Local apparel manufacturers are pumping money into expanding their capacity to manufacture technical apparel items such as sportswear and workwear as their demand in western markets increases.
A few years ago there were one or two technical or functional clothing factories in Bangladesh. The number has already surpassed 25 as the industry makes significant investments in the segment to gain more market share in the global market.
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Currently, the size of the global technical textiles market is US$179 billion and growing at almost 5 percent annually to reach more than US$224 billion by 2025, according to a study by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). and Germany’s GIZ development agency last year.
BGMEA members are increasingly moving towards the technical textile and apparel markets as the association plans to export $100 billion worth of apparel items by 2030.
The trade organization is creating a roadmap to meet its goal of $42.61 billion last fiscal year and expects much of the $100 billion to come from shipping technical textiles and apparel.
Snowtex Group mainly exports $300 million worth of sportswear, workwear and other garments annually. Of these, nearly 90 percent are technical apparel items, said SM Khaled, managing director of the apparel exporter.
The company, which has been making technical apparel primarily for European and US customers for two decades, plans further expansion to meet growing international demand.
In recent years, the influx of work orders for technical apparel items into local apparel factories has increased rapidly, mainly due to buyers moving away from China, the world’s largest supplier of apparel.
China suffers from a shortage of skilled workers in the apparel industry, with the majority of workers moving into higher-paying sectors such as electronics. Ongoing trade tensions between China and the US have also contributed to the shift of orders from China to Bangladesh.
Russia has been an important market for Bangladeshi technical clothing, but the outbreak of war in February has slowed export growth somewhat as supplies cannot be sent directly to the country. Garments are exported to the country through third parties.
Though China is losing market share in the ready-made technical apparel segment, it is still the biggest player when it comes to the raw materials, fabrics and accessories needed to make the products, Khaled said.
Local weavers can only meet 5 percent of fabric demand. And fabrics are mainly imported from China, Korea and Vietnam.
For accessories, domestic millers can supply 50 percent of items, Khaled said.
Based in Narayanganj, Fakir Apparels started producing technical garments such as workwear, hunting and maintenance garments four years ago because they command higher prices compared to regular garments.
For example, if a regular garment sells for $7, technical garments are priced at $15 a piece, Bakhtiar Uddin Ahmed, the company’s chief operating officer, told The Daily Star. It has set itself the goal of expanding the production lines from the current 16 to 50 by 2025.
“We export over a million dollars worth of technical garments every month. But the export value will double within two or three years,” said Bakhtiar.
He believes that the future of the country’s apparel sector lies in technical garments as prices of fashion garments fail to rise to expected levels.
Mohammad Ayub Khan, chief executive of activewear exporter Debonair, says buyers are now offering lower prices due to higher inflation in western markets and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Inflation in the euro zone rose to 10 percent in September, the highest on record, on the back of rising electricity and natural gas prices. In the US, the consumer price index rose by 8.3 percent in August compared to the same month last year.
The EU and the US together account for about 85 percent of Bangladesh’s clothing supplies.
Kamrul Hassan Kibria, senior merchandising officer at Bitopi, a jackets exporter, said his company ships insulated jackets at 3.50 lakh a month and plans to expand as many orders are shifted to Bangladesh.
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