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Kigili is a textile retailer from Turkey with stores in Austria, France, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Macedonia, Tajikistan, and China. Its overseas growth strategy is expanding with a franchise system at the moment. The company is in a search for a partner in India as it sees India as a major market with a young population of 1.3 billion, a growing middle class, a high urbanization rate and a fast-growing economy.
Kigili designs products in the countries where it operates, combining the cultural norms of the region with Kigili quality. Sometimes, it creates differentiations in colors and patterns and sometimes pays attention to the physical features of local people and applies them to the sizes of the products. For instance, men in the Far East have smaller body sizes and there is a special collection for the Chinese market. So it shrinks sizes and works on slim fit patterns.
The retailer attaches great importance to the digital world and e-commerce. Its turnover in e-commerce is growing by four to five per cent every year. It is the third largest store in Turkey in terms of e-commerce sales. It is the first men’s clothing brand to offer a shopping experience on Instastories and the Facebook store.
Functional fibers made from Israel-based Nilit Fiber’s special high quality nylon 6.6 deliver measurable results when it comes to performance, comfort, and well being. The fibers have energizing, cooling, warming and moisture-transporting properties.
Nilit is known for its brands Sensil and Sensil Breeze. The secret is in polymer and yarn production. Nilit does not finish its fibers and yarns but integrates mineral micro particles before the fiber is even spun.
The micro particles are added to the polymer, which permanently binds them into the spun fiber. While in conventional finishing the effects lessen with each wash cycle, Sensil Breeze’s functional properties last as long as the garment will. This is a result the customer can rely on.
Sensil Breeze is a cooling fiber. The cooling effect results from the fiber’s flat cross section and the integrated micro particles. They ensure a fast moisture transport to the outside, causing a strong ventilation effect which the wearer feels as a pleasant cooling touch to the skin.
The fiber’s cotton-like cross section makes the yarn smooth and supple, bringing great comfort to the wearer. The use of matte polymer ensures a soft surface, excellent air permeability and breathability of the fabric. In addition, Sensil Breeze naturally eliminates any unpleasant odors without chemical additives.
The South African subsidiary of the global trade fair company Messe Frankfurt has acquired Africa’s largest textile, footwear and apparel shows Source Africa and ATF (Apparel, Textile and Footwear). Source Africa and ATF will be added to Messe Frankfurt South Africa's portfolio of local fairs, which include the South African Festival of Motoring, Automechanika and Cape Town International Boat Show.
Until now, the events were organised by Leaders in Trade Exhibitions (LTE), which has been in the business of organising trade shows for over 25 years. Despite being satisfied with the success of the events, the company believes handing over the reins to an international organisation will help grow the shows on an international scale.
Since its inception in 2013, it has been the objective of Source Africa to promote African apparel, textiles and footwear and encourage linkages between international and regional buyers, manufacturers and suppliers, thereby promoting investment into manufacturing capacity in Africa with the goal of accelerating jobs for people.
Germany-based Messe Frankfurt is the third largest trade fair company in the world with operations in over 50 countries and is the leader, globally, in textile fairs. It organises over 134 trade fairs around the world with over 90,000 exhibitors and roughly 3.5 million visitors.
Lenzing has opened an Application Innovation Center in Hong Kong. New applications for Lenzing fibers will be developed and tested at the new facility among them are applications for recent innovations like the Refibra branded lyocell fiber and the EcoVero branded viscose fiber.
The center also enables prototype production of textile fabrics made of Lenzing fibers, from the concept, dyeing and finishing to the precise measurement of all product data. New applications will be tested for commercializing fiber innovations. This will contribute to Lenzing’s ability to even more quickly and effectively transfer its innovative strength to customers.
With this new center Lenzing can enhance the level of customer intimacy. It is closer to important Asian customers and partners along the value chain, creates a new dimension in its service offering. It can react more quickly to current trends and handle a broad spectrum of aspects on location relating to the application with its full range of fibers as well as unique fiber blends in collaboration with its supply chain partners. The aim is to develop highly aesthetic, emotional and functional products.
Apart from this Application Innovation Center, Lenzing has a R&D department and fiber processing laboratory in Austria and a fiber testing facility in Indonesia.
Indian bed sheet exporters cater majorly to international markets such as the US and Europe. Cotton is a key fabric for bed sheets because of its durability, comfort and breathability qualities.
India, China and Pakistan are the principal players in the global bed linen industry. These nations contribute around 60 per cent of total bed linen exports. South Africa and Latin America are emerging strong markets for Indian exporters. High purchasing power, on time payments, increased demand for Indian bed linen are some of the significant factors which are attracting more exporters to these markets.
Neutral and dark shades are currently ruling the bed sheet market like beige, grey, off white, lighter shades of blue and dark colors like navy blue and wine. There is a huge demand for colors like indigo, neutral colors followed by black, brown, grey, teal, turmeric, maroon and red.
Shree Lakshmi Cotsyn offers a variety of bed sheets like wider width, fitted, and antimicrobial finish. Bed sheets comprise nearly 40 per cent of its total home furnishing production. The company works with all the top brands and retailers across the globe.
Organic is a growing trend in the bed sheet business. Sadyaska is a New Delhi-based organic bedding manufacturer. Texuara is a GOTS certified company which deals in 100 per cent organic bedding products.
