Staff Correspondent (RMG Times) It is not more than 30 years since many of the garment manufacturers troubled to send the goods to the retailers and brands in Europe and America maintaining the lead time because of the delay in carrying out the task amid the shortage of buttons and other accessories.

As there was no factory in Bangladesh at that time capable of producing the accessory, local garment manufacturers had to import old and used cartons from abroad. The used cartons were made reusable by cutting them manually in order to make them fit to carry export-oriented items.

Even 15 years ago, local manufacturers had to buy button, a vital accessory for the apparel industry, mainly from China and Hong Kong to produce final goods for their international clients.

However, the scenario is fully changed. Now Bangladesh is a matured country in many of the garment accessories items as the industry has made an impressive stride in the last two decades.

By the year 1990, the situation started improving when local accessories makers started setting up factories to produce accessories. Entrepreneurs pumped in Tk 40,000 crore in the last 15 years, building a garment accessories and packaging industry that serves the country’s gigantic apparel industry, making Bangladesh the second-largest garment exporter in the world.

Therefore, it is working as a backward linkage industry and is growing in keeping with the growth of the garment industry.

“We are supplying items not only to the garment industry but also to the pharmaceuticals, home textile and leather sectors,” said Al Shahriar Ahmed, a director of the Bangladesh Garments Accessories & Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association.

“Today, we can supply nearly 90 per cent of locally made buttons to the industry although the production process is a bit complex,” said Abdul Kader Khan, managing director of Khan Accessories & Packaging Company Ltd, a Tongi-based accessories company.

Currently, the domestic market size of buttons is $160 million, which was almost nil 30 years ago, industry people say. Not only button, Bangladesh is also self-reliant in many other garment and packaging accessories.

            90% of the accessories are now being produced in Bangladesh.

For instance, more than 30 vital accessories such as poly bags, hangers, zippers, buttons, cartons and packaging materials are needed to make a complete and exportable garment item. The sub-sector is capable of supplying almost all of the 30 items except some specialized components.

Manufacturers are also exporting accessories to other garment producing countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam, and Cambodia although the volume is low. Industry people put the figure of the direct export of accessories at nearly $500 million.

Montrims Ltd, a local garment accessories maker and a concern of Mondol Group, is one of the exporters. “We export a few specialized garment accessories,” said Momin Mondol, managing director of Montrims Ltd. They even shipped accessories to European countries as per buyers’ requirement.

Dekko Legacy Group is a major button producer. The total export of the group is $300 million, of which 15 per cent is accessories, mainly labels, buttons, hand tags, price tags, and printed labels. “We are self-sufficient in accessories. We have a lot of prospects in this sector,” said Shahadat Hossain Kiron, chairman of the group.

The Experts say that the garment accessories business has big potential in the country as China is no longer interested in this low-cost business.

Building a garment accessories and packaging industry that serves the country’s gigantic apparel industry, the second-largest garment exporter in the world, is not a cake walk. Its a huge national achievement.

The sub-sector also helped create jobs for the locals and save billions of dollars in foreign currencies.

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