Peru is eyeing the European market. The country’s share of exports to Europe is growing at 13.1 per cent, much faster than exports to the US, which is at 9.4 per cent.

Peruvian clothing manufacturers specialise in the manufacture of knitwear made of alpaca wool and Pima cotton. So far they produced mainly for the US market, but now are attracting the attention of European labels.

Peru’s textile industry is one of the country’s most important manufacturing industries, employing nearly 3,00,000 people. Manufacturers do not try to compete with major textile suppliers like Bangladesh or India, but are instead positioning themselves in the higher end clothing segment with high-quality native fibers like Pima cotton and also to an increasing degree in the area of sustainability. For many years, alpacas in Peru, which have been raised for their wool for thousands of years, were subject to a ban on exports. Today, nearly 80 per cent of the total alpaca population lives in Peru and produces 25,000 kilograms of wool a year. Communities in the Andes raise the animals; their wool is then collected, selected and classified by middlemen. They sell the wool to yarn manufacturers in Peru, who supply manufacturers in the country. As a result, value creation takes place mainly within a single country.

Adidas has decided to use only recycled plastics in all its shoes and clothing by 2024. The goal is to get rid of virgin polyester overall. As of now about 50 per cent of the materials Adidas uses in the over 900 million items it sells are polyester. Adidas’ decision follows initial success in selling recycled plastic footwear. Its commitment has grown from one million pairs produced in 2017, to five million in 2018 and this year a projected 11 million pairs. In 2018, the brand saved more than 40 tons of plastic waste in its offices, retail stores, warehouses and distribution centers worldwide and replaced it with more sustainable solutions.

Polyester accounts for 55 per cent of the global fiber market. Every year, eight million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans. Sustainable fashion has primarily been relegated to niche fashion brands and to narrow product categories within the industry. It has yet to be adopted widely by the mainstream and across the full product spectrum. Until now the fashion industry as a whole has largely lagged behind consumers in responding to their growing demand for environmentally responsible, sustainable fashion. Companies in the fashion industry are now building economically-sustainable businesses through sustainability, one plastic bottle at a time.

"Vintage garments are back in style. This year, garments of the 1980s and 90s are a rage with more and more people opting for distressed Levi’s, neon windbreakers, and bright colored blazers. Serving as a time machine, vintage clothing transports people to a different era. For instance, when someone wears a 1970s smock dress, they can be transported to a different time and connect with history."

Vintage garments are back in style. This year, garments of the 1980s and 90s are a rage with more and more people opting for distressed Levi’s, neon windbreakers, and bright colored blazers. Serving as a time machine, vintage clothing transports people to a different era. For instance, when someone wears a 1970s smock dress, they can be transported to a different time and connect with history. As Reth Ni Loinsigh, owner of Om Diva vintage clothing store in Dublin says, vintage garments can be aligned with current trends. They can also be mixed with contemporary pieces and accessories to give them a modern look.

Ensuring the authenticity of their garments

Another advantage that vintage clothing offers is that these outfits cannot be copied by others as they are out of production for many years. Like Armelle Mitchell, Owner of No.38 clothing store in Dublin, who dresses up women with constrained budgets. The store offers vintage designer clothes in good condition at affordable prices. Vintage clothing also can be a great option for stout women as most previous designers focused on dressing all women and flattering their individual figures. Of all decades, the 1930s was the most sensitive to women as it accommodate women of all shapes and sizes.

Passing the sustainability test

In addition to its more inclusive fit, Vintage Clothes also pass the sustainability test as they can last for generations. These garments are made with higher quality fabrics as against the current trend of fast fashion, which focuses on making clothes with cheap fabrics in larger quantities.

Vintage clothing offers people an opportunity to be creators of new styles. It also enables them to dress in beautiful and well-made garments that blend with the current trends. Highlighting their personality, vintage clothes enables consumers to seamlessly blend their past and present worlds.

