MODERN DEVELOPMENT IN GARMENTS

SECTOR
INTRODUCTION: Bangladesh, the southern Asian country has a population of
approximately 164 million people. The economy of Bangladesh is significantly
dependent on agriculture. But its a great news for the country that, readymade
garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has raised as the biggest earner of foreign
currency. This sector creates about 4.2 million employment opportunities and
contributes significantly to the GDP. Readymade garments (RMG) of Bangladesh is
powered by young, urbanizing, workers, where most of them are women.

HISTORY: Bangladeshi Garment Industry is the largest industrial sector of the

country. Though the history of Readymade Garment Industry is not older one but
Bangladeshi clothing business has a golden history. Probably it started from the
Mughal age in the Indian subcontinent through Dhakai Muslins. It had global
reputation as well as demandable market around the globe especially in the
European market.
After industrial revolution in the west they were busy with technological
advancement & started outsourcing of ready made garments to meet up their daily
demands. Many LDC’s took that chance & started ready made garment export at
that markets. As an LDC Bangladesh took this chance enjoyed quota & other
facilities of them. Thus ready made garment industry started to contribute in our
economy from late eighties (1977).

The history of the garment industry dates back to 1977 when the first consignment
was exported to then West Germany by Jewel Garments. The number of units,
however, remained a meager 46 until the end of 1983. From a humble beginning
the sector has thus made phenomenal growth over the last two decades, the number
of units growing to around 4500. The RMG industry achievement is noteworthy,
particularly for a country plagued with poor resource endowments and adverse
conditions for industrialization.. The employment generated by the sector is
estimated to be around 1.5 million workers.
In spite of numerous constraints, the economy has been on a steady growth path for
the last 15 years, mainly due to private sector dynamism. Now days this sector
devlopped day by day.

EXPORT DYNAMICS OF BANGLADESH GARMENTS

SECTOR:
Bangladesh’s exports have marked significant shifts since 1990s to a ready-made
garment-centric one,Which make up the bulk (about two-third) of the export
earnings. Its phenomenal expansion from an Insignificant sector in the 1970s to a
major supplier of garments in the global market is mostly attributed to the multi-
fiber agreement that expired on December 31, 2004. In fiscal 2004-05, the RMG
constitutes about 74.15 per cent of the total export earnings, up from just little
above one per cent in 1981-82. Apart from RMG, frozen food is the second largest
export earning sector, which constitute 5.13 per cent followed by jute goods,
leather and chemical products that respectively account for 3.24 per cent, 2.78per
cent and 1.59 per cent respectively in the fiscal 2004-05.
In terms of export destinations export underwent important changes over the
decades. The USA and the EU became the most important export destinations of
Bangladeshi products in the global market.
Bangladesh’s exports to the two major export markets registered growth
throughout the 1990s. While in1981-82, the American region account for only 9
per cent of the total Bangladesh exports, the share roseto 28 per cent in the USA.
The EU has become the largest market for Bangladeshi goods with export share
rising to 53 per cent from 17 per cent over the same period. This transformation is
clearly Discernable from the following figures.

RMG EXPORT AND GROWTH:

Present Situation of RMG Sector in Bangladesh:

Quota system was a great blessing for establishing our garments industry. We were
strongly benefited by using that. As a result we can see a matured garments
industry today. But while quota system was approaching to an end in 2004, there’s
so many got upset about the RMG sector of Bangladesh. Though in the latter it
can’t be affected here as the experts were seemed. We conquered the post quota
challenges and made that a successful story.

In RMG sector of Bangladesh, there are more than 5000 garment factories (private
statistics) at the current time, employing more than 12 lack labours, where 85% of
the labour force is women.

Though, there are various types of garments are manufactured in Bangladesh, but
all the ready made garments are classified into two broad categories, where one is
woven products and another one is knitted products. Woven products includes
Shirts, Pants and Trousers. On the other hand, knitted product includes T-Shirts,
Polo Shirts, unergaments, Socks, Stockings and Sweaters. Woven garments still
dominates the export earnings of the [Link] BGMEA website its seen that,
Day by day knitted items production is increasing in considerable rate and now
about 40% export earnings has achieved from knitted products.

World markets:
Bangladesh was second largest ready-made garments (RMG) manufacturer after
China, by the next five years Bangladesh will become the largest ready-made
garments [Link] was the sixth largest exporter of apparel in the
world after China, the EU, Hong Kong, Turkey and India in 2006.[citation needed]
In 2006 Bangladesh's share in the world apparel exports was 2.8%. apparel; 50% of
their total apparel exports. The EU took a 61% share of Bangladeshi knitwear.

