interview with Mr Ahmed Imtiaz CEO & Head of Int’l Business RedCarpet365 Ltd.
The organizer of BIGTEX (Bangladesh Int’l Garment & Textile Machinery Expo)
By: Kohan Textile Journal
About Red carpet exhibitions, history and success story…
Redcarpet365 Ltd is the leading exhibition organizer of Bangladesh & promoting Int’l trade and industry with subsidiaries, joint ventures, associates and partners in several countries, with its global HQ in Australia. We connect people from all over the world through B2B & B2C exhibitions, events, roadshows, seminars, conferences etc.
We organize more than 10 int’l exhibitions per annum on Garment & Textile Machinery, Fabric & Yarn, Dyes & Chemical, Printing, Packaging & Signage, Paper, Plastic, Smart City, IoT – Internet of Things, Construction, Renewable Energy, Fintech etc.
Among our foreign country partners – Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE & USA are working together for different fairs at Home and Abroad.
2. Let us know more about your exhibitions and events in the textile and fashion sector?
Well, our brand exhibition BIGTEX (Bangladesh Int’l Garment & Textile Machinery Expo) covers the potential garment and textile industry of Bangladesh. 2019 edition of BIGTEX witnessed 9215 business visitors, along with 160 exhibitors from 14 countries.
We also had around 5 networking events on the sideline of this expo, which caters the high profile leaders from top associations like Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Garments Accessories & Packaging Manufacturers & Exporters Association, The Institution of Textile Engineers and Technologists, Bangladesh Sign Materials and Machineries Importers Association, Bangladesh Digital Printer’s Owner’s Association etc.
Other concurrent shows targeting entire textile and garment sectors are Bangladesh Int’l Printing, Packaging & Signage Expo, Bangladesh Int’l Fabric & Yarn Expo, Bangladesh Int’l Dyes & Chemical Expo & Int’l Apparel Sourcing Show – Bangladesh. In recent pandemic, we also worked as a joint organizer with ZJDOC (Department of Commerce Zhejiang Province) for Bangladesh, Turkey and Morocco – Fabric, Trims & Accessories Show.
3. Could you please give us more information about fashion exhibitions situation in Bangladesh in the Pandemic period? How do you evaluate 2021 after normalization period?
The pandemic affects us a lot; all national and international events & exhibitions are off till date. Most of them got postponed to 2021. 2020 kept us away from exhibitions so the ultimate loss is must for the industry and organizers and also to exhibitors, visitors and our country’s economy.
Looking forward to 2021 seems the only way and we are hopeful that we can hold regular exhibitions by then. We will prepare ourselves for future shows and will do backend tasks. Things will not be as normal as before, but we have to cope up with the situation and face the “New Normal”. We believe, the events & exhibitions gathering will come back soon.
4. Please let us know more about the Bangladesh textile industry.
Bangladesh still holds the crown of 2nd biggest apparel supplier in the world, accounting for 6.8% share of the market worth USD$34 billion (FY19). The non-traditional markets accounted USD$5.68 billion of the country’s total garment export volume. They are still shining as top denim exporter to EU & in the 1st half of 2020 becomes top exporter to US, the world’s 2nd largest knitwear exporter.
Bangladesh’s traditional markets for garment exports are Europe & US, while non-traditional markets include Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey. Now it’s time for welcoming the rest of the world to Bangladesh and branding “BANGLADESH – THE NEXT APPAREL SOURCING HUB”
Almost all top clothing retailers like H&M, Walmart, JC Penney, Inditex, Zara, Gap, M&S, Uniqlo, C&A, Tesco, Hugo Boss and Adidas have been souring billion worth of garment items from Bangladesh every year. According to MCKINSEY report, Bangladesh is one of the TOP 5 apparel-sourcing countries in the next 5 years followed by very commentating markets of Ethiopia, Myanmar, Vietnam and India.
5. As a textile and fashion exhibition organizer what do you think about the textile industry in the middle east and Africa? Do you have exhibitors or visitors from this region in your events?
Being an organizer of Garment & Textile industry we have to cope up with worldwide associates and access different regions and industry. MENA & MEA are now roaring with around USD$ 55 billion fashion industry and showing their real color and capability. They are now getting huge investments and keeping a commendable presence in the global apparel industry. UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Jordon, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are already showing their capabilities.
Yes, we do have visitors from MENA & MEA and we are searching a strong partner to gather exhibitors from these regions to our shows.
6. COVID 19 shows us we should rely more on sustainability and green products, how we can improve sustainability in fashion events? What is your plan for a safe event in future?
Definitely, the importance of sustainability and green products are unparallel. For our future shows, we will keep a Sustainable Zone, alongside with our Knowledge and Innovation corner. We will also reduce the paper printing items with email and more online activity. This will help us to reduce environmental hazards. Creating awareness will be the main challenge. The main spell of sustainability for events and expo will be Reduce(carbon footprint) > Reuse Promote > Sustainability
We can follow the below sustainability in fashion events
• Choose an eco-friendly venue
• Be paperless
• Create hybrid shows
• Reduce Electricity
• Use Eco-Friendly Promotional Items
• Cut down on food waste & single-use water bottles
• Reduce the transportation footprint
Well, for safe events in future, we may see a very different scenario for physical exhibitions and events. From Distance maintaining to health safety needed to be counted on a priority basis. We may also, limit the visitor’s presence at a time. Wearing proper face mask will be a mandate, sanitizing the venue and environment will be a big challenge and we will stick to the health safety measures, till we say goodbye to covid19.
