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A denim exposition is being held in Bangladesh from today March 1 to 2, 2017. It’s aimed to attract global buyers against the backdrop of the country’s capacity to supply quality products at lower costs. About 28 companies from countries, including Bangladesh, Turkey, India, China, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Pakistan and Hong Kong, are taking part to showcase their denim pants, fabrics and latest accessories.
The theme Denim Mashup event will focus on latest trends in denim where embellishments, embroideries, sequins, patches, paints etc. are used in different combinations to produce visually exaggerated hi-fashion denims. This theme is being taken up by global brands like Gucci, D&G, Tommy Hilfiger, Wrangler and many other companies.
Exclusive to authorized trade visitors, the expo acts as a hub for players on the international denim scene to mingle with colleagues, make new contacts and broker deals. A denim quiz will be held for students of fashion universities of Bangladesh. The competition will be transmitted globally. The idea is to encourage students to research more on denim subjects and get a deeper knowledge that will help them in their careers as well.
Bangladesh is a fast growing denim destination globally for sourcing fabrics and has been growing exponentially and rising up the value chain.
VF Corporation has formulated a policy on sustainable forest materials and products. The policy aims to avoid issues associated with deforestation and forest degradation, including the loss of ancient and endangered forests, loss of biodiversity and habitat, use of forced labor in making forestry products and loss of indigenous peoples and local community rights.
It emphasizes the use of products made with recycled fiber whenever possible and promotes the use of Forest Stewardship Council -certified paper and fiber, while striving to elevate all third party forestry management certification systems. It strengthens VF’s broader efforts to use responsibly sourced materials throughout its global operations and supply chain.
From hang tags, to packaging to fabrics, some of America’s favorite global brands are protecting the world’s forests and the species that call them home. VF has a goal to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in the production of forest derived fabrics such as rayon and viscose from the apparel and fashion industries by the end of 2017.
VF Corporation has a portfolio of iconic lifestyle brands including Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Wrangler and Lee. Founded in 1899, VF is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies.
On a 12-month smoothed basis, retail sales in the US rose by 6.2 per cent. This was the biggest increase in the measure in almost three years. Clothing and accessories specialty stores managed to turn in a good month, with sales up 2.5 per cent year-over-year or more than three per cent on a 12-month smoothed basis. However, department, chain and discount stores saw their sales tumble again, by 7.4 per cent.
The combined department, chain and specialty channels, the apparel-oriented stores, dropped 1.4 per cent. Apparel retail stores in the US had the best January sales in almost two years. Sales at non-store retail, which includes pure-play e-commerce, increased by almost 12 per cent in January, driven by continued gains by Amazon.
The total retail inventory-to-sales ratio fell to its lowest point in almost a year and a half, but rose slightly for department, chain, discount and apparel stores in December, due to sluggish holiday sales that left these stores with excess merchandise. January retail sales, which include gasoline, groceries and automobiles, rose 5.6 per cent over December 2015.
"Bangladesh’s competitiveness in global woven garment exports is under threat owing to increased dependence on fabrics import and a lack of proper policy on energy supply. As per Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), export earnings from woven garments saw a 2.35 per cent decline in the last fiscal to $14.39 billion. Export earnings from woven garment products recorded a 2.35 per cent decline in the last fiscal year to $14.39 billion. On the other hand, it posted 4 per cent growth in the first half of the current fiscal to $7.17 billion."
Bangladesh’s competitiveness in global woven garment exports is under threat owing to increased dependence on fabrics import and a lack of proper policy on energy supply. As per Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), export earnings from woven garments saw a 2.35 per cent decline in the last fiscal to $14.39 billion. Export earnings from woven garment products recorded a 2.35 per cent decline in the last fiscal year to $14.39 billion. On the other hand, it posted 4 per cent growth in the first half of the current fiscal to $7.17 billion. During the same period, knitwear products earning increased by 11.47 per cent to $7.6 billion. Longer lead time, poor backward linkage, absence of value addition & modern technology and lack of proper policy support on gas and electricity connection are some of the concerns plaguing the industry.
The woven sector has also witnessed negative growth in major export destinations including Germany and the US, two of the largest export destinations. In order to revive the industry, investments in backward linkage would greatly reduce import dependence and technology upgradation for value addition. Faruque Hassan, Senior-VP, BGMEA says, Bangladesh is doing better in knit products exports. This is because of a strong backward linkage industry. However, woven products manufacturers are highly dependent on import for fabrics, which costs more. As a result, export earnings from woven goods have seen slower growth and it is losing its strength in the global market. On the other hand, value addition of woven products is less than the knit products which led to lower prices. The country doesn’t have manmade fibre, polyester and petrochemical strength. They can be competitive if they can meet the demand from the local sources. Stakeholders are investing to upgrade machinery to go value addition. This will boost the buyers’ confidence and they will place orders for higher end woven products in Bangladesh.
The bug bears
Shorter lead time is key to remaining competitive in the global market. And to achieve this, Bangladesh has to improve its backward linkage industry to meet the demands locally. It takes about 35 days to ship goods to the US from Bangladesh. But shipping from China takes 20 days and it is 15 days for Turkey, points out Abdus Salam Murshedy, President, Exporters Association of Bangladesh. As a result, Bangladesh cannot take urgent orders from buyers due to longer lead time.
