human capital. He said, “The Govt. & BGMEA set a goal to achieve USD 50 Billion by 2021 while our current RMG export status only USD 28.6 billion which shows we are far from the target as the industry is facing many challenges. To overcome the challenges, we must develop our technology and human resource both. Textile Talent Hunt is such a competition program which produces vision in the students’ mind through imparting necessary techno trade knowledge and preparing them for doing research. This competition integrates all textile institutes by linking them with the industry which will create future leaders with a transformational mind-set.” Textile Talent Hunt 2017-18 is being organized in association with Bangladesh University of Textiles and The Textile InstituteUK. The program is powered by Dysinchem. Like previous 5 seasons, 50 best students will be selected through a comprehensive written test from participants all around the country and they will receive intensive training and grooming sessions to do research projects. Best 50 students will learn research methodology and will work in different industries and institutes for around two months

under selected supervisors to produce article, design or software. For the first time in the 6th season participants will be able to incorporate one TTH Alumni Members with their project. TTH Alumni are best 50 talents of previous seasons of TTH who are excelling in the industry all around the world. Selected paper will call for viva voce and paper defence. Works of those students will be judged by renowned Judges’ Panel members to select best 5. This best 5 student will present their work in the Grand Finale program of TTH 2017-18. Champion, 1st runners up & 2nd runners up will be awarded BDT 75,000/-, BDT 40,000/& BDT 25,000/- respectively along with crest, certificates, different gifts, training packages etc. Best 5 of TTH 2017 will be getting scholarships for training programs of equivalent to BDT 200,000/= to be provided by Textile Today, AATCC and Dysinchem. Textile Today is giving another scholarship for training for best 50 talents equivalent to BDT 620,000/=. The competition award package is still open for all, any individual and companies can declare scholarships and awards for the winners. In the last five seasons, over 3000 students participated in the campus seminar. Total 1841 students registered for the written test of which 250 students successfully learned the research methodology. Participants submitted 158 research papers from which 32 papers were published. It is a platform, which encourages the students to achieve their goal & is able to play an important role in the economy of Bangladesh. Interested students should register in this link to participate in the http://tth.textiletoday.com. bd/registration

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Electrify in Revealing Your

Excellence

th Season

Presents

2017-18

Who can participate?

Student of B.Sc. in Textile Engineering who has completed at least one year or equivalent credits/semester of his undergraduate course can register to participate in the competition.

Registration deadline: October 31, 2017

Competition Flow: Written test

The Test will be of 100 marks for answering in the question paper and to be held in places at a same schedule.

Paper Submission

Viva Voce

Best twenty (20) paper participants will be called for an interview to the Judges

Best 50 students from written test will submit their paper (project work) to participate for the final part of the competition.

In Association with

Paper Presentation

Supported By

Forum Partner

Best five (5) participants will present their papers at TTH Grand Finale.

University Partner

Program Owned By :

Amin & Jahan Corporation Ltd.

Registration link www.tth.textiletoday.com.bd/registration

25A, Lake Drive Road, Sector 7, Uttara, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh Phone : 0255093682, Mobile : 01775999837, Email : info@textiletoday.com.bd

www.facebook.com/mytextiletoday

Foundation Course on

Factory Skills

Transforming Human Capital

Development

Learn fighting before you enter the battleground Subjects/Departments Apparel Manufacturing

Knitting

First ever

Knit Dyeing & Finishing

Denim Manufacturing

Merchandising

Garment Washing

Industry Orientation program for

“

Textile Engineers in Bangladesh

The only source of knowledge is experience

Important Date & Time:

Time: 4 PM – 8 PM Classes: 16 hours, 8 classes, 4 days per subject/department. Last Date of Registration: 25th October 2017 Limited Seat (First come first serve basis)

Albert Einstein

Boarding & Certificates Course materials and food will be provided by Textile Today. Certificates will be awarded to participants at the end of training.

Class Start : First week of November 2017

Eligibility

Course Fees BDT 4,900/- (Four Thousand Nine Hundred Taka Only) ** 10% discount for Textile Today Subscriber. ** 3 or more participants from one organization will get special discount. ***Students requiring support in Factory Engagement need to apply separately.

Contact:

Textile & Apparel Engineering students who has completed minimum 3rd year of B.Sc. degree.

Students having ‘Internship/Factory Attachment’ will get preference.

Good academic track record.

Venue:

Naznin Wahed (Executive-Admin & Training) Mob: 01734 211085 Email: training@textiletoday.com.bd

The House of Textile Today, 25A (2nd Floor), Lake Drive Road, Sector 7, Uttara, Dhaka-1230

For more information Please visit www.training.textiletoday.com.bd

Te x t i l e Ta l e n t H u n t

The champion of TTH 2013 has joined GEMTEX as researcher Md. Raju Ahmed (Best 5, TTH-2013/2014), Wuhan Textile University, China Mohammad Neaz Morshed, the champion of Textile Talent Hunt-2013 has joined GEMTEX as Doctoral Research Fellow from 1st September, 2017. Textile Talent Hunt (TTH) is a competition platform in Bangladesh changing the mid-set of outgoing undergrad students to impart research and innovation in their core. The GEMTEX research laboratory belongs to Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (ENSAIT), which is one of the leading Textile schools in Europe. Earlier, he has completed his Bachelor of Science in Textile Engineering from Southeast University, Bangladesh at 2014 and then admitted into Wuhan Textile University, China through University President Scholarship-2015. He has successfully completed his Master of Science in Textile Science and Engineering under the school of Textile Science and Engineering from where he has been awarded by “Best International Student Award-2016/2017”. Neaz has been awarded by European Commission Erasmus Mundus joint Doctorate Fellowship about Sustainable Management and Design for Textiles (SMDTex). This joint doctorate program aims at training PhD students from Europe and other parts of the world by carrying

Bangladesh Textile Today |

out international research cooperation on sustainable development oriented textile management and textile design. The research activities of this project will enable to optimize the existing production organization of textile enterprises, the worldwide textile/clothing supply chain, the transaction and design of textile products, with respect to the criteria of environment,

society and human factors. New organizational solutions will be proposed to the related textile/clothing companies. The consortium of this doctorate program is composed of five textile universities in Europe and Asia, including ○ ENSAIT (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles), France

Volume 10, Issue 09

○ University of Boras, Sweden ○ Technical University of Iasi, Romania ○ Politecnico di Torino, Italy ○ Soochow University, China He has been recruited as Researcher in GEMTEX under fellowship agreement. GEMTEX research activities are organized around three research themes and in strong interaction between each other. Each theme is headed by one or more professors or research scientists and dedicated to applied research for Textiles. Partnerships with industrials have been strengthened with the creation of EUGENIE in 2008, a technology transfer unit and the creation of a unit to support and develop collaborative projects. The service dedicated to the industrial and commercial activities (SAIC) created in 2009 is a department in charge of the research transfer, it has participated to the construction of the budget of GEMTEX to support its development. The laboratory is actively involved in the activities of the scientific networks at international scale such as AUTEX or the Fiber Society. The GEMTEX laboratory is visible and recognized at the regional (Région Nord Pas de Calais), national and international levels.

