Research Article, ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)

CC-BY-NC 2014

, Asian Business Consortium |

ABR

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Emergence of International and Local Clothing Brands in

Bangladesh and Its Impact on Consumers

Abdul Baten

, Ahmed Ishtiaque

, Adib Sarwar

Assistant Professor, School of Business, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Dhaka, BANGLADESH

Assistant Professor, School of Business and Research Associate of Center for Enterprise Society, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh

(ULAB), Dhaka, BANGLADESH

Research Associate, Center for Enterprise Society (CES), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Dhaka, BANGLADESH

E-mail for correspondence:

adib.sarwar@ulab.edu.bd

https://doi.org/10.18034/abr.v8i1.44

ABSTRACT

The fashion industry has recently become one of the most fast growing industries in the capital city of

Dhaka. Already there are several factories and outlets which are very popular with the consumers in

Bangladesh. The quality of the products is not the only attraction for consumers to visit these stores.

Creative concepts are also a reason which brings them to these outlets. There are Boutique outlets

popping up in almost all major traffic areas throughout the city. In some top shopping malls single

fashion boutique stores are available as well as factory outlets followed by branded stores. In most cases,

these stores are largely dominated by global brands. Well-known foreign brands are available now in

Bangladesh; some of which includes Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Kline, Hugo Boss,

Lacoste, Zara and many more. Social economic class in Dhaka is developing and because of that, global

brands are becoming popular and affordable to the consumers. Globalization trend is increasing as well

as advanced transportation and communication technology, which enables local customers to be exposed

to and have access to various products and services from different countries. Studies found that

customers often perceive foreign brands differently than local brands. Consumers in developed countries

specifically have a preference in locally made products than foreign made products. On the other hand,

in developing countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan etc. products from foreign countries are

preferable than domestic products. The perception is that foreign clothing brands will impress others and

increase the social status as they represent modern fashion and a sense of socio-economic class. In

developing countries consumers have different expectations from different to global brands.

Key words: Creative Concepts, Consumer Behavior, Global Brands, Perceptions, Socio-economy Class, Globalization

Trend, Advance Communication

INTRODUCTION

In 2016 Bangladesh has seen the growth in Gross Domestic

Product (GDP) of 7.05% from the year before. In

Bangladesh the average growth rate of GDP was 5.72 %

from 1994 until 2016, and 7.05% was all-time high in 2016.

There was a time when the Bangladeshi economy was

heavily depended on agriculture, 85% of the people of our

country were involved with agriculture. Currently, the

situation has changed. Besides agriculture, readymade

garments (RMG), bank and non-bank financial

institutions, outsourcing, and foreign remittance from

man power are adding

Extra value in the nation’s economy. In 2014 industrial

manufacturing contribution to our GDP was 17% whereas

agricultural and wholesale-retail trade contributed each

13% of total 26%. Besides economic, growth in Bangladesh

increasing urbanization, changes in lifestyle, globalization

and technological advancement in communication and

transportation have changed in consumers’ behavior.

Now consumers have access to the internet, e-commerce

sites and social media sites where they get exposed to a

variety of products and services in the local and global

market. Consumer attitudes and perceptions had changed

since they have access to local and global brands. Like

many other industries in Bangladesh, branding in the

clothing industry reached a new peak. Consumers in

developing countries like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan

and Sri-Lanka products choices are increasing from local

and global brands especially for clothing. Both local and

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global clothing brands marketers need to understand the

current competitive and challenging situation they also

need to know consumers’ decision-making process on

products (Kearney, 2006). Research shows consumers

prefer brands because of quality, comfortable to wear and

reasonable price as well as emotional choices like social

status, peer pressure and prestige (Batra et al., 2000). Like

many developing countries Bangladeshi consumers also

perceive the global brands are better than local brands.

Previous findings also support, that local customers

usually prefer foreign products and brands over local

brands and products (Ahmed & d’Astous, 1999).

According to the literature review, there are two ways

consumers get inspired by global brands, first one is

quality products and the second one is prestige issue

(Kwak, Juju, Larson, 2006).

