"Denim is set to get a boost as demand for athleisure clothing seems to have peaked. Now, companies are looking for newer options and resurrection of the good old jeans is most likely."

Denim is set to get a boost as demand for athleisure clothing seems to have peaked. Now, companies are looking for newer options and resurrection of the good old jeans is most likely.

Levi’s IPO marks a turnaround for jeans

For generations, no other clothing item represented the US better than jeans. However, the introduction of athleisure by Lululemon in 2007 turned the tide against denim as comfortable clothing gained popularity. Millennials, who became a bigger consumer force, emulated younger icons like Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian by adopting the new athleisure look. During this period, sale of jeans in the US declined by 11 per cent while overall apparel sales rose 10 per cent.

However, now with the return of Levi Strauss to the public market, the tide seems to be turning in favour of denim again. Levi’s IPO launched in March 2019 was priced above expectations amid heavy demand. Even today, the brand’s market value is high and remains unlike other tech IPOs.

Global denim market to grow 11 per cent

Euromonitor projects US jeans revenue will grow by 5 per cent to $17.5 billion by 2023, with global market growing by 11 per cent to $111.6 billion. While there is a huge scope for the growth of athleisure, momentum may be shifting towards denim in the fashion industry. Denim brands Lee and Wrangler jeans are likely to make a comeback after their spinoff last month from VF Corp into the newly listed Kontoor Brands. The spinoff gives Kontoor a leadership team that's quicker to adapt to trends and more likely to experiment.

Emergence of new denim styles

As Robert Burke, CEO, Robert Burke Associations points out there are clear signs of a renewed for denim. However, consumers are not willing to wear the traditionally uncomfortable or restricting pair of jeans. They are adopting new dressing styles like pairing their denim with blazers.

The Euromonitor also predicts the US jeans revenue will grow by 5 per cent to $17.5 billion by 2023. Chip Bergh, CEO, Levi Strauss CEO terms the rise of athleisure in the fashion industry as being "throwdown moment," which inspired brands to make more comfortable jeans styles.

New fabrics being adopted

Their efforts are bearing fruit as after years of stagnation, denim brands are offering innovative fabrics that appeal more to shoppers used to the coziness of leggings. For instance, American Eagle is introducing more comfortable denim known as the American Eagle Ne(X)t level jeans, which provides a 360-degree stretch that lifts, shapes, supports and moves with you in every direction.

Besides natural, synthetic fibers like spandex adding to the comfort of the jeans making them more flexible, comfortable and durable American Eagle's online store even lets shoppers search for jeans by the level of stretch. Levi Strauss has attracted more women by investing in stretch fabrics as well. Ultimately, will established denim brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger survive the athleisure storm or will the skinny jeans go completely out of favor, remains to be seen.

Bliss Impex, an international manufacturer of synthetic textiles, printing fabrics and apparel fabrics, has acquired four Durst Alpha systems – three Alpha 190 Reactive machines and one Durst Alpha 180 printer for polyester work.

These four Durst machines are a part of a €6 million investment in a temperature-controlled digital production center for the Bliss Impex Group, which employs 300 people and has a €17.5 million turnover.

Their cost-effective, proven digital technology enables industrial scale production of over 10,000,000 linear meters a month and is expected to replace Bliss Impex’s conventional textile printing set-up within three years. With virtually no wastage, no limitations to color configurations and GOTS-certified inks, Bliss Impex is confident of fast-tracking future growth through these machines. The Alphas use the Durst One-Step GOTS-certified reactive ink, which was specially developed for the Alpha Series of printers.

The Delhi-based company has pledged to invest in more systems from Durst, a manufacturer of advanced digital and production technology, in a seismic change to industrial digital textile production.

Durst is the first choice and a preferred partner for the transformation and digitisation of industrial production processes. Brand owners and designers are increasingly demanding that their orders be printed on the four Durst production systems to benefit from the fast turnaround requirements where orders can be processed and delivered within two days, instead of a previous typical 15-30 day cycle.

Swiss textile innovator Heiq has launched a new fluorine-free product in its HeiQ Eco Dry product family for a full range of apparel to footwear options. The new solution, Heiq Eco Dry FW, is Oeko-Tex conform and bluesign pending. It enables very high hydrophobic properties, and is suitable for wool, polyamide and their blends It does not compromise on breathability and is fluorine-free. With HeiQ Eco Dry, brands protect their products in a sustainable manner.

Heiq Eco Dry is a family of eco-friendly and PFC-free water repellent textile technologies. After adding Heiq DuPont Eco-Led to the range last year, Heiq has developed another technology targeting footwear.

Heiq works with over 150 brands all over the world on a daily basis. Its ecological solutions allow brands to send a positive message and maintain a sustainable image.

Kiian Digital, a JK group brand will extend its textile printing range by adding two new versions of the Bellagio machines. These two machines; Bellagio RB and Bellagio RCS complete and differentiate Kiian' s Textile product range, helping the whole textile supply chain to meet the demand of its end-users.

The machines set out more blacks with different shades (bluish, reddish, neutral) and an accurate selection conducted on the dyes. This allows them to reproduce a striking color gamut. The machines have been developed to fully exploit the industrial printer’s speed performance as well assuring the highest quality printing results.

Kiran Digital will display these two machines at ITMA Barcelona 2019 alongwith five MS machines printing powered by the JK Group. These include Digistar Bravo- the disperse dye ink for direct printing and Digistar K-Choice, textile direct pigment digital ink.

