Traditionally, the global hub of garment production, Asia continues to maintain its dominance across the world. However, off late, the region’s garment sector has been facing certain challenges induced by the pandemic, says a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The report states, the sector continues to account for 55 per cent of global textiles and clothing exports, and employ 60 million workers. However, it currently faces issues including rising labor, production and process automation costs; increase in ‘reshoring’ and ‘nearshoring’ trends, and an increased emphasis on adopting a sustainable business model with minimum standard wages and working conditions. These headwinds are making workers’ future uncertain in the industry.

Workers condition continue to lag

Workers’ wages and productivity have grown across countries, futures of many companies are being determined by the respective governments’ policies and other external forces, notes David Williams, Manager-Decent Work in Garment Supply Chains-Asia, ILO.

The sector’s development follows different routes across regions. While its importance in China, Thailand and the Philippines has reduced due to diversification and upgrading, the sector continues to drive economic growth in nations including Cambodia and Bangladesh. For years, the sector depended on cheap labor to secure advantages in the global market. However, despite an increase in real wages in most countries, labor conditions continue to worsen with long working hours, unhealthy and unsafe conditions and labor abuse rampant at workplaces, adds Williams.

A major percentage of workers continue to remain susceptible to the sector’s informal nature and its temporary working arrangements.

Gender pay gap still an issue

The sector also faces huge Gender pay gaps, rues Williams. Female workers are paid much less than their male counterparts with countries having lowest female workers facing the highest gaps, he adds . Williams says, Asia’s garment sector continues to lag despite a rise in labor productivity in recent decades. Few countries in the region have managed to scale in the value chain in apparel production though most continue to engage in low-skilled operations.

He highlights a positive association between growth in labor productivity and wages in the sector. Enhancing labor productivity may help elevate workers’ pay, he advises. To ensure future success, the industry should make mutually strengthening investments, says Williams. It should generate productivity-driven high wages supported by concrete incentives from brands.

Klopman is exhibiting at Techtextil Frankfurt, the most important trade fair for textile manufacturing and industrial production of technical textiles across all sectors, being held from June 21-24, 2022. Klopman, a leading European producer of technical fabrics for workwear, based in Italy, will launch two new product lines upholding the principles of sustainability.

The first product to be launched by the company is the Superbandmaster. Promoted under the slogan 'Join The Fabric Revolution' (#GoCircular - www.JoinTheFabricRevolution.com), the fabric is notable for its partial composition of recycled fibres derived from recycling polyester/cotton clothing. Thanks to the use of these recycled fibres, products at the end of their first cycle of use can be given a new lease of life and become part of a circular economy aimed at minimising waste.

The second breakthrough from Klopma is an evolution in the production of fabric made from Tencel™ Lyocellfibre. Born out of an established partnership with the company Lenzing, all of the Tencel™ Lyocll fibers used in Klopman's products will be carbon neutral, responding to the growing demand for functional, high-quality products that guarantee maximum environmental friendliness.

India's leading Chemical & Textile Company, GHCL has inaugurated its new spinning unit at Manaparai in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu.

Equipped with 39,600 ring spindles, the unit produces23 tons per day of synthetic and synthetic blend compact yarn. It is equipped with state-of-the-art textile machinery and the latest online quality control equipment combined with computerized information systems to enhance productivity and product quality.

The unit will produce Cotton/Polyester blend yarn; Cotton/Modal and Cotton/Excel blend yarn; Supima/Modal and Supima/Tencel yarn; 100 per cent VSF, Micro Modal and Tencel yarn; 100 per cent bamboo and its blend yarn; Tri-blend yarns (Cotton/Polyester/Cellulosic).

RS Jalan, Managing Director, GHCL says, with its state-of-art machinery, this facility will produce the best quality and the perfect blend of yarn. The commencement of operations at the unit will help us create more value for our customers, add value to our product basket and generate more employment opportunities in the region.

