Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has written to President and CEO of American Apparel & Footwear Association, Stephen Lamar, seeking support in terms of responsible purchasing practices. “To ensure uninterrupted and smoother operation in the industry, it is important that prices of all goods which will be shipped from 1 December, 2023 are duly adjusted/ up-charged covering the increment in wage component,” BGMEA President Faruque Hassan wrote. The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is a national trade association representing apparel, footwear and other sewn product companies, and their suppliers, which compete in the global market. From now onward, the BGMEA president said, all business negotiations and deals will have to be made adhering to the new minimum wage policy. Read: Owners are free to close their garment factories until vandalism ends: BGMEA “Therefore, I would humbly request you to kindly pursue the AAFA members to collaborate with their Bangladeshi suppliers with due empathy and consideration,” the BGMEA chief wrote in his letter. “With every effort and action we take, we mean to complement our long term goal, which is to grow mutually and sustainably. We are working with our government relentlessly to ensure more favorable environment for business,” Faruque said. “You are following the improvements made and progress by the government to create better infrastructure and policies supporting envisioned growth and efficiency. I am sure with your continued support and collaboration we will continue to thrive," said the BGMEA President. In his letter to Lamar, the BGMEA chief said the minimum wage in 2023 for garment workers was declared by the government on November 7. Read: BGMEA provides financial assistance to families of deceased workers The declaration was made based on the proposal submitted by the Minimum Wage Board, and was widely consulted and agreed by the stakeholders including workers’ and employers’ representatives, he said. As per the new minimum wage, the gross minimum monthly wage of the 7th grade workers has been set at Tk 12,500, equivalent to around USD 113.63 – a 56.25 percent increase of the gross wage while the basic wage has gone up by 63.41 percent. The new minimum wages comes at a time when the global economy is going through an unprecedented situation, so is Bangladesh’s economy, said the BGMEA chief. “The RMG industry in Bangladesh is feeling the heat of this crisis, especially with soaring inflation, all our input costs have increased significantly including fuel, gas, electricity, transportation,” he said. Read: BGMEA ready to implement new pay structure govt announces by Dec: BGMEA President From the first of July this year, Bangladesh Bank has increased interest rates which made trade and investment finance more costly. “You are aware that since 2013, the industry had to make a huge investment to ensure international standard workplace safety, which we have done diligently despite all the difficulties,” he wrote. “Now to align with global climate action agenda, our factories are making further investment to reduce GHG emission and be more resource efficient. Not only that, for ensuring workplace safety, comfort for our workers and to reduce fatigue, factories are upgrading machine, process and production method,” said the BGMEA president. “Through all these efforts, Bangladesh has emerged as a reliable, sustainable and one of the most preferred sourcing destinations,” Faruque said, adding that all these initiatives and investments have impact on the business, in relative and absolute term. Read: BGMEA seeks NBR support to sustain RMG industry's global competitiveness amidst ongoing challenges “Now, with the increase in the minimum wages, this industry has taken the challenge to ensure better living standards of the workers while maintaining competitiveness,” he said. The raise in the minimum wage, especially 63.41 percent raise in the basic wage, leads to higher benefit for the workers in terms of overtime benefit, earned leave encashment, festival bonus and other allowances, Faruque said. “The implementation of the new wage structure would exert a huge financial impact on the factories. This will be challenging for many of our factories to implement the new wage in the current economic and financial circumstances,” he wrote in the letter. However, Faruque said, ensuring decent living standards of the workers is a top priority for them, as well as for global brands and retailers. “Since we have accepted the new minimum wage, we will ensure implementation of it, and we need your support in terms of responsible purchasing practice,” the BGMEA president wrote in the letter to the CEO of American Apparel & Footwear Association.

