A level playing field is needed to ensure transparency and everyone has to be equally transparent in the entire global supply chain of the denim sector, said Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert Ltd. “Transparency is the first step towards a different culture for fashion industry, where everybody has to be equally transparent. We need a high level of engagement and support from brands, retailers and consumers to implement transparent practices in reality,” he noted.He made this observation at a separate session—“Enabling Transparency to Create Change”—of the sixth edition of ‘Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2018’ held in Denmark on May 16.Policymakers of the European Union (EU), top officials of brands and retailers, and representatives from global rights groups were present at the summit.This summit is a platform for multi-stakeholders, such as major fashion policy decision-makers and fashion experts, to discuss social and ethical issues pertaining to the industry.“For me, transparency would be achieved when the brands become accountable and open to the customers. At the same time, consumers and citizens should be able to scrutinise and evaluate the brands of their choice,” said Mostafiz Uddin.A group of journalists recently visited the factory of Denim Expert Ltd in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ). Mostafiz Uddin shared his experience in the summit with them. A buyer’s representative was also present there.When asked about the biggest obstacles to transparency, Mostafiz Uddin said: “The biggest barrier to transparency is the ‘cost’. We must find out who is responsible for the cost-escalation factor: the buyer, the consumer, or the manufacturer or the brand?” “Somebody has to pay for this. It must be the manufacturer, the brand or the consumer,” he also said.“We must pay the price as long as we know that we will get some benefits in the long run,” he added.When asked, the buyer’s representative told the reporters that Bangladesh was one of the world’s biggest apparel-sourcing countries. After the Rana plaza tragedy, a lot of safety measures have been put in place to avoid similar mishaps, he said.He said infrastructure facilities, such as roads, utilities and container congestion in Chittagong port, were some of the biggest challenges that Bangladesh needed to overcome in the near future to obtain more orders from abroad.
