A sustainable and circular apparel industry is essential in capturing the global market in the current global trend, along with workplace safety and compliance, said experts at a panel discussion on Saturday.
They also said that efficiency, the right course of action, and proper branding could also play effective roles.
With more than 82% of the export earnings, the apparel sector employs 4.5 million employees.
Experts and corporate leaders made the remarks during a panel discussion titled “RMG and Manufacturing” at Strategy Summit 2022, organized by Valor of Bangladesh in the capital.
They also said that the apparel sector of the country required energy and power and so, the supply of these must be ensured for the continuation of production.
In her discussion as a panellist, Vidiya Amrit Khan, deputy managing director of Desh Group, and director of the BGMEA, said that among current trends, the consumers from the EU and the US focus more on green, circularity, sustainability, and upskilling.
Bangladesh is doing tremendously well in the field of green factories, as there are 165 LEED certified green factories, and 7 of the top 10 are from Bangladesh, she commented, adding that still there were some challenges in the green transformation.
The Bangladesh Bank has a scheme called green financing, but the conditions of this scheme were not user-friendly, she added.
However, in the linear model productions, Bangladesh produces a large number of pre-consumption wastage.
From there, 60% is exported to India, 10% ends up in landfills, 10% gets recycled, and 20% goes to system loss.
If these pre-consumed false clothes can be brought under a system, Bangladesh can get a large number of recycled yarn and other raw materials, Khan further said.
So, the government has to change the policies and educate the entrepreneurs about environmental protection, she also said.
“Sustainable and circular industry doesn’t only mean sustainable production. It also means the sustainable management of the waste,” she added.
Mohammad Al Kashem, managing director of Coats Bangladesh, said that non-RMG industries also needed to add value.
Moreover, the exporters should diversify their export basket based on products and find new export destinations like African countries, Brazil, and Argentina.
“We should emphasize local value addition and strong backward linkage industry to accelerate bargaining capacity in the global market,” he added.
COO of BSRM Steel Hasan Chowdhury said that the industry must think about carbon emissions.
“But we also have to think about underground water, as most of the industries use this for their production,” he added.
He also said that the people are the driving force of any industry. So, the upgradation and upskilling of the people is a must.
“In this regard, society should break the stigma of vocational education,” he added.
Sheikh Shabab Ahmad, head of external affairs of BAT Bangladesh, said that they were working to build capacity based on IWS, an initiative in accordance with P&G.
“Under this initiative, we are implementing a two-pillar model, zero loss mindset and 100% involvement to build the capacity of our employees,” he added.
Other experts also said that the government should emphasize the development of ease of doing business by establishing infrastructure, policy level supports, addressing the complexity in ports, and many more.
They also recommended developing manufacturing excellence, educating entrepreneurs, skill development, and mandatory vocational education.
They demanded ensuring the basic rights of the workers and introducing new wage boards.
Shams Mahmud, managing director of Shasha Denims, moderated the panel.
The VoB Strategy Summit 2022 has been participated by representatives from numerous corporate organizations, academics, and government officials in eight vibrant panels on inflation and consumption, energy and infrastructure, forex matrix, RMG and manufacturing, agro economics, banking and finance, digital economy, and ESG.
