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The Australian government, along with Cotton Australia and Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), has forged a partnership to support training of around 225,000 Pakistani cotton farmers commencing with the 2017 cotton-sowing season. The partnership has been established to support Pakistan’s ability to compete in premium international cotton markets.
The Australian High Commission’s a statement said this partnership will deliver practical tools and latest environmental and cutting-edge management practices aligned with internationally recognised quality assurance for sustainable cotton production. Farmers will be trained in techniques for growing cotton with focus on improved environmental, social and economic benefits in line with the Better Cotton Standard System. Cotton is an important export earner for Pakistan that is supposed to be the fourth largest producer of cotton in the world.
The Australian government has committed AU$500,000 to this project, which will be supported through the Australian aid programme’s Business Partnerships Platform. Australia’s contribution will be matched by AU$2.4m from the BCI Growth and Innovation Fund. The matching funds come from the BCI Retailer and Brand members, such as Adidas, IKEA, H&M, Levi Strauss & Co, Marks & Spencer, Cotton On, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Tommy Hilfiger and Nike.
Several key Indian ministries and major associations have shown their widespread endorsement for Dubai's Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation's latest project Textile Mall, the first merchandise hub of its kind in the world. As the first-ever mall in Dubai that operates under a Free Zone Enterprise (FZE) trade license, the Mall offers a unique 'open door' policy for Indian merchants looking to expand their business. Acting as a galvanizer of the industry, Textile Mall will become a diverse and competitive hub of merchants from around the world and a one-stop-shop for large and small-scale buyers.
As a global hub for textile, apparel and jewellery sector, the Mall is set to significantly invigorate international trade for India-based merchants and their businesses - stimulating a vital growth industry in the heart of Dubai, the gateway hub between East and West. While visiting four cities throughout India last month to meet India-based textile, apparel and jewellery business owners, the Textile Mall executive delegation received widespread support from several ministers and major associations, including the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) and the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI).
In his opening speech to the delegation of the Textile Mall, the Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Bhai Rupani expressed full support and invited owners of the Textile Mall to be a part of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 to promote growth of Indian businesses through Dubai. Among many other benefits under the FZE trade license, Indian business owners have 100 per cent foreign company ownership of their business, no corporate or personal income tax, full repatriation of capital and profits and four allocated residency visas per license. The mall also offers an unprecedented 30-year, fixed-price lease for all tenants
Khadi sales have tripled until December across Maharashtra. The stat government has appealed to employees to use khadi at least once a week. The objective is to promote products made by rural entrepreneurs. This includes products from agriculture, food processing to khadi. Around 35 per cent subsidy will be provided for projects up to Rs 25 lakhs under the Prime Minister Employment Scheme.
Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) expects sales of khadi products to cross Rs 5,000 crores by the end of 2017-18. Overall sales of both khadi and village industries jumped over 14 per cent in 2015-16. Sales of khadi goods shot up 29 per cent in 2015-16. The KVIC is also setting up export cells to promote overseas sales of the products, which have a good demand in the countries like the US and UK. A beginning will be made with direct exports. The aim is to make khadi an international brand.
To improve the quality and sales of products, KVIC is regularly organising training programs for spinners and weavers in areas like designing and marketing. Khadi and village industries products are manufactured by about seven lakh privately-owned household units. These units are funded through schemes such as the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program.
Bangladesh wants India to scrap anti-dumping duty on jute imports. As a result of the duty a fifth of the Bangladesh’s yearly jute exports are at stake. India accounts for 20 per cent of Bangladesh's jute goods exports. India was probably prompted by a desire to cushion its local jute industry from regional competition.
Three years ago, Indian jute mills had accused Bangladeshi exporters -- for the first time in 40 years -- of selling jute products at prices lower than those in India's domestic market. Of the total $919 million worth jute and jute goods Bangladesh exported in 2015-16, exports of $260 million were sent to India. Usually, the anti-dumping duty on a product is the same amount by which it undercuts the domestically manufactured product. The prices of jute yarn in Indian market tend to be comparatively low.
Bangladesh’s jute sector, which involves about 40 lakh farmers and about two lakh workers, processes more than nine lakh tons of raw jute. The country currently has 26 jute mills. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers and considered second only to cotton in the amount produced and the variety of uses of vegetable fibers.
Hong Kong will host Interfilière on March 15 and 16, 2017. This is a sourcing platform for intimates and swimwear. It aims at strengthening its position as an innovations’ incubator and as a leading business accelerator platform, serving the needs of industry in an ever-changing market environment.
The new Interfilière Hong Kong is designed to be more flexible and provides plenty of networking opportunities. Visitors and exhibitors will be able to connect at any time and place, using new high tech devices, allowing them to share and collect information. The latest technology will enable visitors to collect the information about the products using their personal accounts at any convenient time.
The event will include a number of special events and dedicated areas, such as trend forums, meeting areas and fashion shows. The conference program at the trade fair will feature success stories and keynote speakers, providing visitors with the latest market and trend information during presentations and panel discussions. A new dedicated area will provide an ideal platform for exhibitors to launch their new products, solutions, and innovations. One floor will develop a new area celebrating creativity and technical progress, demonstrating a vision of the future of lingerie in the lives of modern women.
ThreadSol develops smart and resource efficient garment manufacturing solutions. Apart from reducing garment manufacturing cost and waste, ThreadSol solutions also aim at minimising human intervention by automating the planning processes and reducing manual effort of data aggregation.
Fabrics account for about 70 per cent of the operational cost of garment manufacturing units, where the average amount of waste can vary from five per cent to as high as eight per cent, largely because the length and width of the cloth varies across mills.
ThreadSol enables garment manufacturers to lower their manufacturing cost up to ten per cent. It empowers sewn product industries with software tools to optimize the use of their biggest investment, fabric. Its innovative solutions are revolutionising how garment manufacturing facilities work today, from buying fabric to planning pieces to tracking every inch of fabric. It has been recognized for its several inventive solutions spanning smart resource efficiency, sustainable consumer engagement and alternate materials.
The company currently has two main solutions: intelloBuy helps manufacturers buy the correct amount of fabrics and intelloCut helps manufacturers optimise their cut planning and save fabric, reduce waste and thereby help them make millions in the process.
Visualization tools are essential for the future of garment design. A technology called AccuMark 3D is helping pave the way for using traditional or 3D printed textiles. Danit Peleg is an innovation technology consultant for Gerber. Peleg specializes in the use of 3D printed textiles to design the next generation of fashion.
Gerber Technology is a world leader in integrated software and automation solutions for the apparel and industrial markets. Danit’s latest innovation was a custom dress for the Paralympics. When creating this custom dress, Danit worked closely with Gerber’s AccuMark 3D team to design and visualize the dress prior to printing the various pieces. The process ensured the dress would perform as well as the dancer while on stage. Using AccuMark 3D for design and visualization allowed Peleg to understand garment dynamics without spending hundreds of hours creating samples.
AccuMark 3D visualization, animation and simulation technology is part of the AccuMark family of products. AccuMark 3D presents realistic modeling of fabric properties, allowing designers to visualize their designs before costly samples are created. This allows for a decrease in sample costs by 75 per cent or more.
In the future, Danit and the AccuMark 3D team will collaborate by using the software to send patterns in the form of 3D print files directly to the printer similar to the current integration with digital fabric printing.
The Ministry of Textile in Pakistan has made it clear that provinces should stop granting permission for setting up new sugar mills in cotton growing areas that has led to a decrease in cotton plantation. Provinces may be asked to refrain from issuing no-objection certificates (NOC) for establishing, increasing capacity or shifting of sugar mills to the cotton growing areas, the Ministry of Textile Industry said in a presentation to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Food Security.
In the wake of improved returns and timely supply of inputs, sugarcane cultivation has expanded. In the meantime, sugar prices have also gone up from Rs31 to Rs 68 per kg in the last 10 years. The Ministry of Textile Industry argued that the price increase had encouraged setting up of more sugar mills which increased from 45 to 85 in the country. Of these, 45 were in Punjab, 32 in Sindh and 8 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Almost 70 per cent of sugar mills are located in the core cotton zone of the country, especially in Punjab. The setting up of mills in the top cotton growing areas and increasing crushing capacity of the existing mills have led to 26 per cent shrinkage in cotton areas, especially in south Punjab, including Rahim Yar Khan and Muzaffargarh. Cotton area has also squeezed due to maize and potato crops in the districts of Sahiwal, Faisalabad and Khanewal.
Weak cotton prices are also a reason why farmers were opting for other crops,. Cotton growers had not been given protection like producers of many industrial products.
The ongoing annual Heimtextil fair in Frankfurt saw Bangladesh companies in good numbers who received a positive response from international retailers. The fair that started on January 10 will end today (Jan 13th). A total of 23 home textile companies from Bangladesh are participating in the four-day fair. Messe Frankfurt, one of the largest trade fair companies in the world, has been organising the event since 1971.
Rashed Mosharraf, GM-Marketing at Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, a concern of Noman Group said the response from buyers is positive. Most of the company’s old customers in the EU visited the stall. And, the interest this year has been higher than last year, he added. Mosharraf said the EU was the company’s largest market and 70 per cent of the company's export receipts come from the region. Zaber & Zubair exports $16 million worth of home textile in a month. Almost all Bangladeshi participants echoed similar views about overwhelming response from retailers in Germany, the second largest export destination for Bangladesh after the US.
Welspun India’s textile business has been growing at 15 per cent and in the coming year, it expects a growth of five to seven per cent. It is in the process of establishing a new supply chain system in textiles which was never there before by introducing RFID. RFID will help it track the entire supply chain.
Welspun has put up a team in Egypt to source cotton and thereafter all processes from spinning to weaving and processing will be in house. ‘Tilt’, the smart textile launched in the US market, is the company’s patented product and will be a new way of looking at textiles. In the next three or five years, futuristic textiles may be the way forward. As the consumer moves in smart cars and gets into smart homes, Welspun would like to bring in smart textiles to them.
Welspun’s total income from operations jumped 22 per cent in July to September 2016 from the same quarter last year. The company achieved its highest quarterly top line during the quarter. Welspun plans to expand its focus on branded and innovative products to become a two billion dollar company in four years, with 20 per cent revenue coming in from domestic sales.
