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"Campaigns against “fast fashion” scapegoat working-class consumers while doing little to improve the conditions of garment workers. “The high cost of cheap fashion” has alerted customers to the debasing labor conditions and environmental practices that are involved in the production of cheap trendy clothes, or so-called ‘Fast Fashion’. Having realized its impact, many are opting not to buy/shop at fast-fashion retailers, and the short cut to fashion trends."
Campaigns against “fast fashion” scapegoat working-class consumers while doing little to improve the conditions of garment workers. “The high cost of cheap fashion” has alerted customers to the debasing labor conditions and environmental practices that are involved in the production of cheap trendy clothes, or so-called ‘Fast Fashion’. Having realized its impact, many are opting not to buy/shop at fast-fashion retailers, and the short cut to fashion trends.
It’s hard for most people to sound such outlandish excess; it’s become hard for the excessive spender to feel the full glory of her excess when the status barometer is forever on the rise. Fast fashion looks more like robbing workers of a living wage and safe working conditions, and robbing legitimate designers of their creative property. Opposing fast fashion is intuitively appealing. It often springs from a genuine desire to make the world a better place, to limit exploitation, and foster creativity.
Anti–fast fashion stances give rise to racist, class-biased, and historical myths about garment workers. To decry this low-level, already stigmatized market is to either misunderstand or intentionally ignore the structural relationships and realities of the larger fashion system. Campaigns urge consumers to avoid budget retailers to show that they stand against the exploitation of fashion workers and intellectual property theft.
Fast fashion is a market within a massive apparel and commercial industry. Its designs generally don’t capture headlines or public attention. The central myth of anti-fast fashion discourse is that low prices signify low standards of production (and a lower-quality product), while high prices indicate high standards of production (and a high-quality product).
At present many expensive fashions are associated with higher-status consumers whose tastes are morally superior, ethically discriminating, and knowledgeable about the “high costs of cheap fashion”.
However it isn’t just fast fashion brands that copy other designers or use sweatshop labor. These practices exist across the industry, from budget to luxury fashion. It’s not uncommon to find workers in the same factory producing both fast fashion and luxury fashion garments. Purchasing more expensive clothes based on some misguided code of ethics does nothing to reduce global capitalism’s racially gendered divisions of labor, opportunities, and rewards.
Tommy Hilfiger has named musical duo, Grammy award-winning pair, Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall of the music group, The Chainsmokers as its new global menswear ambassadors. The Chainsmokers, will appear as the new global brand ambassadors beginning Fall ’17. The advertisements will feature a limited edition co-branded item as well as Tommy Hilfiger Tailored garments and the brand’s sportswear lines.
Daniel Grieder, CEO, Tommy Hilfiger Global and PVH Europe says that Tommy’s pioneering approach to fusing fashion and music is part of menswear heritage and the partnership with The Chainsmokers reflects the company’s strategic commitment to bring the next generation of Tommy Hilfiger consumers into our men’s business with exciting fashion collections, curated shopping experiences, and digital commerce convenience. The brand will be seen all over the world.
Talking about the brand Tommy Hilfiger is one of the first designers to blend fashion and celebrity, and dressed young artists. The brand also sponsored tours for the likes of Britney Spears and Lenny Kravitz, and featured musicians such David Bowie and Beyoncé in advertising campaigns.
Written in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 Guidelines Core option, Southwire recently launched its third report. This interactive, online update on the progress of Southwire’s sustainability commitments features the company’s management approach, goals and advancement in its most significant, or “material,” sustainability topics. The report update also highlights examples of how Southwire is strengthening its focus in these key areas.
Southwire had launched its first GRI report as an overview of its progress for the year 2014, further supporting its strong allegiance to transparency surrounding the company's sustainability initiative. Southwire's report for 2016 features not only updates on the company’s 13 identified material topics, but launches a revitalized brand and an updated set of goals for 2021.
The new brand provides a captivating visual representation of how all five of core tenets integrate to form commitment to sustainability. Behind the brand are a new set of goals which will help guide us toward more significant advancements on our journey to best-in-class sustainability practices..
