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"A new research on fashion trends and textile waste, named ‘‘Timeout for Fast Fashion’ was released by Greenpeace on the eve of Black Friday. The report highlights the serious environmental consequences of over-consumption. Clothing is among the most sold products on the annual shopping day promoted in many countries. This, critics say, encourages impulsive overspending and unnecessary purchases through ‘bargain’ offers and discount prices. "
A new research on fashion trends and textile waste, named ‘‘Timeout for Fast Fashion’ was released by Greenpeace on the eve of Black Friday. The report highlights the serious environmental consequences of over-consumption. Clothing is among the most sold products on the annual shopping day promoted in many countries. This, critics say, encourages impulsive overspending and unnecessary purchases through ‘bargain’ offers and discount prices.
Fashion the biggest polluter
Deliberating on the topic, Kirsten Brodde, Head, Greenpeace’s ‘Detox my Fashion’ campaign said that it was difficult to resist the allure of a good bargain but fast fashion means that people are consuming and trashing fashion at a higher rate than our planet can handle. To counter excessive consumerism, growing numbers of people choose to abstain and observe ‘Buy Nothing Day’ instead.
As a part of this movement, trash queens in dresses recycled from discarded clothes are being sold at shopping centres in three major cities in Asia and Europe. The main reason for this initiative is to remind customers how many impulse buys of today end up as trash tomorrow. As of today, recycling is not a solution. Markets are overloaded with unwanted clothes [2] and technological challenges mean full recycling of clothing into new fibres is still far from commercially viable. Brodde points out their research indicates the second hand clothing system is on the brink of collapse. Fashion brands need to urgently re-think the throwaway business model and produce clothing that’s durable, repairable and fit for re-use. As consumers, one also hold the power. Before buying the next bargain item, one can all ask ‘do I really need this?’.
The research, published by Greenpeace Germany, shows how the fast fashion business is rapidly expanding; clothing production has doubled from 2000 to 2014 with sales rising from $1 trillion in 2002 to $1.8 trillion in 2015 and a forecast of $2.1 trillion by 2025. The average person buys 60 per cent more items of clothing every year and keeps them for about half as long as 15 years ago, producing immense volumes of textile waste.
Environmental impacts that have been detailed in the report include chemicals from textile factories polluting rivers and oceans, high levels of energy use and pesticides from cotton growing contaminating agricultural land. One of fast fashion’s biggest costs to the planet comes from the rising use of synthetic fibres, particularly polyester that emits nearly three times more CO2 in its lifecycle than cotton, according to Greenpeace. Already present in 60 per cent of clothing, polyester can take decades to degrade, as well as polluting marine environments with plastic micro fibres.
Since 2011, Greenpeace’s Detox campaign has gathered support from 78 companies including fashion brands, retailers and textiles suppliers to achieve zero discharges of hazardous chemicals in the manufacturing supply chain by 2020 and many are making progress towards this goal. However, if the trend for more and cheaper clothing continues, any gains that are made on eliminating hazardous chemicals will be outstripped by higher rates of production and consumption in the industry as a whole.
Most WTO members want an outcome of domestic support for cotton to be a priority for the Buenos Aires Ministerial conference in December 2017, the chair of the agricultural negotiations, Vangelis Vitalis, Ambassador of New Zealand reported during WTO’s latest consultations on cotton. Welcoming recent submissions and intense debates among members, Vitalis confirmed that none of the new submissions enjoyed a consensus so far.
The Nairobi Ministerial Conference in December 2015 marked an important step to arrive at a negotiated global solution for cotton, the Cotton-4 group of countries said at the meeting. However, as noted at the last dedicated discussion in July, they regretted the lack of progress so far particularly on issues where no binding commitments were made in the Nairobi conference. Vitalis reiterated that for the overwhelming majority of WTO members, an outcome on domestic subsidies for farmers at the 11th Ministerial Conference in December 2017 should include a decision on cotton. The consultations on cotton included the sixth dedicated discussion of trade-related developments for cotton and the 26th session of the DG’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton.
The importance of achieving an outcome on cotton at MC11 was also emphasized by ministers at a meeting in Oslo, Norway, on October 21 and 22 and at a meeting of the Cotton-4 ministers on 26-28 of the same month in Bamako, Mali. The Cotton-4 said that the Bamako Ministerial Declaration made an urgent appeal for the elimination of all forms of export subsidies and domestic support for the production and marketing of cotton before MC11.
