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Casualwear brand Fruit of the Loom plans to close its UK-based head office and distribution centre by end 2018 and relocate operations to Europe and North Africa. This move, on part of the US-based company, will optimise its supply chain and enable it to streamline operations in a highly competitive marketplace.
A Berkshire Hathaway company, Fruit of the Loom designs, manufactures and markets family apparel, intimates, and athletic apparel and equipment. With a heritage of more than 150 years, its diverse portfolio of more than 20 iconic brands includes Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic, Spalding, JERZEES and Vanity Fair.
Headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Fruit of the Loom, Inc’s subsidiaries employ nearly 30,000 people in 26 countries. It also supports approximately 250,000 additional jobs through sourcing and licensing relationships in 37 countries.
The recently concluded Euratex General Assembly deliberated on investment opportunities in European textile and clothing sector. The event, with over 120 participants, provided an insight on the dynamic moment in which the sector is regaining a leading position in the EU industrial landscape. It showcased the economic renaissance of the textile and clothing industry, and its visions for the future, among numerous participants in Brussels.
The discussion was divided in two panels, focusing on investment trends in recent years and visions for the industry in the future, respectively. CEOs and representatives from seven European companies presented both their success stories and their first-hand experience in facing the challenges of the sector. The presentations and debate offered the audience a point of view about the actions that can be taken at European, national and regional level to ensure the right conditions for entrepreneurs in the textile and clothing sector to keep investing and producing in Europe.
Imports of textile products by the European Union in 2017 increased three per cent compared to the previous year. Textile products include: yarn, fiber, fabric, and home textiles. The most important textile supplier to the European Union was China followed by Turkey. The third largest textile supplier to the EU is India followed by South Korea. These four together have a 61.3 per cent share of EU textile imports.
China’s clothing exports to the European Union ranked first, at about 34 per cent. The textile imports from Turkey last year increased by 0.7 per cent compared to the previous year. The share of EU clothing imports made in 10 countries is 89 per cent. There are three countries exporting over €10 billion worth of products to the EU. These are: China, Bangladesh, and Turkey. The share of these three countries in total clothing exports to the EU is 62.6 per cent.
Imports of apparel and textile products to the European Union member countries, with a population exceeding 510 million, reached €110.9 billion in 2017. Of these, €92.6 billion were apparel products and €18.3 billion were textile products.
The first Bangladeshi manufacturer to join the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), Denim Expert will now adopt the Higg Index to chart its CSR and sustainability progress. The company will use the group’s sustainability measurement tools to drive change throughout its supply chain. It will contribute both data and resources to support the Higg Index, which measures sustainability performance and drives supply chain transparency and decision-making to improve efficiency and sustainability impact.
Having made ethical trading a key of its marketing message, the decision to join the SAC will further enhance the reputation of Denim Expert and potentially increase its international customer base. The company sees the SAC as the organisation capable of delivering this single overarching standard for the global apparel sector. The firm currently exports to the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey.
Demand for cotton is on track to outpace supply for the 2018-19 season. The 2017-18 season was the third consecutive for growth in world cotton demand, with production at an estimated 26.6 tons and world mill use projected at 25.5 million tons.
For the current season, decreasing stocks in China are being offset elsewhere. China’s cotton stocks are projected down to nine million tons, while cotton production outside of China is projected up to 10.3 million tons – marking the fourth consecutive season-to-season increase.
World cotton consumption is projected to increase to 26.7 million tons in 2018-19, while world cotton production is estimated at 25.7 million tons. Production in China is projected to decrease to 5.6 million tons in 2018-19 based on reduced planting area, while consumption is forecast to increase to 8.4 million tons.
Reduced yields in 2017-18 in India are contributing to lowered planted area for 2018-19, with exports projected at 8,40,000 tons, representing a 24 per cent decrease from the previous season. Production in Brazil for the 2017-18 season is estimated to be 1.9 million tons, a 26 per cent increase from 2016-17.
Production for the West Africa region in 2017-18 is projected at 1.2 million tons, representing a 13 per cent growth from the previous season.
While Yarn Expo has long been the leading choice for fabrics manufacturers for sourcing, in recent editions it has attracted more brand buyers as well. As the fashion industry has evolved in recent years, so too has Yarn Expo’s position and importance in the market. Fashion brands are more experienced nowadays in terms of yarn and fiber selection, and are having more impact on the look and function of the fabrics, which is flowing through to the final outcome of the garment. The need for brands to stay ahead of the latest fashion trends and textile innovations in such a competitive environment makes it vital they can source at a comprehensive event with innovative and quality suppliers, which has propelled Yarn Expo to become one of the most influential fairs on the textile calendar.
Another trend noticed at Yarn Expo is the strong demand for emerging products such as fancy and specialty yarns and synthetic fibers. Last year’s autumn edition saw 55 per cent more buyers sourcing fancy yarns compared to 2016, 40 per cent more for specialty yarns and over 30 per cent for synthetic fibers.
This growth is also reflected in the number of trade buyers choosing Yarn Expo as their sourcing platform in recent years: from 7,375 in the 2015 autumn edition to 17,185 from 84 countries and regions last year.
Twice a year, Première Vision, the international leader of professional shows for fashion materials and services, organises an exclusive new event dedicated to the first launch of collections. Initiated in July 2016, Blossom Première Vision is targeted towards creative, luxury and high-end fashion brands.
The 5th edition, Blossom Première Vision for Autumn Winter 2019-’20 pre-collections will be held on July 4 and 5, at the Carreau du Temple in Paris. It will feature over 105 exhibitors. These will include about 63 weavers such as lace-makers, embroiderers, specialists in ultra-fantasy, jacket and coat weights, shirts and tailoring; knitwear specialists, experts in creative and fashionable technical fabrics, silk makers, sophisticated print technicians and embellishment specialists.
