Australia is partnering the International Labor Organization to improve working conditions, empower women and boost the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry. The partnership has been strengthened by the re-commitment of funds for Better Work Bangladesh as part of Australia’s ongoing partnership with ILO. Australia has been supporting BWB since 2016 and today the program reaches 4,85,708 workers in 210 factories who work with 22 international brands. Australia is committed to fund this program until June 2020 as a demonstration of support for industrial safety, labor law governance and women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh. Australia’s ongoing support for the Better Work Bangladesh program drives important changes in workplace safety in the garment industry. Better Work has made measurable impacts on the lives of millions of workers and their families. It aims at uniting multiple stakeholders, promoting decent work for all and helping the garment industry in Bangladesh thrive.

Australia is an important trading partner of Bangladesh. Two-way export and import linkages are the key elements in the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Australia. Garments are the main export items while other products that are performing strong in Australian markets include ceramics, pharmaceuticals and leather goods. Bangladesh’s products enjoy duty-free market access to Australia.

Tirupur is facing testing times with thinning margins, declining overseas demand and relatively high labor costs. For the past three years, export growth has not been up to the expected level. The incentives the industry received before GST worked out to nearly 13.2 per cent, which was reduced to 5.7 per cent after GST. Garment exporters in Tirupur work on thin margins and can absorb the costs if incentives are reduced by three per cent or four per cent. But a drastic cut affects liquidity.

The EU and the US constitute 70 per cent of Tirupur’s knitwear exports market. But it is imperative that exporters look to new and emerging markets. The four markets showing high potential for future growth are the UK, Chile, Israel and Japan. Products with high growth potential must be identified and individual strengths such as technology innovation can be leveraged.

Out of the 1,500-odd direct exporters, the number of exporting units with more than a Rs 100 crore turnover is more than what it was a few years ago. There are at least 20 units with more than a Rs 500 crore turnover. The number of letter-head exporters has reduced drastically after GST. However, the recent announcement on reimbursing embedded taxes has revived sentiment.

In 2018, the number of GOTS certified facilities increased 14.6 per cent. Certified facilities are now located in 64 countries around the globe. GOTS certification covers the processing of certified organic fibers along the entire supply chain from field to finished product.

The progress is seen in both production and consuming regions. Countries and regions with the largest growth in percentage in 2018 in GOTS certification are Bangladesh, North America, Pakistan and South Korea. In terms of total numbers, the highest increase is reported from India, followed by Bangladesh and Europe. The 18 GOTS-approved certification bodies reported more than 2.02 million people working in GOTS-certified facilities. Bangladesh registered a growth of 29 per cent in terms of GOTS-certified facilities. Besides a thriving export market, India has an emerging domestic market for organic textiles. Several new brands started offering GOTS goods in the domestic sector during 2018 and two major brands are planning to do so this year.

Increasing number of certified facilities aligns with the common desire to solve sustainability-related problems. Company leaders use GOTS as a risk management tool and as a market opportunity. Consumers value the verifiable certification from field to finished product.

Global consumption of denim fabric has increased at a CAGR of more than 4.77 per cent from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, the global denim fabric market was led by China, India, Europe and North America. At present, the major manufacturers of denim fabric are concentrated in China and India. In terms of volume, global denim fabric sales are growing at 4.70 per cent.

Denim fabric has acquired increasing significance in clothing, household items, cowboy accessories and many other fields. Globally, the denim fabric market is mainly driven by the growing demand for clothing. The global denim fabric market is growing at 3.2 per cent.

Asia has a 22 per cent market share of the global denim industry and India contributes to nearly half that market. India will have a lot of influence in jeanswear in the coming years as the demand is increasing in all segments. An organised retail sector, a young population, online penetration of denims and the increasing popularity of engineered or distressed pieces will continue to fuel the growth of this segment. Originally a product for the youth, denim has grown to cut across geographies, gender and age groups. Given the average age of the Indian consumer today, and the influence of global style trends in the country, the industry can be expected to grow at a double-digit rate.

Last year, Vietnam’s earnings from textile and garment exports were up 16 per cent year-on-year. Vietnam is one of the world’s three biggest exporters of textiles and apparel. This year, the textile and garment sector has set a target of a 11 per cent year-on-year increase in exports. The industry has set a target of more than $60 billion worth of exports by 2025. Free trade agreements play an important role in helping Vietnam move up the value chain in the garment and textile industry.

The free trade agreement with the EU is expected to have a positive impact in the medium to long term. The EU is the second largest export market for Vietnam’s garment and textile sector, with more than 40 per cent of tariffs applied to garment and textile products expected to be reduced to zero per cent when the agreement takes effect. An increasing number of international buyers are sourcing products from Vietnam because supply chains for locally made products have improved and the country has joined more free trade agreements.

Participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership also will benefit the country in the long term, helping the garment and textile sector expand market share in Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia and many other countries.

