Milan Fashion Week will be held from February 18 to 24, 2020. Typically an event like this attracts a thousand visitors from China, buyers, journalists or designers. But now very few are expected, mainly Chinese visitors who were already in Europe at the time of the outbreak. So the idea is to have the Chinese virtually participate in the Milan Fashion Week. Eight young Chinese stylists will be given the chance to participate in the Fashion Hub Market. This will be achieved through pre-recorded video discussions and figures that will allow them to present their projects. As the Coronavirus epidemic intensifies, the National Chamber of Italian Fashion has declared its solidarity with China. The campaign is twofold, with a special event and multiple video conferences that will take place between both countries all week.

The fashion week has announced 56 runways. The 2020-21 season is dedicated to ready-to-wear for fall/winter. Moncler, Ports 1961 and Philipp Plein will be returning, accompanied by Gilberto Calzolari and Vìen, who will be showing for the first time. In addition, a Chinese brand, with a presence in Europe and the US, is expected to show. Meanwhile, Italian fashion has already been economically penalized by the impact of the Coronavirus. For the first semester of 2020, the sector’s revenue is expected to decline by 1.8 per cent, particularly from January to March.

Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) producers in India could see their margins falling by 20 per cent since anti-dumping duty has been abolished on the chemical. PTA is a raw material used in the production of polyester staple fiber and filaments. The removal of the anti-dumping duty is expected to help India enhance its global competitiveness, boost exports and also enable domestic producers to compete with cheaper imports. The anti-dumping duty, imposed in July 2016 and July 2019, has now been revoked on PTA imported from China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand. China is a very big player with huge upstream and downstream PTA capacities, which has added to the pressure on PTA margins.

Owing to its properties such as weathering resistance, strength and flexibility, PTA’s use is growing across various end-use industries such as food and beverages, electronics, apparel, home textiles, carpets, and industrial fiber.

With the anti-dumping duty abolished, the effective spread earned by a company will be lower. Domestic capacity for PTA would be closer to about six million tons. And with Reliance Industries enhancing capacity in a big way, it could be impacted significantly. Reliance Industries is the biggest PTA producer in the country, with a domestic capacity of 4.4 million tons per annum.

India’s cotton exports may witness a temporary slowdown as the spread of coronavirus is likely to curtail demand for the fiber. Exports of around 2,50,000 cotton bales from India to China, for which deals were signed in January, have been put on hold as concerns over the spread of coronavirus have intensified. These deals will be settled mutually if the situation is not brought under control soon. In January, Indian exporters signed deals to export 7, 00,000 to 8,00,000 bales of cotton, of which 4,00,000 or 500,000 bales or 60 per cent were meant for China, and the rest for Bangladesh and Vietnam. After the uncertainty in China, cotton exporters in India are anxious to sign up for new consignments with China.

Strong orders from other countries and lower domestic prices have made sales economically viable. Indian cotton is offered at prices lower than crop from west Africa and the US. So finding new buyers won’t be difficult. India’s overall exports might touch five million bales mainly due to strong orders from other importing destinations like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Trading has resumed at financial markets in China, the second largest economy, after an extended holiday for the Lunar New Year.

After the spring festival, most spandex enterprises in the Chinese mainland have kept their run rate steady. Among the 23 spandex plants in the Chinese Mainland, 16 plants have partially shut down or reduced production, while a small amount of enterprises have decreased their operating rate after the festival.

Affected by the bullish support of the eased trade war and considerable orders from weaving plants in the fourth quarter, spandex inventory was continuously reduced. Before the spring festival, the inventory of spandex plants once fell back to below 40 days. Nevertheless, spandex industry inventory rapidly ticked up as downstream demand vanished during the spring festival as well as the extended holiday. Spandex industry inventory has increased to 48 days. It may take time for downstream weaving plants to recover. A small number of spandex downstream weaving plants are estimated to restart after the Lantern Festival.

The number of spandex units shutting down and reducing production is far lower than the number of downstream weaving plants. The market trading is in a vacuum phase. Industry inventory is expected to significantly rise. The spandex industry is estimated to be supported by the cost side after the festival. Spandex plants are mainly sell cargoes and curtailing their inventory which has sharply increased.

“Robots can be assigned specific tasks, they cannot handle the entire system”
-Mohanty, Country Manager, Macpi Italy.

Though the previous year was challenging for the apparel industry, the situation is likely to improve in 2020. Our neighbors like Bangladesh and Vietnam are enhancing their industries steadily, which further fuels their growth. 

One of the reasons, Turkey is growing is because they are closer to the market. “On the other hand, Vietnam is advancing on account of its use of better technologies.  We too need to step up our technological innovations and upgrade our skills,” says B.K. Mohanty, Macpi Italy

From basic apparel manufacturing, China is moving towards high engineering.  However, India does not have the facility to produce three lakh pairs of jeans a day. “This facility is only available in Bangladesh. Hence, buyers with higher volumes opt for Bangladesh whereas India has to remain satisfied with smaller orders.  If, we wish to divert these orders from Bangladesh to India, we need to step up our facilities” he further emphasizes on the underlying Indian textile industry potential which perennially is underperforming & under tapped.  

IoTs to be the way forward

The entry of good brands into India gives us an impetus to improve across India. States like Jharkhand and Orissa, which were so far neglected, are now growing as manufacturers and suppliers are concentrating on this belt. “The way forward for them now is IoTs. But for this, we need to critically first rescale, upscale, unlearn and find the capital,” views Mohanty. 

