Dr. Rajesh Bheda
Bangladesh’s accessories and packaging industry has become one of the strongest backward linkages to its ready-made garment (RMG) sector. While countries like China, India, and Vietnam still dominate global exports of accessory and packaging materials, Bangladesh’s Garment Accessory and Packaging (GAP) sector is making rapid progress. This is thanks to the expansion of large garment exporting groups in the accessory and packaging business in Bangladesh. Once heavily dependent on imports, the sector now supplies over 90% of local demand and makes a significant contribution to export earnings through both direct and deemed exports. Recent data from the industry association BGAPMEA shows the sector generated US$7.48 billion in FY 2024–25, with about US$1 billion from direct exports. With over 2100+ association members, Bangladesh is now one of the largest global producers in the sector, boasting an estimated US$3.2 billion in investments and a value addition of around 40%.
The accessories and packaging sector contributes 6-12% of a garment’s FOB value and is increasingly seen as a strategic backbone of the global RMG industry for ensuring shorter lead time. Furthermore, innovations in recyclable and biodegradable materials have placed it at the centre of the industry’s sustainability and ESG agenda.
Despite this growth, the sector faces several challenges: taxation and incentive issues, heavy reliance on imported raw materials, rising costs for materials and energy, and increased compliance pressures from international buyers who demand certified, sustainable, and recyclable inputs.
To address these challenges and create a thriving Accessory and Packaging Sector in Bangladesh, the PROGRESS project, supported by the SWISS Government and the Government of Sweden, implemented by SWISSCONTACT, is supporting capacity building of managers to adopt sustainable practices, improve efficiencies and align with global standards. Rajesh Bheda Consulting (RBC) is collaborating with PROGRESS to help the sector unlock its potential. Adopting Manufacturing Excellence and ESG best practices can help the sector address these pain points, achieve significant savings and become a stronger, more competitive partner in shaping the future of global RMG.
Based on the experience and insights of Rajesh Bheda Consulting, the sector has clear opportunities to improve its performance significantly, grow the business and support garment manufacturers. Some of the opportunities are as follows:
- Industrial engineering and Waste Reduction: Unlike the garment industry, the sector uses capital-intensive equipment. Adopting lean tools like JIT (Just-In-Time) and SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Dies) can increase overall productivity and help in cost optimisation. Scientific production planning to ensure flow is crucial for the sector. Improved safety is another opportunity area that can improve the efficiencies as workers work without fear with the right PPE in place and safety embedded in the SOPs.
- Lead Time & Synchronisation: Shorter lead times and smaller order quantities (MOQs) demand agility. Most factories lack dynamic production planning and scheduling abilities. Digital dashboards in English and local languages can also improve visibility and speed up decision-making. Most factories still work on ledgers or basic Excel sheets. This needs to improve.
- Cost & Resource Pressures: Declining buyer prices are clashing with rising costs for raw materials, energy, and currency. While solar and efficiency solutions require heavy investment, factories can still make significant gains with an acceptable ROI
- Quality: Clients demand consistent quality with minimal waste. Significant savings of 2-4% of sales can be achieved by delivering better quality to client factories and avoiding costly claims.
- Worker upskilling with engineered methods is another opportunity as most workers have learned on the job and have low exposure to the best practices.
- Improving Product Development: Rapid product development that meets client expectations right first time and eliminates possible errors during production is another major opportunity where precious time is lost.
- Heightened Brand Expectations & Sustainability: Compliance with new standards like HRDD (Human Rights Due Diligence), ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and various certifications is costly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Buyers are increasingly mandating sustainable materials and strict ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) compliance. For example, H&M requires all Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers to be enrolled by 2025, and Inditex aims for 95% certified inputs by 2027. Meeting these standards helps factories secure better nominations and improve their business significantly.
- Inclusivity & Workforce Gaps: Women are underrepresented in the accessories and packaging sector. This presents an untapped opportunity for greater inclusivity and capacity building.
Collectively, these efforts have the potential to boost not only the cost competitiveness and profitability of accessory units but also improve their ability to support garment manufacturers with quick response. We invite businesses in the RMG Accessory and Packaging industry to collaborate with RBC for strengthening their improvement journey with partial support under the PROGRESS project.
The interested companies can get in touch with raveen@rajeshbheda.com, Prangobindra@rajeshbheda.com, or maitreyee@rajeshbheda.com with CC to rbc@rajeshbhedda.com