LITERATURE REVIEW

According to The American Marketing Association

(AMA) in the 1960s (Keller, 2001) ‘brand’ is “a name, term,

sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them,

intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or

group of sellers and differentiate them from those of

competitors.” Mariotti (1999) defines a brand as “a

simplified ‘shorthand’ description of a package of value

upon which consumers and prospective purchasers can

rely to be consistently the same (or better) over long

periods of time (Biplab, S. B., 1998). It distinguishes a

product or service from competitive offerings”. According

to Kirmani & Baumgartner (2000), brand’s overall

excellence depends on quality, durability, and customer

satisfaction. On the other hand, brand name, warranty

and after sale service are known as quality from

consumers’ perspective. Consumer Behavior towards

Brands: Age, education, family size, gender, income, and

race are demographic components are essential factors

that influence consumer purchasing decision. In different

age consumer behave differently. For example, a young

consumer may behave differently than a middle age

consumer. Previous research has found that females are

more conservative and more patriotic than males, and

females favor local products more than males (Han, 1988).

Consumers show their unique characteristics when

manufacturer display originality, unusual and exclusive

products and brands. When manufacturer expresses their

individuality, especially in accessories and clothing, it

becomes well-known examples in those cases (Kron,

1983). Research indicates those consumers’ values global

brands over local brands and they also believe global

brands are higher quality products and carry prestigious

image (Nguyen, Barrett & Miller 2005; Steenkamp, Batra

& Alden 2003). When the consumer tends to become loyal

to a fixed brand is described as brand loyalty, and the

consumer tends to purchase the brand over and over and

don’t want to switch to competitors’ brands (Yoo, Donthu

N & Lee, 2000). A manufacturer has to create a position in

consumer’s mind, and promotion is the success element in

this challenging marketing environment. In today’s day,

an age consumers are getting a broad range of commercial

messages from different sources. Companies core value

propositions should be communicated to their customers

and what they communicate to them shouldn’t be

changed. Regarding communicating the value

proposition to customers, it is seen that local brands are

not as successful as global brands to reach at mass levels

(Kotler, Armstrong, Agnihotri & Haque, 2010). However,

we have found that many local brands, which are also the

more successful ones, are trying to focus on their value

proposition in the market. For example, Yellow which is a

subsidiary organization of Beximco Textile, a leading

garments manufacturer, has also become a leading local

brand and they are focusing on pure quality materials and

upscale fashion. Others like Deshi Dosh are a group of 10

companies which produce clothes only focusing on local

cultural designs. Customers wanting local designs for

specific occasions are relying on the value preposition of

these companies that they will always produce clothes

focusing on local culture. Most shoppers emphasize on the

quality or the brand which is important to them De Wulf

et al. (2005). De Wulf et al. (2005) found that the brand

equity is brand’s power despite the familiarity,

attractiveness, and goodwill, it has earned over time.

These ultimately turns into higher sales and profit against

competitor’s brands. A study in branding by (Aaker,

1991); Kim and Chung, 1997; Hui and Zhou, 2003, Yasin

and Noor, 2007) have found that quality, reputation, and

popularity are major factors in measuring brand equity. In

the international context marketing managers must

identify the sources of brand equity and understand the

importance of country it was made in measuring brand

Pappu et al. (2006). Pappu et al. (2006) suggest that brand

managers should observe and closely track brand’s

consumer-based equity for each product separately when

a brand offer a variety of products. Assael (2004) describes

the tendency to act on the object to being purchase

behavior and on the other hand, Schiffman and Kanuk

(2010), said there are stages of purchase behavior before

purchasing decisions process. According to the theory of

planned behavior proposed by Ajzen (1991), the behavior

of interest can be used to predict by attitudes. Marketers

always test the marketing mix that can influence buying

behavior, such as testing the packing, advertising strategy,

brand or product concepts Assael (2004). Marketers

should measure consumer intention to purchase and

determine what the factors that influence these intentions

are. Consumers tend to have a positive attitude when they

have a good experience of a product or service, so that

helps to strengthen the customer relationship with the

company (Assael, 2004).

RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION

The objective of this study is to determine the factors that

change Bangladeshi consumer behavior in buying local

and global brands. We wanted to compare the factors

Research Article, ISSN 2304-2613 (Print); ISSN 2305-8730 (Online)

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, Asian Business Consortium |

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identified through literature and through this primary

research in order to provide policy level

recommendations which would be helpful for local

brands to compete with their strong global competitors. In

developing countries like Bangladesh consumers have

different expectations from different brands and have the

tendency to depend on brand as a sign to purchase by

default. Currently, consumers in Bangladesh have various

choices of foreign brands to choose from in the clothing

industry and these products are perceived to be well

known among target consumers.