The Fijian Government will reduce import duty on kid’s apparels in the country from the current 32 per cent to 5 per cent. This will help retail shops stock more affordable garments that will benefit both business owners and parents. The government will also reduce tax for production companies that import textile equipment by 200 per cent.

The Fijian Government has set its expenditure at $3.84 billion and total revenue forecast at $3.49 billion. The country’s net deficit is budgeted at $349.2 million or 2.7 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

Given the level of net deficit, the Government’s debt stock is estimated to be around $5.97 billion or 47.1 per cent of the GDP at the end of July next year.

The growth in government expenditure is estimated around 4.8 percent with revenue projected to grow by 7.2 percent. The tax revenue growth is expected to be around 5.9 percent in line with the nominal GDP growth rate. (DS)

Roland DGA Corporation has launched a new Texart RT-640M – an intelligent multi-function dye-sublimation printer that gives users the freedom to print directly onto coated polyester fabrics, or to sublimation transfer paper, using the same specially-formulated Texart SBL3 sublimation inks.

The innovative Texart RT-640M simplifies dye-sublimation production for soft-signage with its direct-to-textile print option while maintaining the versatility of printing to transfer paper for creating sublimated apparel, décor, rigid signage, and hard goods.

The RT-640M boasts of advanced features that maximise print quality, productivity and convenience. The media take-up incorporates adjustable front rollers for no-skew printing, as well as magnet weights for improved tensioning and performance. Its state-of-the-art 8-channel print heads deliver unmatched color and image results on a wide range of materials while optimizing ink coverage for lower operating costs.

The RT-640M also offers users the advantages of the Roland Bulk Ink Switching System, which features 1000 cc pouches and automatically switches to a back-up pouch for non-stop printing in 4-color configuration. Users will also appreciate the ink collection channel within the platen of the RT-640M, designed to facilitate direct printing onto mesh, flag, voile and other thin textiles.

As per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, India’s textile and clothing (T&C) exports in 2018 declined by 0.3 per cent to US$ 37158.04 million over the corresponding period and accounted for 11 percent share in the country’s total exports for 2018.

Cotton exports grew by 17.06 per cent to US$ 8141.50 million making it the top commodity in the T&C export segment. The export of woven apparels totaled to US$ 8131.48 million with a negative growth of 9.53 per cent in 2018 over the corresponding period. Exports to USA, the top export market for India totaled to US$ 2156.32 million while those to UAE deteriorated by 46.41 per cent to US$ 804.76 million over the corresponding period.

On average, woven apparels goods were traded at a price of US$ 1.69 per piece in 2018 over the corresponding period where the price was US$ 1.64/piece. In the woven apparel segment, men’s shirts made of cotton remained the most exported item from India.

Recently released apparel import data by OTEXA suggests that USA imported US $ 1,061.76 million worth of denim apparels during the Jan.-Apr. ’19 period. This was an increase of 6.82 per cent over the previous quarter.

Of all countries, Mexico exported $261.23 million worth of denim apparels to USA, registering an increase of 17.44 per cent from the previous quarter. China’s exports declined by l 2.29 per cent to US$ 222.77 million.

Vietnam too posted solid growth of 33.65 per cent to export US $ 83.43 million worth of denim apparels. The country surpassed Pakistan in the first four months of 2019 due to latter’s meagre growth of just 5.42 per cent. Pakistan’s sluggish growth could only make US $ 74.57 million from its denim apparel exports allowing Vietnam to overtake it.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, saw a rise of just 3.23 per cent and its export shipment valuation stood at US $ 130.48 million in the review period.

India is in the top ten markets for the Cotton Council International’s Cotton USA and the organisation expects Indian cotton imports from the US to continue to grow year-on-year.

The council aims at making US cotton the preferred textile fiber for global cotton products. As a part of its promotional work in India, the organisation works with over 35 licensee mills which buy US cotton. Cotton Council International has created an array of US cotton-rich apparel with the help of innovative technology.

CCI has promoted US cotton in 50 countries internationally for over 60 years. It counts India as one of its top ten markets and expects that the Indian market will continue to grow each year for the foreseeable future. As more and more clothing brands are valuing sustainable production methods in India, these environmental targets could help CCI secure more business in the country.

Cotton USA is dedicated to providing the entire supply chain with networking opportunities, ongoing education, and the latest research and technological innovations. This is a platform that not only promotes close collaboration between upstream manufacturers with fashion designers, but also showcases denim fashion that combines art, technology and innovation through the creativity of designers. Cotton USA launches US cotton-rich denim fashion collections at fashion weeks the world over.

Lakshmi Machine Works provides spinning technology to Indian textile mills.

The company is a leading textile machinery manufacturer and has brought out various innovative products during the year and worked towards its three pillars – automation, digitization and sustainability – with a greater focus on after sales and service. The after sales and parts and components business have grown significantly during the year. Exports to markets like Bangladesh, Kenya and Vietnam have doubled. Currently exports sales contribute to more than 40 per cent of the total revenue. The company has a strong presence in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, China and many African countries. In Kenya Lakshmi supplied a complete turnkey project.

Lakshmi has launched a slew of new products, including the new draw frame, higher capacity carding machines, longer ring frames, and new compact systems. The new Drawframe LDF3, Card LC636, Ringframe LR9/SX and the new Compact System SPINPACT have been well accepted in global markets. The company has expanded its product portfolio and will continue to do so in years to come. The new products will go a long way in taking the textile industry to the next level. The company has a strong focus on research and development.