SQ Celsius Ltd

Knitwear, the foundation of SQ, still forms the core business of the Group. The name/brand SQ is closely associated with knitwear in the minds of the retailers and other stake holders. The cardinal knitwear factory SQ Celsius Ltd, set up in 2002, is aptly named to portray the warmth of the product. The facility is regarded as most preferred suppliers to renowned high-end retailers. Because of its size and reputation, Celsius has been mandated to be the entity that would spearhead all future excellence in the Group's knitwear initiatives. Accordingly, the other two facilities, SQ Sweaters Ltd and Sweaters Boutique Ltd, are in the process of acquisition by Celsius.

Celsius, the only manufacturing facility of the Group located outside SQ Station, is set up on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Maona - about 55 km north of Dhaka. The business operates from a ten bigha free hold property with a purposely built state-of-the-art facility of 200,000 sft. Celsius generates its own power to support adequately the entire operation of the business. It has an ETP to treat toxic waste before it is released to the nature. Combined with its acquired strength, Celsius currently operates 1,200 semi-auto and manual knitting machines producing about 450,000 pieces per month.

The knitwear product ranges from coarser to finer, acrylic to cashmere, yarn dyed to piece dyed and from kids to adults. Having the luxury of backward service integration, Celsius offers its clientele the flexibility in delivery from one month to four months cycles.

The productivity push, driven by the demand for higher wages, customer price pressure, and for the introduction of complex structured value added product range, the Group has decided to invest in costly fully-automated German (Stoll) and Japanese (Shima Seiki) knitting machines. A new Green factory building, measuring about 375,000 sft, is partly completed, and currently under production since June 2014. On completion, the building will house 1,200 automated knitting machines producing 1 million pieces per month. The initial batch of 750 such automated machines has already been acquired and is in operation. The rest of the 450 machines will be put into operation in phases spreading up to the first quarter of 2017.

Automation is also planned in linking to finishing areas . The entire process has been switched to a single product flow line assembly system from the traditional sectional build up and movement process. The latest high tech European machines have been installed to ensure superior quality, higher efficiency and easier traceability of produce.

Bangladesh is recognized as one of the likely pretenders to China's crown as the ultimate high-growth apparel sourcing destination. We want to align with the prospect, and brand Celsius as a suitable alternative to China for high value fashionable knitwear.