Small shoe making unit

What the business is

A small room with a few sewing machines turning out sandals, keds and shoes. Parts are marked and cut by hand on leather or rexine, stitched together into the shoe's upper, then glued or sewn to the sole, finished, coloured and packed in the buyer's own box. The country's largest footwear cluster is at Bhairab in Kishoreganj, running since 1989; SME Foundation's own report puts it at roughly 3,500-5,000 units employing about 25,000 people, spread over five to six kilometres around the upazila headquarters. In Brahmanbaria on 17 April 2023 there were 45-50 handmade footwear units and 26 machine units; a hand unit made about 120 pairs a day and a machine unit 500-600, wages ran from Tk 8,000 to Tk 30,000, leather shoes sold at Tk 1,200 and sandals at Tk 250-700. Two problems define the trade. First, most units have no showroom of their own - goods move through the market's paikars and arotdars, who set the price. Second, several months a year are dead: in 2013 Bhairab's owners named January, February and March as their slack quarter and said bank instalments in those months were beyond them, asking that twelve months of instalments be payable in nine. Eid moves about eleven days earlier every year, so both the rush and the slack quarter shift annually, and anyone entering this trade has to read that calendar first.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• Sewing machines, a bob machine, a colour machine and cutting knives - the equipment SME Foundation's report lists for the Bhairab cluster. Current prices for these could not be verified in this research.Equipment
• Leather, paste, solution, rexine, foam, rubber, thread and colour - the cluster's main raw materials per SME Foundation's list. Soles and straps are bought separately.Starting stock
• TIN and, where applicable, VAT registration (BIN) from the NBR - an invoice is required to supply a brand or an institution.Licence
• Trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and signboard fee. Issued in 3-5 working days, renewed yearly.Licence
• Marking and cutting by hand and building the upper on a sewing machine - the work is still essentially manual. SME Foundation identifies the shortage of skilled artisans as the cluster's principal problem.Skill
• Market paikars and arotdars, who are the main sales channel; leather and rexine suppliers; sole makers; and a machine mechanic.Supplier
• A room with separate space for cutting, stitching, gluing and finishing, ventilation, and uninterrupted power. In Bhairab the whole cluster sits within five to six kilometres of the upazila headquarters, so both materials and craftsmen are close at hand.Workspace

How the work runs

1. 1Decide what you will make - cheap sandals, keds or leather shoes. The Bhairab cluster's main products are sandals for men, women and children, plus keds and shoes.
2. 2Line up the buyer before the workshop. Most units have no showroom; goods go through market paikars and arotdars, and a few supply large companies such as Apex or Bata directly.
3. 3Rent the room with separate space for the cutting table, the row of sewing machines, gluing and finishing, and stock. Adhesive and solution fumes mean it must be ventilated.
4. 4Take the trade licence from the union parishad, municipality or city corporation, and if you want to supply larger firms also register for TIN and VAT with the NBR, since they will not pay without an invoice.
5. 5Buy the machines: sewing machine, bob machine, colour machine and cutting knives. SME Foundation lists these as the cluster's main equipment, with most of the work still done by hand.
6. 6Fix your raw material suppliers - leather, paste, solution, rexine, foam, rubber, thread and colour.
7. 7Find craftsmen and train them on the bench. Shortage of skilled artisans is recorded as the cluster's number one problem, and the owners themselves said lecture-based training does not work - it has to be hands-on inside the factory.
8. 8Make samples, get the wholesaler's approval, then hold the size and the finish. The buyer usually supplies the box, so his name is on it and your labour is inside.
9. 9Step up production from at least two months before Eid, and remember Eid falls about eleven days earlier each year - buy raw material against that calendar.
10. 10Check your transport before you need it. Bhairab has a rail link to Chattogram, but trains from Dhaka or Mymensingh fill up before they reach Bhairab, so footwear cannot go by rail and the road is the only option.
11. 11Talk to the bank about the instalment schedule in advance. Bhairab's owners reported three effectively dead months a year when paying instalments becomes near impossible, and asked to pay twelve months of instalments over nine.
12. 12Set aside the slack months' wages in advance. Once a craftsman leaves it is hard to replace him before Eid, and an order made by unskilled hands is an order lost.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · বাংলাদেশ

• নিডস অ্যাসেসমেন্ট ফর ক্লাস্টার ডেভেলপমেন্ট — ভৈরব পাদুকা শিল্প ক্লাস্টারের উদ্যোক্তাগণের সাথে মতবিনিময় সভা (এফজিডি)-এর প্রতিবেদন, ভৈরব উপজেলা মিলনায়তন, কিশোরগঞ্জ

  Collected: 20 Feb 2013

  Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · কিশোরগঞ্জ

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