Factory activity has contracted across Asia and Europe due to the escalating trade war between the US and China. A world recession is feared. The trade war has damped automotive demand. Higher trade tariffs may take their toll on global commerce and further dent business and consumer sentiment, leading to job losses and delays in investment decisions. The outlook remains grim as output growth slips, factory prices stall and businesses get pessimistic on production. The trade war has not only become a technology war but also a broad-based business war.

Central banks in Australia and India are expected to cut rates this week, with others around the world seen following suit in the coming weeks and months. While US manufacturing is expected to grow steadily, the global malaise is expected to eventually feed back into the US economy. In Britain, the Brexit stockpiling boom of early 2019 gave way last month to the steepest downturn in British manufacturing in almost three years as new orders dried up, boding ill for economic growth in the second quarter. The euro zone economy is under pressure.

America’s new tariff threats against Mexico have also contributed to global recession fears, with stock markets tumbling around the world.

Three years after key regulatory and labor changes were put in place, India’s textile and apparel exports have declined from 2014 to 2018 while imports have increased. Particularly hit has been the apparel sector, where the time taken by the industry to adjust to the Goods and Services Tax regime, downward revision of export incentives, and a credit squeeze faced by small and medium scale enterprises have pushed production downwards. India’s apparel exports fell by 1.2 per cent in fiscal year ’19 from fiscal ’18, which in turn was four per cent lower than the previous year. Even the share of apparel exports in the country’s total textile exports fell from 51 per cent in fiscal ’17 to 45 per cent in fiscal ’19. The fall is attributed to the ever tightening pressure on export markets by higher shipments from low-cost competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam.

The recent slowdown in global demand has also increased competition in the markets which has coincided with taxation changes in India. Barring a few months, apparel exports have been continuously declining since October 2017, mainly due to stiff competition, slowdown and discontinuation of certain export incentives. There was a six per cent to seven per cent impact on costs, which hurt profitability of garment makers.

British heritage brand Hunter, founded in 1856 and widely known for its rain boots, posted a record revenue for last year. The company owes its success to a smart collaboration strategy and a diversified product offering. In the past year, Hunter has increased the number of collaborations it has done and expanded the variety of its partners along with adding several new categories.

The brand has also expanded its offerings in the last year within newer categories including apparel and beach totes, both launched in the last five years. Sales in both the apparel and bag categories grew by 50 per cent in the last year. The US is Hunter’s largest market and its sales there have grown 13 per cent year over year. Sales in Asia have also grown by 13 per cent.

Hunter has redesigned its e-commerce offerings and focused on selling more direct-to-consumer. Over the last two years, the brand has revamped its online store with more editorial content, more detailed sizing info, curated online concept shops and a reinvigorated e-mail strategy that more aggressively follows up with consumers who shop online. Through the work it has done with its own e-commerce and dialogue with customers via experiential activations and brand partnerships, it has been able to succeed.

The US has ended trade concessions for India under GSP. India calls the decision discriminatory, arbitrary, and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India, which is a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges. Turkey has also been stripped of its GSP trade concessions. Punitive tariff hikes will be imposed on imports from Mexico over its leniency toward immigrants from Central America.

The US is on a mission to end the massive trade deficits and has imposed or hopes to impose higher tariffs on imports from several countries while involved in a trade war with China.

India came under the GSP program in 1975. The program is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors. In retaliation for the US raising tariffs of steel and aluminium imports from India, India has threatened to increase duties on agricultural products like walnuts, apples and other fruits imported from the US. The US dairy industry says India’s sanitary and phytosanitary requirements are unscientific and so exporting to India is difficult. According to Indian laws imports should not come from cows that have been given cannibalised feed that includes offal or other meat products. India provides unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries that meet the criteria.

Entrepreneurs in Egypt are creating sustainable and ethical fashion solutions. Norhan El Sakkout founder of Saqhoute believes fashion should focus on producing quality products. Her products are priced higher than fast fashion products but her designs are versatile and long-lasting. El Sakkout believes in paying a fair wage to the people who produce her clothes. Although the minimum wage is common for workers in Egypt, El Sakkout prefers to pay above-market rates. El Sakkout tries to source locally produced natural fabrics, but she is not always successful. As a result, she often relies on using blended fabrics, which is also important for supporting local craftsmanship.

Similarly, Josline El Kholy, co-founder of Jozee Boutique, an ethical fashion brand, believes companies are ultimately responsible for informing their customers about products. El Kholy, who founded the brand with her husband, Ezzeldine Moukhtar, works with men and women across Egypt to produce bespoke embroidery on their clothing. She believes in partnering with employees. Employees work at their own pace, in their own homes. It’s more like a collaboration instead of an employer-employee relationship.

Fast fashion is plagued by ethical issues, including the treatment of garment factory workers. Its effect on the environment — from the disposal of cheap apparel to the pollution of natural resources — is also a growing cause for concern.

Some Chinese garment makers are planning to set up their factories under joint venture in Bangladesh as the country is a competitive destination to relocate plants amid raging US-China trade war and the rising cost in the world’s second largest economy.

Chinese textile and garment industry owners have invested heavily in neighboring Vietnam and Cambodia in the last two decades. However, now they are focusing to shift their factories to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The reasons for the change in focus include a lack of skilled workforce in Chinese textile and garment industry, rising cost of production, shifting industrial base to industries such as IT and over-investment in Vietnam and Cambodia where labor costs are lower.

