FW
The textile and clothing industry which emits tons of carbon dioxide annually, is taking a toll on the environment. The industry is responsible for extensive water use and pollution and produces 2.1 billion tons of waste annually. Global consumption of clothes has doubled between 2000 and 2014. On a global average, every person buys five kg of clothes a year but in Europe and the US the figure is as high as 16 kilograms. Overall apparel consumption is projected to rise even further, from 62 million tons in 2015 to 102 million tons in 2030. This projected increase in global fashion consumption will create further environmental stress and risks.
Areas where companies can make improvements are a strategy to operate within the planet’s ecological boundaries; climate change; water management and stewardship; raw materials; joint environmental management in the supply chain; chemicals management; investment, stakeholder engagement and responsibility for public policy; and new business models to decouple consumption from resource use.
Consumers can contribute to reducing the industry’s environmental impact by buying less; simplifying their style and wardrobe; by using timeless, high-quality clothes and enriching those with accessories and second-hand items; maintaining their clothes; bringing them to a recycling facility; buying organic, green and high quality items; and creating awareness.
China’s strengthening of environmental supervision will be beneficial in the long run to reversing the internalisation of pollution control costs along the entire production chain, and will ultimately make green supply chain development become an essential choice for successful enterprises. The textile industry in general is adopting greener, more sustainable methods in its overseas supply chains.
A particularly large proportion of environmental efforts comes from manufacturers in the textile industry. Brands like Levi Strauss, Adidas, Marks & Spencer, Gap and Puma are those implementing greener supply chain methods. There has been an increase in the number of environmental investigations in manufacturing facilities.
Textile manufacturers are adopting new treatment methods in chemical and auxiliary management as well as wastewater treatment. Seven brands, which include Marks & Spencer and Levi Strauss, have deployed new wastewater management facilities and hazardous wastewater treatment plants.
These are some of the findings of the Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI). Of the 267 brands assessed, apparel manufacturing giants including Levi Strauss, Adidas, Gap and Puma were named within the top ten contributors.
Developed in collaboration by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Natural Resources Defense Council, CITI is the world’s first quantitative evaluation system of the supply chains utilised in China by manufacturers across industry.
Apparel manufacturers and retailers are starting to build in corporate social responsibility (CSR), compliance and product safety all along their supply chains. CSR is now an important strategic business objective for many in the industry. Trends such as the push to take CSR into account throughout the apparel supply chain puts a premium on transparency in apparel design, manufacturing and merchandising than on quality or legal compliance. Transparency technology is making it possible to provide buyers and consumers with the visibility they need to have confidence in their brands.
Technological advances in supply chain risk management software are making it easier to achieve the transparency necessary to build trust all along supply chains, and ultimately, in the minds of consumers looking for brands that share their values.
Since consumers are so well-informed and demanding things like better CSR, compliance with fair labor standards and product safety, the most competitive companies are re-engineering their processes to build these in, just as quality control started to be designed in to a lot of products in the 1980s. That way, consumers can have the confidence they need to spend their money with brands they can trust. However, fast fashion trends have made it harder for brands to comply with product safety, CSR and internal directives.
"Home to almost 12,000 hosiery units, with an annual turnover of Rs 14,000 crores, Ludhiana has long been a knitwear hub. However, of late dynamics seem to have changed and the industry is suffering from the after affects of demonetization & GST. As Darshan Dawar, President – Knitwear Club, the association of hosiery owners says, this may not be the case for much longer, since business is down by 25 to 30 per cent. Many small units are holding on till this winter. If the season goes well, smaller units might remain afloat. But if demand falls further and order cancellations continue, more than 2,000 units will be closed by the end of the year."
Home to almost 12,000 hosiery units, with an annual turnover of Rs 14,000 crores, Ludhiana has long been a knitwear hub. However, of late dynamics seem to have changed and the industry is suffering from the after affects of demonetization & GST. As Darshan Dawar, President – Knitwear Club, the association of hosiery owners says, this may not be the case for much longer, since business is down by 25 to 30 per cent. Many small units are holding on till this winter. If the season goes well, smaller units might remain afloat. But if demand falls further and order cancellations continue, more than 2,000 units will be closed by the end of the year.
