Iran is revamping the garment and textile industry. There are about 8,000 production units across the country providing jobs to 2,60,000 people. Last year Iran’s garment and textile exports rose by 36 per cent and 25 per cent in volume and value terms.

Over the last few years, the industry has been going through tough phase owing to smuggling of garments into the country and sanctions that have badly hit the local textile firms.

Iran is imposing restrictions on imports. The country has taken measures aimed at renewing the country’s garment manufacturing industry, in a bid to enter international markets. Exporting apparel products to neighboring countries, including the CIS and, in particular, Azerbaijan, is on the agenda. There are about 50,000 apparel manufacturing units in the country. Foreign representatives, branches and distributors of apparel in Iran who seek business licenses have been mandated to produce goods worth 20 per cent of their import value inside Iran and to export at least 50 per cent of this domestic production. The initiative is aimed at increasing domestic production, creating jobs and reviving Iran’s apparel industry. Public interest in domestic products has dramatically surged over recent months.

Cotton spinners in India are grappling with the twin challenges of weak export demand and uncompetitive cotton prices. The impact is likely to be more pronounced for leveraged companies that have undertaken a sizeable debt-funded capital expansion in recent years and have higher repayments scheduled in the near term.

With India exporting roughly one-third of its cotton yarn production every year, trends in export demand play a crucial role in determining the overall performance of the domestic spinning sector. India’s cotton yarn exports declined 33 per cent in the first quarter and stood at a seven-year low in June 2019. As a result, spinning mills have had to face stock pile-ups and resorted to production cuts. As compared to a 50 per cent decline in cotton yarn exports to China during the first quarter, exports to other markets too declined by 20 per cent.

The pressure is primarily originating from higher cotton prices in the domestic market, which has made Indian yarn manufacturers uncompetitive in international markets. As a result, the near-term outlook on Indian cotton yarn exports is quite weak at present. Even otherwise, a large proportion of spinners has not undertaken capacity expansions in recent years, given the discouraging demand trends.

Esprit has entered into an agreement with online retailer Deichmann. This mean that Esprit’s new footwear line will be available at the online and offline platforms of Deichmann.

Esprit, a fashion retail giant offers high quality fashion for men, women and children as well as the latest fashion accessories and furnishings. Esprit is in the middle of a restructuring process. Esprit has committed to increase sustainable viscose production. The fashion brand will work with suppliers and viscose manufacturers to move to a closed loop production system by 2023-25. With this, Esprit commits to improve the manufacturing process of viscose and modal fibers. The German company closed the first nine months of its fiscal with a 16.1 per cent drop in revenues. Deichmann is the biggest footwear group by revenue in the world. Deichmann, based in Germany, operates in 25 European countries and the United States, and generates 60 per cent of its income outside Germany. Deichmann has extensive growth plans for 2019. Investments will be made both in the modernisation of the store network and the opening of new brick-and-mortar stores, as well as in internationalisation and digitalisation. For 2019, the group is planning on opening 229 new stores worldwide and modernising 256 stores.

Demand for comfort, performance and style has driven the need for a multifunctional wardrobe which has given a huge boost to global athleisure market which is growing at nine percent. Consumers who purchase sports clothing for exercise also wear such items for eating out or shopping. This willingness to pair sportswear with core wardrobe pieces has opened sportswear brands up to new audiences and allowed them to diversify into new product areas, boosting their share of the global clothing and footwear market. Active wear brands are selling consumers a lifestyle, and fashion retailers are leveraging their style credentials to produce affordable fitness ranges to sell alongside core casual and formal wear collections. Increasing consumer appetite for comfort has also fuelled sales of active wear and trainers with brands utilising their technical expertise in ensuring products offer freedom of movement, aid temperature and sweat control, shape the body and provide support.

