COVER STORY
Synergies Sourcing Bangladesh Limited
AT I F A HM ED
Director
S
ynergies Sourcing Bangladesh
Limited, headed by Atif Ahmed as
the Director, is the local sourcing arm
of Synergies Worldwide (with global
headquarters in Bangkok). It was
founded by Munir Mashooqullah, an
industry evangelist and a sought-after
speaker on supply chain, who retired
after 28 years’ of active involvement
with the company and handed over
the reins to Guido Schlossmann
(President and CEO), a former Li &
Fung executive.
The global supply chain managing
company, which provides low-cost
sourcing solutions in apparel, fashion
accessories, footwear, home textiles,
decorative accessories and other
goods for retailers/brands in the
fashion and hospitality industries,
sources different products from
various manufacturing centres based
on their core strengths.
Its’ Bangladesh operations today
account for almost 50 per cent of the
company’s total sourcing.
AO SURVEY FINDINGS
98 %
of the buyers
are confident
that Bangladesh
will remain
a preferred
destination, not
only for basic
items but also
for growing
importance on
orders for value
added and small
quantity orders.
RULE OF THREE
Our first requirement starts from
Compliance, moving to Quality and
last but not the least, ending at
Commitment. These are the most
important factors we consider
before enlisting any vendor to
become our business partners.
SYNC WITH CHANGING
DYNAMICS
To remain in sync with the
requirement of today’s fashion retail
business, our country really needs to
fast-track improvement and enable
further development/enhancement
of raw material supplies as still
there are so many qualities
which we have to import, which
consequently increases our lead
time, whereas on the other hand,
our fast fashion clients are reducing
their procurement lead time every
season. This remains a challenge
for us to compete with the other
countries which have vast variety
of raw materials (fabric, yarn, etc.)
locally available.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE!
Denim apparel manufacturing
overall has advanced quite a lot
but it still requires some learning,
especially in washing process
to produce garments with less
chemicals and yet give better
output. Therefore, awareness and
implementation of this knowledge
should be ensured very soon.
Moreover, green product is the most
discussed subject today for which we
have already taken major initiatives
3-4 years back by proposing
sustainable collections to our clients.
Our country needs to fast undergo
this shift towards sustainability for a
better and assured future.
THE FUTURE
The growth of the industry is
satisfactory in my humble opinion
18 Apparel Online Bangladesh | AUGUST 2017 | www.apparelresources.com
considering the fact that many of
the big retailers are struggling at
their sales end. Bangladesh still
needs improvement in many of the
areas for which manufacturers are
closely working with the concerned
associations.
ADVANTAGE BD
Bangladesh will remain important
for the kind of infrastructure each
factory has established. Besides,
manufacturing cost is still one of
the lowest in Bangladesh. Most
industrialists are also continuously
working to add automations to
enhance productivity to control
costs.
SUPPLIER POOL
We do believe in building
partnerships with manufacturers
as it takes a lot of time and energy
to build relations plus technical
understanding, but we are still
open to welcome new reliable
manufacturers as there is always
some unique strength in each
of them which adds value to our
product mix.
BUSINESS POLICIES
We have tried to maintain a
flexible yet strictly ethical policy
in vendor management in which
there is always a room for special
consideration as long as it complies
with our CSR criteria.
MAINTAINING THE EDGE
Well, it’s not easy to define
just one area to maintain our
competitiveness but sourcing
competitively-priced raw materials
has been our core focus to maintain
the lowest possible cost rather
than just bargain on CMs with
our manufacturing partners.
We try to balance our cost down
in every possible area but the
challenge continues…!