According to our literature review we found age and

income are some of the demographic components and

these are essential factors that influence consumer

purchasing decision. When it comes to age in our study

we found that all age groups prefer local brands over

international and customized brands. We found that with

local brands, at all age groups the demand is 50% or

above. For international brands demand is between 20%

to 30%, which gradually increases as the age goes up, but

slightly dropping again when they are hitting 46 plus.

Demand for customized clothing is going down as the age

bracket goes up. Except when respondents are hitting 46

or above, the customized clothing demand seems to

slightly go up again (25%). In addition in our research we

found as the level of income goes up the demand of

international brands also goes up, but the change is from

28% to 30% and do not go up any higher than that.

Most shoppers emphasize on quality on brand which is

important to them De Wulf et al. (2005). Our findings

indicates that the customer profile from all socio economic

classes are accepting the local brands more and more in

the Bangladeshi market and it seems that they are willing

to pay the price of international brands if the local brands

can maintain the current level of quality standards and

design as they are currently maintaining. There is a shift

taking place in consumer behavior from international

brands to local brands. From our research we found that

local brands have penetrated the market to such an extent

that they are not only competing with top international

brands, but in many cases are leading in the market. The

local brands are not only providing quality products, but

are also providing competitive pricing for the target

customers.

De Wulf et al. (2005) found that the brand equity is brand’s

power despite the familiarity, attractiveness and

goodwill, it has earned over time. If we try to understand

what brand equity means to the Bangladeshi consumers

and why it is becoming more and more important these

days we see that branded clothes, regardless of the

product being an international or a local brand; it is

considered as a very good gift which we can give to

anyone from colleagues to friends to close family

members. It is something that is well accepted by people

from all walks of life. Not to mention that it is somewhat

durable and very useful gift to give someone. Brands

which are doing well in the market, the ones having a

strong brand value are those which are up-to-date with

the latest fashions, both eastern and western. It is very

important to have the latest fashions and trends and

maintain a certain quality standard for any brand to

become successful in today’s market. The authors believe

that this research will give us a picture to what the

Bangladeshi consumers are thinking when they are

making their purchase decisions when it comes to

clothing. Although the picture this research puts forth will

bring up many new questions regarding consumer

behavior of Bangladeshi shoppers; the study findings will

still provide significant findings regarding behavior of the

local market. This will not only provide a broad picture of

the Bangladeshi local market where there is an almost

non-existing literature on the topic under discussion; but

the findings may also be helpful for companies in terms of

making their business decisions regarding investments

and expansion. The data may also be helpful for the

government in terms of rethinking the current policies

that guide this industry and make the Bangladeshi

clothing industry ready for a more competitive global

market.

METHODOLOGY

The researchers adopted the objective of this exploratory

research to find the differences in perceptions and usage

of clothing in Dhaka city, based on several demographic

factors and some behavioral dimensions. The focus was to

explore whether local brands can match up to global

brands, as well as the perspective of delving into the

dynamics of buyer behavior. Therefore, to conduct this

research, a structured questionnaire was utilized as the

tool to obtain results of various close-ended, categorical,

Likert-scale type questions on the corresponding topic.

The sampling technique assumed for the survey

procedure was non-probabilistic convenience sampling

through face-to-face interviews. The technique was

considered to cater to the respondents from various

demographics ranging between students and working

professionals. Income categorization was also important

in this research, as a supporting variable to other

necessary demographics. The sample size selected for this

research over four-hundred, specifically 414 respondents

from all over Dhaka city. The location selected was the

capital city Dhaka because this is where the main clothing

production and manufacturing occurs, to complement all

the foreign brands targeting the capital of Bangladesh as

their point of origin for marketing.

For the analysis of the data from the survey, it was

undertaken through two methods. For the understanding

of the competition that local brands face with global

brands, and the individual identity of the respondent

when considering the customization of clothing, the

analysis was presented in the basic descriptive form.

Cross-tabulation of relevant variables highlighted our

findings and was subsequently described through the

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subjective and qualitative understanding of the local

scenario. For the collaboration of variables into groups of

similar aspects, Factor Analysis was adapted.

