Staff Reporter :
A two-day denim expo began in the capital on Tuesday aiming to display the latest designs of jeans and denim products of Bangladesh to achieve $50b export target by 2021.
The fifth edition of the expo, organised by Denim Expert Limited, a Chittagong-based denim products maker, held at International Convention City Bashundhara in Dhaka.
German ambassador Dr. Thomas Prinz and Swedish ambassador Johan Frisell, PVH Bangladesh country manager Najeeb Sayeed, TushukaGroup Chairman Arshad Jamal (Dipu) and ILO program manager (RMG sector) attended the inaugural ceremony while BGMEA vice-president Mohammad Nasir moderated the program.
Around 5000 global denim experts from different countries, including the USA, the UK, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Egypt, Belgium, China and the UAE, have joined the expo.
Visitors, including buyers, brand representatives, CEOs, sourcing managers, manufacturers, merchandisers and denim connoisseurs from the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, the UAE, Vietnam and China participated in the show.
There were a total of 55 exhibitors from 15 countries are showing their product availability and brand value to the world. Multiple events of live demonstration will also be held, including one by Living Blue.
The theme of this edition of the fair is ‘natural denim’, which will provide an opportunity to the visitors to make business connections and at the same time, learn new concepts of the trade, denim innovation, strategy and manufacturing.
Swedish ambassador Johan Frisell said that Bangladesh, the second largest RMG exporter in the world, is also an emerging player in international denim market. The EU and the US are two main export destinations of Bangladesh’s denim. Bangladesh should emphasis on innovation and skill development for it, not for zero quotas because it may be cancelled in any time. So Bangladesh should develop its product.
Arshad Jamal said that if we want to achieve our goal we have to pay attention on aspiration and at the same time we have to increase the number of factories to two thousands.
“Denim will never go away -it will stay in fashion regardless of its shape, design and style,” Mostafiz Uddin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangladesh Denim Expo, said while inaugurating the expo.
Mostafiz also Managing Director of the Denim Expert Limited said the best way to stimulate the denim business is to analyze and understand the future trends. “One of them is to add more ecological and sustainable thinking to the way we produce.”
He also said: “We can plan and achieve the sustainable solutions that benefit our business.”
Bangladesh presently has 30 denim producing factories and can meet about 60% domestic demands for fabrics. That is why there is a huge scope of investment in denim fabrics mills.
Two knowledge sessions — ‘Improving the unit economics of the RMG manufacturing industry’ and ‘Choose the right way of denim washing’ — were held on the sidelines of the expo.