The ground reality
As a workers employed in the industry for considerable time, explains earlier there were 80-90 men working with him at his factory. Now there are only 50. Being labour-intensive industry, it used to employ over four lakh workers, but 30 per cent have left for jobs elsewhere. Some have gone back home as there is not enough work for them. There is no work even for the temporary job shops. Daily wage jobs in the hosiery sector shrank following demonetisation, and this year there has been a further cut. Companies are getting fewer orders, and pending orders have been cancelled. Production has been affected, and even his unit had to shunt out 25 daily labourers. Till now, companies retained permanent stuff even though there is little work for them. If no changes are announced for the hosiery sector, especially for the small- and medium-scale units, full time workers too would lose their jobs.
GST impacting adversely
Some hosiery unit owners say, GST has forced them to increase the selling price of their products. Also, there is now a need for larger amounts of working capital and cash in hand, which has pushed smaller or marginal hosiery owners off the map. Cost of products has to go up by Rs50 to Rs100 a piece, and buyers have refused to buy. The unorganised hosiery sector used to carry out business based on a system of credit. Payments were made when the finished product was sold. Now, the raw material cost plus its tax has to be paid for at the time of purchase, for which the units have to take loans at high interest rates. It takes time to produce and sell, and payments of the sale can take even longer, he added. He felt that the situation might work out for those who have large scale units, but for small or micro units, taking bank loans and paying a huge amount of interest for months could mean end of their business.
Thread or yarn was earlier taxed at 3 per cent, and is now taxed at 5 to 12 per cent post GST, reduced from the slab of 18 per cent on October 6, after the GST council meet. Meanwhile thread mills have created cartels and are quoting unrealistic prices. Manufacturers cannot pass on the increase to customers, as there is already a demand shortage post demonetisation. As a result, they have cut down their own margins. Another factor affecting the industry is the GST imposed on job work. Sonu Nilibar, coordinator, the Cloth Merchant Association of Ludhiana, says, suits, saris, sweaters, etc, pass through some hand work and machine work processes done by artisans. They work from home, are not trained, and don’t have big set ups. These artisans are mostly illiterate and rarely keep accounts. Even if they are not in the GST net because they fall in the less than Rs 20 lakh category, to get bills from them is almost impossible.
The textile industry in Nigeria is at an all-time low. Out of the more than 250 mills that were in operation in 1970s, less than 25 are currently in production. The situation is attributed to an aggregation of factors, ranging from obsolete machinery, high interest rate, and inadequate infrastructure, to lack of improvement in the local sourcing of raw materials.
Leadership failed to sustain the manufacturing and textile industries when the country discovered oil. Some of the constraints of raw material sourcing in the country’s textile industry include a higher priority to food crops than cotton, poor prices and market dynamics, lack of fertilizers, inadequate and untimely supply of inputs, seed contamination, inadequate knowledge of production packages and non-availability of these technologies including pest and disease control.
The country is trying to revive its cotton, textile and garment industry. The cotton sector is being revamped. Nigeria hopes to be a net exporter of textile raw materials by fully exploiting its raw material potential. Nigeria's textile industry used to be the third largest in Africa. In Nigeria, textile manufacturing is a key local industry, supported by a chain of suppliers such as cotton growers and natural dye makers. However, traditional methods of dyeing fabrics are threatened by cheap imports from abroad.
NSF International’s certifications help companies show commitment to sustainability, transparency and traceability. As consumers seek greater transparency in the products they purchase, NSF International’s third-party validation of textile content claims helps support and protect brands and strengthen customer trust.
NSF is a global, independent organisation that works to protect the environment and human health. It offers a full range of sustainable third-party certifications including recycled and organic content, traceable down and responsible wool. NSF’s 70-plus years of certification expertise, global presence and quality are designed to help the textile, footwear and apparel industries improve their sustainability, traceability and transparency.
NSF is now an approved certification body for three additional Textile Exchange standards pertaining to organic content, wool and down. The Textile Exchange Recycled Claim Standard verifies the presence and amount of recycled material in a final product through chain of custody verification. The Global Recycled Standard verifies responsible social, environmental and chemical practices in the production of both finished and intermediate products containing recycled content. The standard covers processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading and distribution of all products made with a minimum of 20 per cent recycled material. The Textile Exchange Organic Content Standard provides third-party verification of organic material content in a product.