T-shirt quality checking in a ready made garment factory of Bangladesh

Starting in 1974 the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) in the North American
market ensured that trade in textiles and garments. Daewoo of South Korea was an
early entrant in Bangladesh, when it established a joint venture on 27 December
1977 with Desh Garments Ltd. making it the first export oriented ready-made
garment industry in [Link] only one year in which 130 Desh supervisors
and managers received free training from Daewoo in production and marketing at
Daewoo's state-of-the-art ready-made garment plant in Korea, 115 of the 130 left
Desh Garments Ltd. and set up separate private garment export firms or began
working for other newly formed export-oriented RMG companies with new
garment factories in Bangladesh for much higher salaries than Desh Garments Ltd
offered.

market share in 1995 <3% 4% <3% 3%

market share in 2004 3% 2% 3% 4%
As the above table shows, the market shares for Bangladeshi textiles in the US and
both textiles and clothing in the European Union have changed during the time
period of the ATC.
Effects on exports:
Bangladesh ranked as the second leading exporter in the world after China in 2015
according to an estimate by Khurram Shahzad who applied data derived from the
World Trade Organization to Balassa's RCA index. Shazad found that Bangladesh
fell between Pakistan and India in regards to comparative advantages in textiles,
but held the highest RCA for clothing Private actors maintain a positive outlook on
the industry, as the clothing sector has seen a positive growth in terms of
[Link] rating highly, Bangladesh's textile and clothing industries face
several challenges that make access to their textile and clothing products unstable,
such as a weak government and political turmoil. Private actors have speculated
that Bangladesh will be one of the top sourcing spots for the next 5 years, as the
clothing sector has seen a positive growth in terms of RCA and the country has a
low cost of labor. Employment:

More than 80% of the labor force in garment factories in Bangladesh are female.
Of the millions of wage earning children in Bangladesh in 1990, almost all of them
worked in the ready-made garment industry. Based on the Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics Labor Force Survey estimated there were about 5.7 million 10- to 14-
year-old children engaged in child labor. This number may have been as high as 15
million children. In 1993 employers in Bangladesh' ready-made garment (RMG)
industry dismissed 50,000 children (c. 75 percent of child workers in the textile
industry) out of fear of economic reprisals of the imminent passage of the Child
Labor Deterrence Act one of the US Senators who proposed the bill). The results
of surveys varied on the demographics and size of the ready-made garments
industry at the time of the Harkin Bill. One study estimated that there were
600,000 workers in the industry., BGMEA estimate was c. 800,000. The Asian-
American Free Labor Institute (AAFLI) reported that in 1994 females constituted
about "90 percent of all adult workers,

Working conditions:
Garment workers have protested against their low wages. The first protests broke
out in 2006, and since then, there have been periodic protests by the [Link]
has forced the government to increase minimum wages of workers.
Many textile factories in Bangladesh often compromise worker health and safety
because of the tough pressure from the ordering companies to make tight
deadlines. Management will often push workers in order to ensure that an order is
fulfilled. This poses a problem as workers have almost no avenues with which to
file a complaint. Almost none of the factories have any sort of human resources
department and local officials often turn a blind eye to violations.[22] Moreover,
most of these workers are poor women. Without any structure like a formalized
union, many lack the ability to speak of injustices either from lack of knowledge or
fear of losing economic security.

RMG sector needs skilled manpower:

Bangladesh needs skilled mid-level managers to maintain robust and sustainable
economic growth as the country is set to become a mid-income country by 2021.
Andreas Hartman, Head of Development Cooperation of German Embassy,
expressed this view while speaking at a conference on ‘Formulating
Recommendations on Demand Driven Higher Education Needs in Textile and
Readymade Garment sector of Bangladesh’ at a city hotel on Thursday Addressing
the programme, Hartman said skilled mid-level managers are pre-requisite for
robust and sustainable economic growth in Bangladesh.. Referring RMG sector as
vital for socio-economic development of Bangladesh, Professor Yousuf Ali Mollah
said this project will help to make the textile and RMG a vibrant sector. Andreas
Hartman, Head of Development Cooperation of German Embassy, Dhaka,
Professor Dr. Mohammad Yousuf Ali Mollah, Member, UGC, Dr. Md. Khaled,
Secretary, UGC and Rumana Kabir, Representative of DAAD, spoke on the
occasion. Speakers suggested for preparing an updated curriculum, conduct-need
based research, establish a teachers training centre and knowledge sharing
platform, capacity development of mid level managers, make bridge between
industry and academia and adopt a policy to address the issue. The project has been
successfully running with 12 universities which includes Ahsanullah University of
Science and Technology, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh University of
Textiles, BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology, Chittagong University
of Engineering and Technology, North South University, Notre Dame University
Bangladesh and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. Three German Universities
are collaborating.

Fabic spreading and cutting section of

garments industy:
Fabric Inspection:
When the fabrics are received from the dyeing and finishing section, it needs to
be checked, because, faulty fabrics can be supplied from dyeing and finishing.
But the cutting section has to check it. Otherwise the end products will be faulty.
For this, the fabric is being inspected by the quality inspector of the cutting

section. .

 Fig: Finished Fabric Inspection

Marker Making:
For industrial garments preparation, marker making is a very important chapter
for highest usage of fabric and for lowest wastage of fabric. In Divine Textiles
Limited there is a strong team working for marker making in cutting section of
each floor. This is a process which is performed to draw the pattern pieces on the
fabric before cutting. This may be done by drawing the pattern pieces on the
fabric directly or by drawing the pattern pieces on a thin marker paper and then
placement the paper onto the fabric lay. So, we can define the marker as bellow.
Marker is a thin paper which contains all necessary pattern pieces for all sizes for
a particular style of garments.

