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Zimbabwe has re-established itself as a major player in cotton production, at one time Zimbabwe’s top agricultural export. During the 2016-17 cropping season, the government provided growers with free cotton inputs worth 36 million dollars to boost production of the crop.
Production of cotton had significantly declined in recent years owing to the high cost of production and unending fights over pricing between farmers and merchants.
Zimbabwe’s textile and clothing sub-sector consists of three components: production and ginning of cotton, transformation of lint into yarn and fabric, and the conversion of fabric and yarn into garments.
Zimbabwe is flooded with cheap textile and apparel imports from Asian countries, especially from China. These low-priced textile and apparel imports have had a negative impact on the manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe. Textile and apparel manufacturers want a ban on imports of cheap polyester knitted fabric and finished blankets.
Other problems plaguing the industry in Zimbabwe are poor performance, low productivity, out of date technology, and lack of investment and government support. An increasing number of textile mills in the country is closing down.
The apparel sector in Zimbabwe currently operates at less than 30 per cent of its capacity. The industry that once used to employ over 40,000 people now employs only 8000 workers.
Being an American manufacturer of jeans and other clothing items, Wrangler owned by the VF is honoring its 70th anniversary this year, and among the celebrations planned is the launch of the Peter Max capsule collection, one of the initiatives aimed to update the label's look. Sean Gormley, creative director explains that capsule collection, entirely mixed, is here to surprise everyone and showcase what we can do in terms of style.
Wrangler is carrying its style through Peter Max, American artist and pop-art figure. The brand is recognized for its 5 pocket jeans was a fashion principal, an image of the Woodstock Summer of Love which marked the end of the previous decade. For Spring-Summer 2017, the capsule comprises 15 garments for men and 15 for women. Not just limited to jeans, the collection includes shorts, T-shirts, sweaters, shirts and blouses with cargo pockets. Manufactured in Italy and Turkey this uber-colourful line will also be availableuntil Spring/Summer 2018
The line which was launched at Parisian boutique Colette has been dedicated a window display to the collection until June 15. The label is also set to make the most of the festival season to increase visibility, participating at a handful of well-known festivals including Glastonbury, one of England's most famous and which will see 135,000 attendees at the end of June this year.
Talking about the brand the Peter Max capsule is a very positive and optimistic. For us, the line is an opportunity to speak to young people, to better target them, much like our new campaign that was launched in April, explains Gormley, He also adds that the company wishes to get back the provocative, sexy image back which was one of the brands that set the pace in the 70s both for men and women.
The label's main aim has also undergone several fundamental changes in order to attract a wider client base: On this Gormley added his thought saying that the company is keen on showing the lifestyle identity denim. They are also looking to open a mono brand store in Paris to make the brand more visible.
A leading U.S. children's apparel manufacturer Carter's plans to open at least 40 new outlets this year in China, with a target of opening 200 stores by 2022 with at least 40 new outlets this year.
Carter's chairman and CEO Michael Casey stated that, the store will open 10 to 15 stores in major cities, including Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu. The company has collaborated with listed retailer Pou Sheng International (Holdings), which manages more than 8,000 stores for international brands including Nike and Sketchers.
Describing China as the "largest and most important" international market, Casey says that they will target mass consumers in the country with affordable prices. He added that Carter's, which has been manufacturing children's apparel for 152 years, is "excited" about the growth opportunities that China has to offer. Half of the demand for Carter's e-commerce website, launched seven years ago, was from international customers, with Chinese consumers topping the rank.
The country's consumption of children's products is massive at about $12 billion and is expected to double to $25 billion by 2025 with the relaxation of the one-child policy. The company currently has 12 stores and an online shop on Alibaba's platform, Tmall. Half of the online demand for Carter's products was from international customers, with the most coming from China. The company has launched Weibo and WeChat social media accounts to interact with Chinese mothers about their products.
Though, the company is going to be considerate regarding how to grow, by continuously studying the market and understanding consumer's preferences. Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, says thatThe country's consumption of children's products is massive at about $12 billion and is expected to double to $25 billion by 2025 with the relaxation of the one-child policy.
Cost controls have helped H&M limit a drop in quarterly pretax profit but the fashion chain is increasing investments as it tries to keep pace with its rivals. H&M is investing significantly in the supply chain, such as in new logistics solutions with greater levels of automation, but also in optimising its lead times. H&M has been investing heavily in IT investments to integrate its stores and e-commerce and make its supply chain faster and more flexible.
H&M is the world’s second-biggest fashion company. After years of hectic expansion across the world, the Swedish company’s profitability has faltered. Conditions remain very tough in key European markets and in the United States, with shopping behavior and expectations changing rapidly.
