"Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the 50th edition of Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter started today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The four-day event will continue till January 17, 2019. In 2018, the Fashion Week attracted 14,000 buyers from 76 countries and regions, reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a key sourcing hub for global fashion traders and retailers. This year’s fair has drawn 1,400 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions."

Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the 50th edition of Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter started today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The four-day event will continue till January 17, 2019. In 2018, the Fashion Week attracted 14,000 buyers from 76 countries and regions, reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a key sourcing hub for global fashion traders and retailers. This year’s fair has drawn 1,400 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions.

The Corporate Fashion and Uniforms Zone at the fair showcases uniform collections from some of Hong Kong’s top designers including Allan Chiu, Barney Cheng, Kurt Ho & Nelson Leung, LuLu Cheung and Mountain Yam.

The World of Fashion Accessories brings together items ranging from shoes and bags to fashion jewellery, scarves and shawls. New entrant, The Federation of Hong Kong Footwear Ltd showcases its latest shoe designs with a fashion parade. Special product zones such as: Fashionable Sportswear, Thermal Clothing, Bridal & Evening Wear and Intimate Wear & Swimwear, feature the latest designs. Incorporating the designs of 60 designers from different countries and regions, the International Fashion Designers’ Showcase presents fashion masterpieces from around the globe under one roof.

Fashion Launderette

The theme is a spin-off from fashion brands who are repurposing launderettes and bringing them back into style. The concept is less about a wash and more about a ‘refresh’. As more people invest in sustainable and better-quality clothing, fashion launderette can add confidence that quality products are safe. Brands and designers are trying to extend their business to other steps of the product journey, including its care.

FASHIONALLY presentations to showcase local fashion designers

Six Hong Kong fashion designer labels will be present at “FASHIONALLY Collection #13” and three “FASHIONALLY Presentation” sessions during Fashion Week. Yeung Chin, Jane Ng, and Alee Lee displayed their latest collections at FASHIONALLY Collection #13 today. The FASHIONALLY Presentation showcases design of local fashion designers Arto Wong , Jason Lee and Carrie Kwok through theatrical storytelling. Yam Chan, a theatre personality, is also collaborating with FASHIONALLY for showcasing his handcrafted dolls MICH at the MICH ▪ ALLY Exhibition on Jan 16-17 Jan, 2019.

Forums, seminars provide effective information platform

Buyer forums, trend-forecasting seminars and sharing sessions on the latest production technologies at the fair will provide effective platforms for the industry to gather market information and exchange ideas. Leading international fashion trend forecaster Fashion Snoops organised a seminar on “The Visionary Fashion Trends for Spring/Summer 2020”. Other seminars will feature industry leaders and experts addressing issues such as rapid footwear prototyping, the sustainable development of the fashion industry, the cotton market outlook and the latest cotton textile technologies, as well as online-to-offline (O2O) retailing strategies.

HKTDC has arranged 90 buying missions from 43 countries and regions, bringing more than 3,800 companies to the show. Participants of the mission include representatives from fashion brands, major chain stores and distributors from both traditional and emerging markets, such as: Czech Republic’s Zoot, Indonesia’s The Goods Dept, Japan’s LEON International, Korea’s Lotte Department Store, Russia’s Forward, the United Kingdom’s Temperley London, and 3NT from the United States.

App offers seamless access to the fairground

HKTDC recently launched the new Exhibitor e-Badge that offers seamless access to the fairground. This initiative, together with the Buyer e-Badge introduced last year and the e-Business Card function, enables exhibitors and buyers to link up digitally simply by scanning each other’s QR code.

HKTDC has been organising the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest (YDC) to unearth talented local designers since 1977. This year’s competition will be held during Centrestage in September 2019.

Texworld Paris will take place from February 11 to 14, 2019.With around 1000 exhibitors, Texworld offers professional buyers from all over the world a rich variety of products from basics to creative high-end fabrics of excellent quality. It is a must for manufacturers specialising in cotton, denim, drapery and tailoring, embroidery and lace, jacquard, knitted fabrics, linen and hemp, prints, shirting, silk, silky aspects, sportswear and functional fabrics, trims and accessories, wool and woolen materials.