Fa c t o r y Ta l e s

Viyellatex gets low interest foreign currency loan from HSBC Desk Report Viyellatex Group is providing the rest of the $75 million (nearly Tk 600 crore) being invested in the spinning mill project. Viyellatex Group chairman KM Rezaul Hasanat said, “Interest rate of the loan is much lower than other US dollar loans in the international market. The spinning mill has already been constructed and commercial production is to begin September 2017 onward”, he added.

HSBC Bangladesh has arranged $46 million in low-cost foreign currency for apparel exporter Viyellatex for the purchase of goods, equipment and technology from suppliers in Switzerland, Japan, India, Germany and the United Kingdom for a new spinning mill. The loan covers 70 per cent of the total investment being made by the Viyellatex Group in this project. The bank said this was the country's first private sector agreement with Swiss Export Risk Insurance SERV (Switzerland's export credit agency).

Hasanat said that Viyellatex Group was proud to receive this international financing package from HSBC. Containing 92,000 spindles, the spinning mill will produce 50 tonnes of yarn per day to meet the growing demand in the local market he added. The financing involves cooperation between HSBC and Proparco, a French financial institution focused on funding sustainable development projects. HSBC Bangladesh CEO Francois de Maricourt said, “This transaction highlights HSBC’s leading position in export credit agency financing in Bangladesh, and demonstrates the growing relevance of ECAs for the local private sector.”

Esquire Knit Composite to invest to set up green factory in Mymensingh Desk Report Esquire Knit Composite Ltd, a sister concern of Esquire Group, plans to invest Tk. 576.63 crore to set up a green factory at Bhaluka in Mymensingh. Kamal Munasinghe, CEO, Esquire Knit Composite Ltd. said, “The Company will raise Tk. 150 crore from the capital market through the book building method. Esquire Knit will use Tk. 100.42 crore for building construction and the rest for buying machinery”, he added. He also said, “The company will take a loan of Tk. 346 crore from International Finance Corporation and the directors of Esquire Knit will provide Tk. 86 crore.” Currently, the company’s paid-up capital is Tk. 100 crore, which will be increased to Tk. 150 crore after the collection of the IPO proceeds. Esquire Knit Composite Limited was established in 2001. The knitting unit of the company has a capacity of 64

Figure: Esquire Knit Composite Ltd.

producing 20 tons of knit fabrics a day. Esquire Group currently employs over 8,000 people, serving customers of European and American Chain stores, Fashion Brands and Super markets.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

F a c t o r y Ta l e s

Akij Jute Mills looks to invest $20m in Malaysia Desk Report

Akij Jute Mills Ltd, a concern of Akij Group, has applied to Bangladesh Bank for taking $20 million out of Bangladesh to purchase a Malaysian company that produces items like fireboard and hardboard. The overseas investment proposal of Akij Jute Mills is the largest proposal so far for any company made to the central bank which follows strict rules so that foreign currency does not flow out of the country. While three leading Bangladeshi companies applied to make equity investments overseas, only Akij Jute Mills Ltd was recommended by a committee formed by Bangladesh Bank. The Financial Institutions Division under the Ministry of Finance had proposed the Cabinet Division about permitting three local firms to invest abroad. NitolNiloy Group, Ha-Meem Group, and Akij Group were the three contenders. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs tasked Bangladesh Bank to form the committee to evaluate the companies. Akij Jute Mills Ltd proposed to acquire a Malaysian

Figure: Factory of Akij Jute Mills Ltd., a concern of Akij Group

company called Robin Resources (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd including its fully-owned subsidiary Robina Flooring (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. The PEC responded positively to the proposal in Malaysia, and the recommendation was passed by the committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Director Ahmed Jamal. Under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, overseas investment is not permitted for resident Bangladeshis. If the Akij Group investment comes through, it will break the trend and open new opportunities in foreign trade for the country.

Date : To be announced

Engr. Md. Kawsar Alam Sikder Chief Executive Officer, Dutch Lube Company Ltd. & COO , Lisky Technology (BD) Ltd.

Assistant Professor Bangladesh University of Textiles

Email: training@textiletoday.com.bd Transforming Human Capital

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

ZDHC recognizes ECO PASSPORT by OEKO® TEX as indicator of MRSL conformance Desk Report The Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Program will now accept ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certification as an indicator of conformance with the organization’s Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) in connection with the ZDHC Gateway-- Chemical Module. The ZDHC’s MRSL covers chemical substances that are limited or banned from intentional use in the production of apparel and footwear materials and trim. Controlling or excluding the use of these substances supports the ZDHC’s mission of removing hazardous chemicals from the apparel and footwear value chain so that they do not harm workers, consumers, or the environment. Since 1992, OEKO-TEX® has worked to provide safer products by eliminating hazardous substances from the global textile supply chain. In January of this year, OEKO-TEX® announced a partnership with ZDHC in order to collaborate with other leading brands and apparel and footwear sustainability advocates. The ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certification program provides a confidential mechanism for chemical suppliers to confirm that their chemical products are safer to use in manufacturing. With ZDHC’s announcement, chemical formulations that are ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certified are recognized as

conforming with the ZDHC MRSL. “We understand that chemical suppliers face challenges. The industry, consumers, governments, and NGOs are asking for safer chemistries to be used in supply chains and that takes a degree of transparency. The ECO PASSPORT program serves as a trusted third party system to review formulations. We help chemical suppliers verify their formulations while safeguarding their intellectual property (recipes),” says John Frazier, Sr. Technical Director for OEKO-TEX® in North America. The ECO PASSPORT by OEKOTEX® program analyzes a broad set of chemicals including colorants, scouring agents, adhesives, inks, pigments, and auxiliaries in a confidential, two-step process that confirms that the formulations and individual ingredients (CAS level chemicals) meet specific criteria for sustainability, safety, and regulatory compliance. Chemical formulations are checked against the comprehensive OEKO-TEX® list of substances of concern and then verified by laboratory evaluation to ensure that they do not contain unsafe contaminants. Compounds that pass these two phases are granted the ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® certification. The ECO

