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Holding aloft the banner of 'Fashion for Development'

''The Garment Companies and established buying houses should come up for promoting F4D for higher profit and sustainable business, suggests M S Siddiqui

'' Bangladesh's total garment export in the year 2010-11 was US$ 22,924 million. It comprises about 16 per cent of GDP (FY 2010-11), providing employment to 10.72 per cent of the national labour forces. Nearly 79 per cent of the total exports of the country were comprised of RMG (ready-made garment) products in FY 2010-11 (Export Promotion Bureau).

Bangladesh is a major player for low-value items, although some of the global brands manufacture their brands' products here. These export orders are awarded due to low-cost production facilities. These businesses will remain here so long as Bangladesh remains competitive in the global market.

The market will not remain competitive for a very long period and the competitive advantage comes from value-added products and designs, wherein the profits are generated in the business. We can take the example of a Paris fashion house, the LVMH, which owns such brands as Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Loewe, Kenzo, Givenchy and Thomas Pink, which remained in the global garment market side by side with low-cost products from Asia and Africa.

The industry should shift its focus on higher value-added production and developing its own brands. There is no such opportunities in the near future since there is no research and initiatives. Garments and fashion go hand in hand and fashionable garments are another alternative market segment that remains to be explored.

Fashionable handloom products: There is another alternative market for Bangladesh - the fashionable handloom products that have their special appeal due to low investment, smaller number of order and high value for personalised design and organic, eco and ethical production. Organic and eco productions refer to clothing and accessories that have been made with a minimum use of chemicals having limited impact on the environment. The recycled textile is also very popular as an environment-friendly product offering unique tailor-made fashions at the upper segment of the market.

Bangladesh has about 150,000 handloom mills and their production capacity is 875 million metres as per the statistics of the Ministry of Textile. The sector has the productive skill, local materials, and artistic passion to produce fabric products of international standard.

Culture and traditional dresses have always been a source of inspiration for the fashion industry. In Bangladesh, Jamdani weaving, Kantha and sari embroidery and beadwork of incredible beauty and intricacy are a common scenario. Bangladesh is exporter of Jamdani to India and India reportedly re-exports this unique type of sari to other countries. Recently, India has registered Jamdani under the ambit of Geographical Indication Act and Bangladesh has yet to pass Geographical Indication Act (GI Act), and thus lost the sari's centuries-old expertise and asset and brand. Bangladesh cannot export Jamdani without paying royalty to India. If India raises objection to our export, Bangladesh may claim the Geographical Ownership of Jamdani after having its own GI Act.

Similarly, Thailand and Cambodia have long traditions of silk development. Guatemala and Mexico are famous for their colorful weaving and embroidery work. In Africa, beadwork and weaving traditions have developed and blossomed for centuries.

Fashion work on handloom is an important opportunity to boost trade. Unique skill and products, culture and design, potential of small-scale production, are all factors in boosting production and trade with our own brands  ensuring a livelihood for the poor weavers. The nature of the fashion industry means that it is possible for fashion houses to work with community organisations, which directly benefit the poor. They also witness community benefits on larger scale as well as factory production. Any developing country can successfully compete in a lucrative international fashion market through the 'ethical fashion movement'.

Small to medium fashion brands: The garments sourcing from fair trade or smaller-scale cooperatives can create opportunities through the creation of close working relationship, and attain the desired order requirements that can create opportunities for small to medium fashion brands. This also can provide a means for fashion brands to incorporate highly sophisticated techniques and handiwork, creating a unique selling point for products.

The success story of Africa is remarkable. Fashion products provide key opportunities for communities in Africa. Fashion is labour-intensive, requires limited capital input, and with good design, traditional skills bring a high premium. The fashion industry made a difference in Africa. In Swaziland 28,000 jobs have been created in the fashion sector benefiting 100,000 people. In Kenya 30,000 people are employed in the apparel sector -- each job generating 5 other jobs. Lesotho exported $234 million of textiles and apparel products in 2001 -- equivalent to 94 per cent of merchandise exports. GDP has increased from $558 in 2001 to $3000 in 2004.

Fashion goes through the hands of the poorest of the poor as well as the ones most fortunate. But the Fashion for Development (F4D) is for the poorest people for their livelihood and comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living. Fashion is by nature highly labour-intensive. The creation of sustainable livelihood is not the same as jobs.

It is the livelihood of the poor rural weavers with skills and experience passing through the generations. The UNDP has made a difference between jobs and livelihoods. As it views, "A job connotes one particular activity or trade that is performed in exchange for payment. It is also a formal agreement, as manifested by a contract, between an employer and an employee ... . A job can, however, comprise part of an overall livelihood, but does so only to complement other aspects of a livelihood portfolio." Coming to livelihoods, it says, "A livelihood, on the other hand, is engagement in a number of activities which, at times, neither require a formal agreement nor are limited to a particular trade. Livelihoods may or may not involve money. Jobs invariably do. Livelihoods are self-directing... Livelihoods are based on income derived from "jobs", but also on incomes derived from assets and entitlements."

F4D and MDGs: The United Nations on June 28, 2012 announced its partnership with the fashion industry to fight poverty and provide assistance to millions of women and children worldwide through the Fashion for Development (F4D) initiative. F4D is now a global platform to advance the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which are a set of targets on poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, and HIV/AIDS reduction with a 2015 deadline. F4D is also working to reduce tariffs on threads and fabric, and to raise capital for new factories, train local people and enlist established designers to get involved in these initiatives, many of whom are based in Africa.

The UN initiative is also supported by the high-profile ladies of the world. The First Ladies and Fashion for Development luncheons are held around the time of the UN General Assembly's opening, as well as New York Fashion Week, as per a press release of the UN on June 12, 2012 giving the initiatives a high profile and also offering scholarships to talented African fashion workers. The current demand for sustainable sourcing, coupled with innovation in skills and recycling and organic cotton, creates a unique selling proposition (USP) for Fashion from Africa, and an important opportunity to boost trade.

Bibi Russel shows the path: The initiative of F4D was undertaken in 1996 by Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russel with the support of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). F4D seeks to assist women in the developing world by creating new businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities for them in the fashion industry.

Some Queens and First Ladies of the world are keen supporters of the initiative. Along with Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia and F4D Goodwill Ambassador, and Evie Evangelou, co-founder and Global Chair of F4D, Bibi has choreographed and arranged many fashion shows and exhibitions in Bangladesh and Europe, using hand-woven cotton and jute fabric. Her first European show was held in Paris in February 1996, and was called "Weavers of Bangladesh", organised together with UNESCO. Her second show was also held with UNESCO a year later, titled "The Colours of Bangladesh", in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It was launched and supported by the Queen of Spain. In September 1998, with support from UNESCO and the British Fashion Council, Bibi held her third show in London, called "Stars of Bangladesh".

Bangladesh can avail full support of UNESCO as Africa did and enjoy benefit of the potential of livelihood of poor weavers in rural areas for eradication of poverty and can earn foreign exchange with the premium value of fashion and brands. Why should we let other nations utilise the name and creativity of Bibi Russell? Let us learn from Africa, Latin America and India.

The garment companies and established buying houses should come up for promoting F4D for higher profit and sustainable business.

The writer is part-time teacher, Leading University. He is pursuing PhD at Open University, Malaysia. shah@banglachemical.com