A three-day machineries exposition titled “Sustainable development of apparel industry: prospects and obstacles” held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) revealed Bangladesh’s plans to export readymade garments to Brazil and Russian markets in the next one and a half years.

Organised by Export Exhibition and supported by Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), the function was addressed by Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, former President, FBCCI; Ferno Susai, Founder, Innowell Engineering International; M Fazlul Haque, former President, BKMEA; Dr M Julhas Uddin, Professor, Bangladesh University of Textiles and Birendra Goyal, Managing Director, Apples Global.

Chaired by SREDA Chairman M Helal Uddin, the function was moderated by SREDA member Siddique Jobaer. Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, the commerce minister said that Bangladesh’s RMG industry has not come into the present sound condition overnight, rather it started from a very small scale.

However, despite various successes, the RMG producers are not being able to realise the worth of their produces. They need to enhance their bargaining capacity and reduce the production cost. The commerce minister also suggested using solar power in the RMG industries and factories for reducing the use of water through recycling, and showing bargaining skills towards fixing the price of products.

Turnover of the retail sector in the 19 countries of the Eurozone fell by 2.4 per cent in May 2019 compared to a year ago. Revenues fell 4.3 per cent in April. In general, last year was negative for retail sales of the sector in the European Union of 19 states. The only months in which increases were marked in the sector were April, August and October. Otherwise there was a drop of over two per cent between May and July.

In the European Union as a whole (28 countries), trade in textiles, clothing and footwear fell by 1.9 per cent. Despite starting the year with a decline of 0.6 per cent in January, the sector’s retail turnover surged in February and March, with increases of 3.6 per cent and 3.4 per cent respectively. However in April there was a decrease of 1.7 per cent.

In both the Euro area and the European Union as a whole, total sales of retail trade increased by 1.3 per cent in May 2019 compared to May the previous year. Luxembourg and Ireland were the territories that contributed most to the growth of the turnover of the whole of retail in Europe in May 2019, with increases of 7.4 per cent and seven per cent respectively.

The 2019 China International Garment and Textile Fair(CIGF) will reinforce the role of digitalisation in enabling the Chinese textile industry to ‘go global.’ To be organised by the CIGF office of Dalian Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the fair will be held in Dalia from September 07-09, 2019.

The fair will be based on the theme of ‘Quality Fashion’ and will bring together more than 1,000 clothing businesses from around the world, attracting international apparel executives, fashion designers and experts in the textile industry as well as their Chinese counterparts. A total of six pavilions will be built in the international exhibition zone covering an area of over 4,000 sq. mt. This will include the pavilions of Asia, Europe, Western Fashion, and Western Life; as well as those of Italy and South Korea, choosing to go their separate ways given their high-profile positions in the fashion world.

In terms of domestic business promotion, around 2,500 professional buyers, brokers and dealers from 300 shopping centers in 80 Chinese cities will attend the promotional events and seek to build business connections during the fair. Apart from the business promotion activities, the fair will also unveil three research results. These include a research on the development and future of China's apparel industry, a white paper about the development of business attire in China, as well as China National Garment Association (CNGA)'s protocols for smart manufacturing of clothing.

Besides, a summit on integration of information technology and industrialisation for China's textile industry will also be held during the fair. It will focus on international trade trends, as well as the textile industry's contribution to the industrial internet, exploring the application of AI and 5G technology in the garment and textile business, in order to further promote information-sharing among related business entities.

Speaking at the recently concluded 69th National Garment Fair, Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI urged the government to pass rules of origin for raw materials exported to Bangladesh. According to the rules, a minimum amount of raw materials (fabric) used for garment, which are exported from Bangladesh to India, should be made out of materials either manufactured in Bangladesh or imported from India. In other words, materials of third country should not be permitted in garments exported by Bangladesh to India. In addition, Indian apparel industry should also get duty free access to Bangladesh under the FTA. There is good scope of exports of women ethnic wear to Bangladesh.

