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He was happy with the then business and export performance, but he felt that something was missing to make Bangladesh a hub for global denim importers.
The feeling became stronger as he attended exhibitions in the United States and different European countries, learning about latest designs and innovations, as well as connecting to buyers and brands.
Soon, he found aspirations for organising an international standard exposition to bring global brands, buyers, and retailers. Finally, he established “Bangladesh Denim Expo,” to brand Bangladesh, which is now the world’s second largest expo in the category.
This is the story of Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert, who founded Bangladesh Denim Expo designed and dedicated to brand Bangladesh and for the betterment of denim manufacturers.
Featuring unique themes and quality, the exposition turned into a hotspot for denim makers and global brands. With the success and growth of the show, Mostafiz became known as Denim Mostafiz.
Inception of business
Born in a middle-class family, Mostafiz Uddin had an ordinary childhood. But tragedy struck when his father Moslem Uddin passed away in 1995, at a time when he just completed higher secondary school.
As Mostafiz was the eldest son, he became the head of his family. Soon after completion of graduation from University of Madras in India, Mostafiz returned home in 1999.
Mostafiz dreamt of studying in the United States on a scholarship and had the opportunity, but left his dream to work and establish his own business in Bangladesh.
Idea of Bangladesh Denim Expo
After establishing Denim Expert, Mostafiz was doing better in business as he maintained quality and compliance in manufacturing jeans. He felt there is something missing in branding Bangladesh and presenting innovation, development, and capacity to the global buyers.
“Whenever I visited foreign exhibitions, I recalled that we are sewing clothes and exporting to different countries as the second biggest exporter to the global market,” said Mostafiz.
Unfortunately, the exhibitions are being held in other countries like Germany, USA, and France and exporters had to send a lot of money to join those events, he said expressing disappointment.
“I questioned myself, why wouldn’t people come to Bangladesh if we can organise an international standard expo. Thus, the idea of Bangladesh Denim Expo was conceived and I was determined to do it.”
The need and willingness for holding an international expo became stronger after the collapse of the Rana Plaza in 2013.
In the aftermath of the incident, it was a demand of time to hold an expo for branding Bangladesh to rebuild the country’s image, and gradually inform the buyers and brands about latest development in workplace safety, said Mostafiz.
The industry laughed at me when I shared my thoughts of holding an international exhibition on Denim in Bangladesh. They said who would visit Bangladesh instead of Germany, Italy or US expos, he explained.
“They didn’t rely on me and my dream. They termed it quite impossible, adding that why would people visit Bangladesh paying a good amount of money in a country where tailback on roads and other problems are widespread.”
He continued, “However, I was firm in my pledge to create trade-fairs and industry summits in Bangladesh, which had never been seen before in the region. The aim was to brand Bangladesh and rebuild the image of the apparel industry that was tarnished by the collapse of Rana Plaza.
“I wanted to take the RMG sector to a new height.”
The first edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo took place between November 11 and 12, 2014 at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka.
With the theme “One-stop Innovative Denim Sourcing Platform,” the maiden edition of the show invited international denim buyers to visit Bangladesh, as the country is a one-stop sourcing platform for all aspects of Jeanswear.
Today, Bangladesh Denim Expo is the second largest exposition in the world, where people across the world participate. Bangladeshi manufacturers also eagerly wait for the expo to showcase their innovation and development.
How it branded Bangladesh
Aftermath of the Rana Plaza collapse, it was imperative to change the narrative about Bangladesh’s apparel industry as the Rana Plaza incident raised questions about workplace safety and workers’ rights.
“In that context, we represented the industry’s achievements to the world through the expo, to help retailers and brands regain their confidence about Bangladesh. Amid that crisis, Denim Expo played an important role to brand Bangladesh,” Mostafiz said.
In each edition, through several themes, the expo talked about the industry’s safety, which presented a clear picture on the development the industry had already made to ensure a safe workplace.
For the first time, Denim Expo introduced new topics such as circularity, fashion technology, sustainability, innovation, and green technology to brand Bangladesh.
It was previously beyond the exporters reach and they did not even know about those ideas, but they are now enjoying the benefits.
“Circularity is the most spoken word in the clothing industry, which is a theme for bringing positive changes into the whole denim supply chain management at the apparel and clothing sector,” said Mostafiz.
“In the 10th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo held in 2019, we introduced circularity in Bangladesh for making the denim industry more sustainable. You will hardly find someone, who is working in the field of RMG sector, who does not know about the Bangladesh Denim Expo.”
He added, “The expo branded Bangladesh and its apparel industry. We brought a good number of renowned brands, retailer and showed them the capacity of Bangladesh and made the country popular as a sourcing hub for denim products.”