The event will also feature around five accessories manufacturers and component suppliers for clothing, jewellery, and leather goods; specialists in textile accessories or metallic elements buttons, zips and labels. About 20 tanners for the fashion and leather goods markets: calfskin, lambskin, kid leather, exotic leathers, etc will also be present.
API and ICM have announced joint development in innovative and sustainable technical fabrics. The joint development facilitates the design, manufacture and marketing of high-performance and environmentally sustainable textile solutions for the fashion and footwear industries.
Italian company API, specializes in the production of thermoplastic elastomeric compounds and bioplastics. ICM is a key player in footwear and leather goods industry. It produces solvent borne and water borne adhesives, toe puffs, counters and interlinings for leather goods. Since 2015 the company has focused on developing films and TPU plates.
The development’s textile products will be produced in a solvent-free and plasticiser-free manufacturing process. Joining forces with ICM enables API to accelerate technical innovation, time to market and reduce its product’s environmental footprint. For ICM the partnership enables it to pair decades of technical knowledge in the plastics, leather goods and footwear industry.
ICM and API will provide the first glimpse of their new textile solutions at the 2018 Pitti Immagine Uomo international fashion fair in Italy, June 12 to 15. A selection of VIP press members and buyers at the trade fair will receive an exclusive shopping bag made of the partnership’s new fabrics. The bag’s design was inspired by this year’s event theme – P.O.P. Pitti Optical Power, a visual and virtual celebration, presenting a pop vision and full color graphic world.
Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has urged sportswear giants Adidas and Nike -- two main sponsors of the upcoming World Cup -- to ensure workers in their Asian supplier factories are paid a fair wage as their share of the production cost dwindles. The share of production costs of Adidas and Nike shoes that end up in workers’ pockets has fallen by 30 per cent since the 1990s.
Adidas and Nike, which are sponsoring 22 of 32 teams at FIFA football tournament in Russia that kicks off this week, have moved most of their sourcing to Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam, where wages are lower and labour abuses rife. In the three nations, garment workers’ average salaries are 45 to 65 per cent below the so-called “living wage” that would allow them to cover their families’ basic needs.
Much of Adidas’ and Nike’s sportswear is made in Indonesia, where 80 per cent of workers in the garment sector are women and some make as little as €86 ($102) a month while others do not earn the legal minimum wage, according to the CCC’s report.
"With the Trump administration imposing tariffs on a host of foreign-made goods, US trade scenario is becoming challenging day by day. Earlier it was China, and now it’s Canada’s turn to replicate it as the Trump government has imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deemed the tariffs an affront to the long-standing security partnership between Canada and the United States, while French President Emmanuel Macron was warned that Trump’s action was illegal and creating economic nationalism."
With the Trump administration imposing tariffs on a host of foreign-made goods, US trade scenario is becoming challenging day by day. Earlier it was China, and now it’s Canada’s turn to replicate it as the Trump government has imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deemed the tariffs an affront to the long-standing security partnership between Canada and the United States, while French President Emmanuel Macron was warned that Trump’s action was illegal and creating economic nationalism.
Shaking up global trade dynamics
Going by the prevailing situation, Trump has stirred the entire trade dynamics in the country and that too in a
negative way. Stats reveal, close to $3 trillion foreign goods & services Americans buy every year. The EU, Canada, and Mexico have all retaliated against Trump’s metal tariffs by slapping duties on the US products ranging from cheese to motorcycles. A trade collapse between the two biggest economies – the US and China – in the world would completely disturb the global economy. Add to that, a tiff between close partners Germany, France, and Canada would cause more danger than good to the US economy.
By doing this, Trump administration claims they want to make trade fair and stop the rest of the world from taking advantage of the US and hurting American industry. As a matter of fact, some countries have been less open to foreign investment than the US and at times imposed higher tariffs or other barriers on American imports than the US does on its products. China has been an especially poor trading partner—pilfering US technology, blocking market access for US companies, and heavily subsidising competing industries. Because of this, cheaper imports have forced thousands of US factories to close over the past 20 years.
As far as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation goes, one of the main sticking points is over a proposal to factor labour cost differentials into trade in automobiles. Adopting it would force Mexico to hike wages in its auto manufacturing sector by as much as five times or suffer extra duties on its car exports—effectively depriving the country of its comparative advantage. The idea is to push factories out of Mexico and into the US. In such a scenario, Trump may now favour negotiating bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico.
Experts say, in all of these, Trump seems to be arm-twisting trading partners for concessions to aid and protect a small number of industries—steel, automobiles, agriculture, and energy. Trump wants to hike tariffs on imported cars in the name of ‘national security’, a transparent attempt to force automakers to manufacture more cars inside the US. Analysts believe that his trade policies aren’t about ‘fair’ trade, rather about solidifying his political base and rewarding his supporters. Jörg Wuttke, a former president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, stated that Trump is badgering the Chinese state to intervene to redirect customer-determined flows of trade toward the US and away from other countries—including close allies.
In doing so, the US is becoming isolated from its own partner countries. At a recent meeting of G-7 finance ministers, the other six ganged up on Mnuchin over Trump’s tariffs and demanded collective cooperation on resolving trade issues. It was the US against everyone else, said Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso. Trump had a chance to team up with allies in Europe and Asia to pressure China to change its trade practices. Without the US support, the entire global order, which has produced so much growth and wealth over the past 70 years, could be quite dramatic, making way for dominant China and a diminished US.
