The footwear industry in Bangladesh enjoys a number of advantages that promise to make the export of leather shoes a major contributor to the growth of the economy. These include low labor costs, abundant local sources of raw material, and tariff advantages.

The young entrepreneurs now entering the sector understand the need for capacity development; as a result of their efforts, the industry has experienced significant growth over the last four or five years. Their success in producing high quality footwear has sparked the interest of international buyers, to the point that recently export footwear became one of Bangladesh’s most important industries in terms of foreign currency earnings and employment creation.

For past five years JOBS has assisted a number of small and medium-size footwear companies, helping them tap new markets, develop suitable designs targeted to specific markets, enhance the skills of their workers, build capacity, and link clusters of small entrepreneurs with large footwear manufacturers to provide backward support for the timely delivery of export orders. The Project has also helped Bangladeshi manufacturers explore new markets by facilitating their attendance at industry fairs in Japan and elsewhere.  

• Cluster development

• Skill development

• Backward linkage

• Design development

• Market access

• Cluster Development

• Backward linkage with leading companies

• Skill development

• Supervisor skill development

• Specialized design development for specific market like Japan, Italy, South Africa, France

• Pattern making, computerized grading and Quality control training

• Market access in South Africa, France, Germany, Japan, and U.A.E

For more information look into this site:

• www.footwear.tradeworlds.com

Sk. Md. Moshiur Rahman

Deputy Manager, Sector Development Program 

E-Mail: moshiur@jobsiris.dhaka-bd.net