A part of the questionnaire specifically catered to the

behavioral aspect of the respondents. These behavioral

questions attempted to discover the psychological

phenomenon observed by respondents while considering

using clothing regarding local, international, customized,

economical, traditional, event-focused, competitive-

market, personal image, etc. It is obvious thereby that

there are many dimensions of behavioral aspects to be

measured. To condense these components, it was found

convenient to conduct Principal Components Analysis, or

in simpler terms Factor Analysis. The plot of these

components was rotated upon an orthogonal axis

(Varimax rotation), to extract into the most correlated

factors. The components which shared the greatest

correlation within a group were combined into one factor,

and so on. Firstly, to check if this procedure is applicable,

Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin Method of Sampling Adequacy was

checked, which produced a measure of 0.661.

Additionally, Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity yielded highly

significant statistics, rejecting the null hypothesis that

there was no correlation between variables in the

population. Thus, the researchers progressed with

conducting the analysis. To carefully guide through the

correct application of the analysis, only communalities

(factor variations with the common variance) of over 0.37

were retained. After the rotation, only those variables that

had high factor loadings (which is the variable correlation

with the factor) and the variables which did not load

highly on to more than one factor were combined to

produce a factor. Based on the values of higher than 1,

which can be inspected from the Scree plot, four (4) factors

have been extracted. These factors explained 52% of the

total variation. Model fit was determined through

examining the differences from the observed component

correlations with the reproduced correlations which make

up the residuals. Through inspection of these residuals, it

was found that some of the residuals were over 0.15 in

absolute value. However, the four (4) factors extracted,

explained over half of the variation from over 18 variables

and it was found to be acceptable to determine the

behavioral aspects of the research on clothing.

SURVEY FINDINGS

The quantitative study is an attempt to better understand

the trends in consumer behavior of the Bangladesh

market. Although the data is limited to the capital city

(Dhaka), the information is still relevant to the industry as

the majority of the local and international brands of

clothing are sold mostly in Dhaka.

The authors attempt to understand how the different

demographic factors of the target respondents vary

among the local international and customized brands of

clothing. Looking into the overall income brackets of the

respondents, quite surprisingly we find that there is not

much variation when it comes to choice of brands

regardless of what your income level is.

Figure 1: Income and Brand

At all income brackets we found that people are

purchasing either Aarong or Yellow followed by Ecstasy,

so those are the top three local brands in the market. They

are followed by three international brands and again at

every income brackets we find that their demand is first

Armani then Crocodile followed by Vasavi. This indicates

that local brands have penetrated the market to such an

extent that they are not only competing with top

international brands, but are leading in the market. The

local brands are not only providing quality products, but

are also providing competitive pricing for the target

customer. Regardless of if you fall in the lower middle

income, middle income or upper income brackets when it

comes to branded clothes the choice is always local first.

We find that when it comes to income the variation is in

the purchase frequency. The richer you are the more

frequently you will buy a brand of clothing and you top

three choices will be a local brand instead of an

international brand.

Figure 2: Brand Type and Events

We also present findings regarding choice of brands when

it comes to attending various events such as Holidays,

Social events or Professional Corporate events. In all three

categories of events we find that roughly just above 20% of

the respondents choose custom made clothing. Although it

may be expected that custom-made local clothing should be

the first choice during holidays and social events we find

that in both categories the first choice of clothing is local

brands (59% & 48% respectively). Also in social events

respondents prefer international brands over custom-made

clothing (28% & 24% respectively). Only in corporate events

we find that international brands are mostly preferred, but

in that category too we find that local brands are not that

much far behind (44% & 34% respectively).

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Figure 3: Brand Type and Age

When it comes to age demographics we find that all age

groups prefer local brands over international brands and

customized brands. This is a consistent finding with some

Indian market consumers, who, despite age groups, prefer

branded clothing (Ahmed & Ravi, 2016; Laskar & Abbas,

2014). We found that with local brands, at all age groups

the demand is 50% or above. For international brands

demand is between 20% to 30%, which gradually

increases as the age goes up, but slightly dropping again

when they are hitting 46 plus. Demand for customized

clothing is going down as the age bracket goes up. Except

when respondents are hitting 46 or above, the customized

clothing demand seems to slightly go up again (25%).

Figure 4: Brand Type and Education

If we take a closer look at the education level of the

respondents’ we find that students that fall in the SSC/O

Level age group prefer to make customized cloths (just

above 50%) and this is justifiable when it comes to SSC

students as they do not have much purchasing power at

that age and are content with making customized clothes

for themselves. We found that this demand drastically

decreases with the increase in the level of education. This

is a contradictory finding to the study on Indian males,

where no significant relation between education levels

and branded purchases were found (Ahmed & Ravi,

2016). Quite the opposite is seen with the demand for

purchasing of international cloths as we find that it

gradually increases as the education level also increases.