PASSPORT certification program provides transparency by allowing the certificate number to be verified at www.oeko-tex.com. With 25 years of experience, OEKO-TEX® leads the world in empowering and enabling consumers and companies to protect the planet by making responsible decisions. OEKO-TEX® provides standardized solutions, which optimize customers’ manufacturing processes and help, deliver high quality, more sustainable products. All of the products within the OEKO-TEX® portfolio are used to strengthen the customers’ systems, processes or products and, ultimately, they help create more sustainable companies. To date, 10,000 manufacturers, brands, and retailers in almost 100 countries are working with OEKO-TEX® to ensure that their products are tested for potentially harmful substances and millions of consumers around the world look for OEKO-TEX® labels before making buying decisions. For more information about the ZDHC click www.roadmaptozero. com and for the OEKOTEX® portfolio of testing and certification products click www. oeko-tex.com

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

In Focus

Tangail’s ‘Karatia Tant Hat’, a hundred years of tradition Abir Basak One of the contributing bazaar in the national economy is the ‘Karatia Tant Hat’ of Tangail district. Tangail is a combination of the three things- sweets, tomtom and saree. World famous tant saree & sweets are made in Tangail. Once upon a time horse pulling car (tomtom) was also used here as a necessary transportation system. The old and large cloth market of the country named ‘Karatia Tant Hat’ is located near Dhaka, 7 km from Tangail city. Because of having comparatively low prices and availability of the famous Tangail sarees, this place is gradually turned into popular by Indian wholesale saree traders along with local. Tangail’s skilled craftsmen have long been preparing different types of clothes generations to generations. When artisans weaving sarees are going through many challenges, their clothes are being reached to the consumers inside the country and abroad by the sellers of Karatia Tant Hat. History History of Karatia Hat is involved with the history of Tangail saree. Detail history could not be known about the origin of the Hat. However, people say that it may be about two hundred years old. The old saree traders say, they heard that in ancient time

the weavers of Tangail used to make muslin sarees. It is being survived as a beneficial heir to the Jamdani, Banarasi and weaving saree of Tangail. Weavers had spinning wheels (chorka). A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibres. The men and women of the family used to spin cotton yarn and make clothes. Basak is the basic title of Hindu weavers of Tangail. Many of them live in Bajitpur, Pathrail and Nalshodha villages. It is known from history that Basak community is the original weavers of Tangail. That is to say, they are people of the tribe of tentsman from the beginning. Initially, they started work from the Indus Basin at Murshidabad in West Bengal. Then in Rajshahi. Later, from Bajitpur of Kishoreganj, and Dhamrai of Dhaka many Basak people settled in Tangail. Because of the favorable weather here, they used to work on looming. Eventually, the Basak class lived mostly in the district. They trained inexperienced weavers through the Basak Association & used to control the quality of the clothes. After partition of British India and the war of liberation, many Basak squads went to India. Since then, other communities had also been involved with the weaving. Before the partition of British India, the market of Tangail sarees

was held in Calcutta. The weavers of Tangail used to go to Calcutta by riding steamers, launches and ships from Charabari, Porabari and Nalchia ghat and Subarnkhali port. After partition, the main hat of Tangail weaving was in Bajitpur in the district. It is worth to mention that not only the domestic wholesalers used to come, but also buyers from India, Nepal and England came to buy sarees. Seeing the demand of Tangail sarees and the arrival of buyers from abroad and country, Tangail’s famous Karatia zamindar family felt the need for a hat in the eighteenth century. Panni family member Wazed Ali Khan Panni alias Chand Mia built a hat on the vast area of Karatia. At that time, Karatia was a river port. Hats held there over the weeks. Besides sarees, cattle, handmade utensils and many others were sold. After the establishment, hat became famous for jute and livestock. Later, it became popular for Tangail sarees. The popular transportation system of that time was the waterways. This Hat was also known as ‘Mahmudganj Cloth Hat’. Present condition Hat is located on about 45 acres of land. Thousands of businessmen are doing business here. Besides the sarees, the

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Volume 10, Issue 09

In Focus

hats are also famous for shawl. Shawl which is made by artisans of many districts are exported to India, Myanmar, Europe and the winter countries from here. Usually, Hat is being held for two days a week, begins on Tuesday afternoon and ends on Thursday afternoon.

No toll or tax is taken from the outside traders for this huge quantity of products selling. Owners and traders of fifty multistoried markets which are built in the hat collectively pay the tax. As a result, the buyer does not have to pay the burden of additional cost.

Wholesalers from different places of the country buy sarees from here and sell them in retail price in the country’s supershops. More than fifty high-rise markets have been built along with the open markets. Tangail sarees as well as printed sarees are available here. Sarees come from Delduar’s Pathrail, Kalihati’s Bolla, Rampur, Enayetpur, Baburhat of Narsingdi, Belkuchi of Sirajganj, Islampur of Dhaka etc. Currently lungi, saree, shawl, three-pieces of women as well as children’s clothing are available here. Various designed and colorful sarees from this hat are found in the city’s mega shopping mall.

In the current year, in total of 1 crore 72 lakhs taka has been called for auction. Traders are paying that tax. For Hat’s safety, the Hat Committee has taken special initiative. CC cameras have been installed at Hat. These cameras are constantly monitored. Buyers from different places of the country do not become victims of robbery or hijacking. Besides, there are also its own volunteers in the safety of the hat.

Communication system From the capital, anyone can go to the Karatia by bus or rail. There are similar communication facilities from different districts of the North Bengal. Commodity price The world famous Tangail Saree is sold here at around half price compared to different wholesale or any retail stores of the country. This is the place for getting real quality with cheap rate.

