Pay attention to the dearth of fashion designers in apparel industry
Despite being the second largest apparel exporting country in the world, the scarcity of competent designers is a major drawback for Bangladesh
If there is an open discussion on what currently should be the objectives to take the Bangladesh apparel industry to the next stage, there are likely going to be different and diverse opinions. But, in my view, one of the utmost priorities now for the industry's progress is improving fashion design skills.
There was a time when brands and retailers were happy if the apparel manufacturers could deliver their products on time by copying the designs provided by the buyers. But the times have changed, and so have the buyers' demands.
Companies across the world have opted for cutting their costs during and after the pandemic. Fashion companies also significantly reduced their manpower in their design departments.
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Many of the companies now expect manufacturers to take care of the design part along with the production. So, if a manufacturer can offer designs, chances are higher that they will get the order from a buyer in this competitive global fashion market.
Moreover, by offering the design, manufacturers can secure their business in two ways. First, if their design is selected by the buyer, they will hold the upper hand in price negotiation.
Second, since it's cost-effective for the buyers to get the designs from the manufacturers instead of maintaining large design teams by themselves, buyers gradually become dependent on the suppliers or manufacturers who offer them the design service.
However, though Bangladesh is the second largest apparel exporting country in the world, unfortunately, the reality is competent designers are still scarce in the country.
Though in the last five to seven years, manufacturers also heavily invested in building design studios, and now almost all the big apparel manufacturing groups as well as all sourcing houses in the country have their own design studios, they cannot enjoy the fruits of their investments because of the lack of good design human resources.
The reason for this vacuum is very obvious. While even our neighbouring country India has a good number of quality fashion design institutions, ours are only a handful.
In Bangladesh, institutes like BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) and Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology produce fashion design graduates to serve the industry. However, they are not sufficient to meet the demand of the $47 billion industry.
We envisage achieving $100 billion in apparel exports by 2030. One of the roads towards this journey is to make the shift of our apparel export from basic to high-end products. This is why the importance of having a good hold of our industry on design and development cannot be overstated.
It's high time the government took steps to introduce a fashion design department in all major public universities of the country.
Apparel events like seminars, summits and roundtables are now countless in Bangladesh. But we have hardly seen any slot dedicated to fashion design in such events. However, design is an integral part of the export-oriented apparel industry.
So, all the stakeholders need to work together to popularise fashion design as a lucrative career path for our youngsters on the one hand; on the other hand, proper grooming opportunities for the youth need to be made available in the country to produce good fashion designers.
Making a pool with the most impressive fashion designers currently working in the export-oriented apparel industry could be a good idea in this regard. This pool of fashion designers will then run workshops for the aspirant fashion designers. BGMEA could take the lead.
Internationally renowned fashion designers may also be invited to take a few sessions in such workshops.
If we can sell fashion as a complete package – from fabrics and designing to production on floors, it would then not be impossible to establish Bangladesh as the number one apparel exporting country in the world in the near future.
Ashikur Rahman Tuhin is the Managing Director of TAD Group. He is a former Director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