Last year, the show attracted more than 1,850 exhibitors from 30 countries and around 29,000 visitors from 110 countries. Master Textile Mills from Pakistan does cotton, T-400, bi-stretch, dobby, yarn dyed, denim fabrics and garments.

Duckwoo, one of the largest woven fabric mills in Korea, is famous for its new developments, every season, following the fashion trends. From light weight fabrics for blouses, the company produces heavy weight fabrics for blazers and dresses as well.

Er & Ez Textile from Turkey offers cotton for women’s wear and kids’ wear. The company is Oeko-Tex 100 certified and its activities cover weaving, dyeing and finishing. The company produces women’s clothing (pants, dresses, blouses, jackets) within an integrated facility. The machinery and machine parts are state-of-the-art. The company supplies fabrics to global brands.

Inaugurating a four-day buyer-seller meet in Hyderabad organised by the state textile ministry recently, handlooms and textiles joint director Purnachandra Rao informed that Telangana has allotted Rs 500 crore for modernisation of powerlooms in the textile town of Sircilla to boost the textile industry and weavers in the region.

Subhash Agarwal, President, Hyderabad Cut Piece Cloth Merchants Association stressed on the need for modernisation of state's textile industry in a big way. He noted that though government schemes are helping the market to some extent, lack of processing units and inadequate marketing opportunities are an impediment

The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into whether Nike unfairly benefitted from tax rulings in the Netherlands.The Commission will investigate carefully the tax treatment of Nike in the Netherlands, to assess whether it is in line with EU State aid rules.

The Dutch government determined, over five rulings made from 2006 to 2015, that the royalty would be calculated based on a limited operating margin that was based on sales in the country. The Commission said those rulings “may not reflect economic reality” and that the tax breaks Nike receives in the Netherlands are higher than what independent companies would normally negotiate based on market terms in harmony with the arm’s length principle.

The Netherlands has already agreed to an update of its tax code. The Commission revealed that the Dutch government has announced plans to reform and tighten requirements for tax rulings on international structures—especially if the ruling is meant to allow that structure to avoid EU or Dutch taxes.

The Commission has made a number of high-profile rulings on tax codes in recent years, often going after American companies like Apple, Starbucks and McDonalds. In 2017, for one, the Commission found that Amazon had skirted Irish tax laws, and, in turn, it recovered 282.7 million euros ($325.25 million) from the company.

India’s factory output growth crashed to its slowest in 17 months in November 2018. The previous low was in June 2017. Manufacturing production shrank 0.4 per cent while electricity and mining output grew 5.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively. Items that recorded the steepest contraction included television sets, bodies of trucks and trailers, and raw materials for drugs.

The Indian economy is headed for a slowdown in the second half of the year ending March 31. With the economy already recording a 7.6 per cent GDP growth in the first half of the current fiscal, this implies growth is likely to slow at around 6.8 per cent in the second half.

While the adverse base and post-festive season winding down of momentum along with fewer working days had been expected to lower index of industrial production (IIP) growth, the magnitude of the correction has been sharper than expected.

Tighter domestic financing conditions may also have played a part. Going forward, incrementally improving liquidity, normalization post festive-related disruptions and election-related spending could get growth supportive enabling higher prints versus today’s IIP number. However second half average growth will be lower than first half growth. GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters is expected to be well below seven per cent.

London Textile Fair was held on January 9 and 10, 2019. London Textile Fair is the UK's premier platform for fashion fabrics, clothing accessories, print studios and vintage garments. It provides manufacturers and their agents with the opportunity to showcase their products to the most influential British buyers and designers.

There were more than 500 exhibitors, up from 472 last season. Most came from Europe – among them were textile manufacturers from Turkey, Italy, Portugal and the UK. There is a strong textile market in Turkey and a strong garment manufacturing market. Because of the small distances people choose to do both in the same place to save transport costs, and lots of mills now are also manufacturers.