While fashion trends and influencers have driven the success of athleisure market, sustainability movement will continue to support the desire for a multifunctional wardrobe. Consumers are purchasing more consciously and reducing spend on fast fashion, playing into the hands of those retailers and brands that can showcase the versatility of their items, as well as the durability and quality.

"With low growth in synthetics, Indian apparel industry stands to be less competitive. The synthetic segment in India failed to make a mark in the global market because of low exports, low wages in factories producing synthetics and low investments in the sector. Indian textile units run for only six months in a year to produce cotton apparels. In the remaining six months, these units are either shut or run at a low capacity as they do not have orders for synthetics/ winter wear."

With low growth in synthetics, Indian apparel industry stands to be less competitive. The synthetic segment in India failed to make a mark in the global market because of low exports, low wages in factories producing synthetics and low investments in the sector. Indian textile units run for only six months in a year to produce cotton apparels. In the remaining six months, these units are either shut or run at a low capacity as they do not have orders for synthetics/ winter wear.

Absence of synthetics impacts worker wages

Making winter wears is more expensive than making informal cotton wear, hence, workers making suits earn more money than workers making say a blouse. Thus, the absence of synthetics affects workers’ wages. Also, India has a few large firms that produce 90 per cent of synthetics raw materials consumed domestically. This compels local traders to import synthetics which are expensive due to high customs and anti-dumping duties on raw materials like PTA, PSF, PFY, acrylic fibers, etc. Though duty-free imports to exporters offer some relief, but the domestic synthetics ecosystem remains stunted.

Lack of expertise and technology

Moreover most weaving and processing units lack expertise, scale and technology. Power outage and reduced capacity use doubles the cost of weaving in India, making it as expensive as in the EU or the US. Same is the case with processing units which engage in batch processing that often results in varying shrinkage, feel and shades. Most Indian processors also struggle to meet the zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) norms set by Madras high court in 2011.

Indian exporters are also ill-prepared to meet the demands of global fast-fashion leaders like Walmart, Zara, H&M, Gap, and online-only retailers like Amazon, Zalando. These leaders conjure new fashion trends and convert designs into affordable clothing within a few weeks. FFI leaders therefore, place orders with only those firms that deliver fast and are compliant with labor and other rules. In order to unshackle the sector and set it on a high growth plan, textile leaders need to adopt a three-fold strategy.

Strategies to push up synthetics sector

Firstly, lowering duty on synthetics raw materials is important as this will reduce their prices by 30 per cent to 50 per cent. This will encourage the apparel industry to invest more in synthetics.

Second, strengthening weaving and processing segments is prime. Indian manufacturers should set up at least 10 big scale weaving and processing units annually.

Thirdly, making factories FFI complaint. India has about 1,200 compliant factories supplying cotton products to FFI and other large buyers. Many of these would invest in synthetics and export new products to the same set of buyers.

These actions would make India a significant player in apparel trade and ensure a bright outlook for its future.

Banana Republic has launched a new rental platform Style Passport that will also provide the label with a new sales stream. The platform will drive incremental revenue, of the brand and help it to connect with younger shoppers who appreciate great style and want an affordable, sustainable way to try new fashion. With this new service, the brand will gather valuable insights from a highly interactive customer base that can be used to design future product and experiences.

Subscribers to Style Passport will pay a flat monthly fee of $85 and have the option to buy any of the items. The service includes three garments, free priority shipping and laundering services, and unlimited exchanges and returns. Like many apparel retailers that offer such services — including Macy's-owned Bloomingdale's, which this week announced similar plans — Banana Republic has partnered with rental technology platform CaaStle.

In addition to its new rental service, Banana Republic will also offer online purchases and pick up in-store services.

China, the European Union and India were the world’s top three exporters of textiles in 2018 The top three accounted for 66.9 per cent of world textile exports in 2018. The United States was the world’s fourth top textile exporter in 2018. China, the European Union, Bangladesh, and Vietnam were the top four largest apparel exporters. Altogether, these top four accounted for as much as 72.3 per cent of world market shares in 2018.

