The China Textile Machinery Association (CTMA) is a social-economic organisation constituted voluntarily by the manufacturers, enterprises and scientific research institutes in the textiles machinery and accessories industry of China. Cong Zheng, vice-secretary general director tells us about the use of hi-tech technologies in the Chinese knitting sector and its display at ITMA Barcelona to be held from June 20-26, 2019.

Q How has the ITMA ASIA exhibition evolved over the years?

A The first edition was held in 2008, and this is the sixth edition. The first edition was held in Singapore after which the show shifted to Shanghai. The earlier location was smaller; so, we moved to this location. In 2016, there were six halls, and today we have seven.

Q Tell us more about CTMA.

ACTMA has 600 members who are manufacturers of textile machinery and spare parts. We have also membership of foreign companies who have set up offices and factories in China.

Q How are exports growing in the Chinese textile machinery industry?

A Exports from the Chinese textile industry are growing. Earlier, textile machinery import figures were larger than exports, but since 2012, exports have overtaken imports. For example, in knitting, in the past, there were several European knitting machinery companies exhibiting at ITMA Asia, which has now come down. But now in China, there are more than 100 knitting machine producers. These companies are now selling hi-tech technologies in knitting.

Q Are most of these companies exporting or just serving the domestic market?

A About 15-20 per cent of the textile machineries produced in China is exported. There are some companies which export around 50 per cent of their production.

Q Is Chinese technology at par with European technology?

A Few producers are manufacturing machineries at par with European quality. The rest have a long way to go. When compared with Indian or Turkish machinery makers, the top Chinese companies supply comparable machinery.

Q How competitive is the Chinese textile machinery sector in terms of price?

A The Chinese textile industry offers textile machinery at the most competitive prices. I have visited India several times and have met companies who have expressed interest in Chinese textile machinery, because the price is very competitive. For example, a knitting machine offered by European companies is double the price supplied by Chinese companies of nearly the same technology. The European companies have been in business for several decades, but Chinese companies are trying to catch up. For instance, there are a lot of innovations happening in the Chinese nonwovens machinery sector. (RR)

"Filled with themes and variations that will help create $130 billion sales by 2021, the blue jean is an American original with a global appeal. Consumers, around the world, own an average of 5.4 pairs of blue jeans. It would therefore be natural to expect United States to own the highest per capita in blue jeans, given its seasonal temperatures and the fact that it is its birthplace. The truth however, is that denim enjoys the greatest ownership and frequency of wear in warmer and more humid climates. Cambodian consumers own an average of nine pairs of blue jeans, the highest in the survey"

Filled with themes and variations that will help create $130 billion sales by 2021, the blue jean is an American original with a global appeal. Consumers, around the world, own an average of 5.4 pairs of blue jeans. It would therefore be natural to expect United States to own the highest per capita in blue jeans, given its seasonal temperatures and the fact that it is its birthplace. The truth however, is that denim enjoys the greatest ownership and frequency of wear in warmer and more humid climates. Cambodian consumers own an average of nine pairs of blue jeans, the highest in the survey. This is followed by Mexico, with more than seven pairs per person. Germany comes in third for ownership with 6.84 pairs per person. Turkey and Thailand come in fourth and fifth, with an average of 6.10 and 5.12 pairs per person, respectively.

Frequency of wear corresponds to total number owned

The number of days per week global consumers wear their jeans is equal to 60 per cent of the total number of pairs they own, on average. Germany, for example, owns 6.84 pairs of jeans and wears them 3.24 times per week. Notable exceptions to this corollary are Great Britain and Italy. British own 4.66 pairs of jeans and wear them 3.74 days per week; Italians own 5.93 pairs and wear them 4.04 days per week.

Around 35 per cent of the total respondents cite denim as ideal for work, particularly in Mexico (48.5 per cent), Italy (45.5 per cent) and Turkey (41 per cent). For a dinner out, jeans ranked highly among respondents from Germany (52 per cent), Colombia (42.7 per cent) and Thailand (41.3 per cent).

