BATEXPO 2026 and Dhaka's November garment fairs: a buyer's guide

BATEXPO 2026, the Bangladesh Apparel & Textile Exposition, takes place on 18 and 19 November 2026 at the Bangladesh–China Friendship Conference Center in Agargaon, Dhaka. It is organised by BGMEA, the garment manufacturers' and exporters' association, and it is the show's silver jubilee edition: BATEXPO was first held in 1989; its last Dhaka edition, the 24th, was held in October 2013, and BGMEA took the show to Paris in September 2014, so this is its return to Dhaka after more than a decade. Entry is by registration on batexpo.com.bd, and each registration is reviewed before it is approved. Two other trade fairs fall in the same month in Dhaka, which makes November 2026 a sensible time for a buyer to visit Bangladesh and see factories in the same trip.

November 2026 garment fairs in Dhaka at a glance

Three fairs and one factory tour fall between 9 and 19 November. Each date below is taken from the organiser's own website, checked on 22 October 2026.

Two venues with similar names are easy to confuse. BATEXPO is at the Bangladesh–China Friendship Conference Center in Agargaon, in central Dhaka. The Bangladesh–China Friendship Exhibition Center is a different building in Purbachal, on the city's north-eastern edge, where the Dhaka International Trade Fair and several machinery and yarn shows are held.

What is on at BATEXPO 2026

BATEXPO is as much a showcase of the industry as a sales floor. Its site lists orders and partnerships among the outcomes it aims for, says the show "is not measured in footfall" and gives no visitor total; its Who Joins page expects more than 200 international buyers, retailers and sourcing leaders and more than 50 apparel groups. The programme below is in Bangladesh Standard Time (UTC+6).

The site's headline figures are four exhibitions, six panel sessions, 50 international speakers, a ten-factory tour and four award categories. It names representatives of Walmart Global Sourcing, Primark, Associated British Foods, Pepco, M&S, Lidl, Kmart, Varner, Celio and LC Waikiki among the buyers taking part. The show is presented by PDS, and BGMEA has named Crowne Plaza Dhaka Airport as its hospitality partner. Programme names vary between BGMEA's own announcements: the summit also appears as the Dhaka Apparel Summit, and an earlier list included a Circularity Exposition.

How to register, and what it costs

Registration is on batexpo.com.bd/register. The form asks for your name, organisation, role, email, phone and country, and a pass type: delegate, buyer or sourcing head, brand or retail leadership, exhibitor, press or media, investor or partner, or policymaker or institution. Registrations are reviewed for eligibility and confirmed by email. The site does not mention a fee, and it says international delegates will be contacted about accommodation support. Its contact page offers help with travel, hotels and visa letters through info@batexpo.com.bd.

The Denim Expo and the Textile Innovation Expo are both free for trade visitors who register. The Textile Innovation Expo asks everyone to pre-register on its own site; the Denim Expo also takes registrations at the door.

The Green Factory Tour

BGMEA describes the tour as a complimentary courtesy event for its international guests. The application form offers three zones, Gazipur, Savar and Narayanganj, and asks for your name, company, designation, telephone and email; places are limited and nobody is admitted without a confirmation email. The tour page gives 17 November as the date on its form, while its text mentions 17 and 19 November, so check the date on your confirmation. Bangladesh has 291 LEED-certified factories, 125 of them Platinum, by the figure on the same page, and the tour is a way to see some of them.

A showcase tour is not a supplier audit. The factories on it are chosen to show the industry at its best, and none of them will have quoted for your product. If you want to judge a factory for an order, plan your own visits around the fair (see below) with your tech pack and target quantities in hand. Our guide to where clothing is made in Bangladesh explains what each tour zone is known for: Gazipur, the largest garment belt, strongest in knitwear, Savar and Ashulia around the Dhaka export processing zone, and Narayanganj for knitwear.

Which fair suits which buyer

• You buy denim: the Bangladesh Denim Expo on 9–10 November is the one built for you: mills, laundries and denim factories in one hall. Our denim manufacturing page covers what to ask a jeans factory.
• You care about fabric, dyeing, automation or sustainability technology: the Textile Innovation Expo on 12–14 November groups its stands into dyeing and printing, textile materials, garment automation, and green and sustainable technology, with a factory innovation pavilion.
• You want the industry's leaders, its policymakers and a sense of where Bangladesh is heading: BATEXPO on 18–19 November, with the factory tour the day before.
• You want to place an order: no fair replaces a factory visit and a sample. Use the fairs to meet people, then spend the days between them in factories.

Planning the trip

The two venues are about 11–13 km apart by road, by our estimate from OpenStreetMap: ICCB is in Kuril, on the Purbachal Link Road near the airport, and the BCFCC is in Agargaon in central Dhaka. Distances are short; Dhaka traffic is what takes the time, so plan one venue per half-day and keep factory visits to their own days. Gazipur and Savar are a day trip each from central Dhaka; Narayanganj lies to the south-east.

A sensible two-week plan: the Denim Expo on 9–10 November if denim matters to you, factory visits on 11 November, the Textile Innovation Expo on 12–14 November, further factory visits on 15–16 November, the Green Factory Tour on 17 November and BATEXPO on 18–19 November. Book factory appointments before you fly, and send each factory your tech pack and quantities first, so the visit is spent on the right product lines.

Visas for business visitors

Check the rules with the Bangladesh mission in your country before you book: visa policy has been under review in 2026, and the officer at the port of entry has the final say. These are the official sources, as they read on 22 October 2026.

• Visa on arrival. The Special Branch's visa on arrival page lists business and trade officials from European countries among those eligible and, separately, foreign investors and exporters with supporting documents from bodies such as BGMEA, for a single entry of up to 30 days. It asks travellers to carry at least US$500 in cash or a credit card and a return ticket, and to pay the fee in cash. For citizens of countries including the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the page ties eligibility to travelling from a country without a resident Bangladesh embassy or consulate, so do not rely on it without checking.
• Apply ahead online. Visa-on-arrival applications must be submitted on voa.specialbranch.gov.bd at least 72 hours before arrival; the same portal hosts the e-arrival card.
• A business visa before you travel. Applications start on the government's online visa portal, then go to your nearest Bangladesh mission; the Bangladesh High Commission in London, for example, asks for an invitation letter from the Bangladeshi company you are visiting. BATEXPO's contact page also offers help with visa letters, travel and hotels through info@batexpo.com.bd.

How to check an exhibitor before you order

A stand at a fair says nothing about who will sew your order. Before you send a deposit to anyone you met there, check them on the public registers, all free:

• BGMEA member search and BKMEA member search, for the factory's membership and number.
• The International Accord factory search, for safety inspection reports and corrective action plans.
• Open Supply Hub and Mapped in Bangladesh, for the factory's address and the brands that list it.
• Each certificate in the issuing body's own database, as our certificate verification guide explains.

If the person you met is an agent or a buying house rather than a factory, ask them to name the factory that would make your order before production, and check that factory the same way. Our guide to garments buying houses lists the questions to ask, and the warning signs worth walking away from.

The rest of the 2026–27 fair calendar

These later shows in Dhaka are confirmed on their organisers' own sites. The Dhaka Trade Fair (formerly the Dhaka International Trade Fair), a general consumer fair, is expected in January 2027, but its dates were only tentative when we checked.

If you will be in Dhaka for the November fairs and would like to talk about an order, tell us your dates and what you want to make. We are a buying house in Narayanganj, and this is how we work.