FW
In order to promote sustainable development throughout the industry, a number of yarn and fibre manufacturers have endeavored to introduce green products into the early stages of textile production, and Yarn Expo, as the leading yarn and fibre business platform in Asia, serves as an ideal stage for these suppliers to gain exposure to buyers looking for such products.
In response to the strong demand for fibre and yarn products in China and the Asian region, the coming autumn edition of Yarn Expo will double its exhibition space, and will accommodate around 500 global yarn suppliers from 13 countries and regions. Together with Yarn Expo Autumn 2017, three other textile trade fairs are held concurrently from 11– 13 October in the same venue: Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, PH Value and the China International Fashion Fair (CHIC).
Debut BCI Pavilion joined by Sateri and Birla Planet Pavilions to showcase eco-friendly products. Amongst a record number of exhibitors at this October’s Yarn Expo Autumn, the debut BCI Pavilion as well as the Sateri Pavilion and Birla Planet Pavilion that include eco-friendly products are certainly amongst the highlights this year. Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a global organisation with more than 1,000 members including spinners, weavers and garment manufacturers throughout the entire cotton sector. It aims to promote sustainable cotton production, benefiting workers, customers and the environment as a whole. They will form the BCI Pavilion in Yarn Expo for the first time, with five spinners showcasing their cotton yarn manufactured with eco-friendly cotton.
Not only are a number of chemical fibre products with innovative, ecofriendly and health & comfort properties on offer from exhibitors, but visitors can also gain insights into product trends in these areas from the 2017/18 China Fibre Trend Area and Innovative Textile Material Forum, both of which feature in the colourful chemical zone. The Natural Cotton Yarn Zone is another highlight of the three-day show, where exhibitors will showcase their natural cotton yarn and a range of functional products. Around 50 suppliers will also showcase their latest collections in the expanded Fancy Yarn Zone.
More than brands understanding the ways their consumers live, they will also have to figure out the most genuine way to reach them and communicate with them. Traditional advertising doesn’t work for a group of consumers seeking personalized experiences from brands that mean something to them.
Today an individual, when buying something, does something more than buying. This person is constructing a personality. Consumers may be consumers, but they’re also citizens with social concerns, environmental concerns and a need for new experiences.
The new wave of connected consumers wants to be part of things like recycling the clothes they wear or understanding how their garments are being created. This is something more than just consuming. Retail is a citizen act.
Brands are cross sharing, cross merging. Successful consuming experiences now go beyond just having an efficient experience and walking out with a garment that provides the need or want sought—a successful experience is also one the consumer can share with others.
Buying on social networks is something that’s more and more relevant. About 45 per cent of Gen Z consumers are ready to buy from social networks.
Athletic brands may be ahead of other retailers in creating extended connections with consumers. It’s about creating a community. Lululemon may sell yoga pants, but it’s also inviting consumers into stores to participate in free community yoga classes.
Vardhman is among the biggest names in textiles in India, with one of the largest spinning and fabric capacities.
This textile giant has rapidly modified its business strategies to carve its own niche regardless of the presence of several small- and medium-level players with the shortest lead times.
Vardhman has been able to sustain its volume by adding new customers and shortening production lead times which was possible due to a big in-house production capacity from yarn to fabric.
Vardhman has also bounced back significantly by diversifying into many new products which it earlier did not have, effectively recovering its lost ground. A few years back, it started its liquid ammonia plant. Last year, it added a printing plant. The product basket is diversified. It is now not only in cotton but creates blends like cotton Tencel stretch, cotton modal super stretch and difficult products like bi-stretch. These are the types of products which are in demand in the women’s wear segment.
With India being the hub of raw materials like Tencel fiber and different types of yarn, these product variations were not difficult for Vardhman. It is now producing 100 per cent Tencel, 100 per cent modal and is very competitive in terms of lead time as compared to China. The company’s focus on basics or core programs still accounts for 70 to 75 per cent of its total volume as it has a huge capacity build-up.
Testing mechanisms for performance textiles are often not based on reality.
The most widely accepted standard currently, ISO 11092, does not put the textile to the test in real world conditions. The ISO 11092, which sets its test conditions at 35 degrees Celsius outside temperature and a relative humidity of 40 per cent, cannot measure the performance of breathable textiles in subzero winter temperature and snow/rain.
The test, for example, does not address the problem of condensation building up inside the clothing when the temperature drops below 14 degrees Celsius. In a dangerous case, this can cause the clothing to freeze up. When the temperature is high, on the other hand, breathability can be reversed, drawing hot steam and vapor inside the garment, boiling the wearer.
There is a need for breathability tests in cold, wet and dry conditions that measure condensation within the layers of a garment system. Such tests can be life-saving as performance garments are used by many working in extreme conditions. An India military serviceman caught in a mountain accident wearing an Ardmel garment was able to survive for nine days under extremely cold temperatures. While the serviceman died of other complications after he was saved, he did not suffer from any cold injuries. Had he worn a garment that could not prevent condensation, he would have died earlier of hypothermia.
For the fourth consecutive quarter companies in India’s spinning sector have reported a year-on-year decline in volumes.
Reasons include a fall in exports due to weak demand from one of the key markets, China; and a focus on inventory clearance prior to GST implementation, which affected offtake and hence production volumes.
The challenges have been further accentuated by consistently firm cotton fiber prices resulting in subdued contribution margins as well as strengthening of the Indian currency vis-a-vis currencies of competing nations, thereby affecting realisations.
Nevertheless the debt coverage metrics continue to improve on a year on year basis, given the secular decline in term debt level and decline in borrowing costs. Improved supply of cotton fiber is, however, expected to provide some respite to domestic spinners during the second half of fiscal year 2018.
