Bringing together experts and apparel-industry veterans, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) hosted its first Los Angeles event at the California Market Center on April 24. Sustainable Apparel Coalition works within the apparel industry to lead sustainable, ethical initiatives by limiting environmental impact and promoting social welfare for garment workers.

At the LA ‘The Future of Design’ workshop, SAC introduced tools for a better apparel industry and invited speakers from companies implementing sustainability efforts. After learning about the Los Angeles apparel-manufacturing industry by working at his family’s business, Scott Miller is now the director of business development for SAC. SAC brings together brands, retailers, service providers and academics and drives them to design sustainable fashion on-site. By 2050, the goal is to have zero waste to landfills.

Apparel industry professionals do want to implement sustainable practices but may feel overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable task of becoming an eco-friendly and ethical brand while still remaining profitable. Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s sustainability measurement tool, the Higg index, can be used to ensure brands are progressing toward more ethical and ecologically sound practices. The Higg index has become a benchmark for companies at every stage along the supply chain to monitor and remain accountable for their contributions to a sustainable industry. While it is necessary for the apparel industry to adopt more beneficial practices, small steps can mean greater progress over time. SAC feels it is absolutely a business and planetary imperative for the industry to embrace circular and regenerative production concepts immediately and that it’s possible to adopt incremental change and have the ability to make sustainability decisions within the design phase without conceivably increasing cost.

"Chinas’ home textile industry, during the first 11 months of 2018, maintained a steady growth rate. National Bureau of Statistics claims, around 1,861 home textile companies achieved total revenue of 193.302 billion yuan during January-November 2018, a year-on-year increase of 3.78 per cent and a decrease of 0.82 percentage point over the same period previous year."

Chinas’ home textile industry, during the first 11 months of 2018, maintained a steady growth rate. National Bureau of Statistics claims, around 1,861 home textile companies achieved total revenue of 193.302 billion yuan during January-November 2018, a year-on-year increase of 3.78 per cent and a decrease of 0.82 percentage point over the same period previous year.

Out of these total companies, 202 enterprises surveyed by China Home Textile Association registered a 1.14 per cent year-on-year increase on their business main income amounting to 76.871 billion yuan. However, the association registered a 4.78 per cent point’s decrease in income growth rate compared to the same period previous year. The 13 industrial clusters tracked by the Association realised revenue of 273.282 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.68 per cent from the same period of the previous year.

Outstanding performance by fabric companies

Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics indicated, the fabric industry performed outstandingly in the first 11 months of 2018. The year on year revenue of 223 fabric enterprises increased by 7.77 per cent to 22.044 billion yuan. Around 287 towel enterprises above designated size achieved the main business income of 36.246 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.65 per cent, 1.87 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the home textile industry; 988 above-designated bedding enterprises realised a revenue of 101.782 billion yuan from January to November, an increase of 2.87 per cent year on year.

Steady export growth in both traditional and emerging markets

Home textile exports in both traditional and emerging markets grew steadily from January to November 2018. The top four home textile export markets included the United States, the European Union, Japan and ASEAN. China’s exports to its traditional markets of the US, Europe and Japan increased by 10.80 per cent, 8.13 per cent and 5.35 percent respectively. Among these, exports to the United States had the largest volume and the highest growth rate.

China’s carpets exports increased 11.8 per cent to $2.728 billion from January to November 2018. Among them, exports to the US increased 21.4 per cent to $649 million, to the EU by 9.44 per cent to $ 471 million; Japan BY 7.78 per cent to $335 million and to the ASEAN countries by approximately 4.2 per cent year on year.

Increase in industry efficiency

The efficiency of home textile industry also increased significantly from January to November 2018. Around 1,861 home textile enterprises above designated size achieved a total profit of 10.576 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.80 per cent. The profit margin was 5.48 per cent. The 202 surveyed home textile enterprises achieved profit of 6.303 billion yuan from January to November, an increase of 16.03 per cent year on year. The surveyed 13 industrial clusters realised a profit of 15.318 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.96 per cent.

From January to November 2018, 1,861 home textile enterprises above designated size achieved a total cost of 167.464 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.63%. The accumulated management cost was 7.097 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.91 per cent; the accumulated financial expenses was 1.196 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 28.03 per cent.

Overall, the home textile industry from January to November 2018 achieved a stable growth. The export market also maintained steady growth and the industry’s efficiency increased significantly.

