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Cotton prices in Pakistan will remain on the higher side due to growing demand for the commodity by textile and spinning sectors and higher costs of imports. Physical prices and the arrival of the fresh crop will become steady by the end of September as there would be an influx of around 25,000 bales on each working day.
Import of cotton is not viable as international prices are on par with prices in Pakistan. Garments made-up and the spinning sector might go for imports during December-January 2018. Usually, the textile sector needs to import lint every cotton season to meet the shortfall.
The target for the crop season 2017-18 may not be met. There would be a shortfall of around 2.1 million bales. Recent lint prices are the outcome of excess demand for the commodity in the domestic market. Owing to an increase in planted area, world lint production will rise by two per cent. China’s cotton production is estimated at 4.9 million tons. US production is estimated at 3.8 million tons.
World cotton mill use is expected to remain stable at 24.3 million tons in 2017-18 as high cotton prices have discouraged growth in demand. The US comes next with 19.86 million bales followed by India with 21.75 million bales and Pakistan with 12.17 million bales.
Premium was held in Germany, July 4 to 6, 2017. This is a major trade show for advanced contemporary fashion. It was packed with a portfolio of premium fashion collections. Apart from the well-known established premium brands such as American Vintage, Antony Morato and Second Female there were also a lot of newcomers such as Aubergin, aintnobasic, Cords from Stockholm or twenty tees that showed for the very first time at Premium.
Those who hoped for inspiring newness were dashed. Flower prints, stripes and embellishments and a lot of ’80s and ’90s styles dominated most of the collections. The kimono/bathrobe piece seems to be a must-have for next summer and print and logo shirts and sweaters could be seen everywhere. Windbreakers also experienced a revival. Key denim looks included highly decorated styles, high-waist mom jeans, flares and trendy baggy silhouettes. And although the color palette seemed to offer every hue for spring/summer 2018, purple, yellow and baby pink were the top colors for men and women.
The event defines the key trends: each season, the latest lifestyle fashions, trends and global market developments are analysed and the portfolio updated to include at least 25 to 30 per cent of new, commercial, high-end collections.
Show & Order was held in Germany from July 4 to 6, 2017. This specialized trade show offering feminine fashion, accessory and footwear brands was characterized by a cool, comfy and relaxed atmosphere.
The show’s top trends for spring/summer 2018 include: big doses of Ibiza and summer holiday inspiration with lots of ethnic shirts in Sangallo lace, decorated with embroideries, prints and trimmings. Pops of gold and silver completed many of the dresses and shirts on offer.
Some denim brands at the show offered premium quality products focused on eco-friendly and careful manufacturing standards. Accessories were also important and included flip-flops, espadrilles and sandals, delicate silver and gold jewels, funky decorated straw bags and essential and minimalistic urban leather ones.
Happy Haus, a French-German brand, offered denim dresses, shirts and overalls all made with sustainable denims produced and treated according to eco-friendly production standards. Distinct winter and summer capsule collections completed the collection. Special collabs with international artists included limited edition fancy pieces.
Women’s jeanswear line Ally John employs Japanese denims only, including stretch selvedge ones. The selection offered high-waisted jeans for women that guarantee maximum comfort and self-confidence. Each piece carried in its inner side an embroidered quote of a woman who inspired that model–such as Madonna, Audrey Hepburn or others.
Weavers and denim producers and finishers rely on Monforts’ sanforising and finishing equipment in production facilities. Calik Denim’s new Circular 100 fabric range features Lycra dualFX technology to create a better alternative to traditional jeans leggings fabric. The specific fabric construction of Circular 100 – suitable for athleisure in addition to jeans – has been developed to create a unique silky and soft touch inside, while offering elasticity and flexibility for increased comfort.
With sustainability high on the agenda for denim fabric manufacturers, Japanese washi paper is the latest natural fiber option now being employed in weft yarns for denim by Hong Kong’s Mou Fung. Kozo, a type of mulberry, is the most commonly used fiber in making washi paper. The fabric has a great dry hand feel and streaky effect that highlights the paper content. It has an unique denim look and the jeans are completely washable and highly durable. With two Montex stenters and two Monforts sanforizers at its plant in China, Mou Fung has been successfully producing high quality denim since 1970.
Belgian company Bainisha has introduced the concept of sensor-containing, body-monitoring smart jeans. The jeans contain a self-adhesive sensor at the knee, attached by a textile cable connector to a transmitter in the pocket, all of which is totally unobtrusive, and from which considerable data can be obtained.
The United Arab Emirates is among the target markets for the next two years for Texbrasil. Texbrasil is a program created by the textile and fashion industry of Brazil. Texbrasil’s initiatives involve training and development, information, deal-making, image-building and customization.
The project helps companies from the whole textile chain to become more competitive in the global market and promotes actions to boost exports. From June 2017 to June 2019, the priority markets selected for the program’s companies are Argentina, Chile, Colombia, United States, Mexico, Peru and Portugal. The markets selected as secondary are Germany, UAE, France, Japan, Paraguay and United Kingdom.
Priority countries are those where there is a need for a more strategic action by the program, such as market opening and the defense by the sector against tariff or technical barriers. Secondary markets are those that work as a gateway to a bigger market.
Texbrasil has decided to keep the UAE as a gateway to the Gulf countries and Lebanon. These markets will be monitored and invited to buyer and image projects by Texbrasil. Buyer projects are those in which importers travel to Brazil for business matchmaking with Brazilian companies. Image projects invite foreign journalists to get to know up close the textile and apparel local production.