Rejecting the government’s 10 per cent Super Tax, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMEA) claimed, it may slow down the economy

Kashif Zia, Chairman, PHMEA, said, the textile sector is already paying 29 per cent tax. Further taxes would damage the sector badly. The interest rate of 13.75 per cent would slow down the economy, he claimed.

Zia urged the government to bring more people into the tax net rather than imposing more taxes on existing taxpayers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently announced a super-tax of 10 per cent on large-scale manufacturers and industries in the country in order to address the economic woes of the country.

The government plans to reintroduce a reformed tax rebate scheme for exporters merely eight months after launch, after complaints from the industry that the scheme is eroding their margins.

Introduced in October, the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme, provides rebate against taxes and levies already paid by exporters on inputs. The rebate is given as tradeablescrips, which exporters can sell to importers. Importers can then use these scrips to pay customs duty, instead of paying in cash. However, exporters complain these scrips are trading at a steep 20 per cent discount, defeating the purpose of the scheme.

As of now, these scrips can be traded even before export realization, with the liability falling on importers. The government feels the scrips are trading at a discount because of this risk component, and plans to make them tradeable only after full export payments are received, which would eliminate the risk factor. It also plans to double the eligibility of these scrips to 24 months from 12 months now.

Hordes of new fabric events will be held at the upcoming New York Textile Week from July 19-21, 2022. As per a Carved in Blue report, six different shows based on textile and apparel sourcing will be held during the week. The highlight of the fashion week will be the Texworld New York City event from July 19-21at the Javits Centre. The first in-person event after a fully virtual show in January, it will provide an opportunity to buyers and designers to explore products and meet vendors live. The show will also include the Lenzing Seminar Series and Textile Talks. A hybrid Sourcing Showroom will allow virtual exhibitors to engage with attendees.

Apparel Sourcing New York City and Home Textiles Sourcing will be co-located with the Texworld that will also footwear as an added category, in partnership with Material Exchange and the Footwear Distributors & Retailers Association.

The two-day Première Vision New York will also open on July 19 and feature over 100 exhibitors across fabric, leather, manufacturing, etc. The show will present sustainability solutions to American buyers. It will include talks about the trends to expect in upcoming seasons.

The Functional Fabric Fair—powered by Performance Days—will be held from July 19-20, 2022 at the Javits Center. This show will focus on functional textiles for categories including sportswear, workwear and athleisure. In 2022, it will focus on the topic “The Journey to Carbon Neutrality.”

Kingpins Show will be held in New York on July 20 and 21. The denim-centric show will include Tencel™ as one of the the exhibitors, alongside denim mills and fiber brands. It will also host seminar talks to delve into denim and our series “FIT Denim Grads: Where Are they Now”?

From July 20-21, The Fabric Show will also be on at the New York Hotel. This show will focus on American, Canadian and European textile and trim suppliers offering low-priced fabrics. The last event will be organized by Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (ITKIB) to spotlight Turkish suppliers and mills.

In May 2022, Vietnam’s cotton imports declined by 23.8 per cent Y-o-Y but increased 24.1 per cent M-o-M to 120,400 tons from the previous month. As per a CCF Group report, Vietnam’s yarn imports increased 9.1 per cent Y-o-Y during the month and 22.4 per cent M-o-M while exports declined 18.3 per cent Y-o-Y and 6.7 per cent M-o-M, respectively. Vietnam’s fabrics imports increased by 5.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 9.9 per cent M-o-M.

Vietnam’s textiles and apparel exports surged 23.2 per cent Y-o-Y and 0.6 per cent M-o-M. From April, Vietnam’s textile and garment exports declined 3.6 percentage points Y-o-Y while they declined by 2.7 percentage points on a M-o-M basis

The CCF Group report concludes, Vietnam’s textile and apparel exports growth remained positive in May. However, Year-on-Year and Month-on-Month declined compared to April. Profits of Vietnamese cotton yarn mills also reduced on account of high cotton prices and burden from weak downstream consumption.