Feedback According to field source, due to its modern touch along with attractive colour, various designs, and reasonable prices, the Tangail saree has the most demand among women. To meet the increasing demand, the makers of the Tangail sarees have involved in competition. Local customer Sumi Khandaker said, ‘‘there are thousands of sarees available here. Sarees and three-pieces are available with a variety of designs which have better quality, the price is relatively low.’’

Sudhir Ghosh, a businessman from West Bengal of India talks to the reporter. He said, “Because of the comparatively low prices and good quality, I often come to the Tangail hat. The Tangail sarees have great value in the West Bengal.” Barriers At present, the main problem of the hat is load shedding. Due to frequent power outages, traders are facing many problems in trading. There is no branch of any government or private commercial banks in the hat area. So the traders have to carry cash money. The paths to enter the hat are very narrow and broken; traﬃc jams are there also. There is no parking place for cars. It is also a big cause of suffering. Besides, on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, hat runs whole night. There is no bright lightening system in the public lamp posts in this hat. Alhaj Md. Shahjahan Ansari, General Secretary of the ‘Karatia Tant Hat Committee’ said, “Across the country, especially from Chittagong, Sylhet and Dhaka people come here. Besides, customers come from abroad also. The prices of commodities are very low in Karatia Hat than any other Hat. Quality is very good. Good quality clothes are found in Karatia at Tk. 400-

Security There is no shortage of security. Basically, buyers bring bundle of money in cash to buy goods from this hat. Still there is no fear of stealing or hijacking. Average Tk. 70 to 80 crores transactions are done in every week in this hat generally and almost Tk. 200 to 300 crores in Eid & Puja season. Thousands of pieces saree, lungi, sheet, thread and shawl are sold.

Figure 1: Overwhelming customer crowd come here to buy clothes from ‘Karatia Tant Hat’.

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In Focus

500 only. Products are not available at this price anywhere in the country. Perhaps Tk. 50,000 is required for a shop as monthly rent in Dhaka. But the rent here is 15 to 20 thousand taka only in every year. Tangail saree has to be weaved Figure 2: Alhaj Md. Shahjahan Ansari, with great General Secretary, Tant Hat committee care with deep concentration. Despite the flooding of Indian sarees in local markets present time, the prices of Tangail sarees have been kept at reasonable rates.’’ Saree trader Ansari Mia said, “From childhood, I heard about this hat from my father and grandfather. My grandfather used to sell sarees in this hat. My dad did also business. Now i am doing.” Conclusion It is estimated that there are 64,100 handlooms in the district. And 30,000 people are engaged in this profession directly or indirectly. Buyers are flocking to remote hamlets and hats to buy the coveted saree. Besides, products are also being sold in the malls across the country. Tangail sarees are being also exported. Products are being exported to the USA, UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, India and the Middle-East. Showrooms across the world are displaying these sarees. If the government takes initiative to solve the problems of one of the main biggest selling houses of domestic and international standard Tangail sarees, this commercial hotspot has that potentiality to go ahead further, the traders here believe. Only implementation of effective steps are needed. As the hat is situated beside the Dhaka-Tangail highway, its communication system is also satisfactory. After purchasing, buyers can easily carry the purchased goods. So Tangail’s ‘Karatia Tant Hat’ remains always in the choice list of apparel buyers.

SPINNING SOLUTIONS BUILT TO SEE MORE

Ad ve r t o r i a l

A revolutionary start of the ﬁrst ecological alternative to potassium permanganate CHT-Jeans & Garment Team Spray treatment with potassium permanganate (KMnO4) belongs to the worldwide most common process for local bleach of denim garments in a reliable and durable way. Brighter parts or the very popular “used look” on denim garment are mainly produced with potassium permanganate. Everyday worldwide more than 5 tons potassium permanganate are used – which means an enormous discharge into the waste water. It is an effective procedure but with high risks for the environment and health. Potassium permanganate belongs to the substances which are particularly dangerous to the environment with high fish toxicity. It contains manganese, which is a heavy metal and not biodegradable. In many countries there are strict regulations or even an obligation to provide evidence to avoid any misuse of KMnO4. An intelligent and environmentally friendly bleaching is required!

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This is how the CHT Group presented organIQ BLEACH for the first time at the ITMA 2015

The aim was and still is to substitute more than 5 tons per day of the environmentally

harmful potassium permanganate resulting just from the spray bleach of jeans by an ecological alternative. With organIQ BLEACH the CHT Group was able to offer a product for the first time which is not only a 1:1 substitution of KMnO4 in its bleaching effect but which additionally stands out as environmentally friendly,

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Ad ve r t o r i a l

innovative product. organIQ BLEACH is a purely organic bleaching agent, which is free from heavy metals, chlorine and AOX and completely biodegradable (> 99 % in accordance with OECD 301B). organIQ BLEACH doesn`t contain persistent substances. On the contrary to potassium permanganate and chlorine bleach, neutralisation is not needed, just rinsing at the end of the process. The waste water is not polluted with toxic substances. organIQ BLEACH is green screened, EIM Score Listed, bluesign® approved, GOTS certified. The very positive experiences which we and our customers gained in the last two years showed that organIQ BLEACH has excellent ecological bleaching properties and a good reproducibility. It is a 1:1 substitution of KMnO4. Technicians and designers from famous brands consider it to be even better, cleaner and with more contrasts. The results inspired us to extend our focus on further application fields for organIQ BLEACH and to develop an application method which allows for further, extremely economical progresses. The product can now be applied on the full jeans surface, so that it is comparable to chlorine bleach or stonewash processes. This is extremely environmentally friendly and resource protecting application of organIQ BLEACH by means of fog application in normal drum washing machines. The two worldwide leading machine manufacturers, Tonello and Jeanologia realised in a short time that organIQ BLEACH is excellently suited for a resource protecting application with their fog systems and strongly participated in this development project.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

