Manufacturing is not only about machines, infrastructure or technology, but it is also about the understanding of the product and manufacturing it right. And the passion with which Hasan and Maashed Abdullah of Dressmen Limited produce shirts, reflects in their growth from 60 machines in two production lines, three decades ago to 4 shirt manufacturing facilities, with 24 sewing lines and more than 700 sewing machines, and a turnover of US $ 35 million. Maashed Abdullah, Director, Dressmen Limited shares with Team Apparel Online the secret behind their success.
In an honest admission Maashed admits that Dressmen owes their understanding of product and technology to some of their initial buyers and brands. “In the beginning we had a French buyer and a UK buyer (Little Woods) who were very keen on vendor development, and shared all their knowledge of shirt manufacturing with us, which really set us apart. Later our association with US-based Oxford further improved our setup and technology,” says Maashed.
The company also owes its excellence to Marks & Spencer who helped them become a pioneer in shirt manufacturing by selecting them for their ‘Ethical Model Factories’ program in 2010 to illustrate solutions to difficult ethical issues and giving its workforce equal rights, better pay and better working conditions. The project was in association with GIZ, a German government agency; BIM — the Bangladesh Institute of Management; and GSD — General Sewing Data. “Our training was divided into two parts – one with GSD and the other with BIM. The necessary knowledge of industrial engineering was given by GSD while BIM provided training to our middle management teams,” informs Maashed.
Dressmen believes that knowledge of industrial engineering that it learnt from the program was of great value, as now they are more systematic in their manufacturing operations and have reduced the number of helpers from 32 to 12 in a line with 32 machines. “GSD improved the method of working to the finest details. We are still learning and I feel we need to improve further to become a benchmark for other shirt manufacturers in the times to come,” avers Maashed.
The company that was setup with a vision of becoming the world’s finest shirt manufacturers while generating value for its customers has taken many strides in the right direction to achieving the goal. The shirts are high on value addition and finishes like wrinkle free, along with a lot of prints and embroideries. Small details like selection of fabric are also of prime importance. “The core of a shirt is the fabric and since our product is high-end we mainly source fabric from specialized mills in China and sometimes Malaysia or Thailand,” informs Maashed.
Working with American buyers like Dockers, PVH, US Polo, Sears, Levi’s, Perry Ellis, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Target, C&A, Nautica and Chaps, the company strives to achieve excellence and is among the very few apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh who are known for manufacturing dress shirts. “We never wanted to be a mass manufacturer. Selection and retention of the right type of customers was our first step in creating a niche in dress shirts. All of our present customers are focussed and aligned with our vision as an apparel manufacturer,” concludes Maashed. As the next growth vehicle, Dressmen is planning to venture into lingerie manufacturing.
