Mostafiz Uddin

Two years ago, garment order books were empty as Covid broke out and shut down the main global markets for Bangladesh.

Everywhere I go I hear the same maxim: sustainability is the only word forward for the fashion industry.

We’ve spent so many years going round in circles on various issues impacting garment supply chains.

While Covid-19 has sent shock waves through the ready-made garment (RMG) supply chains that continue to reverberate, there is also a broader issue that needs more attention: sustainability.

“Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.” This quote is from Sir Richard Branson,

Sustainability should not be a hard sell. And yet, in our industry, so many garment makers continue to look at it as a financial burden—a potential drain for their businesses.

A host of challenges await garment makers as 2022 progresses.

New developments in technology, robotics, automation and digitisation are something all garment manufacturers need to be mindful of. Knowledge, as they say, is power.

We recently saw the announcement of new supply chain “due diligence” laws by the European Union (EU), which are aimed at making multinational businesses accountable for social and environmental transgressions in supply chains.

Our RMG industry has been characterised by the phrase “feast or famine” these last two years. After Covid-19 broke out in early 2020, clothing orders were extremely hard to come by for a period of time.

“UK retailers ditch unethical suppliers,” cried a recent headline in several international news outlets. Did I read that correctly?

Recently, I read that Pakistan, a major competitor of Bangladesh in garment and textile production, had hit record textile exports. The country posted an uptick in textile exports year-on-year of 40 percent in FY2021-22 to the level of USD 21 billion.

The future looks bright for Bangladesh’s RMG sector after a period of profound uncertainty due to the global pandemic. The latest apparel export figures show that, despite the coronavirus pandemic and global lockdowns in key markets, Bangladesh set a new record for apparel exports in the 2021 calendar year.

In Bangladesh’s RMG industry, we view ourselves as fighting for a position as the world’s second-most important garment sourcing hub.

Environmental issues related to the ready-made garment (RMG) sector of Bangladesh appear to have taken a back seat in recent years.

When it comes to the geography of apparel production, the rules are changing, and this is something all Bangladeshi RMG manufacturers need to be aware of.

In the spring of 2020, when the whole planet appeared to be going into lockdown and major fashion retailers were collectively cancelling billions of dollars’ worth of garment orders, it was difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel.

One of the lessons that we learnt during Covid-19 is that suppliers and buyers need to collaborate more, moving away from adversarial relations. But how can we make the shift towards collaboration? And what are the barriers to such an approach to business?

There is a profound sense of déjà vu as we approach the end of 2021 and look forward to what the new year will bring.

The year 2020 was the toughest that I can remember as a business owner. Like many RMG manufacturers in Bangladesh, there were periods where I did not know how I was going to survive.