"The fourth edition of CENTRSTAGE, a fashion brand-promotion, launch platform and trade exhibition organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC)interviewed233 buyers and 72 exhibitors to gauge their sentiment on current industry prospects and latest product trends and e-commerce developments. The results indicated a pessimistic attitude towards sales prospects over the next 12 months."

The fourth edition of CENTRSTAGE, a fashion brand-promotion, launch platform and trade exhibition organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC)interviewed233 buyers and 72 exhibitors to gauge their sentiment on current industry prospects and latest product trends and e-commerce developments. The results indicated a pessimistic attitude towards sales prospects over the next 12 months. Both buyers and exhibitors expressed their concern over the sluggish global economy while exhibitors were skeptical due to the global trade tensions and mounting trade barriers.

Owing to the recent inclusion of clothing and fashion items in the US 301 tariff list, around 16 per cent buyers and 39 per cent exhibitors expected their sales to decrease over the next 12 months. Of this, 35 per cent buyers expected their retail prices to increase in 2020, 59 per cent expected it to remain unchanged while 6 per cent expected them to decrease.

On sourcing prices and production costs, opinion was divided. For instance, around 42 per cent buyers expected their sourcing prices to increase while 54 per cent anticipated them to remain at its current level. Among exhibitors, however, only 10 per cent expected their production costs to rise, while 68 per cent expected them to remain unchanged.

Sluggish global economy to be the biggest challenge

Around 49 per cent and 57 per cent exhibitors noted the slowing global economy to be the biggest challenge before them. The other challenges listed by buyers included increase in operating costs, keen competition within the industry and the slowdown in mainland China’s economy. Exhibitors were more wary of the slowdown of the mainland Chinese economy, changing global trade relations and changing political environment.

Impact of the Sino-US trade dispute and tariffs

A high percentage of buyers and exhibitors expected the ongoing Sino-US trade dispute to negatively impact their business as compared to 32 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively, last year. This increased pessimism was mainly triggered by the inclusion of apparel items in the US Section 301 tariffs of 15 per cent on the majority of mainland China-origin apparel and made-up textiles starting 1 September 2019 and the additional tariff measures on the remaining apparel items scheduled to go into effect on 15 December 2019.

Casual wear records the highest demand

Around 70 per cent buyers and 50 per cent exhibitors expected casual wear and urban wear to record the highest level of demand. This would be followed by fashion accessories such as belt, watch, gloves, hair accessories, handbag, footwear and sunglasses. Around 43 per cent buyers expected ‘crossover/joint promotion’ to be most popular product strategy, followed by ‘celebrity or key opinion leader-endorsed fashion collections and ‘brand licensing products. On the other hand, exhibitors expected collections made from new materials and ‘brand licensing products to be the most favored product development strategies moving forward, followed by ‘celebrity or key opinion leader-endorsed fashion collections.

E-tailing continue to be most popular sales channel

The most popular and significant sales channel for the apparel industry continues to be online trading with 55 per cent buyers and 44 per cent exhibitors currently being engaged in e-tailing. Around 73 per cent of the companies currently engaged or planning to engage in e-tailing believed the channel to be the most suitable for women’s wear. This is followed by menswear, casual wear and footwear.

Among those companies currently engaged or planning to engage in e-tailing, around 56 per cent were already sourcing or planning to source from mainland China, followed by Hong Kong, Western Europe, South Korea and Taiwan.

The orders index for textile machinery compiled by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, from July to September 2019 declined by 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. The value of the index came in at 97.4 points.

New orders for Italian machinery manufacturers were negative both in foreign markets and in Italy. Abroad, an 8 per cent decrease was recorded, with an absolute index value of 98.9 points. The drop in domestic orders was even more pronounced, at -22 per cent compared to the third quarter 2018. The absolute value of the index was 94.9 points.

Alessandro Zucchi, president of ACIMIT, commented: "The orders index provides a true picture of the global market’s downsizing. Current geopolitical tensions are undermining the climate of trust for businesses that need to invest. In Italy, uncertainties linked to future processes relating to the Industry 4.0 plan have effectively slowed demand for machinery.

He further stated, “we don’t expect any changes of course for the current trend this year Exports data, updated to the first six months of the year, confirm an overall negative progression compared to the same period for 2018, with the exception of the Chinese market, which is experiencing growth. However, we expect a boost in investments in 2020."

The operating rate of Chinese polyester yarn mills in July to September was much lower than that in the same period last year. Polyester yarn prices moved in line with raw material prices. They have hit the lowest since 2017. Most spinners have started to sell at around cost line, but even so sales are not moving smoothly. Some spinners suffered huge losses as they stocked up on polyester staple fiber or accumulated finished products, and some can run normally only by production cuts and cautious operations. Small and medium-sized spinners have been forced to cut production. In the meantime, end-user fabric plants are running at a low rate.

With so many unfavorable factors, the market will find it difficult to improve. If end-user demand does not recover, this situation may last until next year and the overall operational environment will continue to be burdened. The sustained depression in the polyester staple fiber market has made a dent in the vitality of the market and the wait-and-see attitude adopted by downstream players also hamper the sales of polyester yarn. As raw materials for cotton textile, cotton, viscose staple fiber and polyester staple fiber all face huge pressure in 2019. The sentiment of these three markets have cooled down and finished products are also affected negatively.

