Survey Shows Coronavirus Impact on Chinese Textile Industry -Part III

While businesses have restarted on limited basis, the impact on the companies in the survey in the first half of the year is not ambiguous if we just see some of the important indicators like business income, profits, employment and export.

A national online survey was conducted by China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) from February 7-10, with a report circulated only to limited readership to show a comprehensive outlook and insight of the textile industry by specific sectors in different provinces on the basis of 1201 respondents, just a sample of the whole textile economic fabric if we can see wood and see forest. Continuing here is Part III of the survey analysis, as estimated impact on Chinese business for the first half of 2020.

Impact on Employment

Employees being the valuable assets even though the progress of modernization and digitalization driven by AI technology is cannibalizing human jobs. 9.5% of the companies in question think that there is no impact on their employment, but there is a bulk share of the companies, who have difficulty in recalling back their workers during this time of coronavirus , as is manifested by the 21.9% of the respondents reporting over 30% laborer loss and 44.1% of the companies with reduced employment by 10%-30%, and 24.5% of the survey participants expected to have less than 10 percent loss of their operators as compared with the same period last year.

In the segmental view, we see more loss of workers in garment, knitting and base textile sectors, rating at 31.6%, 30.9% and 30% respectively. Obviously, smaller companies have less employs and expected to be more handicapped.

Estimated Impact on Employment in the Companies in the First Half of the Year

Impact on Business Income

The first half of the year will see a reduced income by more than 20% in 65.2% of the companies surveyed, and by 10%-20% in 24.5% of the respondents under survey, as businesses are hard to rehabilitate to the full potential with uncertainties still struggling with doubts whether to take more orders while workers are not yet available in full number or to wait with inadequate capacity kept running until the situation turns out to be better.

Estimated Reduction of Business Income for the First Half

Impact on Export Estimation

China’s export from textile industry constitutes around 36 percent of the global outbound shipments in this trade sector, regardless of its increased investment in overseas operations in low-income countries largely in Southeast Asia, Africa etc. The increase in labor cost might be one of the important drivers for outgoing investments, resulting in year-on-year decrease of the textile and apparel export that registered US$280.7 billion last year with a slight drop at 1.5%, but significantly 5.3 percentage points down as against the year before. In spite of the export slowdown, it is still an important pillar that supports the whole textile economy. The impact as induced by the coronavirus on the export business is much of a growing worry if the indicator continues to remain as it chalks down in the survey.

83.6% of the knitting companies, 75% of the silk textile manufacturers, 73.7% of the base textile mills and 72.5% of wool textile enterprises responded to say that they would fall by over 10 percent in export as opposed to the first half of last year. 54% of all the companies in the survey report said that they would meet over 10% down in their export business, some silk companies in particular, reported to say their shipping out business would be cut by half, consequently.

Impact on Export for the First Half of 2020 (estimated)

The article is provided with data taken from the analysis report on the basis of online nation-wide Questionnaires survey with 1201 respondents. The impact on the textile industry is given in three phases as stated previously to cover the period from the start of New Year to the middle of February, and the period all the way down to the end of the month, and the longer period for the first half of this year. The picture looks a bit gloomy as the survey report came out on February 13, amid rising cases of symptoms suspected or confirmed for the novel coronavirus, to which people are susceptible if company owners waywardly summon workers back to work. The whole situation starts to look pretty sunny as the new symptomatic cases of the disease continue to drop over 16 days across the country. More and more people take on journey back to job on meticulously-arranged basis, business will return to not where we are, but to where we aim higher. Out of the distress of dark tunnel, we walk into the hope of sunshine.

Contributed by Mr. ZHAO Hong

He is working for CHINA TEXTILE magazine as Editor-in-Chief in addition to being involved in a plethora of activities for the textile industry. He has worked for the Engineering Institute of Ministry of Textile Industry, and for China National Textile Council and continues to serve the industry in the capacity of Deputy Director of China Textile International Exchange Centre, V. President  of China Knitting Industry Association, V. President of China Textile Magazine and its Editor-in-Chief for the English Version, Deputy Director of News Centre of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Deputy Director of International Trade Office, CNTAC, Deputy Director of China Textile Economic Research Centre. He was also elected once ACT Chair of Private Sector Consulting Committee of International Textile and Clothing Bureau (ITCB)

Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference will be held in Amsterdam, April 28 to 29, 2020. The two-day conference agenda is segmented into open discussions, candid dialogues, insightful speaker address, and practical sessions. The sessions will cover social impact, environmental performance, factory engagement, consumer trust and expectations. More than 200 delegates are expected to attend the conference and initiate dialogues on topics ranging from planning to implementing sustainable practices across apparel and textile supply chains. The discussion topics will include consumer engagement and reducing climate impacts across fashion and textile supply chains. There will be insights into sourcing trends. The conference will be an open forum to get knowledge on the best practices adopted by industry leaders by better implementation of policies. It will also act as a networking platform to meet influential stakeholders, representing NGOs, government and industry bodies and supply chain people.

The event is organized by Innovation Forum, an independent UK-based company with decades of experience in organising sustainability events. The Forum's events are all about open debate and conversations between speakers and various stakeholders. For the past few years, it has added to its portfolio by organising events focused on preventing deforestation and sustainable issues like supply chains and apparel.

L Brands is on course to sell Victoria’s Secret to Sycamore Partners. Sycamore Partners is expected to buy 55 per cent of Victoria’s Secret and take the struggling business private. L Brands is expected to keep a 45 per cent stake in the separate company, which will include the Pink chain.

After shedding several brands in recent years, L Brands’ operations would be reduced to running the Bath & Body Works chain. This is a sharp fall for a business that operates hundreds of stores, elevated the profiles of supermodels like Tyra Banks and Gisele Bundchen, and generated about $7 billion in annual sales in its last fiscal year.

Victoria’s Secret, with its emphasis on supermodels wearing padded bras, has long dominated the US lingerie market but has struggled in recent years with falling sales. It has lost some women to upstart brands that promote comfort and inclusivity. Last year, Victoria’s Secret canceled its televised fashion show. In the nine month period Bath & Body Works revenue rose 12 per cent while the rest of the company’s revenue declined.

Sycamore Partners, founded in 2011, has scooped up several troubled apparel brands and bricks-and-mortar chains, including The Limited, Hot Topic, Nine West and Staples.

Simon Property Group, Brookfield Property Partners and Authentic Brands are in line to acquire Forever 21. Authentic Brands and Simon Property would own 37.5 per cent each of the retailer, while Brookfield Property would buy 25 per cent of the intellectual property and operating businesses.

Bankrupt teen fashion retailer Forever 21, which has 815 stores in 57 countries, will continue to operate in US and international markets. The retailer’s current owned store operations in Central America, South America, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Caribbean would be converted to a licensed partnership model. The new owners are also working with existing and new partners to expand Forever 21 across key territories, including South America, China, the Middle East and India. Forever 21, founded in 1984, became a multibillion dollar operation in over 40 countries before it filed for bankruptcy. The fashion chain had become successful due to its coolness factor and its ability to identify the needs of its customers. But these same customers started to move to online and other retailers. The brand specialised in the fast fashion principle as it made outfits for young teenage girls, who wanted to dress like their favorite celebrities. Forever 21 helped them by providing these fast and at affordable rates.

India will support micro, small and medium enterprises with finance, legislation, certification, quality control programs, and R&D. The textiles ministry will get in touch with small scale manufacturers, who are meeting exports compliances and meeting delivery schedules. They have been granted a host of benefits like a portal which is empowered to grant them loans of up to a crore in less than an hour. Access to credit, to the market, technology upgradation, ease of doing business, and a sense of security for employees are some of the other benefits. It is expected these will go a long way in mitigating the problems of small businesses.

Established opportunities will be diversified instead of leaving the space for one Export Promotion Council or one segment. Domestic capabilities will be augmented. The aim is to ensure India does not remain a nation of job workers but a leader in the textile sector. So, for instance, there won’t be just ten big textile companies but a hundred such companies. The manmade fiber sector will be encouraged to add to its capacity and occupy the space vacated by China. This country has vacated its apparel space in the last three years and most of this has been in the manmade fiber sector.

Sports equipment and fashion group Nike has announced changes in the financial and operational directions, as well as in the area of consumption and marketplace, due to the retirement of its current managers. The succession will be done in an orderly manner and will be completed by the end of 2020.

