Indonesia is facing tough challenges in textile exports. Around 43,000 textile industry employees have been laid off since the Covid pandemic emerged.

Apart from the phenomenon of layoffs in the domestic textile industry there is the impact of the weakening global textile market. Countries such as the United States and the European region are experiencing a slowdown in the economy so that demand for imports has also experienced a fairly deep decline.

Domestically, the performance of the textile sector has also begun to slow down. Apart from the result of the unstable purchasing power of the people, it is also due to the flood of imported products into the domestic market.This has had an impact on textile industry production. There has been a reduction in employee working hours from seven days a week to five working days.

Estimates are that the performance of Indonesia’s textile industry in 2023 will be weak until the fourth quarter of that year.The easing of inflation in export destination countries will also determine the fate of the Indonesian textile industry. Hopes are that policies can prevent the import of illegal textile products, including applying trade remedies or protecting domestic industries from the losses of unhealthy trade practices. The industry also hopes there will be facilities related to restructuring policies for textile players who are facing financial problems.

For the third quarter Columbia Sportwear’s net sales increased 19 per cent. The increase in sales reflected earlier shipments of higher fall 2022 wholesale orders and direct-to-consumer growth. Revenues increased by 15 per cent for the first nine months of the year. However, net income decreased by six per cent for the year-to-date period.Inventories increased by 47 percent, indicating purchase of more goods than sold.Third quarter net sales and earnings growth reflect a broad momentum across the

American brand’s business and the power of its collective brand portfolio.Net sales growth was led by the Sorel and Columbia brands, which increased 28 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. The company has growth strategies in place and will be investing in strategic priorities to create iconic products, amplify marketplace excellence with digitally-led and omnichannel global distribution, and accelerate growth.Going ahead, the company expects fiscal 2023 net sales to be between ten per cent to 12 per cent compared to that in 2021.Based on a strong third quarter performance, the company is reiterating its full-year net sales and diluted earnings per share financial outlook and has planned iconic and innovative products such as the expanded Omni-Heat Infinity collection and the new disruptive poly fleece innovation called Omni-Heat Helix.

West African country Benin is developing its textile sector. Benin has in the last few years become Africa’s leading cotton producer. It exports almost all of that raw, with the majority going to Bangladesh.

Now an initiative is under way to create jobs and revenue by processing the cotton locally with the goal of exporting apparel to consumer markets in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. So Benin has decided to no longer sell cotton raw but to transform this cotton, in particular by installing integrated textile factories.

The plan includes textile factories as well as cashew processing units, pharmaceutical processing units, and more. Although the systems are not yet in place to get cotton from field to factory, about 1,000 garment workers are being trained in the use of imported materials for now.In about a year the industrial zone in the southwest of the country aims at employing 15,000 people in three textile factories that will have a processing capacity of about 40,000 tonnes of cotton fiber. Eventually, a multi-billion dollar industry is envisaged that can process the majority of Benin’s cotton.

Cotton is grown in several West African countries including Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, but most is exported raw with little industrial processing across the region.

The IAF World Fashion Convention will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 14, 2022.

Held during Made in Bangladesh event, organized by BGMEA, it will focus on finding solutions to a set of imminent challenges for Bangladesh’s industry, including supply chain collaboration and purchasing practices, climate action, education and digitalisation and raw material recycling and availability.Buyers pay lower prices to apparel suppliers in Bangladesh than they do to some of the country’s competitors.

The International Apparel Federation (IAF) is the only global federation of its kind representing apparel associations from 60 countries, representing over 1,50,000 companies. The IAF convention caters to apparel industry leaders from across the supply chain, from all continents.

In a world where prices cannot drop much lower, boats cannot go much faster and people cannot work much harder, improvements are made only when the business is made smarter. This means smart supply chain collaboration, smart new machines, smart materials and above all, smart people.

On top of that, the convention will provide an excellent opportunity to meet the global industry in one location. The convention will show many inspiring examples of a smarter apparel supply chain. Top speakers from across the globe will cover the width of the supply chain, from raw materials to apparel sourcing and from production to retail trends.

Walmart and Ikea face losses in India despite a surge in sales.

Walmart India – which owns and operates 28 cash and carry wholesale stores – posted a six per cent jump in revenue in fiscal year 2022 while net loss went up by 49 per cent compared to the year ago. Three of Walmart entities in the country, Flipkart Internet, Myntra and Walmart India, all expanded losses by almost 50 per cent largely due to higher spending on delivering orders, advertisement and promotions, while their revenues grew by up to 45 per cent.

Ikea India’s net loss too went up by 12 per cent while revenue jumped by 77 per cent. Furniture and home décor store Ikea India is working on its plans towards positioning, growth and profitability of the omni-channel business in India.

Nevertheless Walmart and Ikea are currently in a market acquisition mode in India to establish a dominant position and may sacrifice profit in the short term. Also, the market environment has been tough last fiscal due to increased competition despite a bounce back post-Covid.

Tunisia’s exports of textiles and clothing picked up 11 per cent at the end of September 2022 compared to the same period last year.