The slower reaction speed of organIQ BLEACH compared with KMnO4 and chlorine proved to be particularly decisive for getting a really sensational bleaching result. After all, it is especially this property that allows for achieving excellent, reproducible bleaching results while making enormous savings in water, time and energy. “This is the jeans treatment of the future!” The combination of modern technologies, organIQ BLEACH + fog applications provide ecological and highly effective washing results. Those technologies are based on an extremely fine distribution of the product as fog in the washing machine. This leads to a very homogeneous distribution with a very low liquor pick-up (1:0.25), which helps to save water and product. Each application is done cold, so that no additional energy for heating up the baths is needed. All fog applications are effected at room temperature without additional energy consumption. Treatment does not take longer than a common stonewash but less subsequent steps are

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required. Average pick-up of garments is 25 % and there is practically no risk of damages to stretch denim. organIQ BLEACH is only eﬃcient on the surface. With this combination of top modern special chemicals and machine technology basic to fashionable washings can be achieved. For further information, please ask our local CHT Garment Teams for organIQ BLEACH and organIQ BLEACH fog application flyers. For further information please feel free to contact us by e-mail: jeans-garment@cht.com

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Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Transforming Human Capital

Tra d e & B u s i n e s s

Expected free trade agreement between Turkey and Bangladesh can boost trade among them Staﬀ Correspondent The bilateral trade relations between Turkey and Bangladesh are old enough and it has a strong historical and cultural roots. In recent era, Bangladesh and Turkey are among each other’s key trading partners and bilateral trade between the two countries is worth about $1 billion. Turkey could be a great destination for Ready Made Garment (RMG) products of Bangladesh if Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is finalized. At present, all Bangladeshi product, except RMG items, are enjoying zero duty benefit in Turkish market. Despite potentials, Bangladesh failed to achieve expected export earnings growth in Turkey as Turkey imposed high duty on Bangladeshi products in 2010. As a least developed country, Bangladesh is supposed to get duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) market access to the country. If that cannot be achieved, the first preference could be to have a bilateral FTA with Turkey to avail preferential market access. Recently the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry organized the Turkey-Bangladesh Business Forum in Dhaka city on 23 August. Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed, Turkish ambassador to Bangladesh Devrim OZTURK, FBCCI president Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, FBCCI’s First Vice President Sheikh Fazle Fahim

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Figure : FBCCI and Turkey Business Forum shakes hands after signing MoU.

and Turkish Exporters’ Assembly member of sector council Basaran Bayrak were present among others in the B2B meeting. The visit of Turkish business delegation would expedite trade and business relations between the two countries. In this event, Tofail Ahmed urged the Turkish government to speed up the efforts for signing a free trade agreement to boost bilateral trade and business between the two nations as political and cultural co-operation between Turkey and Bangladesh is very close. He also said that Bangladesh was getting duty-free quota-free market access to the

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European Union, but not in the Turkish market as the country is not included in the European economic block. “Now we are very much interested to sign a free trade agreement to tap the potentials of trade and investment,” the commerce minister said. “We held the first round of meeting for singing FTA while the second round of meeting is yet to be held. I will request the ambassador of Turkey and the visiting business delegation to discuss the issue with your government and arrange the second round of meeting,” Tofail added.

Tr a d e & B u s i n e s s

Bangladeshi export items to Turkey have been dominated by apparel products. Since 2012, Bangladesh and Turkey have been in talks to sign a free trade agreement, but signing of the agreement is halted due to the complications relating to Turkey’s bid for accession to the European Union. Basaran BAYRAK, the chief of Turkish business delegation, said that the free trade agreement between Turkey and Bangladesh is under process. We are not here only to increase our exports to Bangladesh. We are here also to increase the business of Bangladesh in Turkey. Table 1: Trade position between Bangladesh and Turkey Year

Export in million USD

Import in million USD

Trade Balance to Bangladesh

2012-2013

637.81

224.00

(+) 413.81

2013-2014

856.19

183.31

(+) 672.88

2014-2015

720.88

159.23

(+) 561.68

2015-2016

661.88

175.20

(+) 486.68

2016-2017

631.63

212.30

(+) 419.33

According to the information provided by the Central Bank of Bangladesh, net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Turkey in Bangladesh in the fiscal year 2015-2016 realized as 1.41 million USD and as of June 2016, the total FDI stock in Bangladesh has been 11.9 million USD. The minister offered the facility of special economic zone for the Turkish businesses. “Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and Turkish companies can take the strategic advantage of labor-intensive manufacturing in Bangladesh,” he said. He urged Turkish companies to make investment in infrastructure and pharmaceutical sectors. Table 2: Export-Import commodities list of Bangladesh with Turkey Main Export Commodities

Main Import Commodities

JJute and jute goods, Home Textile, Woven garments, Manmade filament and staple fibres, Specialized textikkles, Pharmaceuticals, leather, ceramics etc.

Iron and steel construction material, Cotton, Parts and accessories Milk and milk products, Machines and their components, Textile machinery, Generators etc.

possible. Devrim said that the strategic location of Turkey is important for geo-politics and the economy of the country is a global success story. Assuring about the political stability in Turkey, he said that business was not hampered due to the recent political turmoil, which did not pose any impact on daily life. The envoy said that there were huge scope to increase bilateral business between two countries and the business forum would help to strengthen the bilateral business ties. Bangladesh and Turkey have signed a joint protocol on trade and investment in 2012. The BangladeshTurkey Joint Economic Commission has been holding biennial meetings to discuss the ways for increasing bilateral trade and investment. Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, FBCCI president, said that the Turkey-Bangladesh Business Forum would open the window of more cooperation and both the nations can take advantage in the area of trade and investment. He urged Turkish businesses to work hand in hand to strengthen bilateral trade relations removing all the barriers and he requested businesses of both countries to go forward targeting bilateral trade worth $5 billion within few years. He urged Turkish companies to make investment in pharmaceutical, leather and infrastructure sectors in Bangladesh. Bangladesh exports to Turkey stood at $631.63 million in the financial year 2016-17, above 80 percent accounts for RMG products, while imports were worth $212.30 million in the period, according to the Export Promotion Bureau. If the FTA is signed between two countries, Bangladesh RMG sector’s new market venture will find a new dimension. However, apart from RMG, there are areas of business, which could be collaborated jointly with Turkey like agriculture, frozen food, pharmaceuticals and handicrafts. These areas, including RMG, were highlighted by the Turkey delegates in the B2B meeting program.

