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Japanese printing technology major Konica Minolta is set to help businesses switch to digital industrial printing for superior output, a top company executive has emphasised. In 2016-17, Konica Minolta sold over 18,000 units in the black and white segment and around 2,000 units in the coloured segment. Konica Minolta has continued to witness a double digit growth in India for the last six years and maintained its leadership in production printing market.
Kuldeep Malhotra, Vice President Konica Minolta says that the company targets to increase these numbers in coming years. When it comes to industrial printing, businesses are increasingly looking to deploy new digital printing solutions as the demand for high-quality outputs in minimal time is at an all-time high.
Malhotra says, India has emerged as a growth engine in the global economy due to an unprecedented growth in pivotal sectors this is creating tremendous opportunities. India is also witnessing a rapid shift to digitisation, owing to government efforts coupled with a young tech-savvy population. The company is dedicated to catalyse this transition with leading digital printing solutions tailored for varied industry verticals, says Malhotra.
While demonstrating the company's high-end printing and web solutions at an exhibition in Greater Noida earlier this year, Yuji Nakata, Managing Director of Konica Minolta India, stated that India is the highest growing market for the company and the company has got the strongest infrastructure in India with nearly 200 engineers working on development of the products.
While the printing industry in the country is witnessing major growth, demand for varied jobs and rigorous deadlines of customers is proving to be a major challenge for printing businesses. Malhotra feels when it comes to technological innovation, the company will continue to invest significantly in R&D division to come up with trend setting printing solutions for both enterprises and homes to bolster the digital revolution in the country.
US-based Kenai Sports is a sportswear brand that makes clothes out of trash. Each day, the company removes or diverts tons of plastic bottles, cell phone cases, keyboards, and organic waste such as coconut shells, corn husks, soybean shells, and more, from landfills, and then turns it into sportswear.
Kenai, has a wide range of customers, from college and university athletic programs to corporations, non-profits, and government offices, for which it creates custom designed performance sportswear for their teams, clubs and employees.
Even in its operations, the company is environmentally focused. Its transparent, local supply chain allows collaborative relationships and makes it easy for consumers to have confidence in the socially conscious nature of the company’s production.
Kenai has also taken its recycling efforts to the next level with a closed loop program, which allows customers to send garments back at the end of their useful life to be broken down and re-entered into the production process. A fully-functional closed loop elevates the possibilities in sustainable business.
From a product standpoint, Kenai’s clothing is audited — organic it means something and the company is dedicated to providing a product that truly provides protection to the environment as well as comfort to the wearer.
Agra’s footwear industry which Agra’s dates back to the Mughal era feels GST rates are too high for them. Shoe manufacturers say GST will raise the cost of production by at least 20 per cent, which in turn will push up prices of shoes. At present, tax on shoe components like laces and soles is five per cent but under GST will range from 12 per cent to 28 per cent.
The tax on shoes above Rs 500 is 18 per cent than 12 per cent. Manufacturers have to emboss the price on the product. These makers fall under the cottage industry category and manufacture shoes manually and do not use heavy machinery. Moreover, a tax of five per cent on shoes costing up to Rs 300 has been imposed in UP.
The footwear industry wants shoes having a MRP up to Rs 1,000 to be charged a five per cent tax, while shoes above Rs 1,000 should be charged a 12 per cent tax. The provision of embossing the price on shoes would have to be dropped and the tax on shoe components should not be more than five per cent. It says shoes are a basic need of people like clothes and raising the price is not advisable.
080 Barcelona Fashion is being held in Spain from June 26 to 30. It aims to turn Barcelona and Catalonia into a benchmark for creativity, innovation and design generation and projection in the fashion industry.
The event is showcasing products like fashion apparel, accessories, designer dresses, men’s wear, urban wear, women’s wear and more in the fashion and lifestyle industries. It's an excellent platform for Barcelona's extensive pool of creatives who make clothes and accessories.
The fashion show aims at demonstrating the world potential of Catalan fashion brands. This year's edition will also be an opportunity to get to know the work of emerging designers. 080 Barcelona Fashion is a professional meeting in which Spain’s independent designers and young talents meet to show their creations and give a commercial outflow to their work.
Up to 37 designers and fashion brands are revealing the most popular fashion trends in Barcelona. What makes 080 such a singular event is the way that fresh faces rub shoulders with internationally established brands, giving audiences the chance to get a feel for a whole spectrum of style, trends and concepts. There will be opportunities for professionals from the fashion sector to meet and discuss new business opportunities.
Catalonia and the city of Barcelona have had a long tradition in the textile industry for centuries.
Ethiopia is developing 10bmega industrial parks in different regions of the country. These industrial parks will see investments by global and Ethiopian companies in industries like textiles and apparels, industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals, footwear, and food and beverages. To reduce or eliminate any possible negative impacts on environmental and social sustainability as result of this industrialization drive, Ethiopia has decided to use the cleanest effluent treatment technology – zero liquid discharge technology– at these mega industrial parks. This technology ensures that the industrial parks use the minimum amount of ground water and have a zero liquid discharge outside the park.
Arvind Envisol, a subsidiary of Arvind, will provide water treatment technologies at these parks. It has already set up a zero liquid discharge water treatment plant at an industrial park. This plant has a capacity of treating 11 million liters of waste water a day and is one of the largest such plants in Africa.
Arvind Envisol provides end-to-end solutions for water treatment, industrial waste water treatment and sewage treatment. It is also working with Ethiopian universities to develop curriculum on environmental sustainability and technology transfer.
