COVER STORY
SHIRT – A STORY OF GREAT POTENTIAL
AND UNFULFILLED PROMISES…
Once the mainstay of Bangladesh’s exports, shirt as a product category is lagging behind others, and there are multiple reasons to it
The second largest garment
exporter globally, the contribution
of shirts in shaping the destiny of
the Bangladesh garment industry
is beyond question. Starting its
journey as an apparel export hub
in 1980s with quality formal shirts,
shirt as a product category has
been a key growth driver for the
Bangladesh apparel industry over
the years, complemented aptly by
knits and bottoms (non-denim and
denim) at later stages that helped
the country cement its position as
the preferred sourcing destination
for the global buyers. With
increased efficiency and expertise,
the shirt manufacturers have started
catering to all the major brands
and retailers globally including
names such as H&M, US retail giant
Walmart, British retailer Primark,
Germany’s posh brands Hugo Boss
and Olymp (formal shirts), and
many, many more.
I
n the global shirt market (as per data
from Statista, one of the biggest data
management company in US and EU),
which stood at US $ 51 billion with total
consumption of 2.5 billion pieces in
2016 and is expected to reach US $ 58.5
billion (in terms of value) and 2.83 billion
pieces (in terms of volume) by 2020,
Bangladesh’s role – which contributed
around 10 per cent to the total global
shirt import in 2016, is expected to play
a pivotal part in shaping the global
landscape as far as shirts are concerned.
But despite this positive projection, shirt
as a product category has somehow
failed to keep pace with the growth of
other products. “Of late we are getting
more demand for sweaters, jackets,
denim and other products which found
base in Bangladesh after shirts. This is
not to say that there is no demand for
shirts, but the increase is only marginal,
while for other products, the growth
is very significant,” says Khondoker
Mahibur Rahman, Managing Director,
Stanley Fashion B.D., a buying office
that sources shirts in 100% cotton,
cotton polyester blends, PV, tencel,
modal blends, with fabric mainly coming
from China.
Rahman’s statement is not a one-off case
and there are facts to substantiate his
claim. Data records from BGMEA show
that in 1996-97, the export earnings
14 Apparel Online Bangladesh | JULY 2017 | www.apparelresources.com
from shirts was US $ 759.57 million,
while for trousers, jackets, T-shirts and
sweaters, the value of exports were US
$ 230.98 million, US $ 230.98 million, US
$ 391.21 million and US $ 196.6 million,
respectively. Fast forward to 2015-16, in
terms of value (export), shirt stood at US
$ 2,317.09 million while trousers, jackets,
T-shirts and sweaters registered drastic
growth to touch US $ 6,319.00 million, US
$ 3,774.08 million, US $ 6,118.53 million
and US $ 3,182.47 million, respectively.
Today knits and bottoms account for
a major share of the country’s apparel
exports, a trend which is rather
surprising considering that formal
shirt was the mainstay of Bangladesh’s
exports until the early 1990s.
In fact, even as late as 2006, US retailers
imported about 33 million pieces of
shirts worth over US $ 2.4 billion and
nearly one of every four shirts, was
made in Bangladesh, but now that the
US market is diverting to higher value-
added and fashionable shirts, the country
is trying to find better efficiency and
product development skills in making
casual shirts with value that comes from
different fabrics and styling options.
On the other hand, better technology is
also moving in as some high-end brands
from Europe are looking at sourcing
formal shirts, which is another challenge.
Few years ago, Hugo Boss started