26th May, 2015

I am overwhelmed and also touched by the response of AOB readers who have come forward and appreciated the content of the magazine, also giving their valuable suggestions and views to add more value to the existing content. What better anniversary gift could the Team AOB ask for from the industry!

These three years have been a wonderful journey. We have met and interacted with many companies and people. Today, we may be a known magazine, but the warmth and acceptance of the industry even in the initial days is something that we cherish. We are committed to listen to our readers and make efforts to quench their thirst for information.

Honouring the many suggestions that we received from our readers, we have introduced three new columns in AOB – RetailerCurrent, which gives information about the current economic health of the international retailers and their growth plans for future. This will help the RMG exporters to plan their lines for coming 2-3 months.

The other new column, introduced on popular demand is BeyondBD, which gives brief news about the major developments in the other manufacturing hubs like India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. I am sure our readers will enjoy reading what competitive destinations are up to.

The third regular feature introduced is AOB Pick of the month. This is a tribute to the uniqueness of the industry and will feature a picture which caught the attention of Team AOB. The idea is to choose one best aspect of a company/factory or even of people in Bangladesh and highlight it in the column with a brief description of the featured photo and why it caught our eye.

Keeping our thrust on sustainability, our Cover Story highlights the interventions taken up by Giant Group, Micro Fibre Group and Landmark Group for reducing the consumption of water in the process of fabric manufacturing. Also discussed is the work done by Dr. Wolfram Engel, President & CEO of Green Project WST, who has been working with many textile units for saving water, under a programme sponsored by the German retailer Lidl.

Not to miss is our story on Activewear, which can be a potential product category for Bangladesh, but due to small order quantities and lack of expertise in fabric manufacturing, it’s not picking up in Bangladesh.

Last but not the least, AOB salutes BGMEA for helping Nepal earthquake victims by handing over 200 cartons containing over 10,000 clothing products, including shirts, pants, sweaters, T-shirts, ladies pants and children’s dresses to the Nepal authorities.