Heidi O’Neill, president of Nike Direct, has been appointed as the new president of consumer and marketplace departments. He will lead the entire business of direct sales to the consumer, as well as the global activity in the four geographic regions in which the company segments its business: North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; China; Asia Pacific, and Latin America Latin. The executive will assume the role after being part of the Nik’s team for more than 21 years in the group, where she has undertaken various senior roles.

Andy Campion, Chief Operating Officer, will lead Nike’s global technological and digital transformation, technological development, supply and manufacturing, demand and supply management, distribution and logistics, purchasing, sustainability and design, and connectivity in the workplace. The executive joined Nike in 2007 as vice president of global planning and development and held finance and strategy positions before becoming chief financial officer in 2015. Prior to joining Nike, he worked at Disney.

Mathew Friend, financial director of the operating segments will work on corporate strategy and development. In 2011 he was CFO of emerging markets, then assumed that corresponding role for global categories, products and functions, and ultimately for Nike as well.

These three changes in senior management are the most relevant that have occurred since the Oregon multinational announced the succession of Mark Parker. The chosen one was Donahoe, former president of eBay, with a clear objective to deepen the online offensive of the brand and its commitment to have a more direct relationship with consumers.

British luxury brand is setting up training programs that seek to foster and protect artisanal skills for British fashion manufacturing. The British luxury company has opened a training center at its factory in Castleford, West Yorkshire. The goal is to nurture talent and protect the traditional, artisanal skills that underpin Yorkshire’s textile industry.

Over the last 50 years, Burberry has created some of the most iconic products in Castleford. The brand believes in protecting artisanal skills, nurturing talent and investing in British fashion manufacturing. It is partnering with the UK Fashion and Textile Association to provide a set of training opportunities for their own manufacturing teams as well as enabling new routes in the industry for the local community.

The Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGPMEA) says the country’s garments accessories and packaging sector may incur a loss of Tk 1,200-1,500 crore if import deadlock from China continues for three to four more months. About 40 per cent of raw materials for the sector are procured from China. Importers have suffered losses of over Tk 200 crore due to extension of Chinese New Year holidays. While some of the goods have reached the ports, their documents are missing. In some other cases, there are documents but no goods.

At present, 1,744 registered institutions operate in the garments accessories and packaging sector in Bangladesh. The sector provides employment to over 7.5 lakh people. About 35 types of raw materials, including yarn, fabric, duplex board, white liner, thermoplastic mould, carton, sewing threads, etc, are imported from China.

Companies in the garments accessories also supply raw materials for leather and pharmaceuticals industries alongside the apparel sector, said the association. Moreover, the association member companies cannot import materials as per their will every now and then, which adds to the problem. Even if they find alternative sources, that will add to the cost and time of procurement.

Old Navy plans to exit China. The brand owned by Gap will be closing all its stores in the country. Old Navy serves a core audience of value-seeking families. Children’s clothing is often an entry point to the brand. The brand has focused on increasing its size range, too, and has built an infrastructure that quickly feeds stores with what customers want rather than serving the same assortment to everyone. Old Navy first arrived in China in 2014 and currently operates ten stores in the country. The retailer is the latest in a series of international brands to beat a retreat from China in the last few years, including Forever 21, Asos and New Look.

In February 2019, Gap announced it was planning a spin-off of the Old Navy brand as a separate company, so that the consistent strong performer could concentrate its efforts into growth-oriented strategies and expansion. However, the future of the planned split was put into question when momentum at Old Navy began to slow and, in January of this year, Gap revealed it would no longer go ahead with the separation, since the cost and complexity of the operation had thrown the company’s ability to create value from the split into doubt.

The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association says, garment factories in the country face the risk of shutdown as Coronavirus has restricted imports of all major raw materials. Myanmar imports up to 90 per cent of raw materials from China and the rest from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea for the garment industry which largely uses a cut-make-package (CMP) model.

The number of deaths from the Coronavirus outbreak in mainland China has risen by 136, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,004. There are over 70,000 confirmed cases across the country. Many businesses, including suppliers for Myanmar’s factories, are struggling to function properly.

Majority of clothing factories have stopped running overtime due to dwindling stocks. Normally clothing factories run 10 hours on weekdays, which include two hours of overtime, as well as overtime on weekends. But many factories are closing on weekends and not running overtime on weekdays.