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"Technology is transforming each and every industry very fast and it stands true for fashion industry as well. There used to be a time when luxury used to be in the reach of a select few and the fashion trends used to change in 6 months. In digital era, the information spreads like fire and before we see celebrities adorning the global brands, our consumers are ready to adorn the same with their copies. In such a highly transparent and competitive scenario, how can brands compete and advance is a question that needs to be answered by global giants."
Technology is transforming each and every industry very fast and it stands true for fashion industry as well. There used to be a time when luxury used to be in the reach of a select few and the fashion trends used to change in 6 months. In digital era, the information spreads like fire and before we see celebrities adorning the global brands, our consumers are ready to adorn the same with their copies. In such a highly transparent and competitive scenario, how can brands compete and advance is a question that needs to be answered by global giants.
Since ages, The LV from Louis Vuitton used to be the status symbol worldwide. In order to offer customers something new and bring back brand identity, for Spring/Summer 2016, Louis Vuitton has brought in a new face for the line – Lightning, a heroic character from Final Fantasy, which seems to be quite out-of-the-box. On the surface having a fictional heroine from a virtual world take the place of a human muse seems like a peculiar stretch for a historic fashion house; however, long before the brand was boiled down to a monogram, it stood for pushing the boundaries of reality and dreams. Nicolas Ghesquière, the creative director of Louis Vuitton, highlighted that Lightning is the perfect avatar for a global, heroic woman and for a world where social networks and communications are now seamlessly woven into our life. Lightning heralds a new era of expression. This example reflects that even the most renowned luxury brands are investing in attributes that encourage relevance versus aspiration.
Accessibility is the key
When the information is available at the click of the mouse, how can companies create a unique proposition needs to be pondered over. In rescue to this, J Crew has met the consumers’ need for instant connection by making high quality suits accessible. In its Ludlow shop, customers can design and purchase custom suits, complete with tailoring and monogramming. The growing world of bloggers and vloggers, a seat to a Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show now only requires a social media account, and cell service or WiFi. The intent has now shifted to making the experience as accessible and interactive as possible to drive same-day, virtual sales.
Luxury designers Rebecca Minkoff and her brother/co-founder, Uri Minkoff are unlocking the velvet ropes even further via augmented reality. With a purchased virtual reality headset, consumers around the globe were given a 360-degree live experience at Rebecca Minkoff's 2016 Fall runway show. The founders also partnered with a startup, Zeekit to offer their consumers a virtual fitting room to try on the latest runway styles.
Omnichannel is here to stay
Instead of getting bogged by the emergence and growing acceptance of online as the preferred mode of shopping, companies need to evolve a cross-channel integration strategy to connect and engage consumers with a brand. There is a growing emergence of experiential retail spaces, which means that brands need to focus less on selling and deliver a highly-interactive, memorable experience to build brand loyalty.
In light of this, Bonobos, the men's e-commerce apparel company, has opened up brick-and-mortar guide stores where one can't buy anything, but can just check outfits while hanging out and drinking beer. Consumers are then assisted by a Bonobos guide with ordering all their selected items online, which are then home delivered. Today, the renewed purpose for a physical retail space is to craft a multi-sensory, service-first brand experience a customer can take home. In short, companies need to create a new standard in brand building in response to the demands of the modern consumer.
The wool sector in India is being promoted in a big way. A total grant of Rs 33.98 crores has been released for pashmina development and promotion in the last three years.
Health coverage and medicines have also been provided to over two lakh pashmina goats annually. Food supplements have also been provided to 40,000 goats annually, pre-empting starvation deaths.
As a result pashmina productivity per goat has been enhanced by 9.3 per cent. Close to 525 tents have been provided to nomads in Ladakh and five solarised community centers have also been completed.
India’s wool and woolen textile industry is the seventh largest in the world. India’s wool and woolen industry can broadly be divided into worsted yarn, woolen yarn, wool tops, fabric, shoddy yarn, shoddy fabrics, blankets, knitwear, handmade carpets and machine made carpets.
Woolen handmade carpets contribute 72.7 per cent to total woolen exports.
About 70 per cent of the exports go to the US and European countries, so any fall in demand impacts exports to a substantial level.
The slowdown in global demand has affected medium-sized manufacturers in Ludhiana and Amritsar. Punjab accounts for 35 per cent of the total exports of wool and wool-blended products followed by Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Sunbury Textiles is launching an indoor performance brand Nanotex aSure. The new aSure fabric line is created with technology by which molecules permanently attach to every fiber without clogging the fabric weave or compromising the look, feel or comfort of the fabric.
Sunbury has teamed up with Nanotex to develop this exclusive line of fabrics that showcases each company’s strengths of proven design and aesthetics with the expertise of finishing fabrics at the highest industry standards to provide a care-free solution for creating a beautiful living space.
Nanotex aSure was specifically developed to include a host of constructions and decorative yarns in an array of colors, textures, patterns, stripes and statement designs to compliment any room or lifestyle.
