Completing a decade of its establishment, Bangalorebased buying house Navigator is moving in multi-directions and expecting 25 per cent growth this year. Founded by Directors Suresh Bhadri (Ex Country Manager, Tesco-India Operations) and Dhanya Sugathan, the buying house is currently working with big chains of South Africa and Australia. Recently, it developed and implemented an in-house ERP which will help the organization with order management from enquiry to shipment and also support operations with critical path management and performance evaluations.

Further, the buying office is also planning to explore newer markets. “We want to balance our production capacities; so our aim is to have a set of buyers from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Some markets are fashion leaders and it is very good to have clients there. It will take some time but we will explore such markets,” informed Dhanya, Fashion Design Graduate from NIFT who earlier

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It has been a very challenging year for the industry but overall the picture has been positive for the apparel segment while the textile segment has not been so upbeat… A report by credit rating agency ICRA in August 2015, based on movement in exports, had predicted that India’s apparel exports for 2015 are likely to increase to US $ 18 billion and to US $ 20 billion in 2016 as against US $ 16.5 billion in 2014. Talking to various buyers working in different markets and with different products on sourcing trends in 2015 and their expectations in 2016, many interesting insights were unveiled…, some of them are presented.

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Specialized in sourcing knitwear and denims for some of the big names globally, A&M Sourcing Ltd. is a much sought-after buying entity headed by its Managing Director Obidur Rahaman Aurpon, who has climbed the ladder of success pretty quickly, taking his company’s turnover from US $ 5 to 12 million in just two years and is now planning to set up his own production unit in Tongi.

Obidur Rahman is a simple man but has built a complex organization with multiple operations and all are destined to grow.

The company which is a leading supplier of T-shirts for names like C&A, BHS, Lee Cooper (the sole supplier of T-shirts for Lee Cooper France) and Stanley, also sources denim for Alcott Italy and Celine Italy. Alcott buys 2,00,000 pieces of knitwear every month from A&M while for C&A, Rahaman

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Bangladesh Country Manager says country way ahead of competitors

Primarily an apparel buying house that forayed into designing and manufacturing subsequently, what distinguishes Indus Apparel from others is its singular approach in offering ‘out of the box’ sourcing solutions which has been imbibed in essence and spirit by the company’s Bangladesh office, headed by its Country Manager Bilal S. Ghauri.

Established a decade ago, especially to cater to a Canadian client (as Bangladesh enjoys duty-free access to Canada) as well as try and get a foothold in the business of denim – that Bangladesh is famous for worldwide, the primary thrust of Indus Apparel in Bangladesh has been on selecting the right vendors and then develop their proficiency and abilities to deliver as per clients’ expectations.

We are trying to project Bangladesh’s competency that many customers might not be aware of.”

“We believe in building relations… We value our vendors and are going

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Exploring and exploiting the potentials for the growth of the Bangladesh apparel industry, uplift its image as a compliant country in global market, introducing the industry to new or less-manufactured garments in the country while also promoting the regular product categories, and popularize Bangladeshi products in unconventional and new markets, are some of the objectives that inspire and drive the one-year-old buying house Fashion and Services, led by Padam Vaish, its Managing Director.

Padam is trying to exploit the potential of markets such as Holland, Denmark, Germany, etc. for which Fashion and Services has roped in services of ‘A-class’ manufacturing units, which are not only fully compliant but are also firm on on-time delivery, the two most sought-after prerequisites of any global buyer these days. It has already enlisted around 300 manufacturing units for the regular and specialized products

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With the changing scenario in the international apparel retail industry, some of the Indian buying houses are also changing their strategy for growth. The good thing is that this change is not only bringing in more business for them, but they are even able to get more margins with the change in strategy. Going to complete 15 years of its establishment, India Buying Consultant (IBC), Gurgaon is one such buying agency that has changed its strategy and is now focusing more towards high-value addition products, be it home furnishing, apparel, accessories or leather, as it deals with all four categories.

“Earlier we were more into the products with the average FOB range of US $ 10-15 (in woven) but now our products are from US $ 25-30. We observed that customers are willing to pay more if they are getting what they really

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Mega Brands, a Delhi-based buying house having 80 per cent share of men’s wear in its total business is now planning to increase its footprints in women’s wear. Jas Mahindru, running his company for the last 8 years and growing every year, told Apparel Online, “We are pushing to grow in ladies garment category as we have a lot of potential and also are in talks with few European customers and surely we will be able to be on board this year. With this I am sure that we will be able to grow a substantial part of product; and from hereon probably more of product development will be required which I’m sure we are geared for. Currently, the remaining 20 per cent of our business includes kids, ladies and some hard goods but now we are willing

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Backed by constructive commitment from the industry and support from the Government, the garment manufacturing industry in Bangladesh is going from one milestone to another. As the juggernaut again picks up pace after international attention on various safety issues shook the foundation of the industry two years back, buyers are reaffirming their confidence in the potential of the industry and its resilience to rise above crisis, and more strongly. While the well-established buyers are looking to increase sourcing, new ones like Edward Sourcing are geared up for exponential growth.

