The global luxury goods market is growing steadily at 3.40 per cent. Reason: existence of potentially large players who are focusing hard on making affordable luxury items for luring consumers from emerging economies. Competition between the handful of established vendors is getting intensified as they are vying to gain the attention of millennials and post millennials.

Luxury goods comprise jewelry and watches, fragrance and perfumes, cosmetics and personal care products, apparels, and wine/champagne. Luxury goods are mainly high-value products in terms of quality and price. Such goods have become a status symbol for many individuals. Rising living standards globally and the growing spending capacity of consumers are the main factors driving the growth in the global luxury goods market. Many players in the global luxury goods market are focusing on introducing various tailor-made products matching prevailing trends to meet consumer demand. Growing demand for a variety of luxury goods, and increasingly creative and advanced marketing activities through online platforms, is also propelling growth in the global luxury goods market.

Europe is expected to account for the leading share in the global luxury goods market in coming years. This is attributed to flourishing fashion and luxury brands and the rising number of high-end department stores in the region.

A textile processing zone is coming up in Sri Lanka. The zone will have factories for woven manufacturing, knitted manufacturing, dyeing and finishing.

Sri Lanka is an ideal model for speed-to-market given its strategic geographical location. Customers look at the country for reliability, quality and quick response, for which a dedicated textile facility is needed. Apparel exports of Sri Lanka grew 6.38 per cent in May 2019. From January to May apparel exports grew 8.7 per cent against the same period last year. This has been the highest growth rate recorded in the past five years. Sri Lanka’s apparel exports have made a significant impact on American, European and other major export markets around the globe. The country’s target is to reach $ 8 billion in exports by 2025. Apparels are Sri Lanka’s biggest exports to the EU. Almost 90 per cent of Sri Lankan exports to the EU are exported under GSP Plus or with zero duty. About 57 per cent of Sri Lanka’s total exports go to the EU and US markets.

The GSP Plus scheme has encouraged increased value addition within Sri Lanka and promoted backward integration, resulting in the setting up of new industries and creating new employment opportunities in the country.

India may opt out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP. The country needs substantial offers in services, including in the area of work visas and easing of movement of workers, for the pact to succeed. Indian industries, including iron and steel, dairy, marine products, electronic products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals and textiles, have expressed concern that the proposed tariff elimination under RCEP would render them uncompetitive. India is also fearful that China will dump its goods into India once the pact is signed. While India may be in a position to be more generous toward Asean, South Korea and Japan, with which it already has trade pacts, the same doesn’t hold true for Australia, New Zealand and most importantly China.

The RCEP, once implemented, could be the largest free trade zone in the world as member countries account for 40 per cent of global GDP, 30 per cent of global trade, 26 per cent of global foreign direct investment flows and 45 per cent of the total population. The 16-member grouping comprises ten Asean countries, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. They are hoping to conclude the agreement by November-end. But India does not want to be hustled.

The value of this partnership lies in the connections it creates – by serving as a bridge between leaders in the industry and students interested in pursuing a career in textiles. The goal is to influence the generation of ideas that leads to exciting research, new careers, and advancement of the industry as a whole. The partnership will provide exhibiting and visiting companies with direct access to the latest research coming from the world’s leading materials programs, facilitate future careers and strategic partnerships through collaboration with the university’s administration and shine a spotlight on the high level of global innovation and industry development coming from all levels of the North American textile industry.

This partnership will bring about the convergence of advanced fibers, textiles, materials, and technologies. Not only is Georgia Tech the leading university for material science and engineering in the US, it is a key player when it comes to industry research and innovation. The Materials Science and Engineering program has repeatedly made the ten best list for both its undergraduate and graduate programs. Numerous companies have evolved from technologies developed within the university.

Next Techtextil North America will be held on May 12 to 14, 2020.

Trident’s total income was Rs 1318.51 crores during the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1418.31 crores during the period ended March 31, 2019. Net profit was Rs 122.43 crores for the period ended June 30, 2019, as against Rs 92.26 crores for the period ended March 31, 2019. EPS was Rs 2.46 for the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1.85 for the period ended March 31, 2019.

Total income was Rs 1318.51 crores during the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1145.36 crores during the period ended June 30, 2018. Net profit was Rs 122.43 crores for the period ended June 30, 2019, as against Rs 58.89 crores for the period ended June 30, 2018. EPS was Rs 2.46 for the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1.18 for the period ended June 30, 2018.

Trident is the flagship company of the Trident Group, an Indian business conglomerate and a global player. Based in Punjab, Trident is a vertically integrated textile (yarn, bath and bed linen) and paper (wheat straw-based) manufacturer and is one of the largest players in the home textile space in India. The company is upgrading its business operating system.

