Bangladesh Remain as the Top Exporter of Denim to US for Two Years in a Row

Denim racks in clothing shops in the US from New York to San Francisco are filled with products with the tag ‘Made in Bangladesh’. According to the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa) data, Bangladesh exported $798.42 million worth of denim garments to its biggest export destination in 2021, experiencing year-on-year growth of 42.25%.

In 2020, Bangladesh exported $561.29 million worth of denim garments to the US market, according to the Otexa data. Bangladesh's market share also experienced a growth of 21.69% in 2021 from 20% in 2020. The US also increased the import of denim in 2021, increasing 31.36% to $3.68 billion after the denim import declined nearly 25% to $2.8 billion in 2020 as demand dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The major competitor to Bangladesh in this segment of the apparel market is Mexico and Vietnam. Bangladesh outperformed both of these countries. A major contributing factor to this success story is Bangladesh denim industries promoting sustainability, transparency, innovation, and circularity. Another factor to this growth is that almost 50-60% of denim productions are done through local fabrics. Moreover, there are a lot of in-house design studios and these reasons play a vital role in denim export. A strong local backward linkage industry also paid its part in denim factories' growth.

However, China’s market share dipped to 10.54% in 2021 from 11.8% in 2020. This is due to ongoing US-China trade tensions. Meanwhile, Bangladesh's overall readymade garment (RMG) exports to the US experienced a 45.91% strong comeback in the first half (July-December) of the 2021-22 fiscal year.