Devrim OZTURK said that Turkey signed free trade agreement with four countries and the discussion is still going on over the FTA with Bangladesh. Expressing expectation, he said that the next FTA discussion with Bangladesh would be held as soon as

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

N E W S & A N A LY S I S

Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) gets new Committee Desk Report

According to the statement, M Shahidullah, M Nuruzzaman, Kazi Azmal Haque and Idris Ali Molla have been elected as directors of the association. Bangladesh Cotton Association is established in the year of 2000 with a strong desire to serve the Cotton Community of the Country.

Desk Report Labib Group, one of the leading garment exporters of the country, has celebrated its half-yearly achievements at an event titled ‘Go Go Glory’ at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the capital.

Mehdi Ali has recently been elected as the president of Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) for 2017-19. The association also elected Md Pavel Hossain as general secretary, the association said in a statement. Sk Md Samiul Islam, Mian Ahmed Kibria, A Matin sarker and MA Latif have been elected as vice presidents. The association also elected Md Abdullah Al-Mahmood, Nani Gopal Saha, Zinat Rehana and Belayet Hossain as joint secretaries while Muhammad Ayub as treasurer.

Labib Group celebrates its success

Labib Group chairman Salahuddin Alamgir and vice-chairman Sultana Jahan were present at the program. Around 700 oﬃcials from different units of Labib Group were present on the occasion. Mehdi Ali

Figure: Labib Group chairman Salahuddin Alamgir and vice-chairman Sultana Jahan awarded gold medals to the best performer of the group.

Md Pavel Hossain

On the occasion, the management representatives of the group were awarded with gold medals for their contributions to the group. This was followed by a colorful cultural function.

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018 online space application is now open Desk Report This move to combine the two shows into one mega high-quality event is strongly supported by all nine CEMATEX European textile machinery associations, CTMA (China Textile Machinery Association) and JTMA (Japan Textile Machinery Association). The sixth edition is going to be held at the new National Exhibition and Convention Centre (NECC) in Shanghai. Online space application is now available to participate in the sixth edition of the combined show ITMA ASIA + CITME, which will be held from 26 to 30 October 2018. ITMA ASIA, one of the world’s largest textile and garment technology showcase and CITME, China’s most important textile event, since 2008, the combined show known as “ITMA ASIA + CITME” has been held in China, scheduled to take place every two years.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Who want to reserve floor space in online please visit http://www.itmaasia.com/ for online registration, general regulation, and index of produces. The deadline of space rental application is 28 February 2018. Applicants applying after 28 February 2018 may be placed on a wait list without guarantee of a stand (refer clause A4), according to the show authority.

C a m p u s To d a y

More value addition on denim products can lift the sector further, says BUTEX BC ‘Professional Talk’ program Rifat Tabassum Shuchi, BUTEX Correspondent Bangladesh recently beat China on exporting denim to the European Union and is creating more opportunities for the country. With that in mind, BUTEX Business Club has recently arranged a program titled “Professional Talk” for varsity students sponsored by DyStar, a leading manufacturing company of dyestuff & chemicals and brought professionals from denim sector. So, they could know about the current trends and scopes in the denim sector. Rafat Hasan Chowdhury, Deputy General Manager of Amber Denim Ltd. & Ibrahim Khalil Tipu, General Manager, Washing of Nice Denim were the guest speakers of the program. They both are young leaders in the denim sector having proven record of success. Arif Iqbal, Lecturer of the Department of Textile Engineering Management began the session by asking them to share their experiences. They shared their life stories from their student life to professional life by reminiscing their leadership journey and the strategy of reaching top positions. They inspired the student not only strengthen their communication, leadership and management skills but also keep up-to-date with the demand of the market to do well in the future. They can replace the foreigner workers in the industry by acquiring these skills. Rafat Hasan said, “We appreciate the persistent and energetic candidates for entry level

Figure 1: The guest speakers sharing the insights from their experiences.

positions. That’s why we create a rigorous recruitment process to judge the ability of fresh graduates.” Both of them said that the students should prepare themselves from student life for the sector they want to enter. As a result, they will be well informed about their scopes and the common tendency of students of switching company swiftly will be decreased. The students should build up the attitude of continuous improvement by gathering knowledge to reach a leading position. The students of Industrial Production Engineering, a new department of BUTEX got to know that they can rise in the sector if they start taking initiative and become proactive. Ibrahim Khalil said, “Though the environmental impacts of the textile sector in Bangladesh is not in a good state, we believe this situation would change considering the growth of value added product in future.

They talked about the present scenarios of the denim industry in Bangladesh. The market is growing rapidly but there is scarcity of skilled people. So, there are huge scopes for development in every department of the denim industry for fresh graduates. The students may also consider starting their career in the weaving industry and all over printing as these are also the rising sectors in Bangladesh. Md. Majaharul Islam Sumon, Country Manager of DyStar appreciated BUTEX Business Club for arranging this type of knowledge session. He hoped that the program will feature Weaving, Knitting, Printing etc. in future. He was really impressed seeing such initiative by the club and the enthusiasm of students’ crowd. Finally, he closed the program by presenting souvenirs to the guest speakers in order to show gratitude for their presence.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Fa c t o r y Ta l e s

Inclusive banking for RMG workers Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry (PSES), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH The challenges The journey from cash to the bank based wage payments in Bangladesh’s garment sector is gathering pace as garment production factories discover how digitising wages can save time, reduce costs, increase transparency and empower workers by improving their access to finance. Side by side, digital wage payment has also yielded a range of benefits for both employers and employees, including increased transparency, providing added potential to assist with audits and supply chain accountability, ensuring the accuracy of workers’ payments and reducing the risk of loss or theft of wages for workers, increased financial inclusion as well as greater ability to save, particularly for women workers. Progressive changes are happening in the wage payment system for Ready-Made Garments (RMG) workers in Bangladesh. Now workers, especially women, are gradually becoming more empowered to deal with their earnings by themselves because of digitised wage payments through bank transactions. Studies show that when women have ownership of their own accounts, they have more control over their finances and more influence over household spending. On one hand, this form of digitised wage payment system benefits the company as it avoids the security risk and expenses

of transporting large amounts of cash from the bank for wage payment every month; and on the other hand, it also brings transparency and accountability, especially in regards to compliance monitoring in the wage payment practices in the RMG sector of Bangladesh. Since this concept was new in Bangladesh, initially it was a bit diﬃcult for some factories to implement this due to lack of experience. In addition, at the beginning, the workers, who have no literacy or less literacy, were not comfortable with how to use this technology. It was also a bit diﬃcult for the factories to make the devices available to all employees and workers. The factories felt the necessity of providing training on security measures, such as not sharing the PIN with others and wrong transfer etc.