As referenced in the report, 2016 yielded positive growth for Southwire, highlighted by strong business results, the creation of a clear business strategy under its new leadership and a steadfast commitment to its communities. A key highlight for the company was its marked progress in the area of safety.
Some of Southwire’s other notable accomplishments for 2016, within its tenets of sustainability, include the successful acquisition and integration of United Copper Industries and Sumner Manufacturing; the development and launch of several innovative, award-winning products and record volunteer efforts through Project GIFT, the company’s non-profit employee initiative.
India’s annual rate of inflation dropped to 2.17 per cent for May 2017 over May 2016. The index for manufacturing of apparel declined by 0.4 per cent in May 2017 from April 2017 due to lower price of leather garments, including jackets and shirts.
The monthly wholesale price index for manufacturing of apparel declined by 0.4 per cent in May 2017 from April 2017 due to lower price of leather garments, including jackets and shirts. The index for all commodities for May 2017 declined by 0.4 per cent from the previous month.
The index for manufactured products for May 2017 rose by 0.4 per cent from the previous month. The index for the textiles sub-group increased by 0.3 per cent from the previous month due to higher price of cotton yarn and manufacture of other textiles, texturised and twisted yarn and manufacture of made-up textile articles. However, the price of synthetic yarn and manufacture of knitted and crocheted fabrics and manufacture of cordage, rope, twine and netting declined.
The index for primary articles declined by 1.5 per cent from the previous month. The index for fuel and power also declined by 2.1 per cent from the previous month due to lower prices of LPG, bitumen, electricity, naptha, ATF, petrol and HSD. However, the price of petroleum coke, lignite and kerosene moved up.
If a FTA between India and the EU comes about, the EU will gain by 0.14 per cent and India will gain by 1.3 per cent. Due to the differences in size of populations and economies, the per capita increase for India would be 22 dollars as against 44 dollars for the EU. Within the EU, Ireland and Belgium would gain the most in relative terms and Germany the most in absolute terms.
As for sectors which would gain or lose from this FTA, India would gain the most in business services and textiles/apparels. The automotive and mineral sectors would lose. Increased competition in the machinery and equipment sectors would cause losses. The gains accruing to India in business services and textiles outweigh possible losses in the automotive and machinery sectors.
India should take a leap of faith with a region with which it shares economic and political values — more so in a world faced with a US administration in favor of protectionism and a China with hegemonic ambitions.
India has been active in its free trade discussions, concluding deals with many South Asian countries. Regional comprehensive economic partnership talks are gaining momentum. Indian exports, though, have not benefited immediately following its agreements with Asean as well as those with Malaysia or Thailand.
After a weakening in the last 3 years, apparel export have started booming. The export will be a positive in the second quarter of this year, which can be seen from the projection of the Indonesian Textile Association which says Chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) Ade Sudrajat said the relocation of factories to several regions in Central Java that encouraged the growth of new high-tech factories helped boost the productivity of apparel manufacturers. In addition, the competitiveness of apparel products was also boosted as many business people also employ trained workers.
Energy cost has been concern with the manufacturers in downstream industries, causing high operational costs due to the cost of electricity. Energy cost for textile industry is high at US $ 12 cents per kWh on an average. On the other hand Indonesia's main competitor in the textile sector set a much more competitive electricity tariff, like in Vietnam and Bangladesh to be charged only US $ 6-US $ 7 cents per kWh. One of the factors of stagnation of the textile industry in the country is due to the imbalance of energy costs, whereas India, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh are growing rapidly.
May was a difficult month for UK retail with consumers cutting back on their spending for the first time in almost four years as uncertainty over the economy, the post-Easter dip, and an expected election-linked slowdown all added to the mounting woes.
Physical stores saw their biggest sales fall in over five years, despite the warmer weather that should have given sales a bigger boost. And while online sales rose 6.9 per cent they couldn’t make up for the shortfall. That was particularly a problem for the fashion sector with clothing one of the categories with the biggest sales falls.