At the end of April 2022, Italian fashion brand C&S, international acquired Texo Srl, a Pesaro and Urbino-based manufacturer of luxury denim collections for prestigious international brands for the last 10 years. Based in Central Italy, C&S has been, for the last over 40 years, producing high-quality jeans and streetwear apparel, while it also owns, produces and distributes its own premium denim brand Haikure.

The agreement enables the company to broaden and consolidate its market presence, says Federico Corneli, main shareholder of C&S. It will also help the company restructure operations according to three main branches involving its own brand, the premium denim and luxury denim segments, he adds.

The value addition by Texo will allow C&S to grow further and accelerate its establishment as special partners for the most important luxury brands, he adds further. C&S is embracing the premium denim segment and establishing itself as a special partner for the creation of jackets, shirts, outerwear, and denim – that still remains the strong point of the company.

The company has recently started a process to achieve the GOTS certification for both C&S and Texo in order to enrich the sustainability of its products, an acknowledgement that it aims to complete by October 2022.

India’s exports of basic textiles declined 25 per cent Y-o-Y and 6 per cent M-o-M in May 2022 to $573 million or Rs 4,448 crore. As per a Textile Beacon report, they accounted for just over 1.5 per cent of total merchandise exported from India during the month. Exports of India’s spun yarn declined 30 per cent Y-o-Y to 71 million kg worth $320 million or Rs 2,480 crore. Bangladesh emerged the largest market for spun yarns during the month, followed by Turkey and Egypt.

Exports of cotton yarn declined 58 per cent in volume and 40 per cent in revenues to $237 million or Rs 1,840 crore. Bangladesh remained the top importer of cotton yarn, followed by Egypt, Portugal, Vietnam, and Italy. China reduced import from India by 97 per cent in May 2022. Shipment to Bangladesh also declined 30 per cent and Egypt too saw a dip of 15 per cent.

Exports of 100 per cent man-made fibre yarn totaled 10.19 million kg, comprising over 5.72 million kg of polyester yarn, 2.72 million kg of acrylic yarn and 1.41 million kg of viscose yarn. Major markets included: Italy, followed by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Polyester spun yarns s worth $15 million was exported at average unit price of $2.68 a kg. Turkey was the largest importer of polyester yarn, followed by USA and Morocco.

Blended spun yarns worth $50 million were exported in May, including 8.55 million kg of PC yarns and 3.76 million kg of PV yarns. Honduras was the top importers of PC yarn from India followed by Egypt and Bangladesh while Turkey was the single largest importer of PV yarns from India followed distantly by Vietnam. Filament yarns exports totaled 49 million kg, worth $97 million or Rs 755 crore.

China’s polyester yarn exports grew 56.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 29.6 per cent M-o-M to 56,000 tons. Amongst the total, exports of polyester single yarn surged to 27,000 tons, registering up 135 per cent Y-o-Y increase while the exports of polyester ply yarn rose 21.5 Y-o-Y to 15,000 tons and exports of polyester sewing thread went up 9 per cent Y-o-Y to 11,000 tons.

As per a CCF Group report, the share of polyester single yarn exports increased to 52 per cent Y-o-Y and 8 per cent M-o-M in total polyester yarn exports from that in Apr, while the shares of polyester ply yarn decreased by 4-5 per cent Exports of polyester single yarn were mainly directed to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The export volume to Jordan climbed up to 8 per cent. Among major exporters, Fujian accounted for nearly a half, followed by Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Polyester ply yarn was mainly exported to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

In May 2022, China polyester/cotton yarn exports increased 61.9 per cent Y-o-Y and 30.9 per cent M-o-M.to 3,991million tons. Imports totaled 546 million tons, declining 7.3 per cent Y-o-Y and 10.6 per cent M-o-M,