The level of global cotton production in 2018 is estimated to exceed consumption, after two consecutive years of shortfall. The resultant cotton surplus therefore will create a downward bias in prices which, besides easing pressure on contribution margins of the spinners, is likely to bring down their working capital requirements. This augurs well for the domestic cotton spinning industry.
Further, Indian yarn exporters are trying to diversify export markets to increase their sales volumes.
The spinning sector in Pakistan is the backbone of the textile value chain. It has faced the brunt of the high cost of doing business in the last few years, which has made it unviable. Today the spinning industry is incurring heavy losses by selling yarn below its cost due to poor demand from domestic consumers.
Pakistan’s total production of yarn in the year 2016-17 was 3,428,730 tons whereas cotton yarn exported in the same period was 4,55,345 tons i.e. only 13.28 per cent of the total production of the year. Similarly in 2015-16 total production of cotton yarn was 3,405,559 tons whereas only 12.44 per cent or 423,624 tons was exported. Thus about 87 per cent of the cotton yarn produced in the country is available for the local market whereas the domestic downstream industry consumes only about 70 per cent of the total production of yarn.
Since production of yarn is substantially more than local consumption, the industry feels yarn exports must be encouraged at all costs, otherwise it will result in permanent massive closure of mills and resultant unemployment.
Owners of Pakistan’s textile mills have strongly rejected the suggestion to stop the four per cent rebate on the export of yarn.
Nike has reported its weakest quarterly sales growth in nearly seven years.
Nike still gets about 70 per cent of its revenue from retail customers but has been investing heavily in e-commerce, partnering with Amazon and offering heavy discounts on its own website. The company is building up more stock to sell through online channels but may also indicate lower sales through traditional outlets. Gross margins fell 1.8 per cent to 43.7 per cent, pointing to greater discounting in a market Nike warned would shrink overall in the current quarter as more stores shut.
Nike expects challenges to remain in North America for at least several more quarters.
Analysts from some of the world’s major brokerages remain upbeat on the company’s plans to invest in a variety of different distribution channels but say it will happen too slowly to offset the growing battle for market share.
European rival Adidas has continued to snap at Nike's heels, even if the latter's North American business is still more than three times larger. Both face growing competition from others including Under Armour.
US sports good chains have been shutting stores and cutting prices as fewer shoppers visit malls and online shopping grows.
Lectra has renewed its partnership with Faurecia. The cutting process for the production of seat covers, headrests and interiors is an increasingly strategic part of Faurecia’s activity. Faurecia supplies vehicle complete seats, frames, mechanisms and trim covers to major carmakers worldwide, whose manufacturing processes are gradually evolving toward Industry 4.0.
Faurecia aims to double production of existing manufacturing facilities by reinforcing operations with advanced manufacturing technologies. The company’s extended partnership with Lectra entails focusing on operational excellence initiatives across its automotive seating division.
Faurecia currently has more than 60 vector fabric cutting solutions in production worldwide. Standardization of the vector fabric-cutting solution—endowed with preventive and predictive maintenance capabilities and the highest-performance cutting system available on the market to date—will be instrumental to the implementation of these initiatives throughout the division’s fabric cutting facilities. Its digital enterprise project aims to achieve operational excellence in virtually every aspect of its organization. Together with Lectra, Faurecia will make this a reality in the cutting room, with smart automation and predictive maintenance.
Lectra is a world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials. Given the profound transformations gripping manufacturing, helping customers ready their operations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution has become Lectra’s core mission
French label Lacoste celebrated its 85th anniversary and returned to Parisian catwalks after showing in New York for 14 years.
Lacoste's masculine looks featured an array of ultra-comfy long johns, sky blue cable-knit sweaters, baggy trousers and faded jeans in typical ’80s style. For women, the label alternated preppy outfits like the trousers-cardigan combo in cream-colored fabric trimmed with a navy blue stripe, and ruched summer dresses decorated with Lacoste’s signature motifs: the crocodile, tennis balls and sunglasses.
Centerstage, the Chassol trio played a punchy electro-jazz piece, the ideal band and sound to accompany a mix-and-match collection featuring jogging pants alongside chic little dresses, corset dresses worn with tennis sneakers and sport socks, and retro tracksuits combined with moccasins. Also, loose, colorful wind-breakers draped over navy blue dresses with gilded buttons, and classic blazers fashioned out of sweatshirt fleece. All of this in Lacoste's traditional colors: navy blue, green, red and white.
It was a blend of genres, from a very sophisticated preppy style to contemporary sportswear, first seen when Lacoste made its street wear debut in the 1980s and 90s.
In 1933, René Lacoste famously cut the sleeves of his white poplin shirt to make the first polo.
United Colors of Benetton presented an exhibition “I See Colors Everywhere” from 24th September to 28th September, at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum. Visitors to the exhibit were told the story of colour, as told by garments from the new Spring-Summer collection and works by Fabrica, Benetton’s art and communications research center.
The exhibition “I See Colors Everywhere” celebrated this heritage by presenting a broad spectrum of editorial and creative productions by Fabrica in a space where design, art and society encounter and enter into dialogue with each other.
This was curated by a team of Fabrica designers, led by Sam Baron, and is divided into eight sections, each dedicated to a colour that will be explored and celebrated through videos, posters, music, photos, illustrations, objects, performances and interactive installations produced by Fabrica over the course of more than 20 years of activities.
The exhibition was accompanied by a magazine-catalogue, editorial penned by Myriam Ben Salah, writer and curator of cultural programming at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. The catalog provided an additional level of interpretation of colors.