VF Corporation does responsible supply chain management. As one of the pioneers of outsourced manufacturing, VF has policies designed to stamp out underage working, forced labor and similar abuses in supplier factories. VF takes a hands-on approach throughout the product cycle, from procuring the raw materials right through to providing customer service. Its effort at collecting data on key performance indicators is mostly geared toward internal improvements.
The corporation, based in the US, has two dozen or so major brands (including icons such as Wrangler, Lee, The North Face and Timberland), a 60,000-plus staff and nearly 1000 contract factories producing over 1.3 million items a day across almost 50 countries.
The sourcing program has four main focus areas: worker well-being, sustainable living environments, environmental sustainability and product stewardship. Environmental sustainability encompasses a wide range of activities to make supplier factories more water and energy efficient. Product stewardship is a program to promote safe chemistries as well as to trace raw materials such as cotton, leather and rubber back to their original source. The sustainable operations unit has 36 personnel in 13 countries. It advises factory owners in Bangladesh on a remediation plan.
The company has also launched a stand-alone website that details its supply-related policies and practices.
Though the 2016 US cotton crop may still be somewhat of a question mark but the November numbers provided by USDA clarify a few things. One, cotton crop got smaller in some areas as expected and second, the crop still got bigger overall. The North and South Carolina cotton crops dipped by 95,000 bales. The Georgia crop is now closer to being correct after being reduced to 150,000 bales and the crop could get a bit smaller in all 3 instances. But these reductions totaling almost ¼ million bales were more than offset by increases in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas.
US exports are projected at 12 million bales unchanged from the October estimate. This is a good level of exports considering that China is expected to limit imports for the second consecutive year. As of November 10, export sales, this marketing year, total approximately 7.0 million 480-lb equivalent bales—58 per cent of the USDA estimate. This compares to 47 per cent at this time last year. Shipments total 2.55 million or 21 percent of the estimate. To date, the pace of shipments projects to only 9.2 million bales for the marketing year—but shipments were 17 percent at this time last year.
China is expected to import 4.5 million bales from all sources, this crop year compared to 4.41 million last year. As of 11/10, US export shipments to China totaled approximately 264,400 bales. Sales totaled approximately 910,000 bales or 20 percent of China’s expected total imports.
This month’s USDA numbers lowered world cotton use, or demand, just slightly to 111.99 million bales. In the big picture, this number itself is insignificant. But psychologically, this nervous market will pay close attention to this number. This is only .65 percent above last year and less than 2 percent growth since 2013.
Micro-finance companies, taking advantage of the demonetisation of high value currency, are slowly re-entering Sircilla textile town in AP and lending small loans to power loom weavers. Demonetisation has cast its shadow on the powerloom industry which is already reeling under crisis due to no-takers for its grey fabric.
Two micro-finance companies started providing loans ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 after collecting bonds and sureties. They collect a whopping interest rate of 36 per cent and burden the weavers. Usually, months of November and December are lean seasons for the movement of fabric. Demonetisation has come as a rude shock to main purchasers of the fabric - traders, powerloom owners and power loom workers. As fabric production and sales are done only through cash, the ban and restrictions on withdrawal of cash from banks has become a cause of concern for everyone involved in the industry.
People in Sircilla still remember the harassment by micro-financers who operated till 2008. There were incidents of weavers resorting to suicide unable to bear the mental agony and torture by agents of micro-finance companies.
The then chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh removed micro-finance companies by making nationalised banks provide loans to weavers.
In a bid to register their strong protest over discrimination against the Punjab textile industry over gas prices, a key input, a lot of associations of textile manufacturers in Pakistan have said they will observe December 6 as ‘Black Day’. The disparity in gas prices had shattered the entire industrial chain in Punjab, the associations say.
All trade bodies including the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA), Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) and All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) have lashed out at what they say was the government’s discrimination against the Punjab-based textile industry as it was bearing the brunt of gas shortage.
PTEA Chairman Ajmal Farooq said that industries in Sindh were consuming low-priced gas to meet their needs while Punjab industries, which generated the highest revenue, were compelled to use the expensive re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) in their production process. With the recent reduction in the industrial gas tariff, the price for Sindh industries has become Rs400 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) whereas Punjab industries are paying over Rs900 per mmbtu.
Expressing disappointment over the indifference and lack of cooperation from government institutions, Farooq said they were repeatedly voicing their concern over the situation but all of the hue and cry was falling on deaf ears of policymakers. He urged the PM to take notice and ensure gas supply to Punjab at the same price.
He also urged the PM to immediately announce a package for the ailing textile industry and warned if the government did not fulfill their demands, they would hold a massive protest.
