Torque Fashions Ltd. is willing to compete in the global market to provide best quality woven products to the buyers & achieve its desired goal. Torque Fashions Ltd. is a modern woven factory equipped with the latest automation Machineries from Juki and other world class brands which made in Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, UK, Thailand, Germany etc. Hence Torque Fashions Ltd. wants to prove itself as a well-designed and well-equipped woven factory in Bangladesh, with skilled workers, breathing environment and relax working atmosphere. The Management of Torque Fashions Ltd believes that their main resource is their adaptable workforce. Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin is the Managing Director of Torque Group. Recently team Denim Focus has a conversation with Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin. Key discussion points are mentioned below for our readers.
Denim Focus: What would you like to say about the present situation of RMG Sector?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: Currently, our RMG industry is getting quite a good number of orders. During the pandemic COVID-19, most of our buying countries were going through lockdowns. As a result, we were not getting enough orders. Now the situation is getting better day by day. Brands are opening their outlets. So, we are also getting orders. In the knitting sector, we are getting a good amount of orders. But we are facing difficulties due to the price increase of cotton & yarn. Talking about, woven sector, we are getting orders. According to the global market currently, 70% of global clothing demand is for man-made fiber based garments, and scopes in the woven sector are getting narrowed. So, we have to shift towards man-made fiber based products.
Denim Focus: How are you observing denim market of Bangladesh?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: Bangladeshi denim products are dominating the global markets by beating its competitors in the European markets as well as in the United States by occupying a lion’s share of the proverbial denim pie.
In the EU market we have market share of around 29%, and the largest denim exporter to the US with an 20.03% share. Many major international brands such as H&M, Uniqlo, Levi’s, Nike, Tesco, Wrangler, Hugo Boss, Puma, Primark, Springfield, Tao Next and JC Penney are now manufacturing or importing denim products from Bangladesh.
As the denim manufacturers now can purchase denim fabrics from local sources easily, the lead time to ship products came down compared to previous years. This helped a lot to manufacturers to attract more buyers, which also is an opportunity for us to grab more market share in export destinations.
Despite being a global market leader in denim products, there are also some challenges ahead for the Bangladeshi manufacturers.
According to people from the growing industry, price of fabrics and getting utility services – including gas and electricity – hindering new investment are some of them. Moving towards value added products is another issue that needs more attention.
Denim Focus: As a local representative of Raymond UCO Denim Private Limited, what would you like to say about Raymond UCO Denim Private Limited?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: One of my organization “Raymotex Corporation” is the sole indenting agent of Raymond UCO Denim Private Limited since 1998. When we became the agent of Raymond UCO, there was no value added and premium quality denim fabric manufacturer. But that time denim market share was increasing in worldwide and we had to do our part in there. So we bring Raymond UCO Denim Private Limited with their value added and premium fabric to catch that world market share.
Denim Focus: What is the present scenario & future plans of Torque Group?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: Torque Group has 30 Sewing Units, Embroidery Printing, 2 Washing Plants: 1 manual washing plant & 1 completely sustainable washing plant containing a laser machine, ozone machine, E-flow, ETP plant & other sustainable facilities. The Garments industry is still in the learning process. The moment, we started this business that is in the digital phase. As a result, we are getting all the expertise & digital facilities, from all over the world. We import machinery from Turkey, as we get all the traceability, transparency, sustainable facilities, etc. About the future plan, we are thinking of an extension for our factory. We are observing this year, and then we will make a decision next year to convert our manual washing plant into a fully sustainable washing plant. We also have plan to open another Green sewing unit of 40 lines with sustainable washing facilities.
Denim Focus: How do you see the future of Bangladesh’s Garments Industry?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: World’s population is increasing. Global demand for clothing is also increasing every moment. Bangladesh is a consistent supplier of global clothing. Unless we expand our factories 30-40%, we are going lose a great market opportunity. Another fact is Bangladesh is well known for quality with low cost & basic products, but we also need to brand our country for premium products. India, China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan are big competitors for us. Also, there are a lot of brands in the USA and Europe, who do not know about Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s RMG Industry. To reach the new markets, we need to focus on Branding Bangladesh. We have to think about promoting our RMG sector on digital platforms, other country’s local trading platforms & Bangladeshi Embassies. The more we will approach buyers, the more business opportunities we will get. We also have to focus our productivity on man-made fiber based products so that we can increase our global share.
Denim Focus: Any Message for RMG Industry of Bangladesh?
Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin: Industrialization is a major reason for the economic development of a country. It plays a significant role in transforming the monetary structure of developing nations. Textile & Garments industry of Bangladesh is more than 500 years old. If we go down in history, we will know how much addiction Romans had on our Muslin. So there is nothing to describe on our textile & Garments industry. Almost 70% of our product is cotton based. In world market MMF (man-made fiber) products gets much higher price than cotton based products. Currently in Bangladesh around 40 mills are producing MMF. So it’s a good side for us, now all we need is few technical and policy support from our Govt. like tax holiday for 10 years and 10% incentive on exporting man-made fiber based products.
During the pandemic COVID-19, we went through extreme business losses. This is the time for us to survive and also to recover those losses. To care for our existing customers and also to reach new customers, we need support from everyone. My humble request to the government would be to continue our incentives facilities till December so that we can recover. Also, we need the government’s support for handling the situation of the increasing price of raw materials as well as for Branding Bangladesh.
