BUYER BLOG
KNA Sourcing – A buying house with a difference !
Chairman of the buying entity shares his business strategy and future plans …
If the growing popularity of the Bangladesh garment industry in the global arena has opened up new avenues for the garment manufacturers , it has also spurred the growth of the buying entities , with everyone vying to cash in on this big opportunity . But rising competition amongst buying houses , coupled with lack of proper and long-term planning , is proving to be the undoing for many .
KNA Sourcing Limited , started by Md Kayum Mollah ( Chairman ), Nasim Uddin Mazumder ( Managing Director ) and Md Arman Hossain – Director in 2013 , is an exception though . Seasoned professionals with more than 15 years ’ of experience – during which Kayum , Nasim and Arman worked for manufacturing houses and sourcing entities in various capacities , before starting their own business – are treading the path rather cautiously , and with a clear-cut plan .
“ Currently , I am catering to four customers in Europe and one each in Canada and Germany ,” informs Mollah , adding , “ We source all kinds of products from Bangladesh for them .” Though sourcing a range of products , bottoms ( denim and non-denim ) and shirts ( formal and casual ) are the mainstay of KNA . In bottoms , denims ( FOB range from US $ 4.75 to US $ 10.50 depending on value additions ) constitute 70 per cent of the total volume , while non-denim ( twill , cotton , stretch twill , canvas , etc .) accounts for the remaining 30 per cent . The average FOB of shirts sourced by KNA is around US $ 6.5 plus .
A watchful entrepreneur as he is , Mollah first plans to increase his clientele in the existing markets and serve them satisfactorily before looking for opportunities beyond . It is this very approach aimed at client satisfaction that has now led Mollah to venture into garment manufacturing .
“ We have started garment manufacturing from June 2016 to provide the best of services and
Md Kayum Mollah , Chairman – KNA Sourcing Limited
comfort to our customers ,” says Mollah . Located in the garmenting hub of Ashulia , Spartan Fashions ( four lines and 250 plus machines with plans to add three more lines soon and a worker strength of 450 ) produces all kinds of bottoms ( denims , non-denims ) and workwear . Competitive prices , quality products and an improved turnaround time have been the other motivating factors behind the coming up of the production unit .
Already Sedex certified , Mollah has now proceeded for BSCI and even plans to go for the Accord certification for Spartan soon , which would not only help him to route more orders sourced from the existing clients to Spartan but also add new names in the clientele . “ Most of the bottom orders from clients ( for all of which Spartan can fulfil the laid down criteria ) are placed with Spartan itself while the remaining orders go to another unit ,” he explains strategically . Spartan also takes in orders from other buying houses to fill its capacities . For shirts , KNA prefers to work with only three factories in the country . “ We do not place any orders with factories that we do not know very well . Secondly , the factories we plan to work with need to be fully compliant , fulfilling the clients ’ requirement ,” states Mollah on the various parameters that go behind shortlisting a supplier unit . Product specialization of each of the factories decides who gets to manufacture which product .
Keeping in sync with future , Mollah has also set up an in-house product development team , to give KNA that extra edge .
“ It ’ s a very small team with just three people ,” explains Mollah , who globetrots with his PD team to pick up the new developments from various places , and elaborates , “ We travel a lot , attend several events and even see the developments in every mill that we source raw materials from . We also pick up inspirations from our clients .”
Based on the styles and inspirations picked up from various sources , KNA develops its own collection which it presents to the prime clients . “ So they take some from our collection and suggest their own , based on which we come up with even more developments ,” says Mollah on a parting note , expressing hope that the new manufacturing unit would help him play around and come up with innovative products to grow his business in the coming days .
24 Apparel Online Bangladesh | AUGUST 2017 | www . apparelresources . com