India vowed to step up its collaboration with Egypt in the textiles sector. It says there is an increase in textile machinery supplies to the Arab country. As per India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya, India and Egypt have a long tradition of exchanges in the textiles sector.
He says India is ready to work with Egypt towards attainment of its new textile policy goals in production as well as in trade and investments. Also India is well known for man-made fibers and has a wide presence globally as India's textile industry is the second in the world.
Nearly 37 Indian textile companies are participating in the exhibition that run till September 16 at the Cairo International Convention Centre. The Indian firms are part of a delegation from the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), an apex body of manufacturers/exporter of man-made fibre textiles, in coordination with Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) and the Indian Embassy here.
India is currently in discussions with the Egypt to expand the presence of textile machinery supplies from India to Egypt. Indian textile machinery are not only good in terms of quality but also because India and Egypt has similar large populations and large labor force. So this kind of machinery will be good for the Egyptian market.
The exhibition will also host an 'India Pavilion which will showcase different varieties of fabrics, made-up items which are ready to wear, yarn and fibre. This can be an opportunity for the Egyptian buyers and traders to visit this exhibition to see all the participant Indian companies under one roof as it will be also an opportunity for discussing business, says Srijib Roy, Director of SRTEPC.
Roy also stated that Indian companies come to Egypt not to compete with the local industry but to cooperate with their Egyptian counterparts.
Gap will concentrate on expanding its Old Navy and Athleta units. These two brands continue to have strong sales and earnings momentum. They feel fresh and relevant; each offers a merchandise selection that appeals to today’s customer. Old Navy offers a fast fashion sensibility at affordable prices while Athleta is well-positioned in the popular athleisure segment.
The two divisions will be supported by an additional 270 stores this year. On the other hand the iconic Gap brand has experienced 16 quarters of declining sales. Banana Republic has not fared much better, recording 12 consecutive quarters of negative sales growth. In fact a corporate decline in earnings can be attributed in large part to weakening performance in these divisions.
The company plans to close some 200 Gap and Banana Republic stores in malls. Since 2005, Gap has closed 650 stores and reduced its square footage by five million sq. ft. This is true of the industry in the US. Once famous names like Radio Shack and Payless Shoes are disappearing slowly. Malls are struggling and the closing of well-known stores just makes their prospects more challenging. Traffic is already slower because millennials like to shop on the internet. There has also been a shift of more shopping to off-price chains.
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held from October 11 to 13, 2017. This edition will see sustainable fibers on display. Buyers will be offered sustainable products, solutions and resources. For example, Japanese firm Yagi will display recycolor cotton made from old clothing and scraps from garment factories, which are sorted by color and fed into stripping machines that break the fabric down into their original fibers. As these fibers are usually too short to spin, they are then mixed with virgin cotton and undergo a special spinning technique to create a yarn up to commercial standards.
Chinese company Newtech Textile will showcase Cool Trans transfer printing and dyeing technology, an eco-friendly alternative to digital inkjet printing. Compared to conventional printing technologies, Cool Trans reduces water and dye consumption by 40 per cent and 67 per cent while 92 per cent of water can be reused. It also reduces energy use by up to 65 per cent thanks to a cooler transfer temperature and features rates of 95 per cent for dye transfer and 95 per cent for dye-fixing. In addition to the environmental aspects of the technology, it also offers higher color yields and more delicate printing on the transfer paper or file than direct textile inkjet printing.
Brexit will provide Indian companies the opportunity to capture a substantial market share in the UK. The playing field will eventually even out among all major exporter nations.
For India, the UK is a key market for textile and apparel products. Out of India’s total textile and apparel exports to the EU, the UK had a 23 per cent share in 2016. India is the fourth largest supplier of textile and apparel products to the UK. However India’s share declined from 6.8 per cent in 2012 to 6.6 per cent in 2016.
Apparel is the largest category with a share of 75 per cent in India’s textile and apparel exports to the UK. This is followed by cotton textiles and manmade textiles having shares of 12 per cent and five per cent respectively. The UK is a major consumption center of a variety of textile and apparel products from around the world. Apparel is the largest imported category by the UK, representing 76 per cent of total textile and apparel imports. This is followed by manmade textiles, cotton textiles, and carpets with a share of nine per cent, seven per cent and four per cent. China is the largest supplier, followed by Bangladesh, Turkey and India.
For 17 years, Archroma has been pioneering change in the formulation, standardization and management of custom colors along the entire textile supply chain. Archroma color management helps fashion designers, brands, retailers and their suppliers achieve accurate colors and accelerate their time to market with color management services, unique software tools and support systems.
Archroma’s new color atlas is a system that includes a physical library of 4,320 color swatches, in six volumes. The accordion-fold design of the library volumes allows for quick, intuitive browsing of the cotton poplin samples. Colorful book covers indicate the shades that lie within each volume. Secure tabs help keep the swatches neat and ordered while allowing them to be easily removed.
The atlas is a color library created to easily bring color creativity and manageability to an entire new level for all in the supply chain. Archroma is a leader in color and specialty chemicals known for pioneering custom color engineering in textile and fashion.
Earlier this year, Archroma introduced the compact version of its color atlas system, which includes all the same color options, but is slimmed down from six to two volumes for increased portability.
A mobile-friendly color atlas online offers features such as color on the go, which allows users to capture an image using a smart phone, and identify the closest color atlas shades with the possibility to purchase a color sample instantly.
