Uniform Export Draws Half a Billion Dollars

Bangladesh has turned into a major sourcing hub for the military, navy, air force, fire brigade and police for countries around the world as local garment manufacturers have enhanced their capacity and diversified products. Bangladesh has also been a major supplier of NATO for many years.  

The global market size of technical clothing items is more than $370 billion. Defence dresses fetch between $400 million and $500 million annually. The growing production in this sector of the market is a good indicator that Bangladesh is gearing up to capture more market share in the high-value-added garment segment.

BGMEA is also carrying out a study with an Indian firm to identify markets of uniforms. This will benefit local manufacturers raising market share in that segment. The study is expected to finish within 2-3 months.

However, to make a uniform a lot of coarse yarn is needed, Bangladesh depends entirely on imports to make these products. Local textile mills are investing in higher technologies to make fabrics for uniforms. Moreover, Bangladesh already has strong printing technologies, which is a requirement to produce uniforms.

Bangladesh has a lot of room to explore this segment of the apparel market. The technical clothing segment is a large market of which Bangladesh has a very minor presence.