Fair Trade USA has raised funds to launch new fair trade products, reach new producer communities and channel additional income to farmers, workers and fishermen. Fair Trade USA is a leading third-party certifier of fair trade products in North America. Its certification seal is added to products that are made according to rigorous fair trade standards that promote sustainable livelihoods and safe working conditions, protection of the environment, and strong, transparent supply chains. Many home goods, include rugs, bedding, furniture, décor and more, are Fair Trade certified.

The certifier supports small-scale family farmers in the fair trade movement so they can tap into vital markets and improve productivity. It brings justice to farm workers both in the United States and abroad so they can build a future free of abuse and poverty. Fair Trade USA has trained more than 75,000 farm workers in human rights, workplace safety and community development. Fair Trade USA is actively investing in new technology to transform its business, developing a world-class monitoring and evaluation system, reducing cost and complexity in its certification standards, and continuing to build consumer demand for Fair Trade Certified products. It is identifying new opportunities for impact to dramatically expand the scale and reach of the proven fair trade model in new sectors.

Egypt’s exports of readymade garments grew by 4.4 per cent during the first half of 2019. But readymade garments exported by Egypt to European countries dropped by seven per cent while exports to African countries plunged by 60 per cent. Exports to the US rose by 19 per cent. In addition, Egypt’s readymade garment exports to Arab countries surged by 24 per cent.

June exports of readymade garments grew 11 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier. Egypt’s garment exports go mainly to the US, Turkey, Spain, Britain, North Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Egypt wants to have stronger trade relations with Africa. Steps include taking part in international exhibitions in the African continent and setting up an Egyptian-African free trade zone. Egypt’s main exports to Africa are engineering industries, pharmaceuticals, chemical garments, food industries, and construction materials. Egypt wants to increase exports to the African continent by 35 per cent in 2017. The main countries Egypt is interested in are Kenya, Zambia and Ivory Coast. However working to make Egypt a leading international trade center in the Middle East requires work to increase the capacities of Egyptian ports in order to attract more container ships as well as working on the development of logistics capabilities and infrastructure to support this trend.

Chinese e-commerce players in India like Club Factory, Shein, AliExpress have some way to go. For one, they may be charged a combination of customs duties and GST of up to 50 per cent on orders from China. As a result, these players are analysing whether they want to import versus procuring locally. And the issue will boil down to cost.

As most of these players have a strong presence in the value-conscious Tier II and beyond markets, figuring out a way to retain their current costs would be vital. But even sourcing locally may not be a long-term answer to the problem. These companies might not be able to source locally a very high quality of products at a lower cost and that might throw up a challenge. Further, since the products on these platforms are being sourced from China, they are unique in their designs and quality; therefore, e-tailers may lose their edge and face issues maintaining their erstwhile standard while sourcing from India.

Fierce competition is another roadblock as they look to establish themselves in the market. Competition is going to get more and more difficult as Indian players scale up. In such a scenario, it may prove crucial to figure out logistics and offer a better delivery experience to customers.

As per the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), sales in China's garment industry grew steadily in the first half of the year despite slower expansion of the sector. Retail sales of garment enterprises, each with annual operating revenue of 20 million yuan, rose by 2.7 percent year on year to reach 475 billion yuan (about 68.5 billion U.S. dollars). The outputs of these enterprises shrank by 1.1 per cent to a total of 10.4 billion pieces.

During the same period, online retail sales of apparels increased by 21.4 percent from a year ago, while exports of clothing and accessories decreased by 4.7 percent year on year to 66.6 billion U.S. dollars. In H1, these enterprises reported combined operating revenues of 761.6 billion yuan, up 2.2 percent year on year, while their profits dropped by 0.8 percent to 38.2 billion yuan during the period.

Bangladesh is aiming for better leather goods exports. The country has raw leather but needs to import almost all other raw materials for final products. By law, imports have to be done in phases and so it takes time to produce the finished goods and export. So the leather and footwear sector is playing second fiddle to the garment sector.

Presently, Bangladesh has around 165 footwear and leather factories and they could bring in bigger export receipts were they compliant and using modern technologies. There are about 60 companies in Bangladesh which export footwear and leather goods. The destinations are mainly Japan, Europe and the US to some extent. Bangladesh produces 400 million sq ft of finished leather annually. But the country can use only 30 per cent of its finished leather. The remaining 70 per cent is exported, mostly to China. Bangladesh can earn three times more from exports of leather goods if all the finished leather produced locally is utilised. Finished leather exports fetch less than a third of a footwear item.

Chinese companies are keen to invest in Bangladesh’s leather and footwear sector and relocate their manufacturing units to the country to avoid extra tariffs that emerged from the US-China trade war.