Sunbury Textile Mills, based in the US, designs and manufactures decorative jacquard fabrics. The company provides fabrics for public spaces in the hospitality, healthcare, and corporate markets, such as hotels, bars/restaurants, offices, hospitals, and assisted living facilities; specialty performance fabrics; and jacquard fabrics for the outdoor furniture and jobber markets.
Nanotex has expanded exponentially in recent years, especially in the area of apparel and bedding. The joint technical teams at Sunbury and Nanotex worked together to bring this new performance textile, Nanotex aSure, created just for Sunbury, to the residential upholstery textile market.
Pakistan and Turkey are in discussions for a FTA. This will enable both countries to improve their trade balance.
The two sides would be exchanging provisional lists for a final agreement. They will holding discussions on agreement on goods, services and investment.
The free trade agreement is expected to enhance bilateral trade to ten billion dollars. Right now it amounts to 650 million dollars.
There will be an additional protocol to strengthen the protection available to Turkish investments in Pakistan.
Pakistan will get market space in the agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors in Turkey. Pakistan’s major imports from Turkey include manmade textiles, towels, steel structure, tanning and plastic chemicals, processed milk and whey. The country’s major exports to Turkey are denim, ethanol, cotton yarn, fabrics, garments, leather, carpets, surgical instruments, sports goods and chemicals.
The number of air flights between the two countries will be increased. A joint company will be set up to establish a manufacturing unit to produce locomotives in Pakistan.
A Turkey special economic zone will be set up provided Islamabad extends the logistical support. Pakistan has so far signed about half a dozen free trade pacts and except for the FTA with Sri Lanka, these agreements are working in favor of other countries.
Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) has prepared a manual for Indian exporters.
It’s hoped this will foster a better understanding of potential good practices in the apparel supply chain that contribute towards improved quality, efficiency and sustainability.
The manual draws upon experiences in other countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Turkey. After considering the feasibility of adopting these practices in Indian units, an user-friendly good practice manual has been developed for small, medium and large firms.
Existing practices in apparel units in clusters like Tirupur, Jaipur, NCR, Ludhiana, Bangalore and Chennai were studied. This brought out the need for standardisation and the possibility of adopting some easy-to-adopt production and manufacturing systems that can improve export competitiveness.
The manual focuses on good practices covering the areas of productivity, operational efficiencies, environmental sensitivity, compliance and management practices.
AEPC feels India's growth in the global apparel sector which has been slow could have been accelerated if the country tried to adopt international practices. It hopes that when the India-EU FTA is signed, it will give India a level playing field vis-à-vis Bangladesh which currently has an advantage in the EU markets.
Right now research and development activities prevalent in the Indian apparel industry are not recognized. So AEPC feels there is a need, for instance, to consider the experiments in color and fiber undertaken by the industry for sample generation as it is an important step towards business generation.
The Garment Manufacturer Association of Cambodia (GMAC) will launch its new vocational training centre next month, providing courses aimed at upgrading the skills of Cambodian workers in a bid to replace the middle-management positions currently occupied predominantly by foreigners.
The Cambodian Garment Training Institution (CGTI) was built with a $3 million loan from French development body Agency Francoise Development (AFD). Construction broke ground last September inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone.
According to Ly Tek Heng, operations manager at GMAC, foreigners occupy about 8,000 of the 700,000 positions in the Kingdom’s garment sector. He further says that the new vocational training centre will help reduce this foreign component by training Cambodian workers as high-level fashion industry specialists, such as merchandisers, fashion designers and pattern makers. It will also enhance quality-control skills.
Tek Heng commented on this that at present they have to hire expatriates for some management positions because our Cambodian workforce cannot do it.
He further explained that the training institution will help our Cambodian workers to get higher wages and help factory owners to lower their costs of hiring people from abroad.
GMAC members have set aside nearly $700,000, in addition to the $3 million loan, to cover the centre’s operations for the first three years. CGTI will operate three courses of up tofour month’s duration with student enrolment billed at $140 per course. Enrolment will initially be only for workers employed in GMAC member factories, but will eventually be extended to the public.
Tek Heng was optimistic that once Cambodians were skilled enough to obtain middle-management positions, it would also help to smooth out industrial relations and reduce workplace conflict that arises from cultural misunderstandings in foreign-owned factories.
Lim Sovannaren, an administrative executive for Akeentex Pte, a Singaporean-owned company that produces jackets, shorts, pants and swimwear, says that the firm had not registered any of its nearly 1,200 workers for courses at CGTI.
Soeng Sophary, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, stated that while there is still vast potential for Cambodians working in the garment sector, workers need vocational training to foster productivity and enhance skills to promote long-term economic growth.
Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports in July to April showed a nominal decline in export proceeds by 0.92 per cent year-on-year.
Exports of readymade garments rose 5.34 per cent while those of knitwear dropped 0.17 per cent. Exports of bed-wear edged up 5.01 per cent while those of towels dropped by 4.38 per cent.
In April, the value of exported textile and clothing products declined 0.41 per cent year-on-year. Overall export proceeds in July to April were down 2.29 per cent.
In primary commodities, exports of cotton yarn witnessed a year-on-year decline of 3.68 per cent while those of cotton cloth and yarn dropped 5.73 per cent and 29.48 per cent.
