The Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak in China is likely to affect Indian textile and apparel industry, in many positive ways. A recent press release by the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) reveals, the prevailing situation along with uncertainty over the commencement of production is posing a major issue for Indian manufacturers who are dependent on raw material supplies from China. However, it is also compelling global apparel brands to look at India as an alternate manufacturing destination.

On an average, India exports 20-25 million kg of cotton yarn a month to China. Prices of cotton yarns declined 3-4 per cent in domestic market as traders are anticipating a decline in demand from China on account of the prevailing situation. Any further prolonging of the virus will result in a decline in China’s imports of cotton yarn, impacting India’s exports. India will have to divert its surplus cotton yarn to the domestic market, further reducing the price of cotton yarn.

Diversification to increase lead times and costs

India imports synthetic yarns worth $460 million and $360 million worth synthetic fabrics from China annually. It also imports over $140 million worth accessories like buttons, zippers, hangers and needles. With the outbreak of this epidemic, textile factories in India have halted operations since the Chinese New Year. If this situation prevails, Indian garment manufacturers will have to look for alternate sourcing modes including local sourcing, which in turn may increase the cost of their finished goods by 3-5 per cent. Moreover, identifying vendors in such a short time can take a toll on lead times, quality and cost.

China imports large quantities of medical protective gears such as surgical masks and protective clothing from across the globe. This has raised sales of such products in other South East and Western nations to such an extent that its supply is not able to keep up with the demand.

Indian manufacturers fail to emerge as perfect alternative

On January 31, 2020, the Indian government banned exports of all personal protection equipment, including clothing and masks to avoid any shortage in India. However, it soon lifted this ban to help China battle the disease. The government also provided a major relief to Chinese synthetic yarn manufacturers by abolishing the 2.5 per cent of anti-dumping duty levied on Purified Tephthalic Acid (PTA) in order to strengthen the country’s synthetic textiles industry. However, as most of central China and Hubei is at a virtual standstill, importing PTA from China is not a viable option at the moment.

This situation can be advantageous for India as buyers who travel to China from Europe and USA to negotiate with garment exporters can be diverted to the country. One factor that plays in China’s favor is that a number of companies have already produced garment for the Spring/Summer season.

However, if the situation prevails for next couple of months and China fails to control the virus epidemic, buyers will be left with no option but to explore other sourcing destinations. In such a situation, Bangladesh and India stand more than Vietnam, Cambodia or any other South East Asian supplier. On its part, India scores on account of its robust supply chain. However, manufacturers neither have the scale nor the cost competitiveness to present themselves as credible alternate.

One of the biggest threats to the Chinese luxury industry since the 2008 financial crisis is the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak that has prevented as many as 1,000 Chinese fashion buyers from attending Europe’s top fashion shows this month. Besides, the outbreak is also disrupting supply chains for more mid-market apparel, with retailers and fashion brands expressing concern about the ability of Chinese factories to deliver autumn-winter collections as planned. As Luca Solca, a luxury goods analyst at Bernstein, luxury sales in China during the first quarter of the current financial year could be heavily impacted with revenues falling by low to mid-teens digits.

Lack of Chinese buyers effect luxe brands

Many US-listed luxury companies also depend on China for their sales. For instance, Tapestry-a US-based modern luxury lifestyle brand has been increasing revenues in China by three times faster than the overall group. Chinese factories can churn out everything from coats to swimsuits for fashion brands from H&M and Next of the UK to higher-end designers such as Tory Burch.

However, due to the outbreak five Chinese designers have cancelled their fashion shows scheduled for the Paris Fashion Week next week. Chanel and Prada have also postponed separate events planned for May in China. As per an estimate by the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, Italian exports are likely to fall by a minimum of €100 million in the first quarter and €230 million if the crisis prolongs further for the first half of the year.

To attract Chinese buyers back to the market, Kering’s Gucci brand live streamed the catwalk show for Autumn/Winter women’s collection in Milan, using Weibo, one of China’s biggest social media platforms. Similarly, other luxury groups activated contingency plans that include closing stores and offices in China, scaling back product launches and advertising, and clamping down on staff expenses globally. Some have instituted hiring freezes.

Mid-market fashion brands in China are more exposed to the contingencies in supply chains than their luxury peers. Rising labor costs do not affect luxe players much as they easily diversify their manufacturing to other cheaper countries. However, China still remains a major source of fabrics for garment makers in places such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. These brands are likely to face delays in manufacturing and dispatch of their autumn winter collections. For instance, brand Next has about £20 million inventory at risk in China. This is leading to increased insecurity for both Chinese factory owners and its brands.