As people are more exposed to international brands at the

higher level of education where someone may go abroad

for higher education or study from case studies on

international brands, it is natural that people with higher

education level will be more exposed to international

brands and hence would be more willing to purchase

those brands. Again with the local brands we found that

as the level of education goes up the demand for local

clothes also goes up significantly compared to the other

two categories of clothes. Demand for local brands

basically dominate regardless of the level of education

which indicated that people are gaining faith in the

quality of local brands and are willing to pay decent

amounts for Bangladeshi local brands of clothing.

Figure 5: Brand Type and Occupation

Focusing on the occupation of the study respondents we

find that students, service holders, working professionals

and all others primarily prefer to purchase local brands

(mostly between 42% to 52%). But the international brands

among all the categories remain just below 30%. Also with

customized cloths we find that service holders have the

lowest demand for it (only about 18%), students demand

is only about 20% and for the other categories it is slightly

higher which is about 28%. Again regardless of what the

occupation is we find that local brands dominate the

Bangladesh clothing industry.

Figure 6: Brand Type and Income

As the level of income goes up the demand of

international brands also goes up, but the change is from

28% to 30% and do not go up any higher than that. The

demand for customized cloths on the other hand, remains

quite stable at the 20% mark. The demand for local brands

again dominates where the percentages go up to 50% and

remains around that range regardless of the respondents’

level of income going up. This is a positive indicator for

the Bangladesh local clothing industry that people from

all walks of life are relying of the quality of the local

brands and their brand value and are willing to pay a

decent price for locally established Bangladeshi brands.

The attitude towards Local brands are seen in a research

outlining a combination of intricate sensitivities creating

our preference towards either Local or Global brands. A

demographic finding of older, ethnocentric people,

harboring the values within a traditional culture,

expresses a difference in general, consumer, and national-

cultural values, for local brands over global brands in 28

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: Emergence of International and Local Clothing Brands in Bangladesh and Its Impact on Consumers (25-34)

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countries (Steenkamp & Martijn (2010). Parallely,

consumers preferring to mix their choices between global

and local brands are forward-looking women. These are

additional insights which might complement our finding,

that customized clothing are generally worn by groups

who are older (aged 46 and above); an interesting

hypothesis may be formed that this group might be

women as well. The predominance of local “iconness” in

consumers, builds a stronger brand value, which can

positively compete against global brands (Özsomer, 2012).

Our findings encompass higher priority over local brands

irrespective of major demographic variations. The study

cited however, found that demographic segmentation is

on par with differentiated attitudes toward local brands in

the presence of global brands, in the general industrial

picture. Careful attention may be given to further research

on minute demographic segmentation for local and global

brands, specifically in the clothing industry of

Bangladesh.

FACTOR ANALYSIS

This study has also conducted a principal component

analysis on four (4) different factors which have shown to

be significant in a Factor Analysis. The analysis has

attempted to identify the various elements which have

shown up in the survey.

The authors have to group these elements into four (4)

overall factors which are:

 Brand Value of Clothing

 Affordability of Clothing

 Style of Clothing

 Customization of Clothing

Brand Value of Clothing

If we try to understand what brand value means to the

Bangladeshi consumers and why it is becoming important

these days, we see that branded clothes, regardless of it is

an international brand or a good local brand, is considered

as a very good gift to give anyone; either colleagues,

friends or close family members. It is something that is

well accepted by people from all walks of life. Not to

mention that it is somewhat durable and very suitable gift

to give someone. Brands which are doing well in the

market and have a strong brand value are those who are

up-to-date with the latest fashions, both eastern and

western because it is very vital to have the latest fashion

trends and maintain a certain quality standard for any

brand to become successful in today’s market. The role of

brands is important in a person’s life, since it also adds to

quality to lifestyle. This is a finding in (Islam, M. & Aktar,

2013), which also outlines that consumers are willing to

pay extra for status, through branded clothing purchases.

