29 November 2022, Mumbai
With the collective promise to attain equitable growth, the Made in Bangladesh Week ended in Dhaka on 18th November 2022.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporter Association (BGMEA), in partnership with Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE), organized the Week between 12 th–18 th November 2022 which included events such as
Dhaka Apparel Summit,
The 37 th International Apparel Federation (IAF) World Fashion Convention,
Bangladesh Denim Expo,
Dhaka Apparel Expo,
Sustainable Design and Innovation Award,
Made in Bangladesh Photography Award, NRB Award, Fashion Innovation Runway Show,
The Sustainable Leadership (TSL) Award,
Factory, Fashion & Heritage Exhibition,
Green Factory Tours,
and
Global Launching of BGMEA Innovation Center.
The week-long initiative with the theme “Care for Fashion” was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, MP on 13th November 2022 in an inauguration address alluded, “The pros and cons of nation graduating from the ranks of LDCs (least developed countries), we will lose out on certain privileges but the best is yet to come for us as bigger opportunities are expected to come after that. Initiatives of improving on the physical infrastructure like setting up 100 economic zones (EZs) all across will be a game changer as we are keenly looking at attracting both local and foreign investments here.”
F Rahman, an Adviser to Prime Minister on Private Industry and Investment Salman added to it: “The BGMEA has announced its 'Vision 2030' committed to hitting USD 100 billion in apparel export which ambitiously is aiming to account for some 10 percent of the world's apparel market share and, stated confidently that the same is quite achievable by taking multi-stakeholders work coherently for a collective cause.”
BGMEA President Faruque Hassan in his address outlined," The all-round progress report of Bangladesh's apparel industry is very satisfactory on the parameters of safety, and sustainability leading to many players starting to adopt the optimum use of resources in recent years. We are now also giving a thrust to the optimum use of resources, bringing a paradigm shift in taking the industry in recent years from a linear to a circular business enterprise model addressing in some sense a deeper issue as Bangladesh apparel industry generates about 440 million tons of pre-consumer waste every year.”
Dhaka Apparel Summit presented policymakers, apparel manufacturers, buyers, and stakeholders with a common platform to deliberate the overarching theme of transformation and progress in the workplace driven by innovation hacks and responsiveness of both state and non-state actors so as to march ahead on the highway to future growth giving a lot of visibility to GSCs (Global Supply Chains) where exactly BD is headed and giving their firm commitment to comply with (SDGs)/the sustainable development of Bangladesh apparel industry.
Speakers of the Summit include Md Shahriar Alam, MP, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh; Anne-Laure Descours, Chief Sourcing Officer, PUMA; Francisco Javier Losada Montero, Chief Sustainability Officer, Inditex; Monique Leewenburgh, Director of Sourcing, Tech, and Sustainability in Clothing & Home, M&S – London; Dr. Ratnakar Adhikari, Executive Director of the Executive Secretariat for the Enhanced Integrated Framework, WTO; Katharine Stewart, Group Corporate Responsibility Director, Associated British Foods Plc;
Zuena Aziz, Principal Coordinator (SDG Affairs), Prime Minister’s Office,
Bangladesh; Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister; Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh; Regional Country Manager Production (Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Africa), H&M; Laura Husband, Managing Editor, Just Style;
The Made in Bangladesh Week was a great leap of faith giving insights to global industry stakeholders as a confidence-building exercise offering an opportunity to let them have clear visibility on the vision and its take off as Bangladesh perpetually is pursuing its attaining bigger purpose of forging into new areas of expansion, striving for manufacturing excellence and hitting the ground on its path of sustainable growth.
GIZ, Bangladesh organized the TSL where a total of 18 factories were awarded for their best practices in the areas of social, and environmental excellence and excellence in innovation and the winners were Vintage Denim Studio, Ananta Garments, Jinnat Fashions and SQ Celsius, and more.
Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury gave away the awards to the winners.
Sustainable Design and Innovation Awards were designed to recognize/appreciate the apparel industry's deep talent pool of design both in professional and student categories based on a comprehensive jury process to justify.
Similarly Made in Bangladesh Week Photography Award was hosted to felicitate the country’s young best photographers.
In the NRB Award, three non-resident Bangladeshis were awarded for their unparalleled contribution and for branding Bangladesh to the world through their work.
Another interesting feature was the Fashion Innovation Runway Show having 10 apparel entities demonstrating their sustainable and innovative products these were some of the prominent factories out of Epic Group, PDS Limited, AKH Group, etc.
On 18th November 2022, Commerce Minister of Bangladesh Tipu Munshi, MP globally launched The BGMEA Center of Innovation Efficiency and Occupational Safety and Health (CIEOSH) laying emphasis on ensuring occupational safety in achieving the target of $100 billion in export earnings by 2030 in the apparel sector.
The Global launching of the BGMEA innovation center was the culmination of a week-long momentous event and will go a long way in the Bangladesh apparel sector.