The European Union’s volume-wise apparel imports fell 1.42 per cent from January to November 2019. However, in the same period, the value of imports increased by 4.29 per cent.

Europe’s changing retail landscape is one reason for the dip in import volumes. As consumer preferences are changing, and they are looking for more personalised clothing, many companies are now producing garments within Europe, which further results in lower imports. The European Union as a whole remains a leading producer of both textile and apparel.

China’s apparel exports to the EU fell in both value and volume by 6.51 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively in the 11 months. Bangladesh, the second top garment exporter to EU after China, managed to rake in growth marginally in volumes, while growth was significant in value terms. Vietnam, on the other hand, dipped by 5.84 per cent in its quantity-wise exports and got a boost of 10 per cent in values of apparel exports to the EU. India’s exports to the EU from January to November ’19 dipped 0.92 per cent in volume, while value surged marginally by 2.20 per cent.

US-based Quantum Materials is investing in new manufacturing equipment to meet the increased demand for domestic production capabilities. Quantum, founded in 1985, is fully vertically integrated with expertise in mono- and multi-filament extrusion, texturing, twisting and weaving. The company is known for creating suspension fabrics for office seating, including one of the best-selling and most iconic office chairs in the world. In developing high performance mono-filament elastomeric yarns, now known as the original 5280 yarn technology, Quantum has built a reputation for innovation and quality among leading contract furniture manufacturers and other manufacturing industries.

The company is diversifying its business with customized state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to support research, development and manufacturing for non-traditional and high-performance woven textile solutions. The company supplies a range of specialized, custom fabrics to companies with needs in an array of industries, including filtration fabrics, woven tire cord, tubular belting, transparent window screens and other confidential government associated projects.

Quantum has a vertically integrated structure to manufacture a wide range of high-performance yarns and fabrics offering advanced textile solutions to its diverse customer base. Its team has been working on proprietary, custom equipment designed to give it the flexibility to work in any textile-related industry needing specialized yarns and/or fabrics.

PVH has just appointed Kelly Chu as the new global strategy manager for Calvin Klein. The American group, owner of other brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Arrow, Izod, Van Heusen, among others, is strengthening Calvin Klein’s force with this new naming.

Kelly Chu took over her position at Calvin Klein this February. Prior to joining the PVH family, the manager operated at Coach, the latter being one of the major brands of the American luxury fashion holding, Tapestry. Chu first joined Coach in February 2018 as senior analyst of global finance, a post she occupied for a year and seven months before being promoted as senior analyst for North America’s retail finance of Coach, a role she maintained for seven months up until her transfer to Calvin Klein.

The now manager, who obtained her bachelor’s degree in Economics, Minor in Entrepreneurship & Management at The Johns Hopkins University in Maryland also worked for J.P Morgan for almost two years as an investment banking analyst. The American company that has been focusing on strengthening its team, recently the group also appointed Tom Chu as regional president of Asia Pacific, who took office on February 1. The holding company is coursing a fluid path, after completing the payment of the acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Warnaco at the end of last year. “We are looking to make another acquisition, we’re looking at a brand, or portfolio of brands, that we can layer on to our operating platform,” said Emanuel Chirico, chairman and chief executive officer of PVH.

The American group that counts over 38,000 associates operating in over 40 countries, recorded a revenue of 9.7 billion dollars in its last fiscal year. PVH’s latest financial report corresponds to its third quarter of 2019 in which the group registered a net income of 208.9 million dollars, down 13.9% year-on-year and reached sales of 2.4 billion dollars, up 2.38% than the previous year. Specifically, Calvin Klein’s revenue increased by 1%, to 969 million for the third quarter.

Irish brand Primark plans to open two new stores in the American market. These stores will opene at American Dream, New Jersey, Sawgrass Mills, Florida.

The low-cost company expects its sales to grow by 4.2 per cent ahead of last year in the first half. In the UK, the company expects a growth of 3.0 per cent in clothing, footwear, and accessories, which will be driven by new selling space and partially offset by a 1.3 per cent decline in like-for-like sales. Primark saw positive results in the UK market over November and December. However, this growth has come to fall in January and February in comparison to the prior year.