A similar study on females (Islam, Hossain, Rahman &

Mostafizur, 2014) found strong proximity of fashion

apparels from positive attitudes towards branded clothes

and a feeling of self-respect. Further reasons why brands

are increasing in priority is due to the mentality of the

current customer demographic which suggests that the

clothing you wear reflects the person’s image not only in

the workplace but also during social events. Our finding

is supported by earlier research (Chowdhury & Akter,

2018) which suggests men prefer “casual attire

appropriate to occupation”, not sacrifice clothing fit, since

general consumers also highly valued clothes

“complementing body type”, representing the lack of

sacrifice for self-image. Celebrities and, to some extent,

friends and family have an influence on the type of cloth

young consumers wear, a further evidence that a

representable self is important for social gatherings

Table 1: Rotated Component Matrix from Factor Analysis

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

Affordability of Clothing

Although identified through the analysis that the

Bangladeshi customers do not see branded clothes as

affordable, it is particularly true for international brands.

However, some local brands are becoming more and more

affordable as new competitors are entering the open and

growing market every day. It was also found that income

levels do not determine if a person will buy a local brand,

an international brand, or just go for a non-brand product.

It seems that customers from all income brackets go for

branded clothes and more for the local branded clothes.

Maybe the only difference due to income could be the

frequency of purchase and not the brand. Price

insensitivity, in that, it is not the most important

determinant, was also found in clothing purchases,

specifically branded clothing. The significant relation

coupled by the finding that there is an attitude of

consumers to pay any price for branded clothes (Islam, M.

& Aktar, 2013). However, customers, in general, do want

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to market, specially the local brand cloths market to

become more competitive so that the prices go done.

Many customers also want to purchase ethnic clothes or

local designs which they want to wear during certain

cultural occasions. Some prefer purchasing local brands

because it is a matter of pride that they are buying

something local and it is just as fashionable and quality

product as that of any western brands. Therefore, the

affordability of local brands is a growing issue for the

Bangladeshi markets because they consumers want more

competing products to drive down the overall prices.

Style of Clothing

The overall style and design of the clothing are becoming

important for the growing Bangladeshi market. Young

consumers are seen to prioritize comfort in their clothing,

typically preferring medium to light-weight fabric due to

the weather patterns of the Bangladeshi region. Quality

for t-shirts and popular denim pants are top-ranked for

young clothing (Nurunnobi, Prasad, & Arifuzzaman,

2016). Focusing on convenience, ‘easy to wear’ was an

essential attribute for young males and females, carefully

considering that clothing worn, ‘complements their body

type’ (Chowdhury & Akter, 2018). It is a threatening

consideration when these findings are combined with a

general perception in the local market that western clothes

are much more convenient to wear and have a modern

image and international brands are usually better in

quality and design (Nguyen, Barrett & Miller 2005;

Steenkamp, Batra & Alden 2003). However, these

perceptions are changing every day as more and more

local brands are entering the market and increasing the

competition which in turn is improving local designs and

bringing them up to the international standards. Also,

Bangladesh becoming one of the leading garment

manufacturers in the international market helps the local

consumers to have more faith in the local brands’ quality

and style.

Customization of Clothing

Customized clothes are always in demand in the

Bangladesh market, especially using chosen fabrics. Also,

traditional clothing is not only used for special occasions

anymore but nowadays used for any occasion. In many

cases, the use of customized clothes is also cheaper and

preferred by the younger generation (students). The

attitude is understandable as the younger age groups

usually have less purchasing power and prefer to

customize their clothes which is cheaper than any brands

and also keeps up with the latest fashions. Given that

young people are likely to spend more on clothes

(Mckinsay Quarterly, 2014), they also demonstrate

interest in apparel purchases in other cases where they

possess earning capabilities. This is complementary to our

suggestion of cheaper preference of customized clothing.

Young age groups of both genders in Bangladesh have

been studied to prefer designed, casual clothing, a lifestyle

choice which is termed “attractive” under theoretical

constructs (Chowdhury & Akter, 2018). In a study of

Bangladeshi local brands on young University students,

however, different findings report that a no-brand

preference was found for knit and woven items (Prasad,

Jannat, & Ali, 2016). The rationale of a no-brand

preference in the paper was the higher affordability of

non-brands, corresponding to our suggestion of cheaper

clothing prioritized by students, who are likely to be

continuing education.

DISCUSSION

According to the literature review, those consumers’ who

value global brands over local brands, and they also

believe global brands are higher quality products.

(Nguyen, Barrett & Miller, 2005); Steenkamp, Batra &

Alden (2003). On the other hand, our findings indicate that

the customer profile from all socio-economic classes is

accepting the local brands increasingly in the Bangladeshi

market. It seems that consumers are willing to pay the

price of international brands if the local brands can

maintain the current level of quality standards and design

as they are currently maintaining. There is a shift taking

place in consumer behavior from international brands to

local brands. From our research, we found that local

brands have penetrated the market to such an extent that

they are not only competing with top international

brands, but are leading in the market. The local brands are

not only providing quality products, but are also

providing competitive pricing for the target customers.

