Hand-crafted caps earn Lakshmipur women self-reliance, generate Tk5cr a month in exports

Jasmine Akhter, 30, a housewife from Uttar Char Larench village in Kamalnagar Upazila of Lakshmipur, utilises her spare time knitting prayer caps, known as "tupi", and earns Tk4,500 per month on average from it. She has been in this work for around 10 years.

Twenty-five-year-old Fatema from the same village is also involved in cap making and supports her family from that income.   

Like Jasmine and Fatema, thousands of marginalised women in Ramgati, Kamalnagar and Lakshmipur Sadar Upazilas have changed their fortunes through knitting caps.

According to the local artisans, cap agents and traders, at least two lakh women and girls make hand-embroidered caps in the four upazilas of Lakshmipur.

Traders said that around five lakh caps knitted by the rural women in Lakshmipur are exported abroad every month. The artisans, local agents and traders earn around Tk5 crore from it.

Muslims from many countries around the world are the main customers of these caps that bear the tag "Made in Bangladesh". A large market for handmade caps is emerging in the Muslim world, said expatriates.

Ashraf, Jahir Uddin and Nur Nabi - three cap traders in Lakshmipur's Alexander Bazar – shared with The Business Standard that Oman is the main buyer of handmade caps. Besides, caps are exported to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar and Malaysia.

According to Siraj Uddin, who has been in Oman for a long time, and Md Kabir Hossain, a former expatriate in Saudi Arabia, Muslims from Middle Eastern countries buy more handmade caps than machine-made ones because of the quality of needlework and well-crafted designs by Bangladeshi women.

Siraj said that there is no single market in Oman where Bangladeshi caps are not available. 

In Saudi Arabia, the demand for Bangladeshi handmade caps is the highest in the big markets in the kingdom, including Mecca. During Hajj, pilgrims from different countries buy caps made by Bangladeshi women, said Kabir.

Local cap trader Ashraf said that Ramgati Upazila is the main area for making caps, where more than one lakh women make around three lakh caps every month. Almost every woman in Ramgati's Char Alexander, Char Sekantar, Sheikher Kella, Ramgati Bazar, Char Ramiz, Char Kalakopa are engaged in cap production.

According to traders, around 50,000-60000 women and girls from Kamalnagar Upazila produce an average of more than one lakh caps every month.

Besides, at least 50,000 women in Raipur and Lakshmipur Sadar Upazilas produce at least one lakh caps per month.

Locals said that in the 1980s, some expatriates from Feni district started making caps at Ramgati in Lakshmipur, which has later expanded across the entire district. Not only in Lakshmipur, there are more cap makers in the coastal and northern regions of the country.

According to some local women, Japanese cloth and Indian yarn are used to make caps, and there are 11 steps to making a designed cap, where women mainly do the part of needle-thread weaving.

Cap makers Kohinur, Jasmine and Munni Begum shared with TBS that women artisans are paid Tk1,000-Tk2,000 for knitting each cap, based on the quality of the fabric, thread and design, and it takes at least 10 to 20 days to complete one piece.

Md Nizam Uddin, chairman of Hajirhat Union Parishad in Kamalnagar Upazila and also president of the upazila Awami League, told TBS that around 10,000-15,000 families in his union are making extra income by weaving crafted caps.

Karimul Haque, a buyer from Alexander Bazar, said that there are at least 200 cap buyers in this market, and each of them purchases 2,000-5,000 pieces of caps every month. Besides, there are 20-25 cap buyers in Kamalnagar, 20 in Sadar Upazila and 15-20 in Raipur.

"If a district-based market can be developed for the artisans of the crafted caps weaving industry, the artisans will get more remuneration. It will also help brand the product. Besides, a lot of foreign currency can be earned," he said.

Md Asadullah Hasan, deputy manager of the Lakshmipur Industrial Estate, said that he had recently joined the district, and he had no idea about handmade caps.

However, hand-crafted caps similar to the ones made in Lakshmipur are also produced in at least 15 districts of the country, said cap producers and traders at various levels.

Outside Dhaka, women and girls in Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Feni, Cumilla, Naogaon, Bogura, Rangpur, Faridpur, Chattogram, Panchagarh, Pabna and Sirajganj are engaged in cap production. All of these handmade caps are exported abroad.

As per data provided on the website of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported caps worth $447.43 million in FY23, of which 60% were crafted caps knitted by women and girls.