Sourcing primarily from China over the years, Edward Sourcing – an importer of garments based in Cape Town (South Africa), is feeding stores in Australia and South Africa. Now, with Mansoor Chowdhury, who has over a decade of experience on both the buying and manufacturing sides, as Operation

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Denim is growing bigger and better in Bangladesh and if you want to source premium quality denim apparels, Eco Sourcing Limited is the better bet to get you the best products with the best possible prices and on-time delivery to agreed quality standards.

Six years in service already, the company’s Managing Director Khaled Obaid Ullah, an ex-employee of Marks & Spencer, carries behind him 20 years of experience having worked for some top-of-the-line brands and retailers in various positions. “I started this company in 2010. Now we have 25 employees in our two sourcing offices in Bangladesh and are working for mainly the European clients… The company is registering almost 100 per cent growth on a year-on-year basis over the last few years,” says the MD, who caters to brands such as INDITEX from Spain, TALLY WEIJL from

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A buying entity with years of experience in servicing overseas buyers from USA, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Israel, Nahid Trade International (NTI) feels achieving the target of US $ 50 billion by 2021 is a daunting task, more so with ever-increasing cases of defaults and factory closures. In an exclusive interview with Apparel Online, Nipun Nawaz, CEO of NTI, shares his contentions about the small- and medium-sized factories failing to deliver on time (some exceptions being Atashi Fashions Ltd., JFK Fashion Ltd., Trade Sweaters Ltd., Showan Knitwear Ltd., Dalas Fashions Ltd. and Donglian Fashion Ltd., with whom NTI is working currently), their closing down due to compliance issues, its implications on the industry and the need to have a robust mechanism to address the same.

Running a flourishing sourcing business for many years now and catering

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As the global supply chain in garments gets more competitive, it is not only the vendors who are facing the heat. Buying agencies too are working out new strategies to service their clients and ensure that business remains with them. Synergies Sourcing Bangladesh Ltd. – the local sourcing arm of Synergies Worldwide with global headquarters in Bangkok, realizing that the country is not strong enough in product development, and which often can be a differentiator as all manufacturing bases make effort to reduce price, is now working on a full package model. “We are not just into sourcing but operate as what we call a ‘virtual’ manufacturing company. We design our own collections and sell it to our customers as if we are the manufacturers,” shares Atif Ahmed, Director of Synergies Sourcing Bangladesh Limited. The company maintains a

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Eight years old Simran & Company, a Delhi-based sourcing & buying agent is in the process of adding new buyers and new markets. The company, dealing in all kinds of garments and accessories, has a good vendor base, mostly in North India and currently caters to 8 buyers in Europe and North Africa. The buying office is now exploring business opportunities in the Latin American markets and expects that it will be able to provide orders in reverse season so as to keep business moving the whole year around. Lalit Dhawan, Proprietor of the company, who is into the trade for the last 25 years and has worked for the buying office Francis Wacziarg for a long time, is very positive of the opportunities in the Latin American market.

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After 12 years in various positions at Li & Fung sourcing office in Gurgaon, Manish Bharati has taken a sabbatical to explore new avenues. He joined the company as VP and Country Head – European Apparel Sourcing Business in 2004 and subsequently held the position of VP and Country Head – LF FASHION (Principal Business) and finally as VP – LF Private Label Asia (private label business), which is a recently created business group within Li & Fung to service private label needs of clients in Europe and US through direct selling from Asian base.

During his stint at Li & Fung, Manish was the first to create sourcing business for India-based retailers and also first to create and manage Centre for Innovation and Technology (adopting new technologies in 3D).

With a total industry experience of around 25 years, Manish has successfully

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Employing around 40-50 people and helmed by Didarul Islam as the Managing Director, INZ Sourcing Limited, a medium-sized buying house based out of Mirpur, Dhaka, which started operations in 2004, is experiencing the growing struggle in conducting day-to-day businesses. “Small factories are slowly getting out of equation due to the compliance and quality issues while bigger factories are only getting bigger and are reluctant to entertain small volume orders,” articulates Didarul.