Fast fashion rivals are turning over more new styles each year and helped by having production closer to customers so they can quickly boost supplies of fast-selling items.
The retailer is also branching out into new concepts to reach a broader customer base and reduce exposure to the increasingly crowded budget segment. It announced a new chain of stores, Arket, with a slightly higher price range than its core budget H&M brand.
Large markdowns in stores last year hit sales and highlighted shortcomings in design and supply planning.
Back in 2014, Forever 21 introduced a new retail-only brand called F 21 Red, which was created to stock exclusively pieces in the entry-level category price points of its inventory. This offshoot further lowered the range of an already notoriously cheap fast-fashion company even more.
Almost three years into the venture, Forever 21 is expanding the concept. Forty new F 21 Red stores are expected to open in the US in 2017 — a big jump from the eight outposts already in operation. This expansion will allow the brand to bring a wide variety of product at competitive prices to new regional areas for its increasing customer base.
The first three new F 21 Red stores are opening in San Antonio, Chicago, and New York City.
Even at its outset, F 21 Red drew concerns about the human cost of its even-cheaper merchandise. There's the sourcing and preparation of the materials, the dyeing and manufacturing of the fabrics, the actual putting-together of the garment, and, finally, the shipment from factory to store floor.
The news of F 21 Red’s expansion could have deeper implications for consumers and what they're taught to expect from retailers. A generation is being sold on the concept that low-quality products are desirable. Being on an endless rat race of fashion instead of style isn’t doing anything for shoppers’ confidence, and it’s having an enormous impact on the planet and the people making those clothes.
"The International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) in Hyderabad has recently developed and commercialised nanomaterials that give fabrics special properties. Two of its most popular innovations are nano-silver suspension and nano-titanium dioxide material. The nano-silver suspension, called N9, is being widely used by the textile industry to produce antibacterial fabrics for hospitals, innerwear, sportswear, socks, baby care products and other such use."
The International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) in Hyderabad has recently developed and commercialised nanomaterials that give fabrics special properties. Two of its most popular innovations are nano-silver suspension and nano-titanium dioxide material. The nano-silver suspension, called N9, is being widely used by the textile industry to produce antibacterial fabrics for hospitals, innerwear, sportswear, socks, baby care products and other such use. The nano-titanium dioxide material — also called nano-titania — has high photocatalytic activity and is used to impart self-cleaning property to the textile and to make them ultraviolet proof.
Innovative technology as sunscreen The technology of two nanomaterials has been transferred to Bangalore- based Resil Chemicals for commercialisation. The company has launched garments treated with the nano-silver suspension under the brand name ‘N9 Pure Silver’ and those treated with nano-titania material under the tag names of ‘Sun Wash’ and ‘Wearable Sun Screen’. Several leading denim brands including Splash, Flying Machine and Colour Plus have adapted this technology.
ARCI has taken a major task to improve the efficiency and performance of Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) technology for electric vehicles. It is trying to figure out whether it can use its experience and expertise in the areas of nano-material and carbon coating on electrode to achieve this. In addition, it is engaged in looking at the possibility of developing a new range of batteries that performed better than Lithium Ion for electrical vehicles.
ARCI Director G Padmanabham says, there is a need for alternate cheaper battery materials. As a major research centre in the field of material sciences, ARCI specialises in areas such as solar and automotive energy materials, engineering coatings, ceramic processing, fuel cell technology, and laser processing of materials.
After several fits and starts, Uniqlo has once again tweaked its U.S. strategy as it struggles to become a mainstay in the American shopping scene. The brand is shuttering stores in suburban U.S. malls, in cities like Boston and Washington, D.C.
Chief Marketing Officer Masahiko Nakasuji stated in CNBC that probably the best way to let the people understand what the company is sellingand that the people know about our product. The label's first attempt at cracking the U.S. market came more than a decade ago, when it opened stores at three New Jersey malls.
Then, after expanding to 20 locations over a 10-year period, the company picked up its expansion pace in 2014. Still, its strategy fell short, leading to the closure of several mall-based stores in towns like Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and Danbury, Connecticut.
Nakasuji further stated that the company has a very low presence and the brand has a much bigger opportunity in the U.S. Indeed, while it is still relatively unknown by American shoppers, Uniqlo is owned by the world's third largest specialty apparel retailer:
Uniqlo first time held an event that was showcased its upcoming fall line at a presentation in downtown Manhattan Wednesday. Jan Kniffen, CEO of the J Rogers Kniffen research and consulting firm and a CNBC contributor mentioned that the company doesn't do a great job communicating the quality and functionality of its products to the American consumer.