The initiatives One such example is Abanti Colour Tex Ltd., one of the members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textile, which currently makes wage payment for around 8,000 workers through the Dutch Bangla Bank. They open bank account for each individual worker within ten to fifteen days of joining without any cost. ATM card is also provided to the workers within the next seven working days. There is a Fast Track ATM booth installed in the factory premise for an easy transaction by the workers 24/7. Workers can make transaction at any time and from anywhere as per their convenience. On the other hand, SQ Group is following a Zero Cash transaction policy. They have been making all of their wages and overtime payments for a 13,000 people workforce through Dutch Bangla

Bangladesh Textile Today |

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Bank since 2015. According to the agreement with the bank, every week bank representatives go to the factory with bank services for the workers. When a worker joins, factory helps the worker to open a bank account within three working days. The workers make all of their transactions through an ATM booth which the factory has inside their premises. SQ Group also encourages their workers to gear up their monthly savings. In this regard, they have made an agreement with the bank for BDT 500 monthly saving schemes for the workers. The factory and the workforce do not need to pay any service charge to the bank for their services. Similarly, Genesis Washing Ltd. and Genesis Fashion Ltd. under M and J Group make their salary payments through Mobile Banking (Rocket Bank) for their 3,000 workers via Dutch Bangla Bank. The success According to a study released by the United Nations’ Better than Cash Alliance in 2017, the average garment factories in Bangladesh follow cash payroll which causes production-loss of 750 hours and administrative time-loss of 542 hours per month just in the counting and disbursement of cash wages. For factories which have moved to digital wage payment from the traditional forms of payment, the overall time required to disburse wages reduced by between 32 per cent and 80 per cent for every worker per month. In general, production losses were significantly reduced, due to workers spending less time away from the production line or employers requiring workers to withdraw wages outside working hours. These factories also registered high levels of employee satisfaction about the shift. Digitised wage payment also ensures security of wages for the

workers from any kind of loss or theft and saves revenue stamp costs from their salaries. The most important thing is that, it creates opportunity for workers to save their money in a secured manner as well as receive other banking services as applicable. It is a common practice for many workers to be deceived by fake micro credit or cooperative agencies in their localities, but in the banking system, workers can safely deposit their money and get access to secure financial products such as Deposit Pension Scheme (DPS) savings arrangements. In addition, it has easy payment options such as mobile Banking to send money to their villages. As a result, workers are very happy to use it. Progressively, many leading RMG factories are joining in this practice of wage payment through formalising workers under a corporate banking system. This also creates banking opportunities for workers – who come from low income groups – a customer segment that the traditional banking system generally does not cater to. Lessons learned If workers get trained properly, they can overcome technical issues and adapt to technology rapidly. Way forward Genesis Washing Ltd. is trying to find out an easier way to reactivate account by the workers themselves.

approximately 384 million fabrics per year. SQ Group is one of the leading garment manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. Approx. Currently,13,000 workers are working here. Genesis Washing Ltd. produces jeans pant, skirt etc. Currently, 1430 workers are working here. The production volume is 7.5 million per year. Genesis Fashions produces jeans pant, skirt etc. Currently, 2,300 workers are working here. The production volume is 4.5 million per year. About PSES Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry (PSES) is a joint project of the governments of Bangladesh and Germany, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in partnership with the Bangladesh Government. The project is supporting Bangladesh’s garment, textile and leather sectors to increase compliance with national labour and environment laws and international standards to fulfil the commitment towards an inclusive workforce. PSES promotes best practices from the RMG industry, to raise awareness and encourage industrial players to replicate similar initiatives in the areas of social and environmental standards as well as inclusive skills development.

About Abanti Colour Tex Ltd., SQ Group, Genesis Washing Ltd. and Genesis Fashion Ltd. Abanti Colour Tex Ltd. is a 100 per cent export oriented garments industry. Currently, 6,900 workers are working here. The business volume is

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

R e t a i l e r s To d a y

C a m p u s To d a y

TED of Southeast H&M Foundation makes breakthrough University organized in recycling garments ‘Community Day’

Desk Report

Md. Khaled Hassan Shaown, SEU Correspondent

A project involving the H&M Foundation has had a technological breakthrough, finding a method to recycle blended textiles into new fabrics and yarns. Using a hydrothermal (chemical) process, there is no loss of quality for materials.

The Department of Textile Engineering (TED) of Southeast University (SEU) organized two-day long ‘Community Day’ program on 22-23 August 2017 at the Seminar Hall of the Permanent Campus, Tejgaon, Dhaka.

HKRITA with an estimated funding of 5.8 million euros from the H&M Foundation made the innovation, which will be licensed widely to ensure broad market access and maximum impact.

Faculty members and students of Textile Engineering Department took breakfast with street children & orphans as a part of this ‘Community Day’ program. They also took part in a rally and cleaned the surrounding areas of SEU permanent campus. They celebrated the community day by performing songs, dance, fashion show & various cultural programs. Prof. Syed Fakhrul Hassan, Dean, School of Science & Engineering and Chairman, Textile Engineering Department, SEU delivered the welcome speech of the Opening Ceremony of ‘Community Day’. Mr. M. Kamaluddin Chowdhury, Hon’ble Representative Member of Board of Trustees, SEU Trust was present as Special Guest while Prof. Dr. M. Shamsher Ali, Professor Emeritus, SEU was present as Guest of Honor at the program.

Figure: Inside of an H&M store.(right).

Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), CEO Edwin Keh said, “This is a major breakthrough in the pursuit of a fashion industry operating within the planetary boundaries. By being able to upcycle used textiles into new highvalue textiles, we no longer need to solely rely on virgin materials to dress a growing world population”, he added.

