Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE), a private initiative aimed at promoting the country’s apparel industry, is going to organise a workshop to find out ways and means how to develop the country’s apparel brand. The day-long workshop titled “How to build your own apparel brand and directly address to European and US Consumers” will be held on July 29 at Gardenia in Dhaka. The aim of the workshop is to disseminate the facts and information of the industry with due attention and develop the next growth strategy of the country’s apparel sector by designing locally owned international brand and selling those directly to Western consumers. By participating the workshop, an entrepreneur will be able to gain insight knowledge on how the global renowned brands are being conceptualised and designed. It will help create the country’s own brand as well as to avail opportunity of e-commerce in selling directly to consumers. Bangladesh, the second largest exporter of clothing products, produces apparel items for global retailers such as Zara, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Gap and many more, said Mostafiz Uddin, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BAE. But the Bangladeshi manufacturers which make clothes for the world’s famous brands yet to establish any global brand originated from Bangladesh, said Mostafiz. Considering all these aspects, the BAE has taken the initiative to share experience and knowledge for building a brand from purpose to product for entrepreneurs, fashion aspirants, and everyone with a dream to build their own brad, said Mustafiz. As per the industry insiders and experts, by creating brands Bangladesh can increase profit margin by utilising the strength and intelligence of the businesses, which would impact on the country’s economy in a greater way. The workshop will help entrepreneurs start their next growth strategy by providing insight knowledge on designing own brand and selling it directly to western wholesalers and end consumers. In just concluded fiscal year, Export earnings from the clothing industry witnessed just a 0.20 percent rise to $28.15 billion, the lowest in the last one and a half decade. The overall Bangladesh’s export earnings also stood at $34.83 billion, which is 1.68% percent higher than the previous year $34.25 billion. At this situation, Bangladesh should focus on higher end products to come out from the sluggish export growth, said Mostafiz, also Managing Direcor of Denim Expert Limited. Mostafiz has been successfully exporting and selling his denim brand in Europe since 1999. I think the workshop will help RMG people to focus more on building brand to get better prices, he added.
