Bangladesh’s Apex Group Emerges As Shoemaker To The World

To see a different face of Bangladesh manufacturing, a country that has earned notoriety with its ready-made garment plants, one drives 25 miles north of Dhaka city to Gazipur district. Amid a predominantly industrial enclave of garmentmakers is a 24-acre site where 5,500 workers, mostly women, are busy stitching not clothes but a range of stylish leather shoes.

This is the factory of Dhaka Stock Exchange-listed Apex Footwear, Bangladesh’s leading footwear exporter. It started manufacturing leather shoes more than two decades ago. Today it is among the largest shoemakers on the subcontinent, shipping 4.5 million pairs annually to 130 retail customers in 40 countries, including Macy's M +1.46% and J.C. Penney in the U.S., ABC Mart in Japan and Deichmann in Germany. Additionally, it produces 3 million pairs for the domestic market that are sold through a chain of 550 outlets across the country.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2014/08/27/bangladeshs-apex-group-emerges-as-shoemaker-to-the-world/