Fashion was among the biggest categories to suffer during the month and an online spending rise failed to take up the slack. Consumer spending dipped 0.8 per cent year-on-year last month and dropped 1.9 per cent compared to April.
The effects of inflation and stagnating wage growth seemed to have hit home and with last week’s election results and the start of Brexit negotiations this month June is unlikely to provide much relief to retailers.
Inflation could even worsen as the pound fell further against the dollar and the euro. Business confidence has sunk through the floor. The outlook for consumer spending continues to look relatively bleak, with households facing faster increases in living costs and muted wage growth.
A budget of Rs 1,200 crores has been allocated by Telangana for the textile sector for the year 2017-18. Close to Rs 373 crores will be used for the handloom sector, while Rs 827 crores have been allocated for power looms and their modernisation.
The state has generated about Rs 73,000 crores in investments and created 2.56 lakh jobs. Some industrial parks will also be established in Telangana. Housing for workers and staff is proposed within the textile parks.
Telangana has achieved a year on year growth of 10.1 per cent in gross state domestic product as compared to the national average of 7.1 per cent in financial year ’17. The state has also been ranked first for ease of doing business reforms for 2015-16 by the World Bank.
Telangana is in the process of formulating a textile and apparel policy that contemplates waiver of personal loans of handloom weavers. Fresh loans are proposed to be given at three per cent interest. Subsidies will be given for capital investment and purchase of equipment by entrepreneurs. Tax incentives and power subsidies are being examined.
Radici Group presents its reduced environmental impact product range. Solution-dyed polyester, recycled polymer polyester and bio-based polyamide are some of the kinds of low environmental impact yarns produced by RadiciGroup specifically for the fashion industry. The fashion world is finally addressing sustainability and looking for materials that are not only beautiful and strong, but also sustainable. The company aims at playing a leading role in the fashion value chain as the ideal upstream supplier.
The Radici Group product portfolio meeting these new market requirements is described in the recently published book Neo-materials in the Circular Economy – Fashion, available now in bookshops in both Italian and English versions. The book is edited by Marco Ricchetti in collaboration with Blumine S.r.l. and the Italian sustainable fashion social network Sustainability-lab.
Raw materials have a decisive impact on the degree of sustainability of the final products. In recent years, many fiber manufacturers have invested in research and experimentation in order to realize aesthetically attractive, high performance products that are consistent with the sustainable values of the circular economy. Together with product innovation, it is also important to implement monitoring and checking procedures in order to weigh the CO2 emissions of the various materials and opt for those resulting in the least environmental impact. This is the approach Radici has chosen.
The company has over 75 years of experience in the fiber industry and has a vertically integrated polyamide production. Radici, based in Italy, opened in 1941 and is a nonwoven, specialty chemicals, performance plastics and synthetic fiber producer. It has total control over its production chain, from products such as adipic acid and polyamide 6 and 6.6, to yarns and engineering plastics.
Fulgar has joined the Higg Index. Fulgar is a manufacturer of nylon and covered yarns for the manmade fiber sector. In this way it takes its place beside the most important fashion brands in encouraging the eco-sustainable success and development of the global textile-apparel industry.
Higg Index has been developed by the SAC, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which includes many of the most illustrious names in the international garment industry. The index uses credible scientific data to objectively measure a product’s environmental performance. The Higg index aims to create a unique instrument available to all operators in the supply chain, enabling them to assess the environmental impact of a garment’s entire life cycle. It is a significant step forward towards transparency in the textile sector and a powerful support for all companies in the value chain as it provides them with a method of comparing different materials so they can make knowledgeable, more sustainable choices.
Fulgar’s flagship product, Q-Nova, is a 6.6 eco-sustainable nylon fiber made exclusively from regenerated raw materials. This ecological product fulfils precise traceability requirements and aims to generate reductions in CO2 emissions and cut water use. Higg is further proof of Fulgar’s commitment to green production and to supporting the values of its eco-friendly products. The index for now is applied to Q-Nova but will soon be extended to other categories of Fulgar products.
