Bangladesh has built one of the world’s most extensive textile and apparel manufacturing ecosystems, with strong capabilities across spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing, finishing, garment manufacturing and product development. Yet, when it comes to wool, the country’s story remains relatively limited.
Ismail Hossain Tushar, with more than 13 years of experience across Bangladesh’s textile value chain, is taking on a new role with The Woolmark Company to explore how Bangladesh’s strong manufacturing capabilities can connect with the global wool ecosystem—and help develop a new story for wool in Bangladesh.
Against this backdrop, Ismail Hossain Tushar is beginning a new professional chapter with The Woolmark Company as Business Development & Technical Representative – Bangladesh, effective 10 September 2026.
But the significance of the move extends beyond a new professional appointment. At the centre of his activities will be a broader question: how can Bangladesh build a meaningful ecosystem around wool, and how can its existing textile capabilities connect with the wider global wool industry?
Looking at wool through the Bangladesh textile lens
Tushar brings more than 13 years of experience across different areas of Bangladesh’s textile industry. A Textile Engineering graduate from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), he later complemented his technical background with an MBA in Marketing from BRAC University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Textile Management from Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX).
His professional experience has included roles with Shore to Shore, Groz-Beckert, Dysin Group and Sieger Spintech, providing exposure to textile manufacturing, machinery, technology, product development and business development.
That combination of technical and commercial experience is relevant to the direction he sees for wool in Bangladesh.
His activities will involve engaging with mills, manufacturers, brands, designers, product developers, technical professionals and other stakeholders across the textile value chain. The objective is to better understand where wool and wool blends can fit within Bangladesh’s existing capabilities and where new opportunities could be developed.
Rather than looking at wool simply as another fibre option, the focus is on building greater understanding around its technical characteristics, applications and commercial possibilities.
“Bangladesh already has a highly capable textile manufacturing ecosystem,” Tushar says. “The opportunity is to understand how wool can connect with that ecosystem in a meaningful way—through technical knowledge, product development, industry collaboration and commercially viable applications.”
From awareness to an ecosystem
For an industry historically dominated by cotton and increasingly influenced by man-made fibres, wool represents a different set of technical characteristics, processing considerations and product possibilities.
Developing its presence in Bangladesh, therefore, is unlikely to be simply a matter of introducing another fibre to manufacturers. It requires knowledge, technical engagement and connections across the value chain.
Tushar’s focus will include creating greater awareness of wool, facilitating technical discussions, identifying potential applications, connecting relevant industry players and exploring opportunities for wool and wool-blend products.
The potential conversation can extend from yarn and fabric development to knitwear, woven products, premium apparel, performance applications, blends and other product concepts, depending on the capabilities of manufacturers and the requirements of international markets.
The first step, however, is understanding the industry itself—its capabilities, needs and challenges—and identifying where wool can create genuine value.
Creating a Bangladesh side story for wool
There is a larger opportunity behind this approach.
The global wool ecosystem already connects fibre producers, processors, manufacturers, brands, designers, researchers and technical organisations across different markets. Bangladesh, meanwhile, brings a substantial manufacturing and export ecosystem, with extensive experience supplying some of the world’s leading apparel and textile markets.
Connecting these two stories could create opportunities on both sides.
For Bangladesh, greater engagement with the wool ecosystem could bring access to fibre knowledge, technical expertise, new product-development possibilities and international industry connections.
For the wider wool ecosystem, Bangladesh offers a manufacturing base capable of translating fibre and product concepts into commercial-scale textile and apparel production.
Tushar sees his role partly as developing that connection from the Bangladesh side.
“My focus is to develop the ecosystem from the Bangladesh side,” he explains. “That means understanding the capabilities we already have, identifying where wool can create value, and connecting the right people and organisations to make those opportunities possible.”
This could ultimately give Bangladesh a more distinct role within the wider wool value chain—not simply as a market for wool products, but as a manufacturing and product-development partner.
Beyond a fibre conversation
The timing is also relevant to the broader direction of Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry.
As the sector looks beyond volume-driven growth, product diversification, technical capability, sustainability, value addition and access to new markets are becoming increasingly important.
Within that changing landscape, natural fibres such as wool can offer opportunities beyond conventional apparel applications. The challenge is to identify commercially viable areas where Bangladesh’s existing manufacturing strengths can meet the characteristics and requirements of wool-based products.
That will require collaboration rather than a single, predefined model.
For Tushar, the immediate priority is therefore to start conversations across the industry, understand where the gaps and opportunities lie, and gradually develop the connections and capabilities needed to turn those opportunities into tangible products and partnerships.
Building the story from Bangladesh
The work could also contribute to a distinct Bangladesh story within the global wool ecosystem.
Rather than viewing Bangladesh simply as another market, the approach is to understand what makes its textile industry different, what capabilities already exist and how those capabilities could contribute to the development of wool-based products.
It is a two-way connection: bringing international wool knowledge into Bangladesh’s textile industry while also taking Bangladesh’s manufacturing experience and potential back into the wider wool ecosystem.
In that sense, the work is as much about people, knowledge and capability as it is about the fibre itself.
For Tushar, the move represents a natural extension of his experience across technology, textiles and business development, but with wool now at the centre of the conversation.
“I don’t see this simply as introducing wool to Bangladesh. I see it as an opportunity to build understanding, relationships and capability around wool, and to explore what Bangladesh can contribute to the global wool ecosystem as well.”
The journey will require industry engagement, technical exchange, experimentation and, ultimately, successful products and partnerships. Building an ecosystem does not happen through a single initiative; it develops through sustained collaboration and a clear understanding of where opportunity exists.
Bangladesh already possesses much of the manufacturing depth and global market connectivity required to explore new fibre opportunities. The emerging question is how those capabilities can be connected with what wool can offer.
For Tushar, that is where the new chapter begins—not with a finished blueprint, but with an effort to listen to the industry, build knowledge, connect stakeholders and discover what can be developed together.
And if those connections lead to new products, new capabilities and new international opportunities, Bangladesh may have more than a new conversation around wool.
It may have the beginning of its own story within the global wool ecosystem.
