Day 2 of the four-day long international technology extravaganza – Dhaka International Textile and Garment Machinery Exhibition (DTG) 2018 – started as per everyone’s expectations with a great footfall. From top-level management to shopfloor-level workers and the buying houses representatives were seen at the fair, currently being held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Bangladesh.
Apparel Resources met some of the visitors who were keen to know more about automation. UM Ashek, MD, Annesha Group (Dhaka), with apparel export turnover of BDT 500 crores, shared that as challenges in this industry are increasing and he is going for automation at his units to stay competitive and will install hanger systems soon.
Not only the large export houses but the small-scale export houses also now understand the importance of automation but are not able to invest due to various issues.
Rising Sun International (Dhaka), an apparel manufacturing unit with 200 sewing machines, shared with Apparel Resources one such factor which has become a major challenge for them is that: Accord’s conditions are hard to meet for small-scale companies but otherwise there are no major issues, it said.
Further, impressed by the keenness of Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers towards automation, a number of technology providers introduced new machines and concepts in the market. The list of exhibitors, who are optimistic about the positive response and growth in the Bangladeshi market, includes the likes Santoni SPA, Hashima, INA INL International, Navis TubeTex and Shima Seiki.
On Day 2 we observed that seamless garment is the newest trend in knitting and Santoni is sure to take the trend forward with its single jersey knitting machine ZENIT in Bangladesh. Gianpiero Valsecchi, Sales Area Manager, Santoni SPA told Apparel Resources, “With the growing inclination towards fitness, active wear and sports shoes are everyone’s new favourite. Seamless garment is the synonym to comfort and it is going to be the next big thing in Bangladesh.”
Another exhibitor, INA INL is tapping the Bangladeshi market with hanger production systems. Though the company faced a slowdown a few years back it managed to come out of the blues with the expansion of its manufacturing units. The company sees a great year ahead with new establishments underway.
DTG 2018 is also witnessing a small number of trims companies and one of them is from India – Uflex Ltd. (Balaji Sequins), a pioneer in PVC-free sequins manufacturing. It is into the Bangladesh market from last two years and is planning to increase its reach here. Manoj Pandey, AGM Marketing, Uflex Ltd. told us, “RMG exporters and top buying houses are impressed with our quality and offerings despite that there are some issues to get orders on regular basis here. We have now participated in second such event (DTG) and met few good buyers as well.”