Most Americans (87 per cent) would pay more for a pair of jeans that fit them ‘perfectly.’ While engineering a pair of jeans with a universally perfect fit may prove elusive, comfort emerged in the survey as a key denim purchase driver for 97 per cent of Americans. Since authentic denim is 100 percent or predominantly cotton, there is a comfort component built-in.

Preference for cotton fabric

Cotton is the key to the continuing popularity of the denim category. Perhaps buoyed by a general consumer trend towards authenticity, more than three-quarters of American respondents (76 per cent) cited cotton content as important to their decision to buy a particular pair of jeans. Around 84 per cent of American respondents cited stretch in their denim as a purchase driver, with 63 per cent claiming that they would pay more for a pair of jeans that were made predominantly from cotton, but with some stretch.

Almost 67 per cent of US respondents claimed the inclusion of performance features would influence their decision to buy a pair of jeans. For example, 40 per cent of US respondents said they would pay more for denim that could repel water. This has been achieved already through the STORM Denim™ technology, a textile chemical finish. Forty-eight per cent of US respondents cited moisture wicking as a desirable denim feature that they would be willing to pay more to have. Again, textile finishing chemistries such as the TransDRY™ technology offer this without compromising the authenticity of cotton denim.

Blue jeans seem as popular as ever with global consumers and, interestingly, are very popular in warmer climates such as Colombia and Mexico. While closet space allocations in Asian markets may hamper ownership totals, the enthusiasm for denim is high.

Karl-Heinz Müller, founder of the Bread & Butter trade show, has cancelled his new trade fair format, L.O.C.K, just a few days after announcing its creation. L.O.C.K, or Labels of Common Kin, was to take place at the abandoned Tempelhof Airport in Berlin during Berlin Fashion Week. The event was cancelled due to too many uncertainties in relation to the venue.

Müller, however did not rule out the possibility of holding the event later this year. The event aimed to be a platform for independent and authentic brands. Like the section of the Bread & Butter show with the same name, L.O.C.K will be dedicated to authentic, heritage brands. Its market positioning will be an offshoot of that of the 14oz multibrand store operated by Karl-Heinz Müller, featuring authentic, heritage brands like Armor-Lux, Canada Goose, Frye, Barbour, Superga, Levi's Made & Crafted, G-Star Raw Essentials and New Balance.

Vietnam's National Assembly, unanimously ratified a landmark 11-country deal that will slash tariffs across the Asia-Pacific. This ratification makes Vietnam the seventh country to have passed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Vietnam has already signed around a dozen free trade pacts to scrap, or cut, taxes on several imports and exports.

The ratification will remove taxes on nearly 43 percent of Vietnam's apparel exports to Canada and 100 percent after four years. The pact, which includes specific requirements on labor rights and conditions of work, is also expected to help Vietnam advance in labor reforms.

Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore had earlier formally ratified CPTPP, which takes effect at year-end. The original 12-member deal was thrown into limbo early last year when US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement to prioritise protecting US jobs. Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru are the four remaining members yet to ratify the pact.

Jacket Required will take place in London on January 23 and 24, 2019. This is a premium fashion trade show in the UK presenting a curated showcase of the most progressive and contemporary men’s and women’s wear collections, footwear, accessories and lifestyle product. Jacket Required strives to inspire buyers to explore the business potential of their stores and provides a platform for both established and new talent in the fashion industry.

This edition will have two new sectors: Introduces and Living. Introduces will give visitors the opportunity to discover the breakthrough talents of the new season and future contemporary classics with Jacket Required’s pick of emerging designers. Living is a curated selection of contemporary products and accessories from the most progressive and visionary interior design brands.

Introduces and Living will offer an exciting collection of breakthrough talent and a highly edited selection of lifestyle and homewear products which provide a complementary offer alongside the current progressive fashion line-up.

A new campaign Reinvention Reimagined will draw together the importance of sustainability and the responsibility of the individual to demand transparency within the supply chain while championing new trends and giving a nod to the evolution and continual reinvention of the quintessential British man and woman.

The Commerce Ministry of Bangladesh has criticised the Accord for severing business ties with 532 garment factories for their alleged poor progress in remediation. Some of these 532 factories are big and compliant, owned by the leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, the platform of more than 200 mostly European-based retailers formed to design a safe and healthy garment industry in the country, is due to leave Bangladesh on November 30 after five and a half years. Although the platform has been trying to extend its tenure for three more years to see through the remediation works in the factories it has inspected. But it has been met with resistance from the government and factory owners.