The upcoming edition of Kingpins New York, the trade fair dedicated to denim, will focus on sustainability. The fair will be held between November 19 and 20 in Pier 36. There will be a special space dedicated to discuss eco-innovation, social and environmental issues with professionals in the sector.

Founded in 2004 by American businessman Andrew Olah, Kingpins has established itself as one of the key events for the denim industry. Since then, the contest has been exporting the formula to different parts of the planet.

The fair, also organised in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and China, launched in 2015 its Kingpins Transformer summit, a series of events for the members of the denim industry to make the jeans industry more environmentally viable and socially responsible.

To be held from November 20-23, 2019, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Exhibition will house over 500 exhibitors. Specialised in the clothing industry, the trade fair will take place in the Vietnamese capital, Ho Chi Minh City.

Most participants will be international companies from 17 markets such as Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia or Romania,etc. The exhibition will feature a conference space to discuss topics such as trade war between China and the United States and its impact on the fashion sector.

Texfusion will be held in the UK, November 20 to 21, 2019. The show will present a carefully-selected group of high-quality international companies including the finest fabrics and accessories manufacturers. The event will provide manufacturers and their agents the opportunity to showcase their products to the most influential buyers and designers on the UK fashion scene. This textile fair will feature 180 exhibitors, double that in the March edition, and expects more than 2,000 buyers. The fair specializes in technical textiles, fabrics, women’s wear and men’s wear and denim. Fashion fabrics will cover Lycra, silk, prints, synthetics, wool, jacquard, cotton and blends, denim, eco friendly fabrics, embroidery and lace, fake fur, zips, knitted fabrics and trims. There will be functional and sportswear linen, active wear, technical fabrics, waterproof, fire resistant, medical fabrics. Home textiles will cover fabrics for duvet covers, sheets, blankets, carpets, towels, kitchen wear. There will be more than 60 exhibitors from China and ten companies from Taiwan.

The fair offers a professional and friendly atmosphere where visitors have the opportunity to source from the most important manufacturers in Asia showing a wide selection of products and demonstrating their competence and experience in both design and production capability.

The Lycra Company will showcase its Lycra® EcoMade fibers type 166E and 162E, currently produced in Brazil, at the Kingspins New York Denim trade show to be held from November 19-20, 2019 in New York. These fibers were recently certified by the GRS (Global Recycled Standard). They are the company’s first branded spandex fibers made from pre-consumer recycled materials. The Global Recycled Standard verifies their recycled material and includes strict social, environmental and chemical requirements.

These fibers offer the same lasting comfort, fit and freedom of movement as the original Lycra® fiber, but are made partly with fiber waste collected at the company’s manufacturing sites and blended with virgin polymer at specific concentrations. This reduces waste and puts it back into production.

A hackathon will be held as part of Techtextil, Mumbai, November 20 to 22, 2019. The aim of the hackathon is to foster an eco-system that supports India’s technical textile start-ups and enables them to develop products and prototypes. Representing the supply chain of fiber to innovation and start-ups to the investor stage, India’s first technical textile hackathon aims at potentially building business models that can be funded, scaled, and taken global.

The hackathon is expected to bring India’s top ten technical textile start-ups under one roof. While the manufacturing side will be represented by companies of specialty fibers, yarns, textiles, fabrics, products along with brands and traders, the entrepreneur side will cover small and medium enterprises, start-up ecosystems and accelerators.

The session will take up topics centered on India’s challenges of sustainability such as ocean littering, plastic recycling and waste disposal and drive concepts for start-ups to collaborate with industry stakeholders to develop focused solutions using technical textiles. The event is expected to enable stakeholders engage in a sustained dialogue and drive innovations in India’s technical textile industry. The hope is that the collaborations can potentially lead to the development of prototypes, pilot projects, new technical textile product development, and go to market strategies.

Intex South Asia was held in Bangladesh, November 17 to 18, 2019. This is the biggest international apparel textile sourcing show in the South Asian region. The aim was to create a new paradigm in textile sourcing by successfully integrating the textile value chain on a single, global, trading platform. The expo is the strongest platform to expand business to other countries in South Asia and across the world. The fair connected buyers from Bangladesh and other South Asian countries. The aim was to create a network with quality suppliers from over ten countries showcasing yarns, apparel fabrics, denim fabrics, clothing accessories and allied services, dyes and chemicals.

For its first edition in Bangladesh, the show ramped up its offerings not only in terms of new countries like Indonesia and pavilions from India and China but also added categories such as the dyes and chemicals zone which added more depth to the show. Intex South Asia’s Interactive Business Forum Seminar Series delivered high quality market intelligence to support industry efforts to upgrade, move up the value chain and better understand global trends. Fashion for Good from Netherlands presented circular fashion and also introduced its South Asia Innovation Program. These seminars assist industry to better understand current global trends and in turn create a more relevant manufacturing hub.

Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh), which recently opened its first sneaker outlet-B-Sneakers- plans to further open many such outlets in the country future. The multinational shoe company has been serving the local customers since 1962. Currently, Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) operates two manufacturing facilities – one in Tongi and the other in Dhamrai. Together these two facilities have an annual production capacity of 160,000 pairs of shoes daily.

Bata is the lone franchisee of internationally renowned brands such as Adidas, Nike, Hush Puppies, and Skechers in Bangladesh. It has its own sneaker brands, namely Power and North Star. The turnover of Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh) stood at Tk 459 crore in the first half this year and it made a profit of Tk 28 crore. Sneaker use grows five times more than black and brown formal shoes.