Uniqlo's products are low quality and disposable due to the fast-fashion companies like H&M or Forever 21. Meanwhile, the brand has an "extremely limited" number of styles that makes its assortment look repetitive, Kniffen stated. The company will better be able to respond to consumer demand if CEO Tadashi Yanai wishes to trim that window to two weeks
Uniqlo's parent company Fast Retailing does not explicitly break down the brand's U.S. performance. However, it said in its latest quarterly earnings report that revenue across all of Uniqlo's international divisions increased when excluding the impact of currency. According to Nakasuji the company is making a lot of progress.
The creation of gender-neutral clothing is not a new device by any standards. Recently, Denim United, H&M has announced its upcoming unisex denim line, these brands are one of the first major commercial clothing companies to present gender neutrality clothing on a large scale. It will feature jackets, overalls, shorts, and t-shirts. In a press release, H&M spokesperson Marybeth Schmitt stated that it is very natural for the company to launch a unisex collection as fashion is constantly evolving and intersecting.
This boldness has, in the recent past, though temporarily popular on high-end runways unisex clothing in North America largely faded awayin the late 1960s. The designation of clothing into gendered categories has been affecting theobservations and projects meaning onto otherwise neutral garments. Increasing trans-visibility, awareness of non-binary gender identities, and changing cultural and industry attitudes towards gender equality, stereotypes and roles have made clothing manufacturers and retailers aware of the demand for and potential that unisex clothing can have, as well as what consumers want out of gender-neutral lines. In the US, more than 50 per cent of Millennial believe that gender and gender identity falls on a spectrum and shouldn’t be limited to the categories of male and female. This is aunadulterated departure from attitudes and presents new opportunities and consumer groups for businesses to cater to.
This decision has put H&M in line with retailers like Zara and Gap Zara’s line, under the name Ungender, featured gender-fluid model Ruby Rose as the spokesperson. Gap offers a line of unisex baby clothes and recently announced its intention to create more unisex clothing pieces for children, something that the global apparel market tends to lack.
Talking about the Unisex fashion it has helped to do away dissimilarity in terms of clothing costs between genders. According to a 2015 study conducted by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, adult women pay roughly 8 per cent more for clothing than men. The idea of gender neutrality in clothing products will surely benefit the retailers which will further save money on branding, eliminating labelling, signs, and gender-specific marketing initiatives.
Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to the United States fell by six per cent in the first three months of the current calendar year.
Bangladesh now faces an export duty of 15.62 per cent under America's most favored nations' category.
Garment items account for 95 per cent of the goods exported from Bangladesh to the US market.
US imports of clothing from the rest of the world including China, India, Indonesia, Honduras and Cambodia also declined by around two per cent. There is a change in the attitude of US consumers, who now prefer spending more on electronic gadgets compared to clothes. The US election has also impacted retail sales negatively. Global apparel exports to the US declined 6.44 per cent year-on-year in 2016.
Among the top ten exporters of clothing to the US, export from Vietnam registered a robust 7.21 per cent growth. Export from Mexico, Nicaragua and El Salvador registered moderate growth.
China is the largest source of US apparel imports. Vietnam is in the second place followed by Bangladesh.
All nine out of ten top apparel exporting nations of the world experienced negative growth in shipment to the US in 2016. Only Vietnam's apparel exports increased 0.30 per cent year-on-year in 2016.
It was recently announced by Tarek Kabil, the Minister of Industry and Trade that Egyptian exports have increased by 14 per cent during first 4 months of 2017.
According to the ministry as compared to 2016, the value of Egyptian exports reached $7.438bn in 2017. On the other hand imports have also decreased by 30 per cent to $15.931bn, compared to $22.742bn in 2016, thus reducing the discrepancy of the trade balance from $16.196bn to $8.493bn.
Minister Tarek Kabil gave the reason on both exports and imports stating that this happened due to the implementation of many reforms to achieve the goals of improvements in exports, as well as decreasing the imports in order to maintain foreign currency reserves, and to develop local industries, which led to more job opportunities.
He further explained that a lot of sectors have observed hikes in exports, such as agricultural products by 4.1 per cent, construction materials by 47 per cent, textiles by 4.6 per cent, food products by 3 per cent, and fertilizers by 34 per cent. The major markets where Egyptian exports targeted in the first four months of 2017 were the EU, the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon. The statement also read the Egyptian exports to the US recorded $381m compared to $370m, while imports decreased by 27 per cent and exports to Turkey increased by 54 per cent to $608m, while imports decreased by 43 per cent to $624m.
Egyptian exports for Italy recorded an increase rate of 23 per cent with $505m in 2017, compared to $438.9m in 2016, while Italian imports recorded $978m compared to $1.260bn in the same period, decreasing by 22 per cent.
