Predominantly a buying house with its own manufacturing facilities, DK Group, headed and managed by Syed A.Q.M. Zahid (Group Managing Director), is an 18-year-old entity that worked its way up from a humble beginning to owning a number of factories to produce denim jeans (2 million pieces per year) T-shirts (basic T-shirts – 40,000 pieces per day; fancy tees – 20,000 pieces per day, Polo T-shirts – 20,000 pieces per day) and sweaters (2 million pieces per month) through its 2,500-strong workforce today. Its major clients are ECI, Zara, Bershka, Springfield, Walmart, L80, Sainsbury and New Looks, besides several other retailers and apparel importers from USA.
With in-house manufacturing facilities, DK caters to a wide range of clientele from across the globe.
“We give priority to our facilities and only the surplus orders or the orders received for special items are placed with 12 identified associate factories, all of which are fully compliant,” underlines Rafi Uddin Ahmed – Merchandising & Sourcing Manager – DK Group, who looks after the group’s sourcing business and do liaison with associate factories from the Group’s Gulshan-based corporate office in Dhaka, adding the same is done after prior discussion with the buyers.
Owing to its global clientele with diverse requirements in terms of products and volumes, DK Group has strengthened two of its many other recent initiatives – the first is to set up offices in Spain, UK and USA; and the second one is to take up the challenge of offering flexible pricing to its buyers. “Being close to our buyers means we are accessible at all times and this fetches us more orders. Besides, the operational flexibilities offered by our vertically-integrated setup with knitting, dyeing, washing and finishing facilities enables DK Group to present the best possible rates,” explains Ahmed.
The DK Group works with an expansive clientele globally, and sources and manufactures a wide range of garments, including knit, woven, denim and sweaters. DK Group’s main products are T-shirts, hoodies, pique polos, sweatshirts, jumpers, pullovers, casual trousers (chinos, twills, linen and cords), denim bottoms, fleece jackets (soft shell, bonded, polar and micro) and leisure and technical performance apparels like jackets, gilets and puffa (all with option of synthetic or duck down filling).
Among the Group’s four manufacturing facilities, DK Knitwear – which is the largest, has now come up with own product development team, with dedicated designers and pattern makers, the endeavours of whom are evident from the rich catalogue of designs – chunky knits, fine gauge and heavy knits that the company has on offer. “Our hope is pinned on T-shirts and Polo shirts,” shares Ahmed, negating any chance of getting into other promising product categories in near future. “As of now, our plate is full and capacities fully booked,” maintains the sourcing and merchandising head of the group underlining that future plans would depend on how the recent expansion in DK Knitwear settles down and how soon the Bangladesh market stabilises.
