Bangladesh is one of the most crucial players in manufacturing readymade garment (RMG) and textile. And long been holding on to the second-largest apparel exporter position. The country is aspiring to reach $100 billion garment export by 2030 – thanks to the upward graph of exports and accessible infrastructure and its new technology initiatives.
On the contrary, the country is one of the top importers of cotton – as Bangladesh is a leading sourcing destination of cotton made garment. The main raw material i.e. cotton is mostly imported to cater this massive demand. Thus making the country heavily reliant on imports of textile fiber, bringing in 1.63 million tons of staple cotton fiber in 2019 worth $3.5 billion.
Bangladesh is also one of the major cotton waste producing regions. A report from Circular Fashion Partnership (CFP) assessed that in 2019 Bangladesh produced around 577000 tons of waste from its RMG factories and fabrics mills of which 250000 tons was 100% pure cotton waste.
Internationally, the demand for sustainably made apparel among the end-consumers is rising significantly. As a result, leading fashion brands and retailers have stepped up their sustainability efforts and refocusing their ethical sourcing of apparel. For instance, by 2025-30, most global fashion brands have pledged to use 100% recycled or sustainable fibers in their products. And more-and-more are shifting to recycled yarns in producing apparel products and, yarn.
At the same time, Bangladesh is a champion in sustainable RMG. And its global implication is on the rise – as end-consumers are demanding sustainably made apparel in stores. And to add another feather in Bangladesh’s green RMG commitment, BEXIMCO, – The Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited, one of the global leaders in sustainable fashion manufacturing, putting sustainability and circularity at the heart of its operations – as part of its planet approach, partnered together with Recover™ to open a new facility in Bangladesh and to accelerate these two leaders’ effort to transform the fashion industry.
This joint venture production facility will aid in scaling up a new reborn program to transform the industry by closing the loop on fashion by using recycled raw materials. The initiative will also enable Beximco to offer the fashion market the top-notch quality denim, woven and knit fabrics made with 5% – 30% RCS/GRS verified recycled fiber, a holistic transparent supply chain, and sustainable fabric production techniques in dyeing and finishing.
Through this collaboration, Beximco is transforming the industry with Recover™ to scale its recycled fiber production through Bangladesh’s biggest recycling facility setup in Dhaka – which is the heart of the country’s supply and demand as well as the textile waste, reducing the carbon impact of transport, lowering the environmental impact, and minimizing the fiber import dependency.
This milestone partnership between BEXIMCO and Recover™ will combine their expertise and will be a significant step towards solving Bangladesh’s textile waste problem and establishing a closed-loop industry. In addition, this partnership will increase the support of surging global demand for sustainable fibers, and circularity in the textile and fashion industry.
BEXIMCO and Recover™ are two key players at different stages of the textile value chain with decades of experience in their respective fields. The top-notch facility comes fully equipped with Recover’s proprietary machinery, as well as, RColorBlend installation, Recover’s innovative technology that provides fiber blends with color, with a lower environmental impact.
BEXIMCO incorporates one of South Asia’s biggest vertically integrated textile and garment companies. BEXIMCO’s state-of-the-art manufacturing plants located in the vicinity of Dhaka provide the Group with a highly cost effective manufacturing base. A majority of its plants are in the BEXIMCO Industrial Park, a vertically integrated self-contained facility. This facility provides ready access to captive power generation, water purification, liquid nitrogen, waste water treatment and other key infrastructure. The Group’s global clients include some of the world’s best known brands.
The Spain based Recover™ is a renowned recycled cotton producer, known for its effort to transform the fashion industry. Recover™ is a leading materials science company and global producer of low-impact, high-quality recycled cotton fiber and fiber blends. The company has over 75 years of expertise over four generations of family in Spain. This facility in Bangladesh is Recover’s part of a global push to increase its recycling capacities to achieve maximum output by being where the waste is, thereby close to both supply and demand and reducing simultaneously its carbon footprint.
Alfredo Ferre, CEO of Recover™ said, “The new facility in Bangladesh is just one step in Recover’s ambitious expansion plans. In addition to our existing facilities in Spain and Pakistan, we are excited to announce the opening of a new manufacturing hub in Vietnam and an expansion of our current facility to create a super-hub in Bangladesh this year. Operations in Spain will also be expanded with greater investment in product development and further strategic alliances and business partners established globally.”
Beside Bangladesh – the company has plans to establish more facilities in additional locations in key textile hubs around the world in countries/regions like Central America, Brazil, Turkey, India, and Southeast Asia.
Both the companies have worked together on important brand collaborations, including the recent iconic by Fruit of the Loom® sustainable t-shirt collection.