Pakistan’s textile exports have moved down by 12.11 per cent. Despite being the largest forex earning sector this year, exports declined to $8363 billion. Although the country is reaping the benefits of GSP, it has shown bleak performance in the export sector and the Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders (ICST) has expressed deep concern and termed it unacceptable.
The decline is being attributed to the shortage of electricity and delays in disbursement of export refund claims. Despite achieving preferential market access to the European Union, exports have been declining for the last two years. The country is facing tough challenges in the international market. Many have urged the government to take over the textile industry since many textile owners are winding up businesses and moving to other countries. The government should provide safe environment for the industry to thrive and guarantee better incentives and friendly policies.
ICST has urged the government to take immediate steps to arrest the trend as rival countries are snatching Pakistan's share in the international market which will have a negative impact on the economy. The government should make plans to provide affordable energy to Punjab's value added sector which rely on the supply of LNG, says Shahid Rasheed Butt, Patron of ICST. He says Punjab's textile sector is already buying costly LNG while the value added sector in Sindh gets uninterrupted supply of natural gas throughout the year.
The Delhi High Court on Friday adjourned Monsanto's challenge to proceedings initiated against the company and its officials by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) earlier this year, as government co-counsel senior advocate, A S Chandhiok, was unavailable to present his arguments.
His absence though, did not stop either party from continuing their on-going tussle before the single judge. On hearing Chandhiok's unavailability, counsel for Monsanto, Ajit Warrier, highlighted CCI's continuing attempts at delaying proceedings and pressed for the matter to be heard nonetheless in order to avoid any coercive steps being taken against the company.
Co-counsel for the government, additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain responded to this by informing the court of Monsanto's non-cooperative attitude and failure to respond to notices on the ground that the matter was sub-judice before the court, even though no stay order was granted against the probe. After hearing the submissions, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva agreed with Jain that the investigation was to continue as usual, while also consoling the Monsantocounsel that any coercive action could be undone if necessary, at a later stage. The court then adjourned the matter till December 7.
The CCI had in February, ordered a detailed probe into the activities of the genetically modified seed manufacturer after finding prima-facie evidence of violations of Indian competition laws. After the commencement of the initial probe, the regulator clubbed three additional complaints against Monsanto later in June. The CCI has also included Monsanto officials into the ambit of the probe, which the company contends is beyond the scope of the regulator's powers at this stage. Monsantohas challenged both the investigation and the inclusion of its officials by the CCIin the Delhi High Court.
Though the leather industry of neighbouring countries are growing but in Pakistan, the leather garment industry is declining as far as exports are concerned. As result the industry is near to closure. Moreover the government is not paying attention to issues facing the industry, says chairman of Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PLGMEA), Atif Ashraf.
He further observed the leather garment industry of Pakistan is already in distress and would collapse if the Federal government does not come forward to bail it out by giving incentives and pay extra attention to address issues. The decline in quantity of leather garments exported is around 12.35 per cent during 2015-16 from 2014-15 as per Pakistan Bureau of Statistics which is very alarming.
Unless the government announces and implements relief package for this industry, exporters will be forced to close down units causing unemployment to workers. Governments of India and China have offered high duty drawback rates to their exporters as incentive for boosting exports. While China offers 8.5 per cent duty drawback rate on export of leather garments, India offers 9.5 per cent duty drawback. The duty drawback rate in Pakistani is only 4.26 per cent for leather jackets. Ashraf strongly urged the PM and commerce minister to activate TDAP and commercial consulars in Pakistani missions abroad.
Amid a strong demand for lint from domestic mills and its potential to supply manufacturers exporting clothing and textiles to the US under a preferential trade deal, Kenya plans to revive its cotton industry, a major foreign-exchange earner until the 1980s. The government is planning to train and offer credit facilities for farmers as part of a bid to restore production that peaked at 38,000 metric tons of seed cotton in 1984-85. Currently, the country produces 15,700 tons of seed cotton creating about 5,240 tons of lint. Demand is about 37,000 tons with the shortfall imported from neighbouring countries, says Fanuel Lubanga, a development manager at the state-run Agriculture and Food Authority, Kenya.
The initiative comes as manufacturers in East Africa’s biggest economy are counting on apparel exports to the U.S. growing 5 per cent this year after the US extended its African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, by a decade. East Africa could potentially export garments worth $3 billion annually by 2025, says a 2015 McKinsey report. Affordable electricity and cheap labour with monthly salaries as low as $60 make producers such as Kenya and Ethiopia attractive to investors, the study indicated. Kenya exported clothing worth $380 million in 2015, with companies including Puma SE, Walmart, JC Penny and H&M among those sourcing garments from Kenyan Export Processing Zones that employ more than 66,000 people.
