For the second quarter Soma Textiles’ total income was Rs 8.34 crores against Rs 2.64 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs 4.12 crores in the previous quarter. Net profit/loss was Rs 4.69 crores against Rs 7.39 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs 3.20 crores in the previous quarter.

For the six month period total income was Rs 12.46 crores against Rs 2.97 crores in the previous year. Net profit/loss was at Rs 7.89 crores compared to Rs 11.76 crores in the previous year. Founded in 1969 Soma Textiles is synonymous with quality products and business value. Today the same entrepreneurial spirit along with technical innovation and advanced capability continues to service and inspire the domestic as well as global market. A well nurtured industry experience, expertise guidance, committed business approach coupled with qualified professionals and state-of-the-art manufacturing units has made Soma one of the leading textile conglomerates in India.

US fashion brands and apparel retailers face the challenge of running out of inventory amid the holiday season and the ongoing shipping crisis, reveals Shunglufashion’s recent analysis.

The analysis by University of Delaware Professor Shung Lu reveals clothing products targeting the premium and mass market face more significant shortages than luxury or value apparel items in the US. Increased demand from middle-class US consumers could be among the primary contributing factors. Seasonal products and stable fashion items are more likely to be out of stock. In the winter season, many swimwear products run out of stock. Stable fashion products like hosiery and underwear are also in short supply. The result could be the combined effects of consumers’ robust demand and the shipping delay.

Apparel products locally sourced from the US seem to have the rate of lowest out-of-stock. Clothing items sourced from Bangladesh and India report a much higher out-of-stock rate. However, a substantial percentage of Made in USA apparel was in the category of T-shirts, implying switching to domestic sourcing often is not a viable option for US fashion brands and retailers.

Additionally, fast fashion retailers overall report a much lower out-of-stock rate than department stores and specialty clothing stores. This result showcases fast fashion retailers’ competitive advantages in supply chain management, which payoffs in the current challenging business environment.

Spinning mills in Bangladesh are posting stellar profit growth. The price they are commanding has outgrown costs amid an increase in sales, especially for spinners who produce comparatively higher value yarns.

The profitability cycle began a year ago when Bangladeshi apparel exporters began to receive abundant orders from global buyers amid a disrupted supply chain worldwide. Except some with special problems or negative legacies, most publicly listed textile and spinning companies posted business growth for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Apparently, the trend is to continue in the first quarter of this fiscal year too.

Matin Spinning Mills, a concern of DBL Group, posted 212 per cent year on year growth in quarterly profits for the July-September quarter this year. Maksons Spinning Mills, which was struggling to maintain less than decent bottom line before the pandemic, is now flying high as its sales and profit margins have improved. In late 2020, Maksons’ share price began to recover as informed investors began to foresee the good days. Maksons plans a spinning mill project to manufacture high-value yarns which are offering a higher sales growth and of course a better profit margin.

China’s value-added industrial output increased 3.1 per cent year on year in September 2021 reveals National Bureau of Statistics data. This was up 10.2 per cent over the same period of 2019. The two-year average growth reached five per cent. It edged up 0.05 per cent from the previous month. In the first three quarters, China’s value-added industrial output grew by 11.8 per cent year on year.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of certain large enterprises.

The manufacturing output increased by 2.4 per cent year on year in September and 12.5 per cent in the first three quarters. In September, the textile industry’s value-added output declined by 5.8 per cent while it increased by 3.7 per cent in January to September. By product, in September, the production of 255 out of 612 kinds of products increased year on year. The output of fabric decreased 1.2 per cent in September and increased by 10.1 per cent in January to September, while the output of chemical fibers dropped two per cent in September and rose 13.5 per cent in January to September. In September, the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises was 98.2 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points from the same period of last year.

For the third quarter HanesBrands’ sales increased 5.8 per cent. HanesBrands is a US-based global marketer of branded everyday basic apparel. International sales improved six per cent. Global Champion brand sales increased 33 per cent over last year’s third quarter, driven by strong consumer demand across channels in the US and continued growth in Europe, and the ramp-up of partners in China.

On the other hand, US innerwear sales went up 12 per cent due to the combination of strong consumer demand across the company’s brand portfolio as well as the impact from pent-up consumer demand fuelling category growth rates above historical levels. Gross profit during the third quarter escalated to $699.6 million while operating profit rose to $234.6 million. Additionally income from operations increased to $176.7 million. By segment, the innerwear business fell 11 per cent whereas active wear sales surged 42 per cent driven by strong double-digit growth in both the Champion and Hanes brands.

The American clothing company anticipates a three per cent sales growth during the fourth quarter. It continues to make progress on its full potential plan as it invests in its iconic brands, builds talent, enhances e-commerce capabilities and modernizes its technology.

The Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action establishes a framework for stakeholder dialogue and participation in climate action. Under the charter, the fashion industry is raising its collective ambition with updated emission reduction targets. The renewed commitments, announced recently at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, form a decarbonizing detailed outline with Paris Agreement aspirations to limit worldwide temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. The call for companies to set scientific objectives or divide their emission levels by 2030, with a pledge to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, is core to this. This is an update on the previous target of 30 per cent aggregate greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030.

This is a significant moment for the fashion charter. Other obligations in the revised charter include procuring 100 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2030, sourcing environmentally friendly raw resources, and going to phase out coal from the distribution chain by 2030.

Signatories to the fashion charter collectively represent a sizable portion of the fashion industry. The charter is currently has 130 companies on board and 41 supporting organisations, including well-known brands such as Burberry, H&M, VF Corporation, Adidas, Kering, Chanel, Nike, and Puma, as well as suppliers such as Crystal Group, Tal Apparel, and others.