Exports of made-up articles, excluding towels, increased 1.18 per cent and those of tents, canvas and tarpaulin grew 56.22 per cent. Proceeds from art, silk and synthetic textile exports declined 29.70 per cent while exports of raw cotton also recorded a year-on-year decline of 47.58 per cent.
One of the reasons for the decline in Pakistan’s textile exports is that the preferential access to the European Union under the GSP Plus scheme hasn’t boosted proceeds due to a slump in demand.
Pakistan gives a four per cent rebate on the exports of readymade garments on a ten per cent incremental increase over the preceding year.
The National Green Tribunal has allowed the conditional reopening of 578 textile units in Rajasthan's Pali district that had been shut for the last eight months for flouting pollution norms. The Jodhpur bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice Jawad Rahim and member B S Sajwan, permitted the reopening of these industries, engaged in dyeing and printing of cloth, after the unites gave an assurance that they would comply with any direction passed by the tribunal.
NGT also took into account the adverse effect the closure had on the employment and livelihood of workers directly or indirectly dependent on the industries. The prolonged closure had also resulted in surreptitious and illegal dyeing and bleaching activities.
The NGT has further ordered the setting up of a monitoring committee comprising representatives of IIT Jodhpur, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, directing them to submit a report on the next hearing.
Pali Water Pollution Control Treatment and Research Foundation Trust responded to this by stating that the committee will carry out inspections and surprise checks of the industries and Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP). They will ensure disconnection of electricity where the industries do not have any consent to operate or they are not connected with CETP or do not have their own Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP).
Besides this, the tribunal has also directed the constitution of a district-level task force to ensure that no industry functions illegally or in violation of the pollution rules and norms. The task force will also chart out a surveillance mechanism and take punitive measures against defaulting units.
The NGT had ordered these polluting textile industrial units to shut their operations on October 3 last year, while hearing a petition moved by an environmental organisation, the Kissan Paryavaran Sangharsh Samiti.
The untreated effluents of these units have long been polluting a seasonal river of the district, the Bandi river, whose water feeds the Nehda Dam. This has severely affected agriculture in the region and polluted the underground water.
Jharkhand produces roughly 82 per cent of the total silk that is produced in India. Nearly 4.82 lakh women in the state will be brought under the new skill development program. A fund of Rs 700 crores has been provisioned in this year's budget for the skill development program.
A state industries board will be established, which will connect women of 32,000 villages for providing them alternative livelihoods.
Jharkhand wants investors for the textile, apparel and footwear sectors as these have growth potential.
These sectors are the second largest employers in Jharkhand after agriculture. By products of textile, apparel and footwear are used for making cosmetics, biomedical products and fertilizers. These not only fetch revenue but also generate large scale employment.
Jharkhand tussar production increased to 3,238 metric tons in 2016-19 from 143 metric tons in 2007-08. The tussar culture employs 1.80 lakh farmers and 30,000 weavers in the state.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Jharkhand Silk Textile and Handicraft Development Corporation (Jharcraft) and Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society (Co-optex).
Co-optex has over 200 outlets across the country. Jharcraft products will be displayed at Co-optex showrooms across the country. Co-optex will also display its products at Jharcraft outlets.
While Co-optex produces a huge variety of handloom products, it does not produce tussar silk. In this situation, Jharcraft will use the platform to publicize and sell tussar silk produced in Jharkhand.
Indian exports are on upward trend in last few months as the country ended up with export of $275 billion in last fiscal, says GK Gupta, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO). The country could achieve a new milestone of $325 billion in 2017-18 and Gupta has suggested providing additional support to top 200 products of global imports.
The FIEO president also shared concerns regarding some important issues. He stated that the export sector welcomes the introduction of GST as its spin off effect would benefit both the manufacturing and export sector. The logistics cost is expected to come down to help the exim sector. The quick refund, as against delayed refund of VAT, will also help the export sector.
The company is worried with the liquidity issue as the refund mechanism would require payment of GST first and its refund subsequently. The additional cost of credit to manage the liquidity should be borne by the government, if present exemption is not brought forward in the GST. Export sector would be losing export competitiveness by about 2 per cent and the same needs to be off-set to the export sector,says Gupta.
FIEO, is request the government to provide interest on delayed refund after 10 days (3 days + 7 days) instead of 60 days, added Gupta. FIEO has requested the ministry of commerce to prepone the announcement so as to coincide with the rolling out of GST.
The Mid-Term Policy Review should look at the performance of the new instruments introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 and also the modifications which are required in the wake of introduction of GST. On this the FIEO presidentstated that they request the Government to sensitize the trade and industry that the imports duty benefit on imports under the existing instruments would only continue till the date of introduction of GST.
FIEO acknowledge the positive role played by Rupee appreciation in Indian economy particularly, as it helps in containing import led inflation. However, it does affect competitiveness of Indian exports. The impact of Rupee appreciation varies from sector to sector. Traditional sectors of exports like handicrafts, carpets, handlooms, textiles, leather, etc. face huge competitiveness issue on account of such appreciation.