The market with the biggest forecasts is that of the Eurozone, it is expected to grow by 5.3 per cent ahead of last year at constant currency with particularly strong sales growth in France, Belgium, and Italy. The recently opened store in Milan exceeded expectations along with the store in Ljubljana that also kept a constant solid trade.

Gartex Texprocess will be held in Mumbai from, March 19 to 21, 2020. This is a textile and garment machinery exhibition. The show will include: garment machinery that will provide insights into technological developments in the garment manufacturing sector. Innovative products and technologies, defining latest trends in the industry, will be showcased. The intent is to reach out to the leading textile hubs of South and West India.

Gartex Texprocess is a platform that has been instrumental in unifying various stakeholders within the garment and textile manufacturing supply chain. Now the show is being held for the first time in Mumbai. Exhibitors will present the latest innovations, machines, plants, processes and services to various stakeholders in the industry, including manufacturers and suppliers. The event is aimed at providing business opportunities to international and national suppliers as well as trade visitors through networking sessions with industry experts and engaging in investment opportunities.

Gartex unifies various stakeholders within the garment and textile manufacturing supply chain and provides stakeholders greater accessibility to their buyers in the western and southern regions. This edition will complement the existing New Delhi edition while also increasing the expanse of the show by reaching out to smaller-sized companies and start-ups in the region.

The new Oerlikon Barmag eAFK Evo promises superior speeds, greater productivity and consistently high product quality, along with lower energy consumption and simpler operation vis-à-vis comparable market solutions. In particular, the machine has two new value-added features, the optimized, innovative EvoHeater and the EvoCooler, a completely newly developed active cooling unit.

Using Oerlikon polycondensation and extrusion systems, the Indian manmade fiber companies manufacture polyester, nylon and polypropylene. Oerlikon offers the entire process chain, from the melt to the textured yarn or the fibers and including the necessary semi and fully automated logistics process, from a single source. Oerlikon is known for its brands Barmag, Neumag and Nonwoven.

The 24-end WINGS FDY PA makes the efficient production of FDY PA6 yarns a reality. The enclosed draw unit ensures low spin finish emissions, offering a safe working environment. Offering swift string-up, the optimized yarn path of the tried-and-tested WINGS FDY PET system is united with the high relaxing performance of conventional polyamide systems to create a completely new concept. The result is outstanding yarn properties, superlative dyeability, optimum process performance and high full package rate. Perfect package build guarantees excellent further processing properties in the downstream processes. With a 116-mm stroke, this winder makes high package weights possible, therefore delivering added-value yarns for further processing. As a consequence, yarn manufacturers can give themselves a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Punjab may soon get a mega textile park. The state has a textile eco-system and leading local companies do have the potential to invest at a large level. Some Punjab-based companies already have major operations in other states and are continuously investing out of Punjab. It is very difficult to get 1,000 acres of land in established hubs like Ludhiana, and the industry might not shift or invest outside Ludhiana.

Once the park is built, it can act as a textile growth hub across the entire Northern region to drive the textile eco-system, surrounded by clusters like Ludhiana, for sustainably generating employment and exports for the future. The spinning sector might not invest as Punjab’s textile policy, compared to that of Maharashtra and Gujarat, is less favorable for the industry.

But down the line, all other segments, be they knitters, weavers or garment manufacturers, have an incentive to invest in such parks as overall they are doing well. The proposed mega textile park would throw more opportunities for the textile industry to cater to domestic markets and also the international market. Punjab is one of the leading textile states of India. <Ten such mega textile parks have been proposed across India

OTEXA’s figures indicate, India exported kid’s wear worth $265.74 million to the US in 2019. That’s around 12 per cent of total kid’s wear import value of the US, which stood at $2.26 billion. India noted rise despite the US falling in its kid’s wear by 3.11 per cent on Y-o-Y basis. China, with an export value of $840.50 million, again became an epicentre of this disruption as it plunged by significant 16.05 per cent and gave an opportunity to other countries to capture the shift.

Data suggests India was able to grab the shift due to its ability of making quality kid’s wear. The closest competitor for India in the US market is Vietnam, which shipped $260.51 million worth, marking 12.18 per cent growth. It is believed that moving business from China is bound to go to Vietnam, which interestingly did not happen in kid’s wear category in 2019, if data is anything to go by.

Bangladesh’s growth too remained decent as it upped it kid’s wear export to the US by 8.18 per cent to ship $207.93 worth of kids’ apparels. Bangladesh is diversifying successfully in product categories other than basic commodities like T-shirts, trousers and shirts.