The growth projectile of NEO Zipper has been greatly enhanced by the joint venture, which has helped the brand to acquire the best manufacturing practices of Korean technology, a leader in zipper manufacturing systems along with the best of American technology. The brand has created its niche in the branded zipper market, with a customer base involving buyers such as H&M, Carrefour, Tema, Sears, Tesco, K-Mart, Walmart, JCPenney, Khols, Haggar to name a few. “We pride ourselves in manufacturing one of the best zipper brands in the world and we provide all the test reports and related documents in support of our claim,” says Shabbir Ahmed, Director, NEO Zipper.
The confidence of the company comes from its years of experience of manufacturing for a renowned USA brand of zippers, a leader in the American market. Even today, the company is the official distributor of Talon brand in the US, while it markets its own brand NEO in the European and Canadian market. The combination of American quality standards and Korean technology gives the company a distinct edge over other zipper manufacturers/suppliers in Bangladesh. “We have a dedicated quality control and testing team to ensure that each product is manufactured with highest level of quality,” says Ahmed justifying their tagline – ‘Fastening the world with care’.
The brand has an Oeko-Tex Class 1 certification which ensures the products are manufactured using non-hazardous materials and the zippers are lead free; Oeko-Tex provides the most stringent tests for the products and is necessary for any manufacturer exporting products to European markets. Recently, the brand has been associated with the AAFA (American Apparel & Footwear Association) and TRADEGOOD (A concern of Intertek Ltd.) to promote and enhance its competitiveness, productivity and profitability in the global market.
Being positioned outside EPZ in the capital city of Dhaka, the company enjoys an added advantage over other leading zipper manufacturers, who have factories inside EPZs. “Since we are not in the EPZ, but squarely in the business centre of Dhaka, there is no elaborate documentation to buy zippers from us. For most other zipper manufacturers a lot of time is spent in filling up forms to get goods out of the EPZ,” explains Ahmed. NEO brand is nominated for H&M, Carrefour, Walmart Canada, Tema (Lcwikiki), K-Mart Australia LPP, Regatta and has the capacity to cater even small quantities, not addressed by many big zipper manufacturers. “I believe we meet all the three criteria of quality, delivery and after-sales service, to be a preferred supplier for any garment manufacturer,” says Ahmed confidently.
With a market size of zippers estimated at around US $ 300 million in Bangladesh and the amount of orders coming in, NEO Zipper is falling short of capacities. The company has put in place a strategy aiming at doubling capacity over the next two years. “We are in process to construct a 10-storey building within our present factory area by the end of this year,” shares Ahmed. Keeping in mind the prevailing shortage of skilled labour, which the industry is facing, the company is planning to install 100 per cent fully automatic machines at the new unit. Presently,50 per cent of the machines are automated.
With every reason to believe that the Bangladesh market will grow over the next few years, NEO Zipper is looking to consolidate its hold on the market, while increasing market share. “We have full confidence in the quality of our product and our experience of servicing the zipper market is very rich. 2013 is an important year as our capacity building will be implemented and we are positive to achieve the goal of US $ 15 million by 2015 that we have set for ourselves,” concludes Ahmed.