In the first edition of Denim Expo, 543 companies participated from 37 countries, while 2,601 people visited the exhibition. In the 11th exhibition held in 2019, 1,083 companies from 54 countries attended the expo, and the number of visitors rose to 5,692.
During several of our expos, retailers and brand representatives visited factories and saw the progress, research and development work, which gave them the confidence to place more work orders, Mostafiz explained. “My personal drive is to make a difference for my industry, and for my country. I want to be the agent of change who, together with my friends and colleagues in the denim world, sets a new scene for how international buyers and brands see Bangladesh in the future.”
Denim Expo’s achievement
From its inception in 2014, Bangladesh Denim Expo has become a much-anticipated exhibition to global denim manufacturers, and they have added the event to their calendar. Since then, the expo has become a hot spot for stakeholders from across the world to gather and share views and experience on latest developments in the industry, said Mostafiz.
Knowledge sharing sessions and seminars of each edition are at the heart of attraction as global experts – as well as local ones – deliver their thoughts on future industry direction.
In the last 11 editions of Bangladesh Denim Expo, a total of 48,329 foreigners visited from different countries – mostly from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, UK, US, France, Italy, Denmark, Japan, China, Switzerland, Canada, Turkey and Australia.
Couple of years ago, Bangladesh was the third largest exporter of denim to the US market. Now Bangladesh is the number one denim exporter to the United States of America. Not only that, but Bangladesh is also the number one exporter of denim to the European Union.
“The first achievement is Bangladesh is now the number one denim exporter. Second one is making Bangladesh known to people who don’t know.
I think Denim Expo is one the strongest contributors to this robust growth as we have brought global retailers, brands here and they learned about the capacity and placed more orders,” said Mostafiz.
According to Otexa, Bangladesh holds 21.69 per cent market share of total US imports of $3.68 billion.
Bangladesh also holds 26.82 per cent market share in EU Denim imports of $4.40 billion, shows data from the Eurostat.
“When we started the Denim Expo in 2014, Bangladesh’s exports of denim products to the US market was $426 million, which rose to $798 million by 2021. Exports to the European Union stood at $1.18 billion in 2021, which was $939 million in 2014,” Mostafiz said.
Denim exports
According to Eurostat, statistics directorate of the European Commission, Bangladesh’s denim exports to the block increased by 15.18 per cent to $1.18 billion in 2021, which was $1 billion in 2020.
In the US market, Bangladesh’s denim exports rose by 42.24 per cent to $798.42 million in 2021, which was $561 million the previous year.
The 12th edition
The twelfth edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo will reopen its doors after a two-year break at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka on May 10.
With the theme of “Beyond Business,” the two-day show will showcase new opportunities for successful and sustainable businesses. As many as 79 exhibitors are set to attend the event, consisting of both local and international participants.
In this edition, exhibitors will display fabrics, garments, threads, machinery, finishing equipment and accessories, to give a true representation of Bangladesh’s denim industry – the largest denim exporter to the EU and the USA.
Through a series of product displays, seminar sessions and panel discussions, the expo will encourage robust interaction among exhibitors and visitors.
Mostafiz said, “The world is a slightly different place since the last edition of this show, which took place two years ago. Denim supply chains have experienced major turbulence and disruption and have been forced to innovate and adapt in order to survive and remain relevant.
“The pandemic has forced suppliers to double-down on sustainability issues. That is what global consumers are demanding in the post-pandemic world, and this message is being passed down supply chains through fashion brands and retailers.”
He further said, “Our show will act as a lightning rod on these issues, bringing together all the denim stakeholders from across the world under the roof of the Expo.”
Plan for the future
“Bangladesh Denim Expo has been the catalyst behind the denim industry’s growth in Bangladesh since 2014. The expo has redefined Bangladesh’s denim industry by branding it to the world and making it the center stage of global denim discussion,” said Mostafiz.
He added, “I would like to transform the industry into a sustainable one, where manufacturers will take the environment into consideration during production, and think of the workers’ wellbeing.
“To take Bangladesh to a new height, I am going to hold the Bangladesh Denim Expo in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2023 and in the USA and France in 2024. The focus of the expo will be “Best of Bangladesh and deriving new customers to Bangladesh.”
The expo will create RMG collections, products, innovation value adding programmes with sustainable storytelling, while the target groups are customers and trade peers, fashion and textile organization, embassies, fashion summits in Europe and international buyers.
“I dream of making Bangladesh the world’s sourcing destination for premium denim. I also wish to establish a denim university in the country where the latest denim knowledge would be imparted among the graduates,” he said with optimism in his voice.