People are moving away from formals to semi formals or casuals.” This trend is particularly seen in suits, trousers and shirts. In future, active wear and leisure wear are likely to grow more. However, our textile parks and clusters have not been properly designed; ideally it has to be plug and play infrastructure. A park should have all facilities.  It should have sufficient water supply, ATMs, a transport company, a truck company and courier company which all is equally vital.  A textile park is not only about fiber or fabric,” adds Mohanty.      

Though robots can be assigned specific tasks, they cannot handle the entire system which continues to underpin the validity of human interface. “Fabrics do not lend themselves to interventions.  We cannot put the fabric at one end and expect the garment at the other,” adds Mohanty. Going forward his prognosis is that the domestic apparel market will be at the vanguard of embracing technology in the ever growing and vibrant Indian economy.

Bangladesh’s next business is denim. With the huge demand from global retailers and brands, the country has established some 30 denim mills. These meeting 40 per cent of the demand for denim fabrics from garment makers. The remaining demand is met through imports, mainly from China, India, Turkey and Pakistan.

In fact, Bangladesh has overtaken China in denim supply to the EU countries because of quality products at competitive prices. High water consumption during denim manufacturing is a major concern. More than 270 liters of water are needed to make a kilogram of denim fabrics. Due to the focus on sustainability Bangladesh denim fabric makers have dramatically reduced water consumption over the last few years with the adoption of the latest technologies in production. The target is to reduce water consumption by 80 per cent in the denim making process.

Demand for denim is on the rise worldwide from both men and women. Almost 70 per cent of the population in the US wear denim products regularly. An average consumer owns seven denim products at any given time. In the UK each consumer owns an average of 17 denim garments. Annually 2.1 billion pieces of denim are sold globally. The denim sector is growing by 15 per cent year-on-year.

Macy’s is closing 125 of its least productive stores and cutting 2,000 corporate jobs. The store closures represent about one fifth of Macy's current total. The struggling department store is trying to reinvent itself in the age of online shopping. Macy’s is the latest in a long line of retailers and department stores facing the effects of a volatile retail environment and downsizing. Bloomingdale’s is reassessing underperforming stores and making smarter use of the ones they have. The company has begun heavily investing in rotating shop-in-shops, allowing it to fit a larger number of new concepts into a single store. Additionally, Bloomingdale’s is also one of the first high-end department stores to have its own rental service. Basically it is checking up on the health of the company, taking proactive action and ensuring it is not put in a situation where it can only be reactive.

The department store and other specialty retail categories that are selling commodity products and brands that are available at many retail chains have been hit hard with many store closings and bankruptcies in recent years. Luxury retailers in the US have faced issues due to over-expansion and high rent costs, leading to closures or bankruptcy.

Over a nine month period Ralph Lauren’s profit shot up by 58.6 per cent. Revenues grew 1.6 per cent. The company adopted strategies that allowed it to elevate the brand. North America continues to be Ralph Lauren’s most successful market, although it’s the market that least grew in the year. Sales in the region increased 0.6 per cent. The company’s sales in Asia grew the most, 4.7 per cent more. Additionally, in Europe, the group’s sales increased by 2.7 per cent. America continues to be Ralph Lauren’s most successful market, although it’s the territory that grew the least in the year. Online sales of the company grew by two per cent with the Asian continent boosting sales of up to 36 per cent compared to the same period of 2019.

By the end of fiscal year 2020, Ralph Lauren expects revenue growth of between two per cent and three per cent in constant currency. On the other hand, the company expects the foreign currency to have a negative impact on revenue growth of up to 130 points.

Ralph Lauren will power all of its offices, distribution centers and stores with 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025.

Almost 50 per cent of the top 10 global retailers are from America. The array of companies in top 10 pertains to five American companies. These are fashion giant distributor Gap, Nike, the L Brands group, Foot Locker and the TJX Max group. TJX is an apparel and footwear group operating in ten countries. Gap’s labels include Banana Republic, Old Navy, Forth & Towne, Piperlime, Athleta, among others. L Brands owns the lingerie company Victoria’s Secret. Foot Locker is a sportswear and footwear company. The company operates in 26 countries. Nike is into sportswear and footwear.

French luxury group Kering controls companies such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, among others. LVMH is a French luxury company which operates in 70 countries. The holding house controls labels such as Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Loewe, Céline and Balenciaga. H&M is a Swedish fast fashion retailer which operates in 69 countries across the world. Inditex is a Spanish giant. The distributor operates in 96 countries. The Spanish group also owns Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, among others. Fast Retailing is a Japanese group. The Japanese group whose principal subsidiary is Uniqlo controls several other brands, including J Brand, Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Princesse Tam-Tam, and Theory, among others.

An impending economic downturn, a shift in sourcing and demand-based supply chains are the key apparel sourcing challenges faced by US companies. Driving end-to-end process efficiency and cross-functional collaboration is crucial for companies to address such challenges.

The key economic indicators point towards an economic downturn in the United States. Companies need to prepare themselves better and develop cost-effective strategies to address sourcing challenges. Creating a centralised supply chain platform could help companies gain a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end operations. Due to rising uncertainties, apparel sourcing has become a major challenge for many companies. Local sourcing is gaining popularity and companies are compelled to improve their transportation efficiency to address changing customer preferences. Nearshoring could increase, thereby, increasing the proximity of manufacturing operations to customers. Consumers today shop the latest fashions, creating pressure on businesses to keep shaving time off production and transit. Businesses need to integrate product line management with the supply chain strategy to improve the apparel sourcing process and reduce the time to market.

The US and China have embarked on a trade war that has seen them impose tariffs on a combined $360 billion worth of tariffs on imports, causing turmoil for financial markets and concern in sourcing circles.