Graft watchdog Transparency International Bangladesh has recommended the formation of a speedy trial tribunal for resolving cases, reinstatement of dismissed workers and ushering in a fear-free environment in the readymade garment sector.

More than 4,000 cases, filed between 2013-19, are still pending for disposal moreover the disposal of such a big number of cases is a big challenge for the sector. Currently trade unions are available in only three per cent and most of them are found to be controlled by factory owners and political goons. Besides, fatality vacation as per the law is six months but it is only four weeks in practice. Moreover, almost 1,250 factories, including 1,171 under the national initiative, have closed and 4,50,000 workers lost their jobs while only 6,676 workers from two factories got compensation although there is a provision in the law to compensate the workers losing jobs.

Even six years after the Rana Plaza accident some challenges still remain as factory owners give more attention to their businesses than to the rights of workers. There hasn’t taken place notable progress regarding compensation for the loss of a job, commensurate compensation for an accident, maternity benefits, freedom of association or social safety.

Vietnam and China are collaborating in the textile and garment sector. China and Vietnam hold a pivotal position in the global textile market. Industries in the two countries are highly complementary. China is the world’s biggest exporter and Vietnam is the second biggest. Vietnam is taking a path similar to China’s, both having communist leaders who turned toward export-led market capitalism in recent decades, and in terms of selling ever more footwear, clothes and bags to the world. Their industries compete for customers but they are also complementary in that Chinese factories supply much of the fabrics and other inputs needed in the business, while Vietnamese factory hands are increasingly supplying the labor as costs rise in China. Textile firms on both sides of the border are working together to turn a profit.

Amid the trade war with the United States, China has lost some of its business to Vietnam. On the other hand, it is not just foreign third parties moving factories from China to Vietnam. Chinese investors themselves deem it beneficial to relocate some of their supply chain to Vietnam. However Vietnam does not have as large and complex a network of textile suppliers and processors as China does. That is one reason the smaller country relies on the larger one as its biggest source of imported goods overall.

Pitti Bimbo will be held in Italy, June 20 to 22, 2019. This children’s wear show will host 560 exhibitors, of which 337 will be from outside Italy. A new section will present the latest experimental approaches in children’s wear, with exhibitors divided in among five sub-sections: Kidzfizz, for experimental brands; #Activelab, for athleisure/urban brands; an incubator area, The Nest, for up-and-coming brands; EcoEthic, for sustainable brands; and a series of mini capsule collections. The show’s section for experimental children’s fashion will also include communal areas dedicated to exhibitions, editorial projects and events.

Pitti Bimbo’s other main sections are Apartment, featuring labels with a couture inspiration; Sport Generation, for sportswear labels; Superstreet, dedicated to streetwear labels; and the Fancy Room and Editorials sections, showcasing the increasingly large contingent of lifestyle brands, exploring a variety of different children’s wear trends. The show’s last summer session was attended by 5,350 buyers (2,450 of them from outside Italy) and 10,000 visitors in total. The organisers hope to boost attendance in June thanks to an intense program featuring many novelties.

In terms of digital tools, the e-Pitti.com site will yet again put at the buyers’ disposal, once the physical show is over, its B2B platform featuring more than 370 brands and 2,000 products.

Primark expects to add 950,000 sq ft of new selling space during the next financial year. This will include six new stores. These plans are driven by higher margins and strong sales in the UK and European markets the brand’s profits increased by 25 per cent during its half year. Its adjusted operating profits for the 24 weeks to March 2, 2019 increased by 25 per cent up to £426m, while total revenue increased by 4 per cent to over £3.6billion.

Global sales at the value retailer increased by 4.4 per cent year on year, driven by increased retailing space, which helped partially, offset a 1.5 per cent decline in like-for-like sales. The value fashion retailer reported a 2.3 per cent increase in its year on year UK sales, while like-for-like sales in the region grew by 0.6 per cent. It also reported encouraging customer reactions to its new spring/summer range.

European sales of the brand grew by 5.3 per cent year on year, but like-for-like sales declined by 3.2 per cent, which Primark attributed to a decline in the German market and low footfall across the region in November. However, the brand reported strong sales growth in its Spain, France, Italy and Belgium market.

Primark also reported strong business performance in the US, driven by excellent trading at its recently opened store in Brooklyn, New York. Operating margins in this market increased by two percentage points to 11.7 per cent.