By then, if the 532 factories are not close to completing their remediation works they would become ineligible to supply to the Accord's over 200 signatory brands. The owners of these factories have already spent Tk 5 crore to Tk 30 crore for inspection and remediation of a factory.

The United States, in a recent filing to the WTO, stated that India has paid out far more in cotton subsidies than the World Trade Organization allowed, with payments “vastly in excess” of what it had officially declared. The filing is the latest in a series of analyses of publicly available data that Washington has submitted to the WTO, each one setting out apparent breaches of WTO rules that are hiding in plain sight. Previous submissions have targeted China and Vietnam as well as India.

According to the U.S. assessment of India’s market price support (MPS) for cotton, New Delhi was allowed to pay out up to 10 per cent of the value of production, but the actual figure had ranged from 53 percent to 81 per cent since 2010. For the 2015/16 marketing year, India had notified market price support of $18 million, which was about Rs 1.2 billion, but the United States estimated that the correct figure to be around Rs 504 billion.

In 2016/17, India had not notified any MPS, but the United States calculated the correct value to be around Rs 557 billion.

Fulfilling its election promise, the Pakistan government had agreed with textile industry to reduce gas prices for the export sector to $6.5 per MMBTU from almost previous $16 per MMBTU. Though the Economic Coordination Council (ECC) had approved the new tariff only with effect from Sept 27 but no subsequent notification was issued by the finance ministry in this regard.

While implementing the ECC decision, the gas used for captive energy was excluded from subsidised rates and the textile industries were issued bills as per the previous gas tariff for rest of their consumption. The textile mill owners were however assured that extra amount paid by them would be reimbursed once the government would pay the subsidy.

However, the textile industry declared its reservations on bills delivered and demanded that the government must instruct SNGPL to receive payment of the RLNG bills for October at $ 6.5/MMBTU and the balance may be deferred and refund obtained directly from the Ministry of Finance.

Bangladesh Denim Expo was held from November 7 to 8, 2018. More than 5,540 visitors and buyers from 55 countries attended. A total of 64 exhibitors from across the globe including Germany, US, Turkey, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Pakistan, Japan, San Marino, China and India took part to display their latest products and services.

Different seminars and panel discussions were organized on the sidelines of the expo where speakers laid emphasis on the most recent developments in eco-friendly and sustainable finishing technologies, and energy-efficient ways of operations. The expo also focused on the progress that has been made in Bangladesh regarding safe working conditions and sustainability practices of the readymade garment industry.

A major takeaway from the expo was that the country’s denim makers need to adopt a comprehensive strategy to compete with the fast-moving fashion trends in the global market. Under the strategy, denim producers will have to go in for high-end products from the existing basic ones and ensure delivery to buyers within the shortest possible time.

A leading global buyer has already introduced a new type of order–speed order–in Bangladesh as part of reducing the lead time, from 90 days to 45 days. The theme of the expo was simplicity. In the world of denim, simplicity is now the ultimate sophistication.

Even after the latest wage hike for apparel workers effective next month, labor costs in Bangladesh for manufacturing clothing products are among the lowest in the world. The edge gives manufacturers a definite competitive advantage in export markets. Cheap labor is one of the strong factors behind the success of Bangladesh in apparel exports.

Apparel workers in Bangladesh are still the lowest paid by global standards. Labor in Bangladesh is still cheap and the average monthly wage is just 101 dollars, compared with 135 dollars for Myanmar, 170 dollars for Cambodia, 234 dollars for Vietnam and 518 dollars for China. However, this advantage is being eroded due to a rise in production costs, rise in wages and investment for safety improvement.

For the moment, policy support including cash incentives, duty exemptions are factors that are helping the sector remain competitive in export destinations. Technical training and workers’ dedication will increase productivity, but there has to be motivation. Health, education, technical training and motivation are needed to this end, where Bangladesh is weak.

Technological development will help increase productivity but the challenge is that the introduction of technology will cut employment though productivity will increase for those who remain on the job.