Phase 3 of the 125th China Import and Export Fair (Canton fair) is on from May 1 to 5, 2019. It has gathered nearly 5,000 exhibitors from the areas of textiles and garments, shoes, cases and bags, recreational products, medicine and healthcare products and food. In addition to showcasing Chinese manufacturing, the Canton Fair also strives to introduce leading international brands into the Chinese market. This edition features Gohar Textiles and Cotton Empire from Pakistan, the century-old houseware brand R.L. Khanna and Shiv Shakti Exports from India, and companies from the Turkish textile and apparel center Denizli.

In response to an expanding market and the continuously evolving tastes of consumers, top Chinese textile and garment companies are not only offering high-quality products but also actively pursuing customization and the development of new techniques.

Tianshan Wool Tex, the leading Chinese cashmere brand and exhibitor, known for its creation of a new-standard in Chinese cashmere, has maintained its competitive edge by tailoring production techniques to different countries’ consumption habits. Hebei Bailixin, China’s leading home textile manufacturer, which produces a total of 3,200 tons of a variety of towels annually, exports to 34 countries and regions in southeast Asia, Europe, North America and Japan.

Lectra cemented its position as a fashion industry opinion maker by leading a discussion on new consumer behavior at a fashion event in France, April 10 to 11, 2019. More than 75 industry insiders and market experts from 14 countries convened for two days to examine how the digital age is bringing about major shifts in consumer behavior. The keynotes, live demonstrations, and customer testimonials highlighted the importance of process digitization and data analysis for meeting new consumer needs. Beyond just understanding the new fashion consumer, the event stressed the importance of leveraging data to deliver customer-centric services and products. Lectra presented their responses to this challenge in the form of two new major solutions, Kubix Link and Fashion on Demand by Lectra.

Kubix Link, a cloud-based platform that has the combined capabilities of PLM, PIM and DAM, enables companies to deliver the ultimate product experience through unparalleled collaboration powered by data. Attendees were treated to a live demo of Fashion On Demand by Lectra, the industry’s first end-to-end personalization solution. They saw how a data-driven, automated on-demand production process from order reception to final cutting stages can deliver garments customized according to consumers’ specific demands.

Lectra’s offer empowers brands manufacturers and retailers, from design to production. Founded in 1973, Lectra has 32 subsidiaries across the globe, serving customers in over 100 countries.

International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) held an event in Italy from April 9 to 11, 2019. The event combined Italy’s rich wool heritage with the latest research and developments in wool applications. More than 320 delegates, representing all stages of the global wool textile pipeline, attended the annual three-day event. The program highlighted developments in wool traceability, transparency in the supply chain, and research on wool’s contributions to health and wellness, but sustainability took center stage.

Beginning with Woolcool’s presentation on how wool insulation provides more stable climate control for international shipment of vaccines, a session devoted to health and wellness also featured research into the ways in which wool baselayers provide a more stable microclimate for eczema sufferers. The session concluded with a presentation of NASA’s rigorous studies testing the merits of different fibers for the conditions of life in space, along with Armadillo Merino’s occasionally graphic footage of the consequences of omitting wool baselayers from next-to-skin clothing for tactical operators and professionals performing in high risk environments. Other sessions covered wool market intelligence.

The third day was hosted by Benetton while a visit to the Marzotto Group, a global leader in the production of high quality fabrics for men’s and women’s clothing, provided insight into one of the biggest users of fine wool.

The European Union region as a whole remains a leading producer of both textile and apparel. Production is almost equally divided between textile manufacturing and apparel manufacturing. Southern and western EU where most developed EU members are located such as Germany, France, and Italy account for nearly 80 per cent of EU’s textile manufacturing. Of the EU’s total textile output, the share of non-woven and other technical textile products increased from 20.2 per cent in 2011 to 23.2 per cent in 2016.

Apparel manufacturing in the EU includes two primary categories: one is the medium-priced products for consumption in the mass market, which are produced primarily by developing countries in eastern and southern Europe, such as Poland, Hungary, and Romania, where cheap labor is relatively abundant. The other category is the high-end luxury apparel produced by developed western EU countries such as Italy, UK, France, and Germany.

In western EU countries, labor only accounted for 21.1 per cent of the total apparel production cost in 2016, which is substantially lower than 30.1 per cent back in 2006. This change suggests that apparel manufacturing is becoming capital and technology-intensive in some developed western EU countries, which could be the result of increased investment in automation technology.

Suspension of trade privileges is a key external risk that could negatively impact Cambodia’s economic prospects this year and slow export growth. This is true especially of Cambodian textile and footwear exports. If buyers stop buying products, Cambodia will lose hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Buyers say the labor and human rights situation in Cambodia is posing a risk to trade preferences for Cambodia and that trade privileges could be suspended. In February, the European Union announced the launch of a six-month monitoring period to determine whether Cambodian exports should continue to enjoy tax-free entry into the European market under the Everything But Arms scheme. A similar measure was proposed by the US.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has ignored international criticism of his rights record and shrugged off the risks of losing markets in Europe or North America. Apparently China has expressed willingness to help Cambodia in part through additional investment in the country. Foreign companies, concerned over Cambodia’s rights record, have made it clear they will not stop now until their demands are met and until Cambodia improves its human rights record. They say Cambodia exhibits a declining respect for labor standards, including freedom of association, and other issues.