Morocco is becoming an attractive destination for global textile companies. Several brands from the European Union, the UK and the US have been sealing deals with Moroccan textile companies. Spanish brand Mango and the group Inditex as well as the French group Camaïeu have already established connections with Morocco’s local producers.

As the world’s leading textile groups are migrating from traditional Asian manufacturers to closer markets offering favorable conditions, and Morocco stands to gain from this. Logistical costs, the downturn caused by the pandemic and the increase of salaries in China have forced Western textile giants to look for more favorable partners explains Mohammed Boubouh President, Moroccan Association of textile and clothing industries (AMITH).

Distributors who used to buy exclusively in Asia are now shopping in Morocco and the country has an opportunity to become a major textile player. But there is a need to provide credit insurance for Moroccan producers to ease the export process. Moroccan textile companies which are largely specialized in packaging need to step up and become producers of finished products. The creation of textile aggregators would help as they constitute the connecting link between subcontracted producers and distributors. These aggregators have a know-how that traditional manufacturers do not have. Moroccan manufacturers lack expertise in several areas including creativity, marketing, logistics, technical development.

American cotton exports dropped twofold from September 2021 to October 2021, reveals IndexBox data. Droughts have wiped out a significant part of cotton crops across the US, especially in Texas. Reducing yields in the US due to unfavorable weather forced American suppliers to slump exports, decreasing global market supply.

The US however, is the leading supplier, accounting for 41 per cent of global cotton lint exports. China, Vietnam and Pakistan are key importers of cotton lint from America. They have a combined 65 per cent share of total US exports. In 2020, US supplies to China grew threefold, while shipments for the other leaders experienced mixed trend patterns. In 2020, the amount of cotton lint exported from the US rose by 7.3 per cent compared with 2019. The average export price for cotton lint from the US shrank by 9.5 per cent in 2020 against the previous year. Average prices varied somewhat for the major overseas markets. In 2020, the highest prices were recorded for prices to India and Indonesia while the average prices for exports to Vietnam and China were among the lowest. In 2020, the most notable growth rate in terms of prices was recorded for supplies to India, while the prices for the other significant destinations experienced a decline.

Orders for Italian textile machines rose 66 per cent for Q3. Domestic orders rose by 130 per cent and foreign orders were up by 54 per cent, reveals ACIMIT stats. However, the index of orders intake dropped by 17 per cent when compared to the previous quarter this year, due mainly to the summer break and a demand for machinery that has stabilized over the last few months.

Overall, the number of new orders remain positive in spite of a slight decline compared to the months prior to the summer period. This proves that Italian companies have been capable of responding quickly to new market conditions, as has often happened in other historical periods. This positive moment for Italy’s textile machinery sector is expected to continue to the year’s end. Italian machinery manufacturers are forecasting an increase in order intake for the last quarter of the year, both abroad and domestically. However, difficulties remain particularly in the areas of digitalization and sustainability.

Creativity, sustainable technology, reliability and quality are the characteristics which have made Italy a global leader in the manufacturing of textile machinery. Exports amount to more than 86 per cent of total sales. And 30 per cent of Italy’s revenue from the sale of textile machinery derives from the production of technical and innovative textiles.

The government has played a key role in the turnaround of India’s textile sector. The initiatives it introduced in the last two years, is boosting sales that had slumped to $75 billion during the pandemic, to $300 billion by 2025-26. Exports of technical textiles exceeded imports by Rs 2,998 crore in FY21 as a report titled ‘Textile Industry: Trends and Prospects' released by Infomerics Valuation and Rating, a SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited financial services credit rating company.

The Indian technical textiles market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6 per cent in Asia-Pacific to reach $23.3 billion in 2027, the report states. Government plans to increase exports to five times in three years, from the current approximately $2 billion to $10 billion.

Schemes launched by the government

The government has introduced several initiatives like the Technology Mission on Cotton (TMC), Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP), etc to bolster sector’s growth. It recently introduced new schemes like National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) for four years with an outlay of Rs 1480 crore.

One of the largest textile and apparel hubs in the country, Tamil Nadu aims to drive innovation and reduce foreign dependence through its participation in the Techtextil India 2021 - the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and non-wovens. The state has also introduced a few other measures like the Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SAMARTH) to train 10 lakh workers in the sector.

Low funds and other generic factors

One major challenge that the industry faces is low fund allocation, says the report. The sector received only Rs 3,631.64 crore funds as against the proposed outlay of Rs 16,883 crore during the FY22, it adds.

Manufacturing activities in the sector have reduced, raising prices of the final product as reflected in the annual NIC-2 digit and sectoral indices of industrial production, For the first time in a decade, the index for 'manufacturing of textiles' has fallen to as low as 91.1, adds the report.

The report further highlights, generic factors like weakened consumer demand or production networks; obsolete technology, inflexible labor laws, infrastructure bottlenecks and industry fragmentation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused the yearly wholesale price index for 'manufacturing of textiles' to hover 6-7 notches above the decadal average of 118-point mark,.

Cementing global position

The reports emphasizes on the industry’s need to command premium prices; target niche products and markets; redesign products in higher value-added segments, the report emphasizes. The industry also needs to focus on regional and cluster subsidies, technology upgradation and skill development subsidies for sustained development, it adds.

To scale operations, the industry needs to invest in value added services, e.g., marketing, warehouse rentals, logistics, courier, other product fulfillment costs, it further adds. To cement India’s position in the global textile market, the report advises the industry to address the risk factors and the distinctive peculiarities of the sector and integrate the textile value chain.