Korea’s Hyosung is celebrating silver anniversary of its brand Creora. Hyosung is one of Korea’s leading multinational conglomerates, with annual worldwide sales of more than $8.7 billion. Hyosung has a global network of more than 73 subsidiaries and international branch offices around the globe.
Hyosung first developed its own process for manufacturing spandex in 1992. It has grown to be probably the largest spandex producer in the world with plants in Korea, China, Vietnam, Turkey and Brazil. Creora is the company’s leading spandex/elastane supplier.
Spandex has continued to grow in diapers, sportswear, outer wear, and woven ready-to-wear/denim. It also has potential in more traditional areas, such as intimates and swimwear, as there continues to be growth in these categories from emerging countries like India and China.
Hyosung is celebrating its 25th anniversary at Interfilière in Paris. The company will highlight Creora fresh odor neutralising spandex for intimate and sports cross over. It will also promote its new Creora lasting fusible spandex technology for hosiery applications. Interfilière, the leading international show for intimates, swimwear and performance sourcing and fabrics, is taking place from July 8 to 10, 2017.
Hyosung has developed a global brand positioning platform, new logo, tag line, and new advertising campaigns, defined and developed new products, and implemented marketing plans to create demand.
World cotton prices may tumble next season to the lowest in nine years. China's share of world inventories is expected to decline to 44 per cent, which would be the first time since 2011-12 that it held less than half of global stocks. Cotton stocks held outside China, meanwhile, are expected to rise by 17 per cent. This would be one of the highest volumes on record and indicates that prices should fall.
Large stocks, in cutting the need for buyers to pay up to secure supplies, are seen as a negative signal for prices.
China has been reducing its stocks through measures including the reform of a guaranteed pricing scheme for farmers – which in being set at a level well above world values had led to an inventory build-up, which is now being reversed by a program of auctions from stake stockpiles.
By contrast, supply prospects elsewhere have been boosted by the knock-on effect of this season’s elevated prices in encouraging farmers to plant the fiber.
In India, for instance, sowings are expected up eight per cent. An early and adequate monsoon, a higher minimum support price, and the prospect of better returns from cotton compared to competing crops have encouraged farmers in India to expand area.
In Pakistan, too, sowings were seen rising by eight per cent. Higher seedings were seen helping US output this year soar by 12 per cent.
Panorama was held in Germany, July 4 to 6, 2017. The trade show that debuted in 2013 facilitated collaborating, networking and trading. It is an European marketplace for leading fashion brands. As the name suggests, it is an overview of the most important trends of the coming season.
The expanded lifestyle offer was particularly well received by visitors. There were nearly 50,000 visitors from 96 countries. About 700 exhibitors presented their spring/summer 2018 collections. The trade show was spread over an area of 45,000 sq mts.
Panorama presented a contemporary and relevant selection of women’s and men’s collections, shoes, accessories and lifestyle articles by market leading brands as well as additional areas for plus size fashion and lingerie, underwear and lounge wear .
The event provides a platform where the buyers, dealers, trade visitors and media representatives can come from all over the world and meet at one place and share their various views with each other in the lifestyle and fashion industry. It has a select portfolio of top international fashion brands with business relevance. This time there was a new brand mix and a strong focus on visitor services.
There were overwhelmingly positive reviews from exhibitors and buyers and the media.
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America has nearly 100 members from a diverse group of manufacturers, startups and institutes of higher learning.
It is leading a 317 million dollar private-public effort to drive innovation in textile and fiber manufacturing. The institute has already produced a major benefit in helping bridge the information gap between universities and manufacturers. New networking opportunities have been created that have the potential to drive innovation.
AFFOA’s new fabric discovery center will provide a base for prototyping ranging from fiber design to new textile products. Other centers will open later this year in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
The fabric discovery centers will serve as regional incubators and accelerators for start-up companies in advanced fabrics, provide rapid prototyping facilities and house training facilities for educational outreach and workforce development.
It’s hoped that a decade from now AFFOA will have secured an important place in the history of textiles and apparel by rapidly deploying and funding existing research and turning it into innovation and jobs. It’s all about taking the technology that’s already in labs.
The apparel industry is new to the innovation game.
Brands are taking ideas from the defense industry and other industries. Everything in a home, including the car, is connected. If people are living in a smart world they expect their clothes to be connected too. And that is where brands step in.
Japan’s Toray Industries will acquire a stake in Hong Kong’s Pacific Textiles. This will enable Toray to pursue its global strategic expansion and synergy effects through supply chain integration and collaboration.
By leveraging Toray’s strengths in raw materials and Pacific Textiles’ value-added knitting services, both groups are positioned to innovate and improve products to their end clients as well as penetrating into new geographies and adjacent segments.
Engaged in the manufacturing and trading of textile products since 1997, Pacific Textiles is a leading manufacturer of customised knitted fabrics with a focus on complex, value-added fabrics. It has a high profit yield thanks to its enhanced operational efficiency and effective cost control measures.
Its principal manufacturing facility located in China is well-equipped with advanced production facilities, including a scalable water treatment facility and cogeneration power plant. In addition, it also has a manufacturing plant in Vietnam.
Pacific Textiles and Toray have been developing new fabrics together, and Pacific has been indirectly supplying fabrics to Toray. Through this strategic investment, Toray expects to strengthen its business relationship with Pacific Textiles and further align the interests of the two groups.
Toray has signed a share purchase agreement today to acquire 28.03 per cent stake in Pacific Textiles from Far East Asia. Closing is expected to occur mid-July 2017.
