The apparel products of Bangladesh are being rated highly in Europe and North America despite the prevailing constraints attributable to high inflation with attendant recessionary trends in those markets. In fact, apparel products from Bangladesh have proved to be the best in terms of competitiveness given their quality and price when compared with those from China, Vietnam and its other major Asian competitors. Not surprisingly, going by the data provided by the Office of Textile and Apparels (OTEXA) under the US Commerce Department, in 10 months between January and October 2022, export of apparel products from Bangladesh saw its highest growth at 48.57 per cent compared to China and Vietnam. However, considering the volumes of apparel goods exported to the US market, China and Vietnam were still ahead holding the first and second positions followed by Bangladesh. But so far as the growth in the export of their apparel goods to the US market is concerned, China’s at 20.76 per cent, for instance, is evidently far below that of Bangladesh.
In this connection, a survey was conducted recently by the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) and the University of Delaware by interviewing the executives of some 30 leading fashion brands, retailers, importers and wholesalers. The interviewees rated Bangladesh highly as a source country for apparel products and awarded it 4.5 points out of 5, the highest grading in terms of the price competitiveness of the products. But the other major producers of apparel goods, according to the survey, were found to be less competitive in terms of their product price resulting in their lower rating. The study also highlighted the social and labour compliance risks associated with sourcing of the apparel products from the countries in question. As expected, the study further revealed that the risks related to social and labour compliance for Bangladesh as a source country decreased during the last two years, while the risks for China, Vietnam and Cambodia increased.
Obviously, Bangladesh’s improved rating (at 2.5 in 2023 compared with an average of 2.0 between 2019 and 2022) under the category of ‘social and labour compliance risk’ speaks volumes for the ‘post-Rana Plaza tragedy’ efforts made to restore the image of Bangladesh’s RMG sector, thanks to the support provided by its international stakeholders. However, China could further improve its rating (to 3.5 from its previous 3.0) followed by Vietnam in terms of their ‘speed to market’, which is about how fast a business can reach a product to its end users after conceiving the idea (of the product). Here, China and Vietnam could show better performance as their supply chain, backed by right logistics, was flexible, agile and resilient. Bangladesh’s rating in that respect has been a modest 2.0 for understandable reasons.
Interestingly, the most utilised sourcing destinations for apparel products in 2023 were from Asia with China and Vietnam remaining among the highest utilised (at 97 per cent), with Bangladesh with its 83 per cent utilisation rate close on their heels. It is indeed gratifying to see the rising popularity of apparel products of Bangladesh-origin with global fashion brands and retailers. Naturally, alongside better appreciation, the Western buyers should also come up with better price offers for Bangladesh apparel. That would prove to be of greater service to the local workers in the apparel sector and their employers.