Shykh Seraj, Director (News), Impress Telefilm & Channel i was present at the program as Chief Guest. He welcomed this initiative of Textile Engineering Department. As a community specialist, he inspired students to develop their own community for the prosperity of the country. Prof. Dr. ANM Meshquat Uddin, Vice Chancellor of SEU presided over the program. Dr. ANM Ahmed Ullah, Associate Professor of Textile Engineering Department delivered the Vote of Thanks. Among

“The fashion industry is using more resources than the planet allows”, said the Swedish retail giant H&M, the largest buyer of the Bangladesh’s garment sector.“The technology is a major breakthrough in the journey towards a closed loop for textiles. Fashion is far too precious to end up in landfills”, H&M said in a statement. Recycling clothes will help reduce the amount of natural resources needed to produce new garments. As much as 95 percent of the clothes thrown away could have been re-worn or recycled, according to H&M. In 2013, the Swedish retail giant started collecting unwanted garments, irrespective of the brand or condition, at its store across the globe. Since the initiative was launched, H&M has gathered more than 32,000 tones of garments, which is more fabric than in 100 million t-shirts.

Figure: Distinguished guests like Shykh Seraj, Prof. Dr. M. Shamsher Ali were present at the program.

others, Maj. Gen. Kazi Fakhruddin Ahmed, SPP, psc (Retd.), Professor Meer Mobashsher Ali, Chairman of Architecture Department, faculty members and students of Textile Engineering Department were present at the program.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Tra d e & B u s i n e s s

BGMEA urges Georgia to invest more in Bangladesh Staﬀ Correspondent Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged the visiting Georgia delegation to invest more in Bangladesh on September 11, 2017 at BGMEA complex in the city. Every year Bangladesh exports apparel product of closely $1 billion to Georgia. Georgia is a small country in Euroasia and it is a good hub for Europe and Central Asia. They discussed different issues, including possible avenues of mutual cooperation between Bangladesh and Georgia for development. They also had discussion on how Bangladesh can explore Georgian market for exports

Figure: BGMEA President gave a crest to Georgia Deputy Foreign Minister David Jalagania

of Georgia to Bangladesh Archil Dzuliashvili. BGMEA President Md. Siddiqur Rahman hoped that the visit of Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister would help pave the way more for boosting bilateral trade between both countries. In the beginning of the program, a documentary was presented on garment industry in Bangladesh. After of different products, especially apparel, footwear, pharmaceuticals, and leather. The Georgian delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister David Jalajania came in two-day visit to Bangladesh. In the meeting, the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister has termed their visit as a historic moment. He said that Bangladesh is the top RMG exporter in South Asia and as a member of the European Union, Georgia can offer huge opportunity for Bangladesh regarding investing in the country in this sector. He also said that Bangladeshi businessmen can explore medicine, leather and agriculture sectors too as there are demands for these products in Georgia. “We will be able to strengthen our relationship through business which will play a vital role in bilateral Business. Bangladesh can also enrich itself with the experience of Georgia as we are in a better position in doing business index”, said Ambassador

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09

Export-Import commodities list of Bangladesh with Georgia Main Export Commodities

Main Import Commodities

Knitwear, Paper & paperboard, Jute and Jute goods and Home Textiles etc.

Cotton, Carpets and other textile floor coverings, Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances etc.

Table: Export-Import commodities list of Bangladesh with Georgia

that, the BGMEA president made a presentation on the role of RMG sector in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan Md. Allama Siddiki, the Director General (Europe), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, and BGMEA Vice president Mohammad Nasir, Directors Md. Shahidul Islam Mukul, Miran Ali and Md. Munir Hossain were also present on the occasion.

N ew s A n a l y s i s

Bangladesh to remain top destination for international retailers and brands over the next 5 years Staﬀ Correspondent

According to a global survey, Bangladesh will remain the apparel sourcing hotspot for international retailers and brands over the next five years because of competitive prices and China’s declining market share in garment business. The world’s most prestigious management consultancy firm, McKinsey & Company prepared the biennial survey based on interviews of Chief Purchasing Oﬃcers (CPOs) of top 63 global garment retailers and brands that buy apparel items worth $137 billion a year.

49 43 37 35

Bangaldesh

Ethiopia

Myanmar

Vietnam

India

Figure: Over next five years, Bangladesh is potential for the 1st choice as she remains on top of five apparel sourcing countries (figure in %), Source: Mckinsey Apparel CPO Survey 2017.

In the survey titled “The apparel sourcing caravan’s next stop: Digitization”, CPOs said that Bangladesh is still their first choice as sourcing destination for 49 percent while 43 percent opted for Ethiopia, 37 percent for Myanmar, 35 percent for Vietnam and 22 percent for India.

chemicals, currency exchange rates, labor costs, change in trade agreements, compliance costs, shift in purchasing power, and transport and financing costs would be the highest impacting factors for garment business.

Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporter worldwide after China, Bangladesh exported garment items worth $28.14 billion in the last fiscal year, registering 0.20 percent year-on-year growth.

According to the World Trade Organization, China remains by far the biggest garment exporter with its export valued at $177 billion in 2016 — compared to $28 billion for Bangladesh and $25 billion for Vietnam.

Atiqul Islam, former president of BGMEA said, “I believe Bangladesh will be the top choice of global retailers and brands as the garment sector improved workplace safety and other compliances after fixing the structural, electrical and fire security loopholes.”

“Ethiopia, which exports garment items worth less than $1 billion a year, is not a major competitor now. But it could pose a big challenge for Bangladesh in the future as it is receiving a lot of foreign direct investment for producing low-cost basic garment items”, opined by distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Mustafizur Rahman.

The survey mentions that cost of raw materials and

China University offers 14 BUFT students for scholarship Staﬀ Correspondent

Recently 14 students from the Textile Engineering departments of BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT) had got scholarships in M.Sc. Textile Engineering Programs at Gegian University in China(GSTEU) under education cooperation agreement between BUFT and Gegian University China(GSTEU) . Mozzafar Uddiin Siddiq, Founder Chairman, Board of Trust, BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT), Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Nizam Uddin Ahamed; Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor, Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan; Registrar ANM Rafiqul Alam; Manager CEPD Kamrun Nahar Panna will be visiting

the Chinese University along with the scholarship given students.

Figure: The scholarship students with Chairman, Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor and Registrar of BUFT.

Bangladesh Textile Today |

Volume 10, Issue 09