Ctg bets on denim brand

A Chittagong company has started exporting denim products with its brand, BlueXonly.
Denim Expert Ltd, aided by its in-house design, is shipping its 'BlueXonly' branded trousers to the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Italy.
"I'm a designer and develop my own designs," Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of the company, told the FE.
He said local apparel makers, especially those of denim products, manufacture their items with designs supplied by the international retailers, but his company does not rely on the supplied pattern.
Mostafiz said he has a big design studio and spends a lot of time and effort to produce new designs.
He added his teams continuously work to be updated with the latest trends and the new changes happening across the globe, especially in Europe.
The company, with an annual turnover of US$24 million, has been selling 60 per cent of its branded products since 2011, while the rest are sold through European retailers such as Tesco, Primark, Takko Fashion, Forever21, Mexx and Hema, Mostafiz said.  
The price of BlueXonly ranges from 69 euro to 300 euro, depending on its fabric and design, he said.
Denim Expert produces 12,000 pieces of denim jeans a day both for men and women and employs some 2,000 workers.
He has planned to expand his two-story factory building into an eight-storied building within the next couple of years to increase his production capacity to meet growing demand.  
"I want to export 100 per cent of my products under my own brand name," he said.
"Denim is a product of touch and feel. To cater to the demands of high value added denim products, it needs more passion, more specification, innovation, creativity and design developments," Mostafiz said.
But Bangladesh is yet to take such a move to strengthen its capacity in research and development as did Amsterdam-a well-known hub of denim.
Big brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Pepe Jeans, Levi's Vintage Clothes and new ones like Denham the Jeanmaker, Kings of Indigo and Glue Jeans have already shifted their headquarters to Amsterdam.  
The European denim market is worth about 14 billion euro and the Dutch denim industry has its focus on Amsterdam that has invested million of euros to develop denim designers and research and development through the institute 'Jean School' and a laboratory-Blue Lab.
"Denim is the next global business and I have a dream to set up a denim university in Bangladesh and I hope to start work on it by 2018," Mostafiz added.  Bangladesh's annual exports of denim products hover at $600 million, though the global market is worth $60 billion, he said.
Bangladesh has immense potential to grab a large share of the global market as global retailers move away from China as workers' wages rise.
To brand Bangladesh as a major denim maker, the company took an initiative to host the country's first international exhibition of denim products last year.
Following the positive response from retailers, the second edition of the two day show will kick off on May 11 and the third will be held on November 11 next at Radisson Blu Water Garden hotel in the city.
"Bangladesh Denim Expo will offer international fashion buyers a one-stop sourcing platform for all aspects of Jeanswear and also act as a hub for players on the international denim scene to associate with colleagues and make new contacts and business deal," Mostafiz said.
There will be special seminar on 'Made in Bangladesh a New Reality-Vision 2021' showing present business and investment trends, global sourcing dynamics and potentials for Bangladesh.
The discussions will focus on devising a strategic action plan to overcome the existing challenges and realise the potentials.
Some 25 companies of fabric, machinery, laundry, washing, dyes, chemical and accessories suppliers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Japan, Spain, US, Turkey, Germany and China will showcase their products, he added.
    munni_fe@yahoo.com