India has an FTA with Bangladesh, whereby garments can be exported without any payment of duty into India. In the absence of any Rules of Origin, Bangladesh manufacturers are importing duty free fabrics from China, converting them into garments, and exporting in to India – thereby virtually providing duty free access to Indian markets for Chinese fabrics. It is important to note that the imports of garments from Bangladesh has been growing at the rate of 82 per cent over last year, and 161% over 2016-17, and has now reached US$365 million. If this continues, imports of garments from Bangladesh are likely to touch US$3.6 billion by 2024-25.Ironically, exports of garments from India into Bangladesh is subject to a net duty of almost 125%.CMAI has urged the Government to take immediate steps, otherwise if this growth of imports allowed to continue, the industry is set to lose 10 lakh jobs by 2025.

Vayu Garware is the chairman and MD of Garware Technical Fibers. He is a business graduate. He joined Garware Technical Fibers in 1995 and under his leadership the company has expanded its product geographies from India to more than 75 countries globally. He has been intimately involved in the growth of the company and responsible for the transformation from cordage focused to a technical textile company. Under his stewardship, delivering innovative application-focused solutions to customers has been ingrained as part of the DNA of the company.

A firm believer in systemized processes to drive operational excellence in delivering value to customers, processes like TPM, Kaizen, 8D, and many more were institutionalized during his tenure. Since he was elevated as chairman and managing director in November 2011, the company has diversified into new business segments in line with the objective of delivering innovative solutions worldwide. He is a philanthropist and under his guidance the company has focused on social engineering through skill development initiatives and education for underprivileged children. His vision is to make the company a leading global player in the technical textile space.

Garware caters to various segments like aquaculture, sports nets, agriculture, geotextiles etc. through a diverse range of netting products, ropes, coated fabrics and others.

London Textile Fair was held from July 16 to 17, 2019. The event hosted 515 exhibitors from across the UK and Europe. Buyers from retailers and brands including Gucci, Zara, H&M, Reiss, Ted Baker and French Connection were in attendance.

The difficult retail market led to fewer buyers. Tough trading conditions are one reason. Retailers have smaller budgets and margins are tighter, which means that orders are shrinking and businesses aren’t taking risks design-wise. Everyone is playing it safe and producing the same thing because they know it works. Another reason could be too many trade shows. People are being fussier about which ones they attend. Brexit is also impacting trade. Everybody seemed to be holding back on spending this edition pending the Brexit decision in October. This has knocked a lot of European business, especially in Italy. There’s too much uncertainty.

London Textile Fair is the UK’s premier platform for fashion fabrics, clothing accessories, print studios and vintage garments. It provides manufacturers and their agents the opportunity to showcase their products to the most influential British buyers and designers. The show has developed into a quality event for the fashion fabrics business in the UK. The fair was first organised in 2008.

The West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board (WBKVIB) will soon apply for geographical indication (GI) for its muslin fabric. The work for preparing the necessary documentation for making the application is in its final stages. The board is collating the age-old gazette notifications, different publications in newspapers and magazines to establish the golden history of muslin in the best possible way.

It is also making a detailed documentation on the steps taken in recent times to boost muslin production in the state. It may be mentioned that in Bengal, there are primarily seven districts, which can be identified as major pockets of muslin fabric like Murshidabad, Birbhum, Nadia, Burdwan, Malda and Hooghly and Paschim Medinipur.

There are around 900 to 1,100 families engaged in muslin production. More importantly, even though muslin is produced in some countries of West Asia, their artisans can hardly go beyond 200 count. It is only these six districts that yarns of 500 counts and more are produced. Such fine yarns are of high demand in the international market, especially in Japan.

In July 2015, the state MSME department had started Project Muslin for revival and rejuvenation of brand Khadi and wooing back some of the traditionally skilled artisans who left the handloom sector and sought employment in less-skilled sectors.