Bangladesh : Protective Garment Sector Emerging As Back Up Business

In the post MFA era protective garment which include hand gloves, fire fighting jackets, footwear, and arm protector can be a backup business for Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers.

Protective garment can emerge as a new segment of RMG relying on the same labour force.

The industry will require only minimal use of imported raw materials in contrary to 80 per cent imported raw materials for RMG sector, they said.

Job Opportunities and Business Support (JOBS) organised the workshop titled

'Prospects of protective garments under personal protective equipment (PPE) as a diversified apparel sector for Bangladesh' in Dhaka.

Addressing the workshop, GKM Towfique Hassan, director general (Textile Cell) of Export Promotion Bureau, said at the moment trade and product diversification are needed to survive in duty and quota free regime.

"With WTO regime approaching, the protective garments sector can open new horizon for RMG manufacturers", he said.

The sector has a European market of $10 billion and it is growing 4 per cent per year. If Bangladesh government takes timely and appropriate measures then the sector could provide a big diversification move towards greater sustainability of the RMG industry, Marechal Desmet, PPE consultant of Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), said. He also presented the keynote paper.

Imran Shauket, project director of JOBS, Gene V George, mission director of USAID, and Anil Sinha, general manager of SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility, representatives from Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association and donor agencies also spoke at the workshop held at Sonargaon Hotel.