Offering casual attires at discounted prices seems to be a

winning proposition from earlier research finding as well

(Chowdhury & Akter, 2018; Chakrapani, 2015). It is

encouraging that the overall demand for local brands have

grown over the years as we have various established local

brands operating in the market for over a decade now

which are attracting local customers with their exclusive

sales outlets, for example, Aarong, Yellow, Westecs,

Estacy etc. The demand for local brands dominates where

the percentages go up to 50% and remain around that

range regardless of the respondents’ level of income going

up. This is a positive indicator for the Bangladesh local

clothing industry that people from all walks of life are

relying on the quality of the local brands and their brand

value and are willing to pay a decent price for locally

established Bangladeshi brands. De Wulf et al. (2005). De

Wulf et al. (2005) found that the brand equity is brand’s

power despite the familiarity, attractiveness, and image, it

has earned over time. To capture the consumer mindset of

our local brand equity, local businesses ought to mostly

focus on the cultural context. Businesses are to position

themselves in such a way so as to reap the benefits of

demographic and ethnographic scene of the country

Steenkamp & Martijn (2010); Özsomer (2012) which

international brands will always be second-in-line to

grasp.

Baten

et al.

: Emergence of International and Local Clothing Brands in Bangladesh and Its Impact on Consumers (25-34)

Page 32 Asian Business Review ● Volume 8 ●Number 1/2018

In our study, we found another reason why brands are

becoming more and more important as the mentality of

the current customer demographic suggests that the

clothing you wear reflects the person’s image not only in

the workplace but also during social events.

CONCLUSION

As indicated from this study, the purchase behavior of the

consumers living in Dhaka city, regardless of their

demographic variance, seem to be favoring the growing

clothing industry and their continuously improving local

brands. At every age bracket, the demand for the local

brands is also increasing. People are more inclined to

buying from exclusive outlets of local brands, particularly

those which have been around for a while and have

established a brand value in the market with their

established standard of quality and modern designs

focusing on the fusion between the West and the East.

Whatever the category of occupation, the demand for the

local clothing brands remain the highest, and the service

holders seem to be the highest promoters of the local

brands followed by the students. We find that with

education, the demand for the international brands

increase up as the level of education also goes up.

Although this was expected from the local market, it was

seen that the demand for the local brands also goes up as

the customer demographics become more and more

educated. Also, regardless of the level of income, the

customers demographic seem to prefer the local brands

over the international brands and even over customized

clothes. Although demand for international brands

remains stable (between 20% to 30%), as the income goes

up the overall demand of the local brands are at a much

higher level (around 50%) which indicates that people are

purchasing local brands at a higher frequency than the

international brands and customized clothing products.

However, to demonstrate the expansion of local brands

with respect to international exposure in the Bangladeshi

market, a Chinese study of market expansion has rallied

the breakaway of small-firm clustered growth. The form

of growth focused on cheap labor and materials, and

globalization will eventually take over local brands’

international competitive strategies (Wei, 2011). They

overtly emphasize the local regional distribution of

production capacities within, and service functionalities

to be spread across borders in coastal cities for maximum

restructuration and industrial development of the

clothing industry of China. Expanding homegrown

markets across borders have been identified as a

successful branding strategy to cater to the nationalistic

perspective of local consumers in Turkey, and Singapore

(Özsomer, 2012). Further evidence that this strategy works

for emerging markets only, caters to our study of the

Bangladeshi apparel industry. For market expansion from

the artisan’s perspective, an Indian study have outlined

the difficulties in assessing the borderline between

designing innovations, which are Indian, with Western

inspirations (Khaire, 2011). Risks pave the way in tilting

over to either side eventually losing consumers, who are

inclined to their own preference, dominated by slow

cultural shifts in their local community as new

international styles eventually creep in the younger

generations. Conjectured earlier that innovative

entrepreneurs of local India have an opportunity to

transform the country’s international context through

local driven designs, with slow western subtleties in their

pride offerings. Perhaps, the Bangladeshi clothing

designers and local brands can slowly follow suite in

expanding their collections in a somewhat similar fashion,

since the sub-regional fraction goes through the same

cultural transformation and rapid industry expansion of

the branded clothing.

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