India Trend Fair will be held in Japan from July 24 to 26, 2019. The event will feature fashion and home ware in categories such as denim, finished garments, accessories, footwear, cushions, bed linens, and carpets. It is aimed at promoting trade links between Japan and India in the fashion industry. It will bring together Indian readymade garment and accessory manufacturers and Japanese suppliers. This is an exclusive business matching event, which gives exporters an opportunity to showcase their products and supply value added products with a special emphasis on products designed to suit Japanese fashion trends and requirements. Buyers would include manufacturers, wholesalers, trading companies, importers, select and specialist shops, department stores, volume and online retailers etc.

Japan is a sophisticated market, leaning towards small-lot and short cycle delivery of supply. Consumption is diversified and quality expectations are very high. High quality and expensive Indian garments are gaining popularity in Japan. Customers like selecting garments that have a different character when compared with dresses and kimono worn at such occasions as weddings and parties.

The event is being hosted by the Japan India Industry Promotion Association (JIPA), a non-profit that works to promote trade between India and Japan. It collects and analyses information on Japanese and Indian industrial markets.

US-based American & Efird (A&E), a portfolio company of Elevate Textiles and the world’s foremost manufacturer and distributor of industrial and consumer sewing thread, embroidery thread and technical textiles, released its 9th annual, Corporate Sustainability Report, ‘A Focus on the Future’ on April 22, 2019.

The report notes that A&E recently implemented a global energy efficiency best practice program to assist in enhancing the energy efficiency and conversation practice already in place and accomplish reduction goals. Its operations in this year will complete the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) facility Socila Labour Module (Higg FSLM). It’s results will be available for A&E’ clients as well as suppliers through the Higg Index System.

The company recycled and reused over 2 billion litres of wastewater through its global operations since 2013 and there was 41 per cent reduction in global water consumption (litres per kg of thread) since 2006. It claims 100 per cent zero-waste-to-landfill status at 16 of its global manufacturing operations and support facilities in 2018, with five other operations recycling more than 90 per cent of by-products and created waste.

There was 13 per cent reduction of global carbon footprint (measured in CO2e in kg per kg of thread) since 2006 and 11 per cent reduction was noticed in global power consumption (KwH per kg of thread) since 2006. The company’s global incident rate improved to 0.55 in 2018. Though it is well below the US industry’s average, but the company’s target is to reach at zero accidents.

A conclave on technical textiles was held in Coimbatore, April 24, 2019. The aim was to create awareness of the potential for technical textiles and attract more entrepreneurs to this growing sector. Entrepreneurs got first hand info about the industry and its potential. About 140 entrepreneurs from across the country took part in the event. The conclave provided the necessary inputs to plan for value addition or diversification. Eminent speakers from abroad, leading consultants, experts from DRDO, centers of excellence and TRAs and technical textile machinery manufacturers made presentations and interacted with delegates during the event.

The ability to add high value to products, create new, niche products and cater to the demands of sophisticated consumers makes players in this sector future champions of the textile industry. The growth of the technical textile industry in India has been rather slow, both in terms of manufacturing capabilities as well as the per capita domestic consumption of technical textiles. The Indian supply base has to grow tenfold to make some meaningful impact in the international arena.

The event was organised for the first time in Coimbatore to create awareness on the potential for technical textiles by the Indian Technical Textiles Association in association with the Indian Texpreneurs Association and the South India Mills Association.

Fashion companies constantly pressure Bangladesh’s garment suppliers to keep prices low and make clothing faster. This results in cost-cutting on safety and wages and mistreatment of workers. Fashion brands also fail to compensate factories for safety improvements. While factories have had to invest in safety measures, the prices they get have not gone up. As competing garment factories are pushed lower on price by global clothing brands, profit margins are squeezed and this leads to workers’ wages being cut or paid late, restricted break times, and rising production targets. This also leaves factories that had made safety improvements unable to compete or forced to push costs onto their workers by cutting wages.

Factories struggle to pay higher wages as they do not get a fair price from brands. In fact prices paid by brands have fallen despite big investments by factories to improve conditions after the Rana Plaza collapse. The collapse of the factory in April 2013 killed more than 1100 workers, placing scrutiny on major brands and sparking demands for better safety in the world’s second-largest exporter of readymade garments.

One way out is for factory owners to work together in order to push back against brands that make unreasonable demands and request ever-lower prices.