Bangladesh’s woven shirt exports over the last couple of years are no longer what they used to be.

Bangladesh started its journey as a garment exporting nation in 1978 with the shipment of a few thousand formal shirts to a French buyer. In the apparel export basket, the shirts continued to maintain dominance for many years.

However, a sudden rise of other knit items outshined shirts because of easy access to associated raw materials.For instance, local spinners can currently supply 90 per cent of the raw materials required by the knitwear sector as state-of-the-art spinning mills are capable of ensuring fast delivery of the raw materials.

On the other hand, local weavers can only supply 40 per cent of the raw materials required by woven shirt manufacturers as investments expected in woven fabrics is yet to come about.As a result, woven shirt makers have to import fabrics from other countries, mainly China, which takes a lot of time and the long lead time is a major cause for concern for the garment business.

Moreover, over the last decade a massive change has taken place in global fashion because of shifts in consumer behaviour and climate change. Previously, officegoers used to wear formal woven shirts but now a majority prefer casual dresses.As a result, globally the consumption of woven shirts has fallen significantly.