While getting a gas connection is a big challenge, business will not be viable if manufacturers have to run a factory with diesel instead of gas. Murshedy added that only using gas can make the production less expensive, which will help the industry be competitive. The other challenges include the size of investment and costs of land. Setting up woven fabric factories cost two to three times more than establishing a knit composite factory. It also needs more land.
Way forward
There lies a huge demand-supply gap as Bangladesh can only meet 30-35 per cent of local demand of woven fabrics. Murshedy suggests the industry first needs to meet demands locally to reduce lead time as it takes so many days to import fabrics. For this, new investment is a must to increase production capacity in line with the demands. Then, the government should ensure infrastructure to ship finished goods within a possible shorter time as it is the key to success to grab more orders and remain competitive in the global market. Md Mostafiz Uddin, MD, Denim Expert, said since fashion trends are changing every day and the consumers want latest fashion products, clothing retailers are looking for more technical fabrics instead of basic ones. To cope with latest demand, the industry should focus on multifunctional fabrics to diversify products. Deploying technology and increasing R&D efforts would go a long way in gaining growth.
Anglo-Irish chain owned by Associated British Foods, Primark’s sales are up 11 per cent compared to last year on a currency-neutral basis and 21 per cent ahead on a reported basis. Much of the rise was due to new selling space as Primark continued to open new stores in its domestic markets and abroad. The company’s average retail selling space was up about 12 per cent in the first half.
UK comparable sales rose two per cent and the market share increased. This is a relatively strong result given the challenging market conditions in Britain over the past six months. Looking beyond the UK, overall comparable sales for Primark were flat, dragged down by the Netherlands where a rapid rise in selling space appears to have led to some cannibalisation of sales from existing stores. With the Netherlands taken out, group comparative sales rose one per cent.
Primark’s six-store business in the US is continuing to develop. Markdowns were in line with the first half last year. Yet it expects operating profit margin in the first half to decline. Primark will continue to drive sales growth through new stores. It added 16 new stores in the period, including several UK locations plus Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the US.
SPG Prints, based in Holland, caters to the textile, label and industrial printing markets with a portfolio including screens, lacquers, inks, digital engravers, and a broad range of rotary screen and digital printing systems.
Its Javelin digital printer meets the demand for shorter runs, rapid turnarounds and on-demand sample production.
The printer uses Archer technology which enables the firing of variable drops to the substrate. The four mm distance from print head to substrate eliminates head damage and is ideal for printing knitted fabrics.
The precision of the ink delivery system provides repeatable and consistent quality that meets the demand for frequently changing designs with lead times often measured in weeks. The six colour system can reliably and repeatedly reproduce a wider gamut than any currently available eight-colour system and achieve fine tonal gradations, thanks to the variable dot sizes.
This digital textile printer is known for outstanding quality and productivity. It is the fastest printer ever seen to achieve a resolution of 1200 x 1200dpi, and it produces challenging designs such as geometrics and blotches at relatively high speeds.
SPG Prints develops and manufactures its own inks, including those especially for the Javelin. The two-and-a-half-year warranty on the print heads reduces risk and accelerates the return on investment.
BSTIM (Best Solutions in Textile Manufacturing) was held in Spain, February 24 to 25, 2017. This edition saw 1,400 visitors from around the world, from Russia, England, Sweden, Norway, Holland and Italy. Purchasing managers, designers and distributors from European fashion brands came to Spain to find local suppliers. The show hosted sixty exhibitors, including knitwear manufacturers and garment producers, who made a number of contacts and potential future business connections.
BSTIM fair is the only exhibition for textile production in Spain. It aims to show the country’s textile production potential and encourage big brands to manufacture in Spain instead of in Asia. This year BSTIM focused on encouraging sustainable fashion, textile companies that take into consideration the social and environmental impacts of their manufacturing processes.
The fair has introduced a system of working called Fresh Fashion that will enable producers to deliver orders quickly because the space will bring raw materials, producers and buyers together at the same moment.
BSTIM will now be held every two years. It’s felt that it’s not possible to generate interest every year and manufacturers may not have enough capacities or services to present to brands and distributors.
Pakistan wants to push up exports to $35 billion by 2018. The top five textile sectors were given a zero-rated sales tax regime. Sales tax and customs duty on imports of textile machinery and cotton have been abolished. A number of projects of power generation through hydel, coal, solar, wind, and other resources have been initiated.
About 10,000 MW electricity will be added to the system by 2018 and 30,000 MW within the next few years. A network of roads, highways and motorways is being laid to integrate different regions of the country. Engineers and managers at industrial units will be trained to adopt new technologies to manage complex production processes in developing products demanded internationally. Emphasis will be placed on skill development.
New export destinations including Mexico, Central Asia, Africa and Doha are being looked at. About 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports go to ten countries, namely, USA, China, UAE, Afghanistan, UK, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Italy and Spain. Right now Pakistan’s exports to South America, Africa, Central Asian Republics and Russia are less than ten per cent of the total exports of Pakistan. Pakistan will showcase the country’s exportable products in collaboration with the chambers of commerce in different countries. The country has given its exporters a Rs180 billion incentive package.
