Bangladesh Is Creating More Sustainable Printing Facilities

For a very long time, screen printing has been held responsible for concerns with sustainability, dangerous environments, and sweatshop culture. Yet, the majority of Bangladesh's factories have already advanced to a level suitable for use as a platform for sustainable printing. The TexTIMe seminar and talk show was therefore held in a famous plant that not only houses the largest garment or piece printing facility in the world but also boasts a state-of-the-art sustainable printing capability. And this factory is none other than Masco Picasso Ltd., the premier printing company in Asia and another Masco Group company.

The strategic-level seminar TexTIMe held its 22nd session on February 11 at the headquarters of Masco Picasso Ltd. in Tongi, Gazipur. The seminar was attended by top buyers, technology providers, and sustainability service providers. The participants in a wonderful interactive knowledge-sharing session that began with a factory visit learned the fundamentals of sustainable printing and sustainability in general. The event's sponsor, RH Corporation, a top supplier of sustainable technologies, provided the energy.

The leaders of Bangladesh's printing, textile, and apparel industries as well as representatives from brands and retailers all concurred during the discussion, which was moderated by Tareq Amin, the founder and CEO of Textile Today. Bangladesh's garment printing industry has attained the self-motivated standard level of sustainability. Owing to platforms like Textile Today and businesses like Masco Group and many others, there is a real shift taking place on the ground as a result of open innovation and idea sharing.

One of the panelists at the seminar, Ferdaush Imtiaz from a well-known buying platform, mentioned that when foreign buyers visit factories in Bangladesh, they are frequently shocked by the quality of the facilities and comment that they had heard Bangladesh had improved but that what they actually saw was unfathomable progress. Participants in the program were already aware of this, as evidenced by the fact that they had already conducted a walk-through at Masco Picasso. As the largest piece printing facility in the world, ZDHC aspiration level exceeds all international sustainable requirements. However, despite all of these efforts, Masco Picasso and other textile and apparel firms in the nation are not receiving the correct prices.

The executive director of Masco Group, ATM Mahbubul Alam Milton, stated that "Masco Picasso ensures sustainability from a larger perspective. Every aspect of sustainability, including greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, chemical use, waste management, social responsibility, and economic growth, is taken care of in this place.

"Overall, we have maintained all of the innovation and sustainability pillars mostly for our own benefit since it is a significant cost-saving measure and a significant accomplishment of our goals. But regrettably, neither do we nor the other business owners in the industry receive the required compensation. We receive prices that are 30% to 40% less expensive on average than those of our rival nations."

The situation has gotten worse because many of our factories are not equally skilled at analyzing and calculating cost components and cannot adequately integrate the matrix. The firm is dying as a result. Although this improper technique may not have any immediate consequences, after two to three years we observe that many factories are finally becoming ill.

"It's high time that international buyers of fashion acknowledge our top-notch work. Give us the proper price for the value-added, top-quality printing, and most importantly, please."

ATM Mahbubul Alam Milton explained how Masco became one of the most iconoclastic factories: "We started from a very small. But, Masco's vision, innovative methods, and value addition were the best course of action. The best and most environmentally friendly printing factory in Bangladesh was to be created. With a capacity of 4.5 lakh pieces per day, we eventually became the largest printing factory in the world.

"We are aware that any organization's implementation of comprehensive sustainability must start at the top. A steering group has been established as a result to ensure sustainability. I am the committee's chair, and we made sustainability a fundamental component of all leadership responsibilities." Hafizur Rahman Nixon, Executive Director, RH Corporation, explained how Bangladesh is moving forward with value addition through printing technologies: "Printing is witnessing huge developments. The leaders have correctly noted that Bangladesh has embraced a number of contemporary technology and has moved far away from its reputation as a cheap apparel-sourcing nation. Yes, we are unable to make decisions regarding buyers. Instead, we must prioritize our own interests and value process innovation and sustainability. There are difficult times ahead of us. We must advance in order to solve these issues.

