India’s apparel exports in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 remained lower than the average quarterly exports during the past five years.
India continues to experience headwinds in the form of intense competitive pressures from nations having a cost advantage. While China, the world’s largest apparel manufacturer and exporter, continues to shed market share in global trade, India has not been able to capitalise on the opportunity. Instead, a large chunk has been garnered by Bangladesh and Vietnam, the second and the third largest apparel exporting nations globally.

The EU-Vietnam FTA can weaken India’s competitive positioning in one of the key apparel markets, accounting for 37 per cent of India’s apparel exports in 2018. Bangladesh, which enjoys a duty-free access to the EU market since 2001 under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, has been able to expand its market share in EU from less than seven per cent in 2001 to 20 per cent at present. But India has been barely able to maintain its share at six per cent or seven per cent.

Indian exports are set to recover with internal challenges and abrupt pressures subsiding, though the pace of recovery is likely to remain muted considering the challenging environment.

According to Javed Siddiqi, Director, Stylo-a ladies footwear, prêt and accessories brand, the uneven strategies adopted by large export-based textile groups in Pakistan followed by non-textile retailers is affecting the fashion retail segment in the country.

Javed Siddiqi noted that retail growth in the country has slowed down and currently ranges between 8 per cent and 10 per cent, with the potential to rise once again but with some changes. The decline in growth rate was the combination of many factors, some of which were the result of government’s policies and a few due to the industry’s own practices.

According to Siddiqi, the retail sector’s business calendar runs for almost 330 days. Of these, various brands offer discounts for 220 to 250 days, which leaves a mere 80 to 100 days in a year for them to display and sell their products at the full price range, putting almost all major brands under pressure. Many brands fail to learn the retail phenomenon, which gives profits in the first year, but in the following years, many retailers overbuy to maintain inventory, which causes serious cash flow issues and they opt to clear their stock under the banner of sales.

He emphasised the need for developing new retail clusters across Pakistan, so the pressure on mega cities may ease and shift to other retail clusters.

According to a report from Coresight Research, the global adaptive apparel could reach $288.7 billion globally this year and grow to $349.9 billion in four years. In the U.S. alone, the market will grow to $54.8 billion by 2023.

Adaptive apparel addresses the needs raised by a variety of situations, including some disabilities and health conditions; mobility, sensory or motor processing difficulties; and various medical treatments. According to WHO’s 2011 World Report on Disability, around 785 million people aged 15 and older have a disability.

The retail think tank notes that more brands have moved into the market in recent years, including Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Target, and Zappos, which launched collections in 2016 and 2017. Last year, U.K. department store Marks & Spencer debuted a children's Easy Dressing line and Nike a self-lacing basketball shoe operated with a smartphone

For professional garment designers from Pakistan who ply their trade in Bihar, it’s business as usual.
They come with a good stock of designer garments every year, which they comfortably sell, and return home with good earnings. They attend to customers, mostly women, who like their fabrics, designs, embroideries and saris. There are changes in costume design or fashion trends. The cut lines of women’s suits are bit lengthier in Pakistan and such designs are in vogue in India now.

Pakistani products and handicraft items are one of the great attractions at the pre-holi mela and pre-Dussehra melas organized every year. These have been organised by the Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh for over a decade.

Bihar remains a huge market of Pakistani dress materials, brands and garments. Pakistan’s traders come with a rich collection of apparels, fabrics, zardozi art works and Pakistani saris.

A Delhi based designer, who specializes in Pakistani apparels, fabrics and embroidery, has been working with Pakistani designers for long. Such is the craze for Pakistani suits and typical Muslim costumes like sharara and garara that her entire stock gets sold out within three days.

This year’s five-day pre-holi exhibition-cum-trade fair is on at Patna’s famous planetarium campus.

The board of the Fair Labor Association, a US non-profit which promotes adherence to international and national labor laws, has voted in favor of associate businesses requiring full factory list transparency. The move, the first of its kind for such an organisation, has been welcomed by stakeholders in the global apparel industry.

FLA is a collaboration of universities, civil society organisations and businesses dedicated to protecting workers’ rights around the world. It places the onus on affiliate companies – which include Adidas, Hugo Boss, Patagonia and Fruit of the Loom – to voluntarily meet internationally recognised labor standards wherever their products are made. As affiliates of FLA, companies agree to subject their supply chains to independent assessments and monitoring, the results of which are published online.

The criteria of the FLA are certainly among the more robust of those operating in the space. However, now that it has made this move, there will be undoubted call for other standards and auditing organisations to take a similar stance.

