The 5th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo opened at the city convention center in Dhaka yesterday. The two day exhibition has a total of 54 exhibitors from 15 countries in attendance. Indeed, the number is higher than the previous edition where 49 exhibitors from 13 countries joined in writes Mushfique Wadud.

The 5th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo opened at the city convention center in Dhaka yesterday. The two day exhibition has a total of 54 exhibitors from 15 countries in attendance. Indeed, the number is higher than the previous edition where 49 exhibitors from 13 countries joined in writes Mushfique Wadud.

Denim takes centrestage

This year, the theme of the exhibition is ‘Natural Denim’. The organizers have given a natural flavor at the exhibition by using locally sourced environmental friendly material bamboo to make stalls at the expo. Handloom machines for salvage denim and hand scrapping are also showcased at the exhibition. Mostafiz Uddin, Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo, told Fashionating World that 5,000 registered visitors are attending the exhibition. “Buyers have expressed satisfaction in getting exhibitors of entire denim value chain- from fabrics to washes-under one roof,” Mostafiz explains.

The 55 exhibitors are from across the globe, 12 from Bangladesh, 10 from China, one each from Brazil and Germany, two from India, three from Italy, three from Japan, six from Pakistan, one Singapore, one from Spain, one from Thailand, seven from Turkey and one from Vietnam. Visitors are getting a flavor of all the exhibits under one roof. And as Argiris Simos, Project Manager of BlueConnection, a Singapore-based company says they are happy to take part in the exhibition. “Bangladeshi market is important to us and we are getting a good response here,” he said. Peter from Joinin Textile points out visitors have shown enthusiasm about their products.“This type of exhibition will help us understand Bangladesh market,” he said.

Sharman Hou, Export Manager Assistant of Forshan GLK Textile says they are getting a good response from visitors. “We have got business deals at the exhibition,” says Hou. Similarly, Istanbul-based company Kasive Leather Label, got a good response from visitors.

The first day saw a panel discussion on ‘$50 billion by 2021: Innovation the strategic business driver’. Among others, German ambassador to Bangladesh, Thomas Prinz, Swidish ambassador to Bangladesh, Johan Frisell and BGMEA vice president Mohammad Nasir took part in the discussion. A knowledge session and a technical workshop was also held where Manasij Ganguli, Founder and CEO of ThreadSol gave a presentation on ‘Improving the unit economics of RMG Manufacturing industry’. He said with the help of modern technology, it is possible to reduce fabric wastage. In the technical workshop, Karthik ND, Country MD of Intertek Bangladesh said companies should have a quality management strategy.

The Expo is seeing a number of workshops and seminars with the aim to develop skills of local denim designers, denim developers and denim enthusiasts and to promote the Bangladeshi denim industry. Both workshops and seminars are covering a variety of topics including denim style and trend direction and denim fabric trends. According to Uddin, the purpose of organizing these workshops and seminars is to achieve this objective. He also said that one of the long term objectives of Bangladesh Denim Expo has always been to nurture local talents and help educate them.