The cellulose fiber market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of nine per cent over the period 2016-24. Abundance of raw materials, environmental benefits of cellulose fibers, and cost effectiveness will boost global cellulose fiber market demand in clothing and apparels over other alternatives such as polyester and nylon. Major shift in fashion trends, a growing demand for improved textile quality, and elevated consumerism are pushing the cellulose fiber market.
Improvement in living standards of emerging nations such as China, India, Brazil is influencing manufacturers to widen the cellulose fiber industry base in these regions. Cellulose fiber is mainly extracted from rich plants such as cotton, bamboo, jute and hemp by dissolving pulp. Asia Pacific, led by India and China, is the production hub of these plants and this region will reinforce market demand.
China and India are predicted to have a defining impact on the cellulose fiber industry, driven by the large apparel and textile industry base across these regions. Cellulose fiber market applications include clothing, spun yarn, and fabrics. Spun yarn is a prominent application, having accounted for a revenue of two billion dollars in 2015, and is projected to show substantial growth owing to its growing demand in embroidery and weaving applications. Artificially extracted cellulose fibers are widely used in the apparel and textile industry.
"With over 14 textile parks, big-ticket projects of some textile majors, relaxed norms for backward regions and ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ initiative, Maharashtra is set to craft its textile dream into reality. With IT services companies moving away from the financial capital, Maharashtra government is on the look-out for new avenues of growth and has identified textile industry as a new ‘sunrise’ industry. Ichalkaranji, Solapur, Nagpur are the newly emerging big textile cities in Maharashtra."
With over 14 textile parks, big-ticket projects of some textile majors, relaxed norms for backward regions and ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ initiative, Maharashtra is set to craft its textile dream into reality. With IT services companies moving away from the financial capital, Maharashtra government is on the look-out for new avenues of growth and has identified textile industry as a new ‘sunrise’ industry. Ichalkaranji, Solapur, Nagpur are the newly emerging big textile cities in Maharashtra.
Ichalkaranji: 9,000 shuttleless weaving machines have been installed in here. In all, technology selected for shuttleless weaving machines running in and around Ichalkaranji is having 50 per cent, 45 per cent, 5 per cent contribution of rapier, airjet and projectile technology respectively. There are about 160 sizing units, consisting of 250 sizing machines, which include conventional to modern machines and 1.2 lakh powerlooms in this decentralised sector. At present spinning, weaving preparatory and weaving sectors are well grown in this region.
Vidarbha : Vidarbha is one of the largest cotton-growing regions of India and contributes for nearly one-thirds of the state’s cotton production. Vidarbha is expected to be a next emerging hub for textiles. Advantages of Vidarbha region are: central location and a strategic place on international aviation routes. A textile hub started at Amravati and the proposal is to similar textile hubs in eight more districts of cotton-growing areas like: Jalgaon, Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Buldhana, and Beed.
Nagpur: Owing to its strategic location, Nagpur is an upcoming textile hub in the state. Nagpur lies at the dead centre of the country with the zero-mile marker indicating the geographical centre of India.
Growing investments in textile sector
Just over a year back, textile major Raymond announced an ambitious Rs 1,500-crore greenfield project in the Vidarbha region. The cotton growing belt of Nagpur, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim and Wardha is getting a shot in the arm with the state government revealing its scheme to integrate six distressed districts of Vidarbha through 80 per cent cotton industry, as a part of Narendra Modi’s vision of transforming textile industry through the visionary ‘Farm-to-Fashion’ concept. Amravati district is in the process of transforming itself as the international textile hub of country. In Vidarbha and Marathwada alone, the state government plans to spend Rs 2,000 crores to develop the region.
Work is in progress on the pilot project under the ‘farm to fashion’ in Amravati, the second biggest city after Nagpur in Vidarbha region. At Nandgaon, 500 hectares of land has been approved for the textile hub which has received proposal from eight players. The main aim is to provide basic infrastructure to make industries more conducive, and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is playing facilitator for providing land for the textile sector in Amravati, spread across 500 hectares at Nandgaon. The companies include Shyam Indofab Ltd, MVHM Industries, Suryalaxmi Mills, and Siyaram Silk for textile and processing units at Nandgaon. The new textile hubs sanctioned in MIDC include Nandgaon (Amravati), Yavatmal,Chikali (Buldhana), Jamner (Jalgaon), Kannad (Aurangabad), Selu (Parbhani),Bhaler (Nandurbar), Malegaon (Nashik), Kunnor (Nanded) and Mazalgaon (Beed).
Maharashtra, so far has 1,108 units, investment of Rs 10,725.87 crores has been achieved and job to about 62,000 peoples has been provided. In order to create basic infrastructure, 14 textile parks under are being established. These parks will accommodate 1,280 units and provide jobs to 64,000 people. Maharashtra government has decided to set up Rs 300 crore garment park in Solapur to promote the city as a ‘major garment hub’.
