Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine Aug'17 | Page 19

COVER STORY Market Fit Dhaka M O HA M M E D NAD E E M H AI D E R R O UF Managing Director C reated in 1974, Market Fit Group’s first domain of intervention was leather, quickly followed by textile, which is presently its main activity. Today, Market Fit Group operates in 8 major sourcing countries as a fashion supplier. Regarded as the pioneer of global sourcing in the textile industry, Market Fit Group began its operations as a family-owned business to steadily expand its operations across the world. Based in Hong Kong, it has marketing offices in the UK and France. It also has several sourcing offices as well in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Shanghai, Cambodia and Istanbul. Dealing in diverse categories – womenswear, menswear, kidswear, sportswear, maternitywear, uniforms, etc., Market Fit Dhaka primarily caters to the European markets. are not very keen on the same. In general, big factories are reluctant to go for these product changes while the medium and small factories have no financial strength to accept the challenge of working with new product3 categories. RULE OF THREE The size of the industry is its main advantage according to me as other LDC countries cannot make and offer such capacities overnight that we already have. Experience, knowhow, etc., are the other factors that will keep us in the contention. There are many factors that go into selecting a preferred supplier but the three significant ones remain Quality, Commitment and Attitude (towards a problem, if any). SYNC WITH CHANGING DYNAMICS Though the industry is in sync with the changing requirements of the global apparel trade, to me it is yet not responsive as it should be. BIGGEST CHALLENGE! The biggest challenge is that everybody wants volume in basic orders. They are not experimental or aggressive to try new product categories. Sometimes, owners/ top management want to undertake such endeavours but the mid-level/production people THE FUTURE Future is still good, but we (all the stakeholders) need to wake up, be aware of and protect ourselves from the controllable threats and challenges. The current global, political and economic situation doesn’t permit us to be reluctant. We need to be proactive at least for the controllable threats and require readying ourselves to face the uncontrollable ones. For me, the growth rate could be even better. ADVANTAGE BD SUPPLIER POOL Even though a preferred vendor list can help simplify business and give a sense of stability and continuity in supply, many people argue that a modern business shouldn’t restrict itself to only a limited number of suppliers. I also believe in the same. But being a sourcing entity, it’s always a complicated process as we need to pick the best one, which is not an easy job to say the least. BUSINESS POLICIES Most organizations rigidly follow a supplier criteria checklist but sometimes the vendors’ interests/ policies are somewhat diverse from some of the business’ core values. In such a scenario, I will continue with a vendor if it can provide me the best of the products at the most competitive price even if it does not align with some of our core policies. Because the present changing market demands do not expect us to stick to the conventional methods; we have to take calculative risks. MAINTAINING THE EDGE Quality, commitment and attitude towards problems/ threats/situations and a positive mindset are the qualities/ factors that according to me can help a supplier maintain the competitive edge. www.apparelresources.com | AUGUST 2017 | Apparel Online Bangladesh 19