Ethiopia and Arvind will conduct a study on environmental sustainability in the textile and garmenting sector in Ethiopia. This study will establish the baseline on various sustainability studies and outline the future environmental impacts of the rapid industrialization drive of Ethiopia.
The denim jeans market the world over is primarily driven by rapid evolution of demand for branded as well as unbranded jeans among men and women, especially in metros and mega-metros. Rising disposable incomes in urban and semi-urban areas, coupled with fast changing buying patterns for casual wear, is a crucial factor boosting the denim jeans market
The growing number of women in the workforce has led to a new target consumer, thereby opening up exciting opportunities. The growing prominence of jeans as executive wear among men is a crucial factor catalyzing the market.
Recent advances have led to the launch of denim jeans with eco-friendly fabrics and sophisticated weaving patterns. In addition, the soaring popularity of blue denim jeans as staple casual wear is expected to fuel the growth of denim jeans market in key regions.
Growing environmental awareness among consumers has led to the demand for jeans made with organic raw materials. This is expected to unlock new opportunities for market players in the forthcoming years.
Novel blends of fiber and digitally printed designs are expected to attract more consumers in developing regions. In addition, the emerging fashion fad among the youth population is feeding the demand for denim jeans with premium pricing, thereby favorably impacting the market.
The denim jeans market the world over is primarily driven by the rapid evolution of demand for branded as well as unbranded jeans among men and women, especially in metro and mega-metro cities.
The rising disposable incomes of people in urban and semi-urban areas, coupled with fast changing buying patterns for casual wear, is a crucial factor boosting the denim jeans market.
The growing number of women in the workforce has led to a new target consumer, thereby opening up exciting opportunities in the denim jeans market. The growing prominence of jeans as executive wear among men is a crucial factor catalyzing the market.
Recent advances have led to the launch of denim jeans with eco-friendly fabrics and sophisticated weaving patterns. In addition, the soaring popularity of blue denim jeans as staple casual wear is expected to fuel the growth of denim jeans market in key regions.
Growing environmental awareness among consumers has led to the demand for jeans made with organic raw materials. This is expected to unlock new opportunities for market players in the forthcoming years.
Novel blends of fiber and digitally printed designs are expected to attract more consumers in developing regions. In addition, the emerging fashion fad among the youth population is feeding the demand for denim jeans with premium pricing, thereby favorably impacting the market.
The land allotted to cotton cultivation in India has increased this year compared to 2016. Farmers who have basic irrigational access harvest about 12 to 15 quintals per acre, depending upon the availability of drip irrigation. Cotton is relatively harder than soybean, which can be washed off in heavy rainfall. It can also be picked four to five times despite rains and at least twice if the weather isn’t favorable.
Cotton is sowed after the second week of June, with the first harvest or picking taking place 120 days post sowing, in its 175 to 180 day span. Farmers generally have to bear the cost of picking which comes at Rs 6000 per acre. Pesticides like Confidor, Actara and Polo amount to Rs 4000 an acre, excluding the Rs 200 labor on each round of spraying the chemical. Other expenses include weeding, fertilizer, and seeding.
This year the best among the crop choices left for a farmer which yield better returns in the kharif season was cotton. Farmers require immediate compensation for picking the cotton and using pesticides. Traders themselves came to buy the kapas (raw unginned cotton) straight from farmers at Rs 5600 per quintal this February compared with Rs 4000 in the previous year.
Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, will be the major sponsor for the SDC International Design Competition 2018 launched by SDC on June 20, 2017. SDC’s annual competition engages hundreds of students, universities and designers globally, helping entrants develop an understanding of color and the challenges around sustainability in the textile supply chain. The theme for 2018 is ‘color communication’.
Archroma will support the competition with its Color Atlas color management system, which will be key to both the competition theme and the accompanying educational package.
With a global textile supply chain, being able to communicate a given color through the supply chain efficiently and effectively is vital. Ultimately this provides the designer with the knowledge that their product is commercially suitable from the initial concept stages through to final product.
Using physical library, Mobile-friendly Color Atlas and Engineered Color Standards colors will provides the best opportunity to minimize the environmental impact during the dyeing/printing process by ensuring that the dyes conform too many of the environmental standards that exist and are applied using best practice.
Brad McClanahan, Global Head of Service Businesses at Archroma says participants will be able to experience first-hand how the Atlas can support their creativity. For Archroma, this is a great opportunity to further drive innovation and sustainability in the textile supply chain. The company is looking forward to seeing the Color Atlas translating into cool fashion pieces.
India wants to increase textile and apparel exports to Africa. India is presenting herself as a global sourcing hub and an investment destination showcasing the growth potential of technical textiles and carving a niche globally for handcrafted goods.
The country’s biggest market on the African continent is South Africa. South African chain store buyers, independent retailers, boutique owners, home textile and soft furnishing buyers, agents, wholesalers, importers and other industry professionals are interested in Indian products particularly fashion garments, embroidery, sequins, beadwork and the hand washes that India is famous for.
India has set up an apparel training centre in Nigeria. This will rebuild the cotton and textile value chain of Nigeria. In South Africa, India is recognised as one of the best sourcing destinations for garments, textiles, footwear and leather. India is the largest producer of jute, the second largest producer of cotton, silk and cellulosic fiber, the third largest producer of raw cotton and the fourth largest producer of synthetic fiber.
There is growing investment by Indian companies in Africa on a range of sectors such as telecommunications, hydrocarbons, agriculture, manufacturing, IT, water treatment and supply, drugs and pharmaceuticals, coal, automobiles, floriculture and textiles.
