MARKET INTELLIGENCE & VENDOR ASSISTED INNOVATION

Our trend forecasting teams in USA and Europe constantly research the market compiling comprehensive market intelligence reports every month. They evaluate and predict trends, color, fabric and print.

   We aim to provide information about what’s working and what’s not from every aspect

• Fit
• Fabric
• Color and Print
• Silhouette
• Wash
• Embellishment

Our teams meet with customers, and partake in capsule collections each month in vendor assisted innovation and co-creation of ranges tailored to their specific customer.

 

QUALITY

Quality is a central topic, from initial idea to final product. It is our aim to always exceed our customers’ expectations on quality.

He's not alone. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel producer after China, but its industry leaders say international retailers are either refraining from placing orders, delaying buying decisions or demanding steep price cuts.

"This is a disaster. We are taking orders just to survive," said Siddiqur Rahman, a garment supplier to international retailers including H&M and GAP Inc .

"We anticipated orders could look up before the Christmas but that didn't happen."

Rahman said customers were demanding price cuts of as much as 15%, making the recovery that much harder.

In the financial year that ended in June, Bangladesh's garment exports totaled $27.94 billion (21.6 billion pounds), down 18% from the previous year.

There was a rebound of less than 1% in the July-September quarter, thanks to a surge in demand for knitwear items, which account for half of Bangladesh's total garment exports.

But nearly half of factories producing knitwear products like t-shirts and sweaters are finding it difficult to remain open, said Selim Osman, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"A second wave could further delay the recovery," Osman said.

Low wages have helped Bangladesh build its garment industry, with some 4,000 factories employing 4 million workers. Readymade garments are a mainstay of the economy, contributing almost 16% of country's GDP, according to the central bank.

 

 The story of growth of the garment sector and the textile sector supporting it are well known.  By 1985, industrial development in Bangladesh had made very little progress and the focus on import substitution as the basis for development of manufacturing growth had failed. The basis for a shift to export-led growth was rejected by the government planners believing that it was impossible to expect Bangladesh to become competitive in the international markets. This pessimistic view was deeply rooted in the thinking of most of the senior economists in Bangladesh who had been trained in Britain. This pessimism that resulted in the weak performance of the British economy for decades was accepted in Bangladesh. Surprisingly, a few of the Korean companies believed it was possible to develop competitive export industries making garments. The quota system in place meant that exports from Bangladesh were initially free of quota restrictions so if the Bangladeshi workers were able to produce the clothes at a competitive wage rate, then there would be a future for Bangladesh in the global textile market.

 

old knitted fabric. Textile factory in spinning production line and a rotating machinery and equipment production company

 Bun Chhineda sits with her parents and siblings in front of a small wooden house. She lives between the city of Svay Rieng and Bavet, an industrial zone located near the border with Vietnam.

The 21-year-old sits here everyday now, having not been able to work since she was shot in the back while demonstrating for better working conditions.

"I used to sew shoes. It was hard work. But I can't do it anymore," she explains.

She used to work at Kaoway Sports where 1,000 women are employed. They earn 66 US (50 euros) dollars per month and wanted better pay, better working conditions and better food.

"We demanded overtime pay," explains Keo Nethg, who lives around a kilometer away from Bun Chhineda. "In the end, it would have been around five dollars more. And the food was so bad that we wanted to get money for food."