Religious caps commonly known as a tupi made in Tetulia of Panchagarh district are available at reasonable prices across the country.
Despite the increase in prices of raw materials, the prices have not increased for such attractive caps produced by the ‘Tupi Palli’ (cap village) in Tetulia.
However, the cap industry is gradually losing its tradition due to a lack of adequate capital and the absence of a pragmatic government policy for this small cottage industry.
Cap manufacturing on small scale first started at remote Mathafata village in Tetulia upazilla in 1991. However, commercial production of caps began in 1994.
Initially, some 15,000 to 20,000 caps were produced every month.
The demand for cap increases during the holy month of Ramadan and people work day and night to produce caps which are sold across the country.
In remote Mathafata village several cap manufacturing units, including Al Khaiyat Cap Industry and Al Iqra Cap Industry, were established.
Al Khaiyat Cap Industry was established by Md Abdul Hannan, a pioneer in the field here.
While he was a student, Hannan first came up with the idea of producing caps with attractive designs. In 1993, he took a loan from a friend and produced 100 caps.
Later, he brought the caps to Chawkbazar in Dhaka and sold them for good profit.
With his initial profit and another Tk70,000 loan taken from two friends, Hannan bought a machine for sewing caps. From 1994, he began commercial production of caps.
Later, he started exporting caps through Mariam International Import Export. Abdul Hannan said that caps are produced throughout the year but the demand for caps increases substantially during the month of Ramadan and ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.
The Chinese government itself creates markets for caps which help its traders capture the foreign market.
China uses Tazima Multi Needle Computerized Embroidery Machine for mass production of caps. The cost of one such machine is about Tk 6 crore.
However, production has now declined to some 4,000 to 5,000 caps a month. The production cost of each cap is Tk80 to Tk250 depending on material and design.
Hundreds of people, both male and female, work in the cap factories of Tetulia. women earn Tk100 to Tk200 a day by producing caps to help support their family and children’s education.
Once the caps produced in Mathafata village of Tentulia were exported to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries after meeting the domestic demand.
At present, export of caps has stopped as China captured the international cap market.
The Chinese government supports the cap industry in remote villages and arranges electricity, gas and good communication system as well as help market their products.
The Chinese producers have sufficient capital and the production cost of their caps is also less.
Proprietor of Al Iqra Cap Industry Harun or Rashid said they are producing caps on a small scale these days since the international cap market has been captured by China.
Businessmen involved in cap manufacturing said if the problems of the cap industry are resolved, locally produced caps could be exported by meeting the domestic demand and thus enable the country to earn substantial amount of foreign currency.