INZ Sourcing Limited deals in all kinds of apparels in knit, woven and sweaters, and works predominantly with both small and big volume European and American brands and retailers. “Some of my clients are TAO (France), MIM (France), Tally Weijl (France), Camaieu (France), Sorina (Mexico), Williams Ltd. (UK), SQP International PLC (UK), Local Boys (UK), Yorkshire Trading (UK), Popsoda (UK) and Incoiber (Spain),” states the Managing Director of

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Bangladesh, known for producing and taking only bulk orders, is now gearing up to accept smaller orders with even the bigger companies jumping on to the bandwagon. The acceptance of small orders have taken a fresh turn as Government apathy and the recent terror attacks have adversely impacted the industry, putting the medium-level exporters on a back-foot, stalling expansion plans, while the bigger ones are moving faster towards small orders to fill capacities. In conversation with Apparel Online Bangladesh, few small buying offices share their journey to work in small quantities.

In a market that only understood huge quantity orders, today there is a growing number of companies that not only accept small orders, but are also willing to do many styles within the order. “If there are many styles it is very challenging, so we ask for

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Predominantly a buying house with its own manufacturing facilities, DK Group, headed and managed by Syed A.Q.M. Zahid (Group Managing Director), is an 18-year-old entity that worked its way up from a humble beginning to owning a number of factories to produce denim jeans (2 million pieces per year) T-shirts (basic T-shirts – 40,000 pieces per day; fancy tees – 20,000 pieces per day, Polo T-shirts – 20,000 pieces per day) and sweaters (2 million pieces per month) through its 2,500-strong workforce today. Its major clients are ECI, Zara, Bershka, Springfield, Walmart, L80, Sainsbury and New Looks, besides several other retailers and apparel importers from USA.

With in-house manufacturing facilities, DK caters to a wide range of clientele from across the globe.

“We give priority to our facilities and only the surplus orders or the orders received for special

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Realizing that innovative technology, creative concepts and sustainable products have become the order of the day for the contemporary businesses, Texperts has adopted a conceptual approach to meet new challenges. “Fundamentally, textile is a base commodity for millions of products and there is an oversupply situation worldwide today. If we want to make sure that we have a niche over the competition and stand apart from what the whole world is doing, the only way forward is to bring something innovative to the table,” says Sharad Sanghai, Director, Texperts. Responding to the thought, Texperts has strategically positioned its operations to become an “upbringing ground” for research, market and product development, business or application development, knowledge management and collaborating opportunities.

The company has already started this long journey of adding value to its whole supply chain through a collaborative approach by

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A readymade garment manufacturing and sourcing company with its manufacturing facilities in Vietnam and liaison (sourcing) offices across the globe, Top Grade International Enterprise Limited established by German entrepreneur Thomas Hebestreit in 1995 is a US $ 600 million entity headquartered in Hong Kong supplying apparel items cutting across geographical locations.

“Bangladesh office mainly caters to Lidl, Takko Holding GmbH, Ernsting’s Family and Wappen Men’s Fashion GmbH apart from some Brazilian buyers like Cia Haring, Malwee and Kyly. We do all kinds of knit and woven items including sweaters for men’s, women’s and kid’s sections except lingerie and home textiles,” maintains W. R. Dissanayake, Country Manager Bangladesh, who took over the reins of Top Grade’s Bangladesh operations in 2005 only to take the country’s contribution in the company’s turnover from a meagre US

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Two years ago global buying office Indochine International, which has its headquarters in China, strategically decided to substantially expand its operations in Vietnam after establishing its presence firmly in Bangladesh and Cambodia – the other two hubs of cost-effective apparel manufacturer in South-east Asia – along with presence extended into Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia in recent years. Majorly sourcing for Newlook and other top UK retailers, the buying office is also sourcing garments for well-known retailers in Australia, South Africa and Middle East, besides its own high-end retail venture with 330 stores across the globe, aggressively looking to enter the US retail sourcing space. Heading the Vietnam operations is Karthik Sunjey Arya, who earlier worked with the Bangladesh operations and is well-versed with what the customers of Indochine are looking for. “I was in Dhaka for 8-9 years, right from the time operations of Indochine began

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On-time delivery of orders is the current demand of the time and the weakness of the Bangladesh apparel industry, and Fiesta Fashion is one such buying house that is continually building its strength and evolving its buyer base across overseas with expertise in knits, woven and sweater. Europe, Italy and France are the major markets Fiesta is catering to, with product categories for men, women and infants. With a turnover of approx. US $ 20 million, Fiesta has come a long way in three years, headed by Md. Motiur Rehman, Managing Director, S K Poduval, Managing Partner (taking care of quality department) and Arun Pillai, Managing Partner, looking after merchandising and sourcing operations.

In association with 60-70 factories for the execution of orders like Bengal

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