But the quantities exported dropped 27 per cent compared to the same period of 2021. For the clothing sector, clothing in warp and weft increased 18 per cent in dinars and 12 per cent in tons, during the first nine months of 2022, compared to the same period last year. Knitwear has increased by 34 per cent in dinars and 24 per cent in tons. Analysis by market exports of clothing in warp and weft shows a growth in value and weight on the main markets, namely France (12 per cent in dinars and four per cent in weight), Germany (34 per cent in dinars and 28 per cent in weight) and Italy (21 per cent in dinars and ten per cent in weight). Exports of the textile sector went down 34 per cent in dinars and 50 per cent in tons.In value, textile exports to Italy grew 13 per cent but declined 52 per cent to France.

Tunisia’s imports of textiles and clothing increased 29 per cent until the end of September 2022 compared to the same period of 2021

Turkey’s cultivation area of cotton has increased this year. Cotton cultivation areas are estimated to have increased by 28 percent compared to the previous season. The ginning crop rate is estimated to be 40 percent in the new season.

On the other hand, low cotton purchase prices are not able to meet the demands of producers in the face of increasing costs and this situation may adversely affect producers in cultivation next season. If prices are low in the new season, manufacturers who cannot see a return on their costs may not want to sell the product.The availability of high-priced cotton and high-cost yarns in the stocks of spinners may cause a 12 per cent to 20 percent demand shrinking in the new season. It is expected that producers will see better prices after the new year.

Cotton maintains an important position in the country’s economy by providing raw materials to nearly 30 industries with its main and by-products.It makes a serious contribution to the economy, especially in the production of oil, seed, pulp, gunpowder and textiles. Turkey exports cotton seeds to countries such as Greece, Spain, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the demand is increasing every year.

The sewing machine market is growing at four per cent a year. The market is witnessing major developments regarding machine technology, with prominent manufacturers leveraging advances including Wi-Fi-enabled precision-based and smart sewing.

With the onset of Covid, growth prospects experienced a blip, as prominent production hubs experienced manufacturing constraints due to enforcement of strict lockdowns.However, since the second half of 2020, a recovery was experienced, as infections began to plateau, permitting resumption of factory operations.

Future growth prospects are banking on the ever-widening scope of automation in sewing technologies. To that end, manufacturers are flooding the market with smart sewing machines.Fabric and other malleable materials are stitched together with threads using a sewing machine. The many parts of a sewing machine and their numerous functions assist the operator in making full use of the machine.Sewing machines of many varieties are used in the production of clothing and other items.With feeding devices, the sewing machine regulates the fabric and creates a flawless stitch to unite the textiles. It has several components and attachments, each with its own function and importance. Most sewing machines are extremely safe to operate and have built-in safety mechanisms to prevent injury.

Pakistan’s textile and apparel export value declined by 20 per cent in September 2022.The export value was lower than the monthly average of this year for three consecutive months, and the year-on-year growth is very likely to turn negative next month.

Pakistan’s pure cotton yarn export volume was down 25 per cent year-on-year. This year, the thin exports of Pakistan’s yarn were opposite to its strong textile and apparel exports, and the reduced demand from the Chinese market was the main cause for the decline in cotton yarn exports. Recently, Pakistan’s cotton prices remained relatively stable, so the downward trend of cotton yarn offers was not obvious, and the offers in Pakistan were higher than spot prices in China’s local market for a long time.

The production of Pakistan’s siro-spun yarn continues to drop, and its dependence on the Chinese market kept decreasing.In September, Pakistan's cotton import volume did not continue to increase as expected, but fell slightly.

The delay in the shipping of US cotton to Pakistan this month led to a low overall arrival volume. At the same time, as US cotton prices moved down in fluctuations recently, a small number of defaults occurred among Pakistan’s cotton buyers. So the decline in Pakistan’s cotton imports in September reflected the easing of Pakistan's tight cotton supply to a certain extent.

Prospects for the global luxury industry don’t look very good.

Exponential increases in energy costs, rising inflation, raw material shortages, geopolitical tensions and decline in consumers’ purchasing power have abruptly cast a very dark shadow. Leading luxury groups have had to revise their forecasts downwards, despite the remarkable quarterly results recently posted by them.

Leading luxury groups recorded growth between 25 per cent and 30 per cent. But these results have to take into account an exchange rate impact of approximately eight per cent owing to the rise of the dollar. To cover their growing costs, major labels have also increased their prices without affecting demand. However, they are currently far below the sales peaks recorded in July and August, which prompted favourable expectations.

The luxury industry was accustomed to double-digit growth but, next year, growth will more likely be in the single digits. Until three or four years ago, it was enough for a company to have prospects in Asia. Not any more, now brands need to have a strong identity and the potential to grow globally.Mergers and acquisitions are therefore expected to multiply. A stock market listing is a mandatory choice, to provide transparent governance and facilitate generational handover, so that family members may be able to better manage the group in future. It helps clarify the roles of family members and external executives.