Digital is the new black at the 360Fashion and Tech Exhibition taking place in Detroit. It will be hosted by Southfield-based Lear Company and presented by Detroit Garment Group, the "visibility and mobility" themed event is 11 a.m to 7 p.m. at the Lear Innovation Center at 119 State St. The show Friday is the company's first to be held in Detroit.
There will be 30-50 pieces of fashion on display, with an emphasis on "smart garments" and "e-textiles, says Anina Net, CEO of 360Fashion Network. On display will be pieces such as the motion dress, an intelligent pieces of clothing that lights up in accordance with strong movements, like a strut on the red carpet, or becomes dim during one-on-one conversation. There will also be robotic dresses and laser dresses, and wallets that wirelessly charge phones. Those interested can register online.
360Fashion Network produces fashion technology shows throughout the U.S., Europe and China. One of its largest shows is held in partnership with the China National Garment Association and draws an attendance of more than 125,000 people.
Technical innovations that create high-performance fibers and fabrics continue to be at the forefront of product development in the textile industry. From cooling and insulating materials for active wear, to flame resistant, abrasion and impact-resistant fabrics for durable work wear, companies are reaching new heights through collaborations, and with research and development.
DuPont Industrial Biosciences is collaborating with Unifi to create high-performance, renewably sourced garment insulation, offering apparel brands a new sustainable choice for cold-weather products. This partnership combines DuPont Sorona polymer and Unifi Repreve to produce cold-weather apparel insulation that is soft and durable, with strong shape retention.
Repreve is a high-quality fiber containing recycled materials. Unifi’s proprietary process turns plastic bottles into certified fiber, which is then used in thousands of different fabrics and products.
Teijin Aramid has introduced Teijinconex Coolnex Super Wicking Fabric, a light-weight, soft and comfortable flame resistant fabric. The outstanding feature of this new fabric is a quick dry absorption of perspiration without losing its flame resistance. The innovative single layer fabric combines the best in personal protection fabrics with high performance sports textiles, providing high levels of thermal protective performance against heat, flames and flash fire.
Brrr uses a proprietary blend of natural cooling minerals embedded in yarn, superior moisture wicking and a patented knitting and weaving process that maximizes airflow to create a triple chill effect.
The government has started Cotton Express by which garments are sent from Tirupur to various upcountry destinations through a non-stop train. The concept is the first of its kind in Southern Railway. Cotton Express services are tentatively planned on a weekly basis from Tirupur with the day of journey and the destinations to vary from week to week as it would be basically a demand-based operation. The first service was to Howrah.
The Cotton Express has 20 parcel vans and one second class luggage van-cum-guard coach holding a total cargo capacity of 468 tons. In the initial dispatch, the South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association was involved. The role of the industry associations in this hands-on venture is that they will coordinate with member units for clubbing together consignments for dispatch on the same day.
Grouping together the cargoes bound for any particular destination, which is left to the choice of Tirupur industrialists, would provide a win-win situation both to railways and industrialists. The train, being an express service, would take cargoes faster to a said destination vis-a-vis dispatch through lorries. For example, sending cargoes to Howrah will take five days if sent through lorry. But the train will now reach there in two days.
Expectations of a record cotton yield this year in the US may be dashed. The main reason is the hurricane damage to crops. The US cotton yield estimate was downgraded by 19 pounds per acre. The downgrade – which followed a reassessment of crops in the light of Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged south east Texas, and Hurricane Irma, which struck further east – reflected reductions to expectations for both harvested area and yield.
The estimate for US cotton exports for 2017-18 is reduced too due to reduced US production and strong competitor shipments. The impact of the revisions has been to cut the estimate for the country’s cotton stocks at the close of the season by 2,00,000 bales.
On the other hand cotton shipments from Australia are expected to rise by 3,00,000 bales. The forecast for exports from India, the second-ranked shipper after the US, was lifted by 4,00,000 bales thanks to strong domestic production. Import expectations were raised notably for Vietnam, by 3,00,000 bales, on greater global supplies and attractive pricing. China may be poised to loosen import restrictions, after a second successful year of auctions to run down state inventories. However, China’s cotton import policy remains a major wildcard.
