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Woolmark has partnered with Tommy Hilfiger for a range of suits called Thflex. These are lightweight, high-performance, Woolmark-certified suits that are perfectly tailored. They are designed to provide a sophisticated look with a relaxed ease and comfort.
The Thflex collection is wrinkle-free and naturally elastic and highly breathable, making it perfect for those on the go, and celebrates Tommy Hilfiger's long history of weaving athletic influences into their designs.
The performance suit is crafted from 97 per cent stretch wool for ultimate liberation of fit. It is unconstructed and unlined, with mesh detailing and pants with a jogger-inspired elastic waistband. The ultra-light suit is a 65 per cent wool-cotton blend. The fully-lined suit jacket weighs less than a shirt. It has micro-geo jacquard lining, with grosgrain signature stripe tape details. The travel suit is 100 per cent wool with natural stretch finishing in 3D knit-style texture. It is fully lined and wrinkle free, with lightweight construction.
Woolmark has an extensive network of relationships spanning the international textile and fashion industries and highlights Australian wool’s position as the ultimate natural fiber and premier ingredient in luxury apparel.
Tommy Hilfiger offers men’s clothing and sportswear, women's apparel and sportswear, kids’ wear, denim, underwear, including robes, sleepwear and lounge wear, footwear and accessories.
Textiles and clothing account for roughly ten per cent of South Africa’s manufacturing jobs. However, the industry has been struggling for many years. Competition from Asia and African countries has led to a decline in the industry for over two decades.
South Africa has traditionally been one of the largest clothing producers in Africa. In the past 15 years, it is estimated that 1, 50,000 jobs have been lost in the textile industry, and 2,000 to 3,000 workers lose their jobs every year. The garment industry in South Africa has better conditions than many other parts of the world, although wages can still be low. Workers here are predominantly women, often single parents working to provide their family’s only source of income, putting them in a vulnerable position.
The current economic climate is challenging for the clothing sector in South Africa. Prices are rising and consumer confidence is low, leading buyers to reduce non-essential spending. However, apparel is still in demand, and the market grew in 2016 despite these setbacks.
International brands are starting to make a splash in the market, giving consumers a wider array of choices. Manufacturers and retailers have also started creating more clothing aimed at plus-size women, as this is a significant and underserved market.
Mumbai is hosting Technotex from April 12 to 14, 2017. The event has attracted participants, visitors and other key decision makers from a cross section of technical textile industry with a view to provide more innovative solutions, identify new business opportunities and create an environment congenial for growth.
The aim of the event is to make India a manufacturing hub in technical textiles, project latest technological developments in technical textiles, and showcase latest products, machinery, equipments and developments in the industry for generating business and test marketing. It will also explore joint venture partnerships, project collaborations, transfer of technology, investments and R&D.
Taiwan is one of the participants. Taiwan has made great advances in technical, industrial, functional and eco-friendly textiles, including smart technology textiles. Taiwan’s textile companies have developed environment-friendly concepts and recycled polymer and polymer blends. From yarns for apparel, industrial and sport accessories, recycled yarns are growing in importance and are a core part of the Taiwan textile industry. The Indian technical textile industry witnessed significant 16 per cent growth from 2001-10, and is expected to grow at 20 per cent over the next five years.
Sri Lanka-based company MAS Holdings is buying Acme-McCrary, an American textile manufacturer. MAS Holdings is a global apparel technology and manufacturing company. Acme-McCrary produces leg wear and active wear for large US retailers.
MAS employs more than 85,000 associates worldwide, operating 48 state-of-the-art facilities in 15 countries, including design offices, apparel and component manufacturing plants and private industrial parks. It also provides technology solutions to the apparel and footwear industries. The company has been working to integrate technology into clothing, partnering with start-up companies in the Silicon Valley region of California and in New York in the fields of wearable technology and health and wellness.
By acquiring Acme-McCrary, MAS hopes to have a presence in the western hemisphere and strengthen its value propositions of speed and flexibility offered through on-shore and near-shore operations to customers. It also enables MAS to engage and strengthen its continued association with academia and research institutions in the US.
Acme-McCrary was the sole producer of the popular Spanx brand of hoses and is still engaged in product development for the brand. MAS has had a small account of Spanx for a few years now. MAS will expand Acme-McCrary’s manufacturing capacities and create at least 133 new jobs, while retaining the current jobs.
Lectra now offers a revolutionary technology to make athletic footwear. Vector Footwear is rooted in digitalization and automation. With this, it’s possible to make more pairs of shoes an hour and handle more types of fabrics. It provides major gains, including fabric optimization, maximum flexibility, optimized productivity and performance, as well as improved quality and operational excellence.
Connected to Lectra’s call centers, Vector Footwear’s 180 embedded sensors and counters allow predictive maintenance to avoid costly downtime. With up to 98 per cent uptime, Vector Footwear is one of the most reliable cutting solutions on the marketplace. Vector Footwear can replace between four and eight die presses depending on the model. Compared to traditional die press production, Lectra’s digital solution saves up to six per cent in fabrics by minimizing the gap between cut parts, combining several nestings together and cutting with accuracy. In addition, Lectra provides support to ensure change management during the manufacturing process.
Lectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials. It serves major world markets: fashion and apparel, automotive, and furniture as well as a broad array of other industries. Lectra’s solutions enable customers to automate and optimize product design, development, and manufacturing.
India’s first denim show Denimsandjeans will be held in Bangalore from September 25 to 26, 2017. The denim show will attract some of the most reputed denim mills, including top local and international garment manufacturers, together on one platform. The show brings together major stakeholders in the supply chain.
Key retailers, buying houses and factories from India as well as from Europe, Southeast Asia and the US are expected to visit the show. Denim has been one of the main textile segments in India in the past decade. The capacity of Indian mills to produce denim fabrics has risen over 300 per cent, making India stand second only to China globally. Over 500 million jeans are being sold in India, which is a little more than the 490 million jeans sold in the US. This gives India the distinction of being the second largest consumer of denim apparel after China.
India is set to get a big lead over the US and the EU in the coming years, as consumption increases in Tier II and III cities. Denimsanjdeans is a premium fashion website dedicated to the denim industry and has hosted seven denim shows in Bangladesh and two in Vietnam.
Amsterdam Denim Days will be held from April 17 to 23, 2017. World class denim stores will present tailored product launches, presentations, exhibitions and special offers geared for the denim obsessive. Denim brands, producers, consumers, insiders and designers will celebrate the indigo world. This year’s brand participation has grown further. Among the confirmed participants are: Tommy Hilfiger Denim, Calvin Klein Jeans, Nudie Jeans, Lee, Kings of Indigo and Wrangler.
Trade show Kingpins Amsterdam will gather top innovators and trendsetters from the denim industry, presenting novelties from about 90 global exhibitors from top-notch mills, wash houses, full package manufacturers and trim providers. Lined up are: denim trends for fall/winter 2018-2019, fits, fabrics and finishes. Invista will present results of its research conducted across five countries to learn consumers’ vision on jeans – what they love, what frustrates them and what they want to see in future.
A seminar will help brands find ways for achieving better fit products thanks to technology and data. Lenzing will launch its latest garment collection under the name of Sustainable Denim Wardrobe as an attempt to develop a denim lifestyle collection that enables ecologically conscious consumption.
Experts will speak about the opportunities, challenges and progress being made toward making the denim supply chain sustainable, from fiber through apparel.
American Apparel is now producing shirts for its wholesale division in Honduras and Nicaragua. American Apparel products will continue to be Made in the US, but it would also manufacture products elsewhere.
Gildan Activewear acquired American Apparel in February after the Los Angeles-based company filed for its second bankruptcy in November 2016. Gildan has manufacturing hubs in Central America and the Caribbean where costs are much lower than anywhere in the US.
American Apparel let go most of its staff in January and began closing stores around the world, including in France, the UK and Germany. The label is still operating 72 locations that are offering 80 per cent discounts, but most of the retail locations will close in April. The retailer has stores in UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Canada, Japan and Australia.
The teen retailer, founded in 1989, was known for its sexually charged advertising. The hoped-for turnaround of the clothing manufacturer and retail chain—which has long grappled with shrinking sales and an outsize store footprint—did not happen. At least eight US teen retailers have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years as the spending habits of young people shift and they visit malls less often.
Apparel brands like Uniqlo, New Yorker and Selfridges are on the lookout for an opportunity to enter Turkey. New Yorker, based in Germany, is a department store chain and is one of Europe’s largest fashion businesses. Uniqlo is a Japanese fashion retailer. Selfridges is a department store chain from the UK.
Galeries Lafayette, a luxury department store in France, which will open a store on the Asiatic side, is looking at possible locations to open two more stores on the European side of Istanbul. Turkey, with its growth rate, young population and increasing per capita income, has come under constant focus of foreign brands over the last decade.
More production from big brands is moving to Turkey. Hugo Boss, Burberry, Donna Karan and Paul Smith, as well as high-street names such as Next and Marks & Spencer, all do manufacturing in Turkey. Turkey’s reputation as the go-to place for designer brands to outsource their manufacturing will remain as long as the brands don’t move to cheaper production venues in Vietnam or Bangladesh.
Istanbul fashion week could become a major fashion week, alongside Paris and Milan, within five years, precisely because it could prove the ideal location for global fashion buyers.
The future of tech lies in textiles, or smart textiles. New technologies allow manufacturers to add extra features to their clothes, curtains and car upholstery. If there’s any secret of success, it lies in the ability to combine functionality with style and comfort.
The global smart textiles market is looking at a CAGR of 33.58 per cent between 2015 and 2020. Growth is mainly driven by the uptrend in wearable devices, increasing demand for sophisticated electronics, miniaturization of electronic components, and a rapid growth of wireless sensor networks.
Smart textiles have numerous applications, such as sports and fitness, defense and military. Currently, the military application of smart textiles is the largest market segment, with a share of around 25.8 per cent of the global smart textiles market. Sports and fitness is the second largest segment in global smart textiles – from smart shirts that record heart rates to intelligent bands that track physical activities. Smart textiles in the form of fitness monitoring devices have a lot of demand from health-conscious people. There is also an increasing demand for smart textiles in the architecture and automotive industries.
Traditional manufacturing industries are turning to highly automated production modes, like intelligent and efficient textile technology, to enhance efficiency.