Buyers from several big-name brands and retailers attended, including River Island, Karen Millen, Oasis, Ted Baker, Jaeger, John Lewis, Boden, Mr Porter and Gieves & Hawkes. Demand for sustainable fabrics was one of the biggest trends at the show. Interest in sustainable alternatives was at an all-time high. There was a surge in interest for recycled fabrics and for BCI cotton. Teal was a trend for this season.

The next edition of the London Textile Fair will be on July 16 to 17, 2019.

India’s cotton crop this year may be the lowest in a decade. Deficient rainfall is the main reason. There has been no scope for third and fourth pickings and hence farmers have uprooted the plant. In fact, farmers have been advised to uproot cotton plants by the end of December 2018 to give room for rabi crops such as pulses and to ensure against pink bollworms.

Plant sizes were not more than four feet in October when the average is about five feet or six feet. Currently, there is no cotton plant on the ground in Gujarat. Those with irrigation have already planted pulses. Seed cotton (kapas) prices in India are ruling above the minimum support price, which is positive for farmers. Other factors that influence cotton planting in the next season is the excess global availability of palm and soybean oils. This situation may not encourage Indian cotton farmers to divert to other options in the next season.

Yarn demand is not that high, which may influence cotton pricing and post-harvest sectors. India’s 2010-11 crop was 34.5 million bales and the highest since that time has been 40.2 million bales in the 2013-14 crop year. Wide range data fluctuations affect the spinning sector, particularly in making decisions about cotton purchasing and stocking.

Bharat Gandhi, Chairman, The Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry has averred that the phenomenal rise in the import of silk fabrics from Vietnam in last two years has deteriorated the conditions of silk fabric manufacturers hailing from Indian cities of Bhagalpur, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Surat and some parts of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the Federation has urged the government to levy 10 per cent duty on the import of silk fabrics from Vietnam so as to create a little more favourable scenario for Indian domestic market.

Import from Vietnam has increased more than two-fold from two lakh sq. mt. in 2015-16 to 5 lakh sq. mt. in 2016-17. Currently, import of silk fabrics from Vietnam attracts zero per cent duty, which makes India’s silk fabrics expensive. This has significantly affected the domestic market of India. Also, several Chinese manufacturers have, lately, started their factories in Vietnam and, most importantly, dumped Indian silk fabrics.

The first-ever Indian Standard (IS ) on bullet resistant jacket for protection against small arms and ammunition for defence, paramilitary and police forces was recently approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). These Bullet Proof Jackets (BPJ): IS17051:2018 prescribes minimum requirements against small arms and their evaluation procedures.

The standard was approved after a draft finalised by the Textiles Protective Clothing Sectional Committee was authorised by the Textile Divisional Council. It was formed keeping in mind the Indian needs. Until now, the bullet proof jackets and helmets provided to the Indian security forces were based on the NIJ III+ Standard, which refers to ballistic resistance of a body armour.

The main challenge was: reducing the weight of the jacket from 10.5 kg to 6 kg matching the scientific criteria. Moreover Indian Standard for bullet resistant jackets is expected to accelerate the procurement process by the user agencies and in testing of materials. It is mandatory that all standards should be adopted in all procurement orders of the security forces.

Overabundance of fast fashion has created an environmental and social justice crisis. Fast fashion is readily available, inexpensively made clothing. Increased consumption patterns have created millions of tons of textile waste in landfills and unregulated settings.

Negative consequences at each step of the fast-fashion supply chain have created a global environmental justice dilemma. While fast fashion offers consumers an opportunity to buy more clothes for less, those who work in or live near textile manufacturing facilities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental health hazards.

From the growth of water-intensive cotton, to the release of untreated dyes into local water sources, to low wages and poor working conditions, the environmental and social costs involved are widespread. Potential solutions include sustainable fibers, corporate sustainability, trade policy and the role of the consumer.

In North America, the fast fashion market is likely to face tremendous growth in the coming years owing to swiftly increasing number of fast fashion retailers in the region. The European market is pegged to foster high revenue in future owing to growing adoption of new fashion trends. In India, China, and Japan, the market is poised to expand further in the coming years due to high purchasing capacity and penetration of major fast fashion retailers in the region.