“Made in Bangladesh”: a future international symbol of quality and sustainability?
From Marie-Antoinette to Kate Middleton, Bangladesh’s RMG industry decided to shift public perception of the “Made in Bangladesh” label.
NEWSBANGLADESH NEWS
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and CNN will start promoting Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment industry by showcasing around the world its success stories.
In recent years the focus of the industry was especially put on workplace safety and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability.
The 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy initiated a sea change in Bangladesh’s approach to worker safety, closed 30 % of the factories it inspected for violation of safety regulations, almost tripled the minimum salary, Labor Law was modified twice to protect worker’s rights and ensure their safety, buildings modified to comply with new fire safety regulations.
In 2022 the only economic value of a product is not enough, and all its non-economic intrinsic values are equally important if not vital.
The environmental impact is one of them, with 75 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects got certified since May 2019, totaling 160 LEED factories in Bangladesh (48 platinum and 98 gold).
Bangladesh has now the highest number of green garment factories in the world, making it easier to comply to the customers which are making a priority in marketing their own brands as reducing the negative impacts on the environment.
Going green goes also with recycling plastic bottles to make garments, with seven local mills investing USD 200 million in order to make recycled yarn and fabrics from plastic bottles waste. International retailers and brands are increasingly requesting suppliers to add 25 to 30 per cent of the recycled material to the finished garment items.
Some changes are also seen on specific segment of the market, like sweaters. Chinese manufacturers are less interested in manufacturing them as the shortage of skilled workers, and complexities in making them leads to higher costs, directly increasing Bangladesh’s market share with exports believed to be above USD 6 billion this year.
Developing existing trends, embracing new environmental requirements, or improve the “Made in Bangladesh” reputation goes also with impressive actions going back in history.
“Dhaka Muslin” known also as “woven air” because the cotton fabric was so thin, delicate, and transparent that it felt like wearing air, completely disappeared by the early 20th Century, surviving only in valuable private collections and museums.
It was at its peak the most expensive clothing material in the world, today’s USD 9 000 to 70 000 for just one yard of fabric, being worn by Jane Austen or royalties like Marie-Antoinette.
A team of scientists, botanists, historians, and politicians was formed, and their first task was to find a particular type of cotton, the “Phuti Carpus”, the only one that can be used for Dhaka Muslin, and long thought extinct.
Succeeding after a five-year long search, it required first to determine if an existing cotton type would match. After narrowing down to 39 different species and comparing their DNA with Dhaka Muslin samples stored in British, Egyptian, and Indian museums, the perfect match was found in the town of Kapasia, north of Dhaka.
The plant is now being grown in experimental farms, but the hardest part was to find and train workers to transform the cotton into the famous muslin. It took months to train them for a result of one inch of muslin produced by two people working eight hours non-stop.
The government already secured a geographical indication of muslin and is actively helping the private sector to revive its commercial production.
Another angle is through high profile individuals wearing “made in Bangladesh” that could be used as promotion, like recently with Kate Middleton seen wearing pants made by “MBM”, a large Bangladeshi garment factory.
A combination of all those will be showcased during the first-ever “Made in Bangladesh Week” organized in November 2022, promoting the sector’s latest development in innovation, compliance and sustainability to global buyers and brands.
https://thediplomat.com/2022/04/after-rana-plaza-how-far-has-bangladesh-come-on-worker-safety/
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/recycling-plastic-bottles-make-garments-2976591
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220304-woven-air-bangladesh-revives-elite-forgotten-fabric
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/bangladesh-resurrects-precious-woven-air-dhaka-muslin/2574987
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock/bangladesh/promote-made-in-bangladesh-brand-1649563959
https://www.thedailystar.net/top-news/news/kate-middleton-wears-clothes-made-bangladesh-3001436
https://businesspostbd.com/textile/made-in-bangladesh-week-to-be-held-in-nov-2022-37130