Faisal Samad, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) met some entrepreneurs of Hong Kong-based Chinese Manufacturers’ Association during their visit to Dhaka from May 22 to May 26. The entrepreneurs came to Bangladesh to explore investment opportunities.

Gap has reduced its manufacturing exposure to China from 25 to 21 per cent over the past three years. The company has been moving sourcing out of China for the last several years and will continue to do this responsibly going forward. Less than five per cent of its sales come from China. The trade war threatens to increase costs for consumers and temper growth in its third largest market, mainland China. The supply chain agreements emanating from China are a sore spot. Specifically for China, the company is working diligently to mitigate the potential problem for consumers by incrementally moving away from reliance on the region. Including only apparel, its penetration is approximately 16 per cent, which is significantly lower than the relevant portions of the industry. That level is lower than that of peers like Abercrombie & Fitch, one quarter of whose goods are manufactured in China.

Gap, based in San Francisco, has been battered by a big miss on earnings and serious declines in same store sales across its key brands. Inventories in the first quarter were up over ten per cent as sales slowed and the potential for tariffs to temper consumer demand could worsen.

Denim veteran Christine Rucci, artist Johnny Germano and skateboard maker Ben Williams will debut a new brand collaboration, Down to Earth Original Denim and Decks, at New York’s Denim Days on June 9, 2019. The line will feature a tightly edited collection consisting of jeans, jean jackets, T-shirts, hats and some accessories in addition to skateboards, all made locally with sustainable fabrics and processes.

Christine Rucci has over a three decades of denim expertise. Johnny Germano is an artist and the founder of the apparel brand Down to Earth Original. Ben Williams is a skateboard maker. The line’s soft launch at Denim Days will include original artwork from Germano made with Recycrom pigments derived from old denim. One hand-painted, indigo-dyed skateboard will be raffled off at the event, and the proceeds will be donated to a non profit.

Down to Earth Denim and Decks is sponsored by denim and apparel industry stalwarts like Cone Denim Mills, Stony Creek Colors, Officina 39, Create a Marker NYC, A&E, Williamsburg Garment Company, YKK Fastening and Made in NYC.

Consumer dependent industries have begun to shift their focus toward environmental sustainability and consciousness through the use of ethical and responsible practices that don’t pose a threat to the planet. Within the art industry there is a tremendous amount of room for this growth.

Sheikh Abdul Mannan, Chairman, The Textile Traders Association (TTA) has stressed the need for fully availing the preferential market access by the EU countries for textile products under the GSP Plus scheme in order to bridge the trade as well as current account deficit (CAD) which has contracted by 27 percent to $11 billion during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year due to favourable policies of the government.

Mannan revealed that the Textile Policy 2014-19 is addressing the issues of all the sub-sectors of value-chain by laying down a comprehensive plan for the sustainable growth for the industry. He reiterated that the country aims to enhance exports to $30 billion by 2020. Though the target may appear ambitious but only value-addition to 13 million bales per year that Pakistan produces can help us achieve it.

The public-private partnership initiative for labor law compliance would result in enhanced compliance to international standards. This would help maintain the GSP Plus status as well as enhance business productivity and sustainability.

Mannan applauded the government for imposition of regulatory duties and banning furnace oil imports. He also lauded the new rules governing imports of used vehicles that have reduced the import bill during the period under review. He added that the challenge for the government lies in reversing the declining trend in exports, which have declined 2 percent to $21 billion despite massive devaluation of almost 40 percent in the rupee’s value during the last 10 months and special incentives for export-oriented sectors including textile.

"ColorJet printers have 45 per cent more production speeds than the nearest competition. They consume 47 per cent less space and 42 per cent less power as compared to other machines. Additionally, other digital textile printers consume 51 times more water as compared to ColorJet printers, making it the most sought after brand with its products starting at $59,000."

ColorJet India, the biggest Indian manufacturer of digital printers, will launch Vastrajet®- 8164, a digital textile printer with 16 heads at ITMA Barcelona 2019.

This advanced, high speed direct to fabric printer provides outstanding performance, increased productivity, superior printing accuracy with minimal maintenance needs.The printer is equipped with the latest technological innovation from ColorJet –AiS™ (Adaptive Ink System). The AiS™ provides its customers with a flexibility to use ink of their choice to address his various issues of logistics, procurement, colour consistency, etc.

The new Vastrajet®- 8164 is also equipped with AIVC™ technology which provides consistent print performance at varying environmental conditions.

ColorJet will also demonstrate its high-speed Metro-8166 which delivers industrial-level production with speeds of up to 294 sq. metre per hour. The Metro-8166 will be operated at ITMA 2019 on reactive ink, whereas the Vastrajet®- 8164 will be run on pigment ink on cotton blended fabrics.

ColorJet printers have 45 per cent more production speeds than the nearest competition. They consume 47 per cent less space and 42 per cent less power as compared to other machines. Additionally, other digital textile printers consume 51 times more water as compared to ColorJet printers, making it the most sought after brand with its products starting at $59,000.

ColorJet India markets its products in 25 countries worldwide and has installed and implemented over 4,000 of its printing solutions and products across 450 cities around the world backed by a strong 278-member team, of which almost 100 are in technical related functions.