FW
Primark is an Irish fast fashion retailer. It’s focused on teens and produces low-priced, selfie-friendly clothes like dresses, shoes and bags. It’s known for its cheap mini-skirts and club-ready clothes.For summer it has everything from beach cover-ups, like tasseled kimonos and kaftans, to chic swimwear and bargain bikinis for every body shape. There are tops, leggings and bras in luxe brights and pastels.
The brand has built up its reputation with the newest designs, jazzy stores and media promotion. It doesn’t sell online and rarely advertises. Among its activities is cleaning up its supply chain in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma, Ethiopia and India. In those countries it is engaged in the health and general welfare of workers in the textile industry. In addition, attempts are made to stimulate the local economy of the countries.
Primark feels it is important that the people who make its products can work in good conditions and are treated properly and receive a fair wage. Like all fast fashion, cheap clothes can cost a lot with respects to workplace safety and workers’ rights. Primark produces its low-cost clothes in Bangladesh and was one of the many retailers using Rana Plaza when the building collapsed in 2013, killing over 1000 people.
https://www.primark.com/
"The 47th Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter opened yesterday to full house. Organised by HKTDC, the four-day event from January 18 to 21 features more than 1,500 exhibitors from 22 countries who are showcasing their latest designs, collections from international brands, fabrics and accessories. The theme of the show this year is: Fashion of Music. The theme blends different musical genres in ways that complement various styles of fashion and accessories. A dedicated fashion avenue in the fair has been created to depict this theme through fashion shows."
The 47th Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter opened yesterday to full house. Organised by HKTDC, the four-day event from January 18 to 21 features more than 1,500 exhibitors from 22 countries who are showcasing their latest designs, collections from international brands, fabrics and accessories. The theme of the show this year is: Fashion of Music. The theme blends different musical genres in ways that complement various styles of fashion and accessories. A dedicated fashion avenue in the fair has been created to depict this theme through fashion shows.
The fair will see around 30 fashion events, including fashion shows, fashion parades, seminars, forums, to present the latest fashion collections and market intelligence.
Latest fashion creations on the runway
More than 10 fashion, designer and brand collection shows are being organised during the four-day fair. Fashionally, webplatform for local fashion communication presented on the first day, two fashion shows for upcoming local talents, featuring designers from the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest (YDC). Fashionally Collection #5 Menswear displays menswear for the 2016 Fall/Winter season, whereas Fashionally Collection #6 launched a collection of women’s wear for the 2016 Fall/Winter, with participating designers including 112 mountainyam (designer: Mountain Yam), Blind by JW (designer: Walter Kong, Jessica Lau), Effie Hung, FromClothingOf (designer: Shirley Wong), HANG (designer: Mim Mak), KEVIN HO, Lapeewee (designer: Yannes Wong), and Sherman Kwan.
A platform to explore new trends
The first day also saw a panel discussion on ‘circular business models’ as well as a session on net-a-porter, a leading game changer online luxury fashion retailer. A series of such seminars and forums are being conducted during the four day Fashion Week, with experts sharing their views and analysing market intelligence, including forecasts and analyses of major trends for the 2017 Spring/Summer by the world-renowned fashion advisory institutions WGSN and Fashion Snoops.
Sourcing in various thematic zones
This year, companies from Myanmar, Romania, Uzbekistan, New Zealand, Philippines and Vietnam join the Hong Kong Fashion Week for the first time. The fair features 11 pavilions, including Chinese mainland, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Macau, Japan as well as Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association. Multiple zones are set up to help buyers find sought-after products and suppliers, including four new zones: women’s wear, knitwear, international fashion designers’ showcase, and fashion tech, which presents fashion-related high-end technology and apps. Other zones include: Emporium de Mode featuring top brands, Fashion Gallery showcasing mid- to high-end fashion, Men in Style, Activewear & Swim Wear, and Denim Arcade.
Nearly 90 buyer missions have been invited for sourcing , these missions comprise more than 5,000 buyers from 43 countries and regions including representatives of renowned fashion brands such as H&M from Sweden, Dssr Co, the leading wholesaler of apparel and fashion accessories in Japan and Showpo, the largest online fashion retailer in Australia.
The Hong Kong Fashion Week also features Hong Kong Brand Management Association (booth 1