"The garment printing industry moves quickly. For instance, I've just traveled to some printing factories in Germany and Spain. Also, I haven't seen any old-fashioned printing factories in Europe. The transition to digital printing is happening quickly in European countries as a result of problems including a lack of labor and rising energy costs. Certainly, there is AOP, pigment printing, and location printing—but only on a very tiny scale. Most crucially, digital printing has made it possible for certain European garment factories to restart production.

"The question then becomes: How can we compete with them? Bangladesh's printing sector needs to evolve into a high-value printing industry in order to compete. In addition, it is impossible for a person to obtain a reasonable clothes price. Instead, the entire value chain for textiles and apparel needs to raise its voice. Also, we must halt our unscrupulous undercutting of one another. Only then will our excellent environmental initiatives, like Masco Group, be successful." International customers always give the sustainable projects high acclaim when they visit a Bangladeshi clothing company, according to Md. Ferdaush Imtiaz. They do, however, tend to select the factory with the lower price whenever we present them with different sets of pricing based on factory type.

"On top of that, the current state of the world economy is not favorable. making it difficult to demand higher returns. The buying power of consumers is declining as there is less disposable income. Buyers are consequently prepared to part with less money."

Ferdaush Imtiaz referred to Bangladesh's strength in the garment printing industry as being "highly capable and can cater to any form of value-added printing requirements.""When we work with other brands, they are amazed by our advancement as a brand spokesperson and technologist."

Sustainable printing technologies, trends (such as piece printing and all-over printing), strategies for being sustainable in the face of growing regional and global uncertainty, etc., were discussed. The worldwide textile value-chain is experiencing uncertainty in raw material prices, the energy crisis, manufacturing costs, shipment costs, etc., thus maintaining sustainability and becoming a leader in the global printing segment will demand strategic decisions from both industry and politics. Disasters caused by the environment and bad weather are also causing uncertainty in the supply industry.

Leaders in the printing industry presented on a variety of crucial topics during the opening session of the TexTIMe event.

Speaking on "Sustainable Printing Trends- Piece Printing," SK. Mamun Ferdoush, General Manager Marketing & Merchandising, Masco Group, gave a presentation.

In his talk on "Sustainable Printing Technology," Md. Ashraful Alam, Director (Printing), Mosharaf Group. As Head of Sales & Technical at RH Corporation Mahammad Shafiqul Islam gave his presentation on "Sustainable Printing Trends- AOP."

In his presentation on "Sustainable Printing Technologies," Mahammad Shafiqul Islam, Head of Sales & Technical at RH Corporation, discussed these technologies.

Mamun Ferdoush listed the benefits of piece printing as using less water, producing less trash, and having a less environmental impact. Also, this technique makes use of eco-friendly pigment and dye. Instead of solvent inks, use water-based ink. It guarantees things like human safety, resource efficiency, renewable energy, pollution reduction, and so forth. In his opening remarks, Tareq Amin stated that Masco Picasso was unquestionably the finest venue for discussing the sustainability, trends, and issues of the industry. It is well-known that the printing sector produces a lot of pollution on a global scale. Particularly for the use of hazardous chemicals in operations and trash. Whereas Masco Picasso, the largest printing mill in the world, revolutionized the idea of sustainability and introduced numerous operational process improvements. It is a leading example of a sustainable factory in many ways.

"I want to give Masco Group my sincere appreciation for being so transparent about the company's operations with the industry. Holding the invitation-only idea-sharing session would undoubtedly further encourage new improvements, not just at Masco but also broadly throughout the industry.

The executives at the TexTIMe event also stated that the most dynamic and cutting-edge area of the global fashion market is garment printing. Bangladesh has played a significant role in the garment printing sector as the main center for the production of garments. Three hours of TexTIMe seminar discussion offered a 360-degree reality and solutions to the sector's sustainability, trends, and issues.

The Textile Today Innovation Hub hosts TexTIMe on a regular basis as a seminar event, bringing together business executives and decision-makers to discuss critical issues and future prospects for survival and expansion.