The European Union, the United States, and China were the top three largest importers of textiles in 2018, accounting for 37.5 per cent of the world’s total textile imports that year. The increasing diversification of textile import markets is associated with the shifting pattern of world apparel manufacturing and exports.

The European Union, the United States, and Japan were the world’s top three importers of apparel in 2018. Altogether, these top three absorbed 61.5 per cent of world apparel in 2018, which, however, was lower than 62.3 per cent in 2017 and a significant drop from 84 per cent back in 2005. It is not that consumers in the EU, the US and Japan are importing less clothing. Instead, several emerging economies, such as China, are becoming fast-growing apparel consumption markets and starting to import more.

Chinese textile products can be dumped in Indonesia and hit domestic textile companies Nevertheless, these companies' credit profiles may stay stable over the next 12 or 18 months, because exports account for a high portion of their total sales, and because they maintain long-standing customer relationships and produce a strong range of value-added products that are not easily replaced by imported products.

The US-China trade dispute could lead to an influx of Chinese yarn, fabric and garments into Indonesia, potentially disrupting the so far stable levels of demand and supply in Indonesia by pushing up supply, which would in turn depress prices and hurt local manufacturers. Tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese textile exports are at 25 per cent versus the ten per cent or 15 per cent that Indonesia has implemented.

Indonesia is aggressively signing trade agreements with various countries, such as the European Free Trade Association, India, Australia, Algeria, and Morocco. The aim is to increase exports to Australia, the EU, Chile, Mozambique, Tunisia, Morocco, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. In the meantime efforts will be made to harmonize tariffs from upstream to downstream and have competitive energy prices. The country’s main destinations for its textile exports are Europe, the United States and Japan.

Gross value addition in the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh was 63.23 per cent in the first half of the current financial year comparatively value addition last financial year was 60.94 per cent.

Value addition is calculated considering the import price of raw materials including cotton, synthetic/viscose fiber, synthetic/mixed yarn, cotton yarn, and textile fabrics and accessories. Import price of raw materials in the July-December period of fiscal ’19 was 36.77 per cent of total export earnings from the readymade sector in the period. Thus raw material prices shared 36.77 per cent of the total value of readymade garment exports. This means local value addition is estimated at 63.23 per cent.

Meanwhile the spinning sector in Bangladesh is in danger of losing its price edge with other yarn and fabric producing countries. When the price of locally produced yarn and fabric increases they will remain unsold and overburden millers who are already operating in losses. This will give a huge blow to the backward linkage industry. When the forward sector starts using imported yarn and fabric, the situation will be much worse as a lump sum will be required for importing yarn and fabric and will shrink hard-earned valuable foreign currency.

Steve Madden has bought Greats. This will combine Greats’ strengths – which include an outstanding brand and stylish, classic designs that appeal to today’s more casual consumer – with Steve Madden’s proven business model, established infrastructure, and global reach.

Steve Madden which opened in 1990 in the US is into fashion footwear and accessories for women, men and children. It also has purses, sunglasses and more. These include daring silhouettes in high heels and purses to trend setting styles in men’s shoes. The brand is inspired by the streets. The pavements are its runway. Steve Madden gets inspired by new trends, rock and roll vibes and a large dose of urban touches. The brand is all about being unique and confident and embraces individuality with daring styles, jaw dropping heels, but always that sassy, sexy touch. Steve Madden has revolutionized the shoe industry, merging years of experience with unique and creative designs.

Greats is a footwear brand specializing in premium sneakers and well-known for its timeless yet aspirational and versatile styles. It has differentiated itself in the sneaker market with stylish, classic, quality designs suitable for office weekdays to adventuresome weekends. Greats is a direct-to-consumer footwear company. This luxury shoe brand manufactures its sneakers, boots and pool slides at the same factories as designer brands, yet for about a third of the price tag.