Apparel

ABOUT

One of the world’s largest ready made garment exporters

Bangladesh is today one of the world’s largest garment exporters and has become a global hub for apparel sourcing. At present, the industry consists of over four thousand factories. Leading export products include a wide variety of knitwear & woven garments products such as shirts, trousers, tee-shirts, denim, jackets, sweaters, undergarments, sportswear, etc.

RMG exports from Bangladesh more than doubled, from $14.6 billion in 2011 to $33.1 billion in 2019. While the industry suffered a temporary setback due to covid19, demand has started to recover and normalise again. As of June 2022, total exports of FY 20/21 stood at USD 31.46 billion, making up around 7% of the global apparel export market of $437 billion 2021.

After a tragic event in 2013, the Bangladesh RMG sector has made a remarkable turn-around going to great lengths to ensure such mistakes cannot happen again

Bangladesh’s RMG sector has now transformed into a highly transparent and compliant industry regarding factory safety and value-chain responsibility after initiatives such as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, and the RMG Sustainability Council were successfully undertaken.

Leading in Green Garment Manufacturing

With 150 LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy in Design) certified factories, Bangladesh has also joined the world’s top in green garment manufacturing. Another 500 waiting to obtain the LEED certification from United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Currently, nine of the top 10 green garment factories are located in Bangladesh. Out of 150 LEED green factories in Bangladesh certified by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), 44 are platinum and 93 are gold rated. (Investment Monitor, Jan 2022)

Currently the sector constitutes 5,000 RMG factories employing about 3.6 million workers from a total workforce of 74 million. (McKinsey). By comparison Indonesia has 2,450 factories and Vietnam 2,000.

Leading Exporters

• Ha-Meem Group
• Palmal Group
• DBL Group
• Square Group
• Al-Muslim Group
• Mondol Group
• AKH Group
• Natural Group
• Bitopi Group
• Ananta Group

Leading Brands Supplied to:

ZARA, GAP, H&M, JCPenney, Walmart, Carter’s Ema, Next, New Look, C&A, JM&A, Miles, Esprit

Key Institutions

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA)