FW
The Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the first ever Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Meghalaya, near Ampati in South West Garo Hills. She was accompanied by the state’s chief minister Mukul Sangma in the presence of Union Minister of state for Home affairs Kiren Rijiju.
Dedicating the centre to the people of Ampati in particular and to the state as a whole, the minister said that the project was testimony to the true convergence of efforts of Central and State governments. She said that Centre will create employment opportunities for both men and women of the region, thereby empowering them economically.
Irani informed said her ministry is implementing projects worth Rs 70 crores in sericulture and weaving sectors for Meghalaya alone. The minister said that around Rs 32 crores has already been sanctioned for the state of Meghalaya, for promotion of handlooms. She appealed to the youngsters, particularly women, to leverage their handloom legacy and become enterprising entrepreneurs. As the region is well-known for regional dyes, the minister urged the weavers of the state to register with India Handloom Brand, which she said can directly connect the weavers with big multinational companies.
The sprawling Apparel and Garment Making Centre, covering an area of 45,000 sq. ft, has been set up at Hatisil near Ampati, at a cost of approximately Rs 14.26 crore under the North East Region Textiles Promotion Scheme (NERTPS) of the Ministry of Textiles. The centre has three units, two of them housing 105 sewing machines each and the third one having seventy machines.
GSP helped Pakistan’s exports to the European Union soar 37 per cent during the last three years. Export of machinery, chemicals and dyes from Europe to Pakistan rose 14 per cent. These products are required to meet the growing demand for Pakistani products, particularly textiles and garments, in the European markets.
In December 2013, the EU awarded GSP Plus status to Pakistan, giving zero tariffs to 20 per cent and preferential rates to 70 per cent of the country’s exports to the region. The status is valid till 2017. The GSP Plus status is expected to boost Pakistan’s exports to $2 billion in addition to creating jobs opportunities. The biggest beneficiary of the tax concessions is the textile and clothing industry, constituting over 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports. The country’s rivals Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also enjoying duty-free access to the 28-member EU bloc.
Annual bilateral trade between Pakistan and the EU is more than $7 billion. The balance of trade is nearly equal. Pakistan’s main exports to the EU consist of textile and leather products and medical equipment. Under GSP Plus, Pakistan has to comply with all the 27 United Nations conventions on human rights and labor and environmental laws.
In its zest to establish a textile park, the regional office of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC) has acquired 113 hectare land at Sayane near Malegaon. A proposal for infrastructural development has been sent to the head office for approval, it is learnt. Once the approval comes in, the MIDC will float tenders for developing infrastructure. The proposed park is expected to attract investment and provide job opportunities to the youths.
Briefing about the same, a senior official from the MIDC said the Corporation has already acquired 113 hectares at Sayane near Malegaon that will house only textile units. The proposal has been sent to our head office in Mumbai for approval. The Corporation is in the process of developing infrastructure. A proposal worth Rs 15 crore to develop infrastructure like roads, water supply, streetlights, among others is already in place.
Apart from this, the MIDC is also mulling building a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) project for the textile units. The CETP project is estimated to cost Rs 10 crore.
To spur growth of local fashion and tailoring industry, a traders’ lobby group in Kenya has urged the government to waive duty on all textile material imports. Kenya Traders and Importers Association chairman Benson Mutahi said local players in the sector were at a disadvantage because they buy textiles with a 16 per cent value-added tax as well as a 25 per cent import duty making up 41 per cent in taxes.
Mutahi said Chinese clothes dealers were selling readymade clothes from Chinese factories cheaply and directly to Kenyans, thereby short-changing the taxman. Chinese dealers buy clothes from their factories where they enjoy 40 per cent tax rebates but when Kenyans go to buy clothes in China, we are made to buy through agents at a higher cost including taxes, he observed. This has made it difficult for local tailors and dressmakers to compete effectively against cheap imports.
However, the call is unlikely to sit well with local textile manufacturers, spinners and cotton growers in a bid to revive the ailing industry. A recent move by Treasury secretary Henry Rotich to encourage textile factories in the export processing zones (EPZs) to use 20 per cent window to sell their products in Kenya has also hit local clothes-making business. EPZ factories enjoy the 41 per cent tax rebate and now the government has allowed them to sell 20 per cent of their products locally. But since the Association cannot access EPZ factories, it has left dressmakers and tailors at the mercy of importers, he said.
The Indian textile industry could generate 50 million jobs by 2025, a large majority of them for women. The domestic market could account for a 2.5 times jump and even foreign exchange earnings could go up to a similar size by 2025.
Challenges in meeting these targets include small scale, fragmented clusters, restrictive labor laws and unpredictable wage movements, high operating costs due to taxation and subsidy structures, market access barriers in key markets such as the EU and the US, poor infrastructure, logistics delays, and lack of product development and process improvement.
States could promote infrastructure with plug and play facilities. Different operating models can be built, such as the hub and spoke model, or notified apparel parks. The China model of VAT rebates can be adopted. The exempt-credit-offset method of carrying forward unadjusted rebates can encourage hybrid domestic-export models. Logistics support is essential, especially integration with Bangladesh through single-day transit. Shipping turnaround times must be improved and adequate hinterland connectivity built with key textile parks.
The free trade agreement with the EU would be of considerable benefit. An added provision could be to treat the poor states of India on a similar basis as least developed countries.
In conjunction with latest TENCEL fabrics and garments, Lenzing has created a technical brochure detailing the advantages when using latest laser laundry technologies. Lenzing is a worldwide leader in wood-based fibers.
Traditionally, fashion laundry has been a low-tech industry driven by manual labour and poor environmental standards. However, the apparel industry is starting to turn to technology not only to reduce its reliance on workers, but also to drive new product development and new environmental thinking. As Jeanologia developed their business to become a leading thinkers and supplier of sustainable laundry machines and techniques, new opportunities have arisen with TENCEL fabrics. Under the banner of ‘Light Sensitive’, Lenzing and Jeanologia have conducted a study to demonstrate the advantages of laser technology when using TENCEL fabrics.
Jeanologia is a Valencian based consultancy that works and collaborates with many textile and apparel companies. It focuses on industrial solutions in garment finishing, developing under sound principles of ecology, efficiency and ethics. The relationship between TENCEL & Jeanologia dates back to 1994 and between then and now both have participated in many different projects together. The relationship is such that they now are highly familiar with each-others know-how, such that working together has become almost second nature, claimed Michael Kininmonth, Project Manager from Lenzing.
Global denim community is doing its part in helping sustain a world where fabric can thrive, along with people wearing it. With this focus, five denim brands have taken up the task of making their companies and denim more sustainable in the course of the last few months, some achieving awards along the way. These companies are making efforts to make the world a little better and jeans a little greener. The five are:
Levi’s (Levi Strauss & Co.): CEO of Levi’s (Levi Strauss & Co.) Chip Bergh has announced expansion of parental leave for the employees of Levi’s thus stressing the importance of the company’s workers as well as requesting shoppers not bring fire arms into Levi’s stores. Not to mention the brand’s groundbreaking water-saving techniques.
Velour by Nostalgi: The Nordic brand received the Nordic Ecolabel License in early January, created jeans that met 99 per cent of the coveted label demands. The sustainable jeans, Svanen jeans that boasts of no dangerous chemicals, toxins, endocrine disruptors or heavy metals, and have the added bonus of ensuring better working environments for the company’s employees.
Wrangler: In December last, the brand announced the accomplishment of saving 3 billion liters of water since 2007. The move to cut-back on water usage within the denim industry proves difficult due to the wash aspect of denim manufacturing. Wrangler has the look and the water savings to prove their efforts.
PVH Corp: PVH Corp., parent company to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein pledged to the UN Global Compact and CEO Water Mandate in December, adding themselves to the list of one of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiatives.
VF Corp: They announced partnership with the Paradigm for Parity coalition in December and their efforts to achieve gender equality throughout the company by the year 2030. The company, with brands like Lee, Wrangler and Nautica under its name, seeks to eliminate bias in the workplace.
A new generation of Hybrid Warp Knit Garments for active wear will be presented in the upcoming ISPO MUNICH 2017 sports trade fair. The fair takes place next week in Munich, Germany from February 5 to 8. Joining forces to create an exclusive and unique range of activewear which brings together companies’ patented knitting technologies and ‘Made in Italy’ flair, are two of Italy’s best known and highly creative warp knitting companies namely Eurojersey and Cifra. With an exclusive mix of Eurojersey’s warp knitted Sensitive® Fabrics technology and Cifra’s warp knit seamless (WKS) technology, the Italian partners say their main objective will be to offer two knitting technologies to provide high performance, functional sport garments with body mapping construction.The resultant merging of the two technologies are hybrid products using the key synergies of two leading Italian companies Cifra and Eurojersey, with an inspiring tailored made collection where aesthetic beauty is strictly linked to function, claims Cifra CEO Cesare Citterio.
Cifra’s WKS, warp knit seamless brings body mapping, areas of ventilation, jacquard patterning and real seamless technology to the collection. With WKS technology, even sleeves and legs are knitted seamlessly into the garment at the knitting stage. The two technologies are connected using ultra sonic bonding to avoid any kind of rubbing or chaffing which can be caused by conventional seaming. Ultra-sonic bonding uses high-energy vibration at frequencies to produce a weld between two components which are held in close contact, in this case, two or more garment components.
Karl Mayer turns 80 this year. The company will organize various in-house shows for its business partners, giving them an insight into the future of textile development and production technology. It will show its next innovation steps – responding to the challenges of digitization and conservation of resources.
Karl Mayer, based in Germany, is a market leader in warp knitting, warp preparation and machinery for technical textiles. In various locations, the group will present its new textile developments covering trends like athleisure, and will show introduction of digitization into the textile industry value chain by expanding the application of its new automation platform Kamcos 2. Sustainability is another important topic for the future. The company has solutions with Low Energy Option for warp knitting machines and Prosize, a sizing system that will save up to 20 per cent resources in fresh water, size agent and waste water.
Latest digital innovations include the Karl Mayer Connect and Karl Mayer check parts apps and the spare parts webshop. They complement the 360 degree service provided by Karl Mayer and guarantee efficient communication with the company’s own technical support staff. They also ensure that the machines operate more economically. Karl Mayer also has some new developments in shoe fabric production and an innovative preparation machine for warp knitting.
The Asia Apparel Expo will take place in Berlin from February 14 to 16. Over 300 companies from Hong Kong, China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam are expected to take part in the show. The trade fair is a professional sourcing marketplace for European companies to meet apparel manufacturers and suppliers from these eight Asian countries. The fair is organised by Hong Kong based Kenfair Exhibition Limited and managed by Comasia Limited.
It is the largest trade show in Europe where clothing professionals can meet Asian factories that offer production of apparel products for men, women and children as well as fabrics and textiles and trimmings and accessories and that are ready to meet European customers’ demands for finished garments, contract manufacturing and private label development. Asia is the world’s number one destination for apparel manufacturing and Asia Apparel Expo connects world-class Asian clothing manufacturers and fabric suppliers, providing low cost, high quality and stable product supply, to European brands, said the organiser.
The sixth edition of the three-day expo is supported by Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh, China Council for the Promotional of International Trade (CCPIT) Shanghai Pudong Sub-Council, CCPIT Jiangsu, CCPIT Zhejiang and Bureau of Commerce of Qingdao of China, and The Indian Silk Export Promotion Council and Federation of Indian Export Organisations of India.
Asian countries have developed highly competent, competitive and skilled manufacturing bases with continuous improvements in quality, on-time delivery, customer service, ethical and environmentally-friendly employment practices and working conditions. Six Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India) account for 80 per cent of Asia’s apparel exports to Europe, Americas and Japan.
