Bangladeshi denim products are dominating the global markets

The denim industry is the only industry in Bangladesh that has shown its strength in a short span of time in Bangladesh. Bangladesh started the denim journey few years ago not even 10 years earlier. But by this little time of journey Bangladesh is the top denim exporter both the Europe and the US markets overtaking China. The denim story is amazing for Bangladesh as this diversified garment items gave the country a new identity as the denim production nation.

With such a short time the investment in denim sector has already crossed Tk22,000crore and the number of denim mills in the country is 42 now. The annual production capacity of the denim mills in the country is 900 million metres. The entrepreneurs have invested millions of dollars in the denim segment because of having a lot of potential in the local and global markets because of changes in fashion. Most of the people in the western world particularly in the European countries and in the USA people prefer wearing denim jeans to traditional attires as the denim is easy to design, less wash and heavy functionality.

Bangladesh was struggling to diversify its garment items from the production of basic garment items as the local exporters were receiving less prices from the international clothing retailers and brands
They could see the denim has the potential for becoming a diversified garment items and they stated exploring the global markets and finally Bangladesh became the champion in global denim segment.

Obviously, the denim is a value-added garment items and denim has proved it. The infrastructures and skilled workers have developed here on denim sector and the return is good now as the fabrics is also produced here in bulk quantity.

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.

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.