Threads India Ltd (TIL) and Sanzi Textile Mills Ltd have signed a technical collaboration agreement to supply industrial sewing thread to the Bangladeshi vendors of leading garment buyer GAP Inc of USA, a top executive of Well Group said. Under the agreement, TIL will provide all kinds of technical support for quality improvement to Sanzi Textiles and help audit the production process to meet the GAP standard, apart from technology transfer. Last week, a team of TIL conducted audit at Sanzi and certified the company suitable for meeting the GAP standard, Well Group spokesperson said. Besides, TIL will send an auditor in every three months to monitor the overall production process from purchasing of raw materials to production process. At present, GAP, one of the largest American garment buyers, purchases around 50 million pieces of garments mainly denim and twirl twill trousers and some knit items worth over US$ 500 million from Bangladesh, he added. About 20 companies, big and small, have been supplying thread to various garment factories in Bangladesh, including two international giants — Coats and A&E. “British brand Coats and American brand A&E were the two nominated brands in Bangladesh by GAP. We tried but failed to be nominated as the local brand due to various technical reasons,” Well Group chief executive officer Syed Nurul Islam told the FE. Later, the group signed the technical collaboration agreement with TIL as they were the lone approved sewing thread supplier in South East Asia selling thread of over Rs 600 million. “As a technical partner, we will supply sewing threads to GAP vendors in Bangladesh alongside other foreign companies like Coats and A&E hopefully from this month. Last week, a team of TIL has visited our company and GAP has already instructed their vendors that they can use Well thread,” said Mr Islam, one of the renowned industrialists in the country. He said that for 50 million pieces of garments imported by GAP, sewing thread worth over Tk 1.0 billion is being used in Bangladesh. If Well Thread can capture 20 per cent of the market share, it will be a great achievement from the GAP’s account. “Our success depends on our product quality, marketing and service. Over 10 big global brands work with GAP. The sewing thread account is much bigger in Bangladesh than India,” he said. Mr Islam added that the Well Group sells and exports over $ 20-25 million sewing thread both locally and to Eastern Europe and Turkey thus saving foreign currency. He said that the Well Group has the largest vertical set up of a sewing thread factory, which produces thread from cotton. It imports cotton from China and Taiwan and produce yarn. Even TIL imports yarn from outside. Finally, regarding the growth of the sewing thread market, the veteran RMG entrepreneur said it depends on the growth of the overall readymade garment sector. Although it is fluctuating, he said, the sector registered an average growth of 7.0 per cent and would exceed 10 per cent within next few years provided political stability prevails in the country.