Methods of Marker Making:

There are two methods of marker making:

 Manual method
 Computerized method

In Divine Textiles Limited, manual method is used for marker making. Here
marker is produced in two ways:

  Marker drawn directly on fabric lay.

  Marker drawn on marker paper.

Marker drawn directly on fabric lay:

This is the oldest and mostly used method for marker making. In this processes
fabric is spreaded on cutting table and setting up all pattern pieces directly on to
the fabric. Marking is done by chalk, pencil or pen. In order of this method, needs
more time and experience.

FABRIC SPREADING:
The appropriate type of spreading surface is determined by the fabric type,
spreading equipment, cutting method, cutting equipment, and the firm’s quality
standards. Spreading requires a flat, smooth surface. If the spreading surface
doubles as a cutting surface, it also must be level. Spreading and cutting may be
done on the same surface, but automated cutting often requires spreading and
cutting to be done in adjacent but separate locations.

Fig: Fabric spreading

 Spreading tables may also be very specialized for certain types of fabric and
cutting equipment. Pin tables have rows of pins located below the surface that
can be extended through slats to hold fabric in a precise location for accurate
matching of pattern repeats. Vacuum tables are used to compress lay-up and
prevent shifting or movement during cutting. A spread is covered with a plastic
film that forms a seal over the lay-up when a vacuum is applied. A lay-up of
quilted fabric can be compressed as much as 75 percent when the vacuum is
used. This allows more plies in the lay-up and restricts the movement of slippery
fabrics for more accurate cutting.
Garments Spreading Machines:

Fig: Automatic spreading Machine with fabric control devices

FABRIC CUTTING:
After completing the fabric spreading then the fabric cutting is started. To cut out
pattern pieces of garment components as per exact dimension of the patterns
from a fabric lay is called fabric cutting. The term fabric cutting is only applicable
for garments manufacturing technology.

Fabric cutting should be done accurately as per exact dimension of the pattern
pieces in the marker. Accurate cutting depends on methods of cutting and
marker planning. If manual cutting method is used, then cutting accuracy
depends on sharpness of knife, skill ness of operator, and attentiveness of
operator. Computer controlled cutting and die cutting have their self cutting
[Link] use straight knife cutting machine
..

Fig: Straight nife cutting machine

Fig: Sticker Tagging for Batching

Bundling:
After cutting the fabric lay and tagging the sticker, all the garments
components in stack form is shorted out as per size and color. To avoid
mistake in sorting, it is better to use code number on each pattern.
Fig: Sorting / Bundling

When sorting / bundling are complete, all the garment components are sending
to the sewing section

Merchandising in garments sector:

Merchandising is an important work in garments sector. So that merchandiser job
is essential for every garment. In this job the employer must have need hard
working mind, convincing power, instant intelligence, powerful observation,
patience etc. Without merchandiser no garments can run smoothly.
Without buyer no garments company can exists. For this reason buyer satisfaction
is very important. Buyer means that buy the products from any organization. In
garments sector buyer means especially foreign buyer who come to our country
and buy products from our garments. At this time of giving order if buyer satisfied
with the help of merchandiser then the buyer will come again. Buyers another
condition is delivery the products in due time. Merchandiser take care this
condition seriously. Because if buyers do not get products due time then they will
not come again that garments. So merchandisers are handling and caring all kinds
of work from taking order to delivery products to buyers and always wants to
satisfy them because garments or garments sector’s welfare depends on buyer’s
satisfaction.

GEOGRAPHIC & DEMOGRAPHIC ADVANTAGE IN

RMG SECTOR:
Geographically Bangladesh is located in an ideal place which is an additional
advantage for international business. Our country has very convenient access to
international seaports, air routes and others. It has 3 sea ports (Chittagong,
Mongla and Payra), 3 international airports (Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet) and 22
land ports.
Every year about 2 lacs youth are entering in job market in Bangladesh. 70% of
Bangladesh population is under 40 years of age which gives huge work force
availability. Most of these youth is educated.

As a Least Developed Country (LDC) Bangladesh is enjoying duty free market

access or reduced tariff rate facilities for RMG export to many developed and
developing countries in the world.

ONE OF THE SAFEST RMG INDUSTRIES IN THE

WORLD:
Tajreen and Rana Plaza incident was a wake-up call for the entrepreneurs and all
stakeholders. Though it was caused thousands of death but it made the owners,
workers and all other parties involved with this business aware and now safety is
being considered as integral part of the factories. Now Bangladesh factory is
world standard in social compliance and workers safety. This awareness made our
garment industry stronger and work friendly. Bangladesh has seen number of
initiatives around Tajreen and Rana Plaza incidents i.e. Accord & Alliance
altogether Bangladesh could use the learning positively.
Conclusion:
It’s a prime duty for us to provide a perfect working place for the
readymade garments sector of Bangladesh which has given our economy
a strong footing, created jobs for millions of people, especially for
women, lifted them from the abyss of chronic poverty and given them a
magnificent life. Now what we have needed to do is dealing with all the
challenges facing our readymade garments industry, paving the way for
its further development.