Bangladesh Denim Expo concludes

The two-day-long Bangladesh Denim Expo concluded on Wednesday.

The eleventh edition of the expo, an international exposition to promote Bangladeshi denim goods, focused on driving the country's denim industry towards the direction of responsibility.

Over 5,692 visitors from 56 countries around the world joined the expo held at the International Convention City, Bashundhara in Dhaka.

For the first time, H&M Group, a Swedish multinational clothing-retailer, collaborated with this year's event.

The theme of this edition was 'Responsibility'. The theme has been addressing the level of social, environmental and economic responsibility the apparel industry holds to ensure products are produced in the most ethical, environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.

"Every stakeholder involved in denim industry has a degree of responsibility. Responsibility is about environment, it's about climate change, about circularity, sourcing, working conditions etc.," said Mostafiz Uddin, founder and CEO of the Bangladesh Denim Expo. 

"To be precise, as entrepreneurs and professionals every decision, we take has its impacts. Keeping the impacts positive is our responsibility," added Mostafiz, also managing director of Denim Expert Limited, a denim manufacturer.

"So being responsible and accountable to the earth and workers, it is the duty of all stakeholders in the apparel industry to acknowledge the responsibility and to analyse our business practices, for the benefit of all," said Mostafiz.

The expo's objective was to showcase Bangladesh's growth potential in the denim industry. It was a great get-together for buyers, manufacturers and professionals, where they shared experiences on latest trend of fashions and innovation in technology. 

In the two-day exposition, a total of 100 exhibitors from 11 countries, including host Bangladesh, took part. Other participating countries were china, Japan, Italy, India, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey and Germany. 

In sharing knowledge and to learn from the global experts, two panel discussions were held where industry stakeholders from home and abroad discussed and debated the roles of industry's responsibility. 

Andrew Olah, the founder of Kingpins Denim Show; Alice Tonello, R&D Director of the Tonello Group; and Piero Turk and Jordi Juani, regional directors of Jeanologia in Asia, were present as speakers. 

The expo served to promote Bangladesh to a wider audience and to offer the opportunity for the local apparel industry to gain contacts, knowledge and business opportunities from the international denim professionals and experts that attended the event.