Apex Footwear has brought a wide array of new collections ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr 2022. From this year's Eid collection, customers will be able to shop from a wide selection of 1,500 new designs. With the theme "Shob bhule Eid houk dil khule," the special collections will be available at Apex stores across the country from the start of Ramadan. Read: IBBL reaches Tk 1.40 trillion deposits, 1.16 trillion investments: IBBL MD To mark the launch of the campaign, a grand event was organised at Jamuna Future Park in the capital Friday. Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director, Firoze Mohammad, chief operating officer, Sagnik Guha, head of marketing, of Apex Footwear, were present. A cultural program followed by a fashion show to showcase the new styles took place.  

Footwear and lifestyle brand Vibrant, a sister concern of US-Bangla Group, will open a flagship store in the capital's Jamuna Future Park (JFP). Ruhul Amin, chief executive officer (CEO) of US-Bangla Footwear Limited, and Alamgir Alam, director of Jamuna Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) recently. Read: How to Open a Super Shop Business in Bangladesh? The brand, which started its journey in 2018, already has 21 outlets across the country.

World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer on Wednesday visited the footwear microenterprises cluster at Bhairab in Kishoreganj. Under the Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP), co-financed by The World Bank, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) is supporting the footwear-producing microenterprise cluster where around 200,000 pairs of footwear are manufactured a day. Bhairab is home to more than 10,000 footwear microenterprises, employing over 120,000 people. Read: Bangladesh's economy doing better to recover from Covid-19 shocks: WB Vice President Schafer expressed satisfaction at the SEP’s role in sustainable expansion of the footwear-manufacturing microenterprises. “It is great to see what can be done when you empower communities and when you start small,” he said. During the visit, he was accompanied by Managing Director Dr Nomita Halder, World Bank Country Director Mercy Miyang Tembon, Additional Managing Director of PKSF Md Fazlul Kader, and other representatives from the government, The World Bank and project-implementing partner organization of PKSF, according to a press release. They visited SEP supported footwear common service center to support the footwear-producing microenterprises in Bhairab. They talked to the service providers and have had been explained the services there. Later, they also talked to some of the SEP-supported micro-entrepreneurs. PKSF Managing Director Dr Nomita Halder said that in addition to inclusive financing, capacity building, technology transfer, value chain development and other technical services are being provided to help the low-income people to get out from the vicious cycle of low productivity. “Additionally, in all its project area, PKSF ensures safe environment for the female workers like what is done in the SEP,” she said. She also said that the PKSF made it flexible for the microentrepreneurs who suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read: WB delays decision to fund road safety project: Obaidul Quader “Because we want to eradicate poverty not only by lending money but also by creating employment opportunity,” she said. The PKSF MD said that Promoting decent workplace, the government want to ensure good business but also sustainable business. “Money alone cannot solve problems. It requires commitment and partnership like we have between The World Bank and PKSF.” Appreciating the effort and enthusiasm of the female micro-entrepreneurs World Bank country director Mercy Miyang Tembon said that she was very happy to meet the women who are not only working for themselves but also employing other women. “That is why SEP is very important. PKSF is doing a wonderful job as they are doing it all over the country.” Additional Managing Director of PKSF Fazlul Kader presented on the SEP’s interventions with particular focus on the footwear-producing cluster. To assist the microenterprises of Bangladesh in enhancing their marketing and brand development capacity and adopting environmentally sustainable practices, PKSF is implementing the SEP, jointly financed by PKSF and The World Bank with support from the government of Bangladesh. The total budget of this five-year project is USD 130 million, of which the World Bank and PKSF will finance USD 110 million and USD 20 million respectively. To implement the project, the lead business clusters, based in the lead sub-sectors of the agribusiness and manufacturing sectors, are provided financial and technical support. A total of 64 sub-projects have been undertaken from 30 different sub-sectors under the project. People’s Oriented Program Implementation (POPI), a partner organization of PKSF, is implementing one of the sub-projects, titled ‘Establishing Environmental Practices in Hazardous Footwear Microenterprises in Bhairab.

A new showroom of Vibrant of US-Bangla Footwear Limited was inaugurated at Mohakhali in the capital on Friday.