Recently Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi and Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Saida Muna Tasneem demanded fair prices for garment exported to the USA and EU as the local apparel exporters spend billions of dollars to strengthen workplace safety leading to an increase in the cost of production.

Of the top 11 LEED-certified factories in the world, 8 are from Bangladesh. These eight are “Platinum” rated, which is the highest category that can be reached under this globally recognized certification. 20 factories are in the LEED Platinum category and 40 are in LEED Gold. Indeed, there are 73 Bangladeshi LEED Green garment factories certified by the USGBC. There are some 320 factories in the pipeline waiting for LEED certification.

Recently Bangladesh government increased its workers’ minimum wage to 51 per cent. All of these have increased the production cost by almost 20 per cent in the last few years.

Bangladesh continues to offer products at reasonable prices. For the last few years, the country has been offering value-added products. However, continuous pressure from buyers is slowing down manufacturers’ growth.

According to a new survey from the Fashion Retail Academy in London, fast-fashion could be slowly falling out of fashion in favor of more sustainable apparel.

Around 39 percent of shoppers preferred to expensive clothes that lasts longer, and one in eight even said they would choose expensive, longer-lasting clothing over cheaper options that are more fashionable. The survey, reported on by Just Style, polled shoppers between the ages of 18 and 35, encompassing Z and some Millennial shoppers.

Younger shoppers seem to be slightly less interested in fast-fashion with those in the 23 to 26 cohort, being five percent more likely to buy expensive, long-lasting clothing than 31- to 35-year-olds.

As evidence of a trend away from throwaway apparel, Lee Lucas, principal of the Fashion Retail Academy noted that Patagonia, a brand with a lifetime guarantee on its products, has been growing steadily in popularity.

China wants 85 per cent of its products to enter India duty-free.In turn China is willing to give duty-free access to 92 per cent of Indian exports.

India has offered to open up 74 per cent of its market to Chinese goods in phases, but China is not satisfied with the proposal.

India offers lower concessions to China compared to other countries where over 90 per cent of imports can come duty-free. However, even the current arrangement faces the risk of domination by Chinese goods in the Indian markets, which would further impact the trade deficit estimated at 63 billion dollars in the last financial year.

In fact India has little option than opening up the market gradually with a long tariff phase-out period so that Indian players have time to adjust to the competition.

India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the ten Asean nations are part of the world’s largest free-trade agreement under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Despite India’s concerns about its trade deficits with Asean countries and China, it would be missing out on a key economic opportunity to establish a presence in the fast-growing Asean region if it did not join the RCEP.

Denim brand Boyish makes men’s style jeans for women. The aim is to make women have their bodies feel amazing in its jeans and make them feel good for supporting social and environmental efforts.

Design is at the forefront of the brand’s ethos. Boyish, based in the US, will never make a product that isn’t sustainable and eco-conscious but also won’t make a product that is sustainable and eco-conscious without it looking and performing well. Its mission is to make great jeans and be as transparent as possible about everything it does so other brands can learn to make their jeans better.

Currently, Boyish Jeans is taking its technology of blending recycled cotton and spinning it with Tencel Lyocell with Refibra technology to create the world’s most sustainable and circular yarn. The brand recycles all its cutting scraps back into its fabrics when remaking them. Sixty per cent of the collection is 100 per cent natural and cellulosic fibers. Boyish looks to make seasonless, well made, long lasting denim that can one day be recycled back into new jeans. Fits are inspired by vintage jeans found at flea markets. The aim is to make authentic jeans since the last 15 years have been about stretch.

Garment manufacturers in Bangladesh are working on fixing a price for their exports.
This price will be made viable in line with rising production costs caused by higher wages and factory remediation. There has been a rise in minimum wages by 50 per cent for apparel workers. Businesses have faced an increase in production costs of around 20 per cent in recent years. But buyers are unwilling to pay higher prices and this, say exporters, has eroded their profit margins. Exporters say a higher price will also benefit workers.

Bangladesh’s apparel industry is going through massive factory remediation, value addition, innovation and technological upgradation in order to cope with buyers’ demands.

Bangladesh’s apparel industry has already made remarkable progress in factory remediation, building green factories and meeting stringent safety standards. Annual export earnings from the industry have grown from 9.3 billion dollars in 2007 to 30 billion dollars in 2018. At the same time, Bangladesh’s reputation has also improved globally due to remediation of the garment factories by Accord and Alliance.

Bangladesh is still a lucrative destination for sourcing low-cost garments after China. Outside of China, Bangladesh is increasingly given preferences for apparel sourcing due to the competitive price and quality.