For the first half of 2018, Taiwan’s textile exports inched up by two per cent year on year. Fabrics accounted for 66 per cent followed by yarn with 17 per cent, fiber eight per cent, apparel five per cent, and others four per cent. Vietnam was the largest export destination, followed by China, the United States, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

Besides serving long-established brands, Taiwanese companies have been foraying zthe rapidly emerging fast-fashion apparels, supplying brands like H&M and Root, whose order-to-shipment time may be only one week instead of the usual half year.

Taiwan has captured some 70 per cent of the fast-expanding global market for functional fabric, which in turn accounts for ten per cent of the total fabric market. It has also been a major supplier of fabric made from recycled materials. About 50 per cent of the fabric material is now recycled, and the proportion is expected to rise to at least 70 per cent in the next few years as increased environmental awareness drives international demand.

To assure quality and reduce production costs, many of the major Taiwanese textile companies have integrated operations that cover everything from fabric production and dyeing to making the apparel. They have also established global production networks to further control costs.

The annual Fashion Awards by PETA celebrate brands and events that have made major statements for animals this year. Luxury labels including Coach, Burberry, Michael Kors and Diane von Furstenberg, emerge winners in PETA’s biggest luxury fashion moment category for their actions. ASOS was named the Most Progressive Online Platform by PETA in light of its announcement that it will introduce a ban on mohair, silk, feathers and cashmere products on its site.

PETA’s Most Progressive Fashion Event of the Year Award was awarded to Helsinki Fashion Week for its decision to ban leather from its catwalks as of 2019.On the high street, faux fur label Ecopel was honored with the Innovation Award for using recycled plastic bottles to produce its garments.

Other winners included Dr Martens, which was awarded for its extensive range of vegan shoes on the best vegan boot collection category, and Veja, which received the Best Vegan Shoe Collection prize for its vegan leather and organic cotton collection.

Meanwhile, London-based label Felder Felder received the Collaboration Award for partnering with sustainable fashion label Ecoalf to produce a capsule collection of coats made from recycled materials; outerwear brand Save the Duck was awarded Best Down-Free Label for its recycled coats free of animal fillers; and Alexandra K won in the best vegan bags category for its innovative accessories made from apple leather, a sustainable material made in Italy that integrates organic apple peels into the skin of the material.

A textile and garment expo will be held in Myanmar from December 6 to 9, 2018. The four-day expo will showcase over 130 brands from China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, among others. On displayed will be clothing, textile, modern machinery such as embroidery machines, sewing machines, printing machines and flat knitting machines.

The expo aims to build an efficient communication platform for the domestic market. Myanmar has more than 400 garment factories employing about 4,00,000 workers and earning more than two billion dollars annually from foreign markets. Myanmar’s economy grew by 6.8 per cent in 2017-18, up 5.9 per cent from the previous year.

This was due to expanding public spending and growing exports, and a recovery in agricultural production supported by favorable weather conditions. The economy is projected to recover further at 7.1 per cent and 7.4 per cent in 2018 half-year interim and 2018-19, respectively, supported by sustained foreign direct investment inflows, improving investor sentiment, and continuing strong growth in garment exports and domestic consumption.

With the advantages accruing from preferential trade agreements and low labor costs, Myanmar can utilize the time window to address key constraints in improving both the environment for domestic manufacturing as well as efficiency of trade logistics.

Digital is at the very heart of Kering’s strategies now. Kering is enhancing its omni-channel capabilities. It is working on a suite of apps, the first of which is a store experience app that enables sales associates in-store to access stock levels in real time to provide their customers with a fully personalized service. Via the app, sales associates know instantly if a specific size or color is available in-store or if it can be ordered from other stores; they can also give customized styling recommendations.

Several pilot projects have been launched using data science techniques to deliver personalized messages and experiences to customers, based on their profile and purchasing history. A data science team has been created at the group level to improve the service provided to the clients of Kering by making the best use of the available data. A China-based client and digital team is currently being formed. It will be responsible for adapting digital practices to the Chinese market, along with identifying and promoting innovations from China to other markets.

Kering will leverage its in-house technology and operations team to fully internalize the e-commerce activities currently handled through the joint venture with YNAP. Following a highly successful and fruitful seven-year partnership with YNAP, these e-commerce activities will transition to Kering in the first half of 2020.

A rating system will be developed for industrial parks in India. This is expected to raise competitiveness of industries and promote manufacturing. Such a system is being developed based on four parameter: internal and external infrastructure, connectivity, environment and safety management, and business support services. The system could become a reference database for prospective investors.

The Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks has not worked out as thought. One reason is high rentals in some parks. There has been a lack of marketing efforts. No special benefits are available for investors in parks and many of the parks are not easily accessible.

There are suggestions the parks should occupy a minimum of 1000 acres, with infrastructure support in the form of readymade factory sheds, warehouse, effluent collection treatment and disposal systems, incubation centers and testing labs, first aid centers, with express connectivity to seaports and airports.

The Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks was launched in 2005 to encourage private investments and employment generation in the textile sector. The primary objective of the SITP was to provide the industry with world class state-of-the-art infrastructure for setting up new textile units. The Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks was launched by merging two schemes, Apparel Parks for Exports Scheme and Textiles Center Infrastructure Development Scheme.

India will examine the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to see how it benefits or hurts the economy. The country is under pressure by RCEP partners to have a stronger commitment to liberalise its goods trade. Domestic industry and even certain ministries, including steel, have been critical of the RCEP deal and fear dumping, especially by China.

From steel to pharmaceuticals, industries have been criticising India’s existing trade agreements with Asean, Japan and South Korea on the grounds that India’s deficit with these countries have only widened after these pacts came into force and there is little for domestic industry to benefit from. Also, India has a record $63 billion trade deficit with China. If, on top of this, a free trade agreement with China is effected through the RCEP (of which China is a key member), cheap products are expected to flood the market.

The pharma industry, too, fears that cheap Chinese products will have unrestricted entry to India. China is the biggest contributor to India’s trade deficit with all RCEP partners. The scrapping of tariff lines means import duties on specified items would be cut to zero over a mutually agreed-upon time frame. India remains anxious over potential losses from the mega deal.

Bangladesh’s main export markets for leather goods are the EU, the US, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. The country has massive export potential of leather goods and footwear. Last fiscal, the country exported $1.1 billion worth footwear and other leather goods — using only 30 per cent of finished leather. The remaining 70 per cent finished leather was exported, mostly to China.

The country can earn three times more from leather goods exports if all the finished leather produced in the country in a year is utilized. Bangladesh produces 400 million sq ft of finished leather annually. Finished leather exports fetch less than one-third of what footwear exports do. The country has 161 tanneries that process raw hides into finished leather; but 98 per cent tanneries are not compliant with global standards. Many tanneries do not have proper water treatment and affluent plants. Though receipts from leather goods, footwear and finished leather exports have been crossing the billion dollar mark for the past five years, they are not growing further.

Now, Bangladesh needs efficient manpower and technology to earn more from exports. Compliance and quality are the major factors to attracting foreign buyers and not cheap labor.

Textile Exchange has published its yearly Preferred Fiber Materials Market Report, in which H&M Group ranks the world’s biggest user of sustainable cotton and man-made cellulosic materials (e.g. lyocell, among others). H&M aims to use only recycled or other sustainably sourced materials by 2030. With its yearly and steady increased use of recycled or other sustainably sourced materials, the group not only pushes the demand for widely used materials such as organic cotton, but also influences the scalability of new sustainable materials.

Nike tops the list of recycled polyester users. C&A is the world’s biggest user of organic cotton. IKEA is the biggest user of recycled cotton. Inditex is the second largest user of lyocell and the fourth largest user of preferred manmade cellulosics). Target is the third largest user of recycled polyester and the fifth largest user of preferred down. The North Face is the second largest user of preferred down.

All these companies show a deep commitment to scaling their global value chains of preferred fiber and to benchmarking their progress against the industry. These companies have also made significant investments in developing the supply chain needed to achieve the necessary measures of scale in preferred fiber production. What’s important is the growth of the 100 per cent club, those who have converted completely from conventional fiber.

Gujarat’s new textile policy has huge incentives in taxes. The policy aims at making Gujarat a textile sector hub and ensuring the textile sector leads in global competitiveness. Gujarat’s last textile policy was unveiled in 2012 and it expired last year.

Benefits will be set off against the SGST levied from the textile sector. Power tariff will be waived. Investment to the tune of Rs on lakh crore is expected as also job creation for 10 to 12 lakh people. There is a special element in this policy that is about women operated textile units that will get additional benefits.

Conventional textiles of Gujarat like patola, bandhani and jharikam will get an extra boost from the policy. Meanwhile, all schemes under the textile policy of 2012 will be continued in the new policy as well. The textile industry will have GST reimbursed. The reimbursement will be given in lieu of sops given to the sector under the earlier value added tax regime.

The new policy envisages a special thrust on garments and technical textiles and creating a direct link between cotton growers and industry. There will also be a focus on establishing textile parks within GIDC estates and in other parts of the state.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Pakistani cabinet has approved import of cotton from Afghanistan and Central Asian states via the land route to meet its shortfall in the key textile industry. The ECC took the decision in line with a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Commerce and Textile during a meeting presided over by the Finance Minister Asad Umar. The meeting, however, allowed the import via Torkham border with the condition that imported cotton should meet the sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.

Pakistan is a net cotton importer with the textile industry consuming 12 to 15 million bales per annum. The country imports cotton from various sources. Afghanistan and central Asian states are producers and exporters of cotton and they have reasonable share in Pakistan’s import mix as imports from these countries are cheap due to land route compared to the United States and other destinations.

The ECC, in consideration of the proposal from Ministry of Industries and production, also approved a grant of Rs 1.066 billion payment of outstanding dues, including provident fund, gratuity and payroll dues, to families of deceased employees of Pakistan Steel Mills.