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Taking pride in CJ International ’ s philosophy of acting as clients ’ ‘ eyes and ears ’ and operating as their back office , Roshan ’ s next target is to cover Europe and Australia in terms of market .
“ Apart from Scandinavia , we have running orders from France , Germany and Australia and now we are looking at Poland and Russia also ,” he maintains . In Europe , Germany is high up in Roshan ’ s estimates in terms of potentials , who goes on to add further , “ Germans have more dispensable income compared to many other countries in Europe while at the same time German market is also very price-sensitive .”
The United Kingdom has also been a preferred market for CJ International for long . However , with the British deciding to part ways with the European Union , things have changed considerably now , Roshan feels . “ The effect of Brexit has been across geographical locations . Besides EU countries and UK , it has differently impacted the manufacturing destinations in other places ,” Roshan underlines . British Pound and Euro losing value in comparison to US Dollar have had larger ramifications for the Bangladesh apparel industry in particular as it deals in US Dollars .
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“ Bangladesh in a way has become expensive for UK as well as other EU nations to do business with . As a result , manufacturers and exporters have to cut prices and lose margins to continue being in the business ,” Roshan reveals . According to him , if Brexit proved somewhat ominous for garment exporters in Bangladesh , it was rather the contrary for Turkey ( which deals in Euro ).
Despite many European countries successfully carrying out austerity drives , following the economic crises that hit Europe in 2007 and 2009 respectively forcing Governments to take decisive action to improve public finances , push through deep reforms , and establish new institutions to manage and prevent crises better and bring their respective economies back on track – the ripple effects of Brexit are going to haunt the garment industry in Bangladesh for some time to come , so feels Roshan .
Being the one who helped develop the Bangladesh operations of CJ International , which now contributes roughly US $ 50 million in the company ’ s total yearly turnover of US $ 100 million , Roshan is not the one to give up on challenges . He is therefore now looking at expanding in USA , where the company already ships caps and few other items to a select clientele .
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ESSENTIALS
Despite having a factory base of over 20 , CJ International primarily works with only 11 . This is basically to increase order volumes per factory and become a big player in each of them to ensure better quality and enhance social and environmental compliances .
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Well-equipped with a design studio in Sweden , in-house product development teams ( both for design and yarn development ) and a testing lab ( employing a full-time technician and complete set of equipment including an International Lab Standard washer , a dryer , a GSM cutter and GSM weighing machines among others ) and it ’ s very own knitting factory , Young 4ever Textiles Limited ( specialized in all kinds of knitted products with production capacity of over 400,000 pieces per month ) takes care of the clients ’ diverse requirements . This makes Roshan more than confident about CJ International ’ s prospects in the US .
“ We have a winning combination of Swedish , Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan team that brings the technical expertise , transparency and commitment much needed in this kind of operation . Besides , we also have a strong merchandising division and a Quality Assurance department , which visits each supplier almost every day to ensure that the buyers ’ requirements in quality and on-time delivery are maintained . To aid our teams , we also have an in-house lab that checks all goods at least three times per production cycle in addition to any buyer-specific requirements ,” wraps up Roshan , assuring a full package for all the prospective clients .
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