The urgency of beating the competition has led many exporters to innovate, but the same is not restricted to only the big exporters as many mid-level exporters too are creating niches to stay relevant to the buyers. Among these upfront exporters is MK Sweaters, set up in 2003 by two brothers, Md. Salim Rana (Chairman) and Russell Rana (Executive Director). Realizing early that sweaters are among the core products sourced from Bangladesh with a majority of manufacturers involved in the category, the duo devised a strategy to create unique blends to differentiate the products. Moving one step ahead they have recently added high-end knitted jackets in varied designs and fabric blends to their product profile which has received assertive appreciation from the buyers.
Over the last decade, MK Sweaters has been persistent in developing quality fabrics at cheaper prices, with one particular buyer being a regular customer for their mix of spandex, acrylic and nylon fabric blend since the past 10 years. According to Russell, “It is not a blended but a pleated or twisted fabric that gives a unique look and feel to the sweater.” Although many competitors have tried to develop the same fabric blend with similar properties, but they failed to achieve the desired quality. Their low-pricing, along with great quality, has been an added bonus for the buyers. “Buyers come to us as we can provide good fabrics at cheaper price, the same fabrics which they will otherwise source at higher prices,” avers Russell. The company has 1,100 hand flat knitting machines with a monthly capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 finished products/sweaters at two factories, MK Sweaters and Fashions Designs.
Design being a priority for the company, there is huge investment in sample developments, and on an average MK Sweaters creates 500 distinct sample pieces on a monthly basis. The company participates at many national and international fairs where they display 300 to 500 design samples for buyers to choose from. Besides, manufacturing a plethora of samples, this export house has also been actively accepting small orders of 100-200 pieces from buyers, stimulating further demand. Catering to both retailers and wholesalers from Europe, Japan and Brazil, a minimum order of 5,000 pieces are accepted for new buyers as a compliment, though 500 pieces in 5 different styles is considered to be a good order.
For a mid-level exporter, providing such development facilities was never easy. Sadly, even the buying offices did not support them and many times they were compelled to airlift the goods to meet the deadlines. “I cannot define about other factories, but we try to send the orders on time, even if it means sending by air,” asserts Russell. He shared that buying agents tend to create trouble for many mid-level exporters by selling their products at cheaper prices to get business. This led to the birth of a buying house Moda World Ltd. of which Russell is the Managing Director.
Today, one of the biggest issues affecting growth at MK Sweaters is labour, as they prefer to work with job workers due to daily payment, thus complicating the situation for the company, which follows all compliance norms. The team intends to address the labour problem by installing around 40 Shima Seiki machines over the next few years. These automatic jacquard machines are operated by skilled workers, who generally abstain from working with the job workers, hence letting the production run smoothly under one roof. In the meanwhile, the factory is committed to take proper initiative towards worker welfare complying with the norms of BSCI, ILO, BUET and the likes. The company is now looking to buy another piece of property to pursue their current plan for expansion, as they are very positive of developing knitted jackets as an important category of the growth strategy. “Based on the response we have received, I think jackets will do very well in the future. We just started this year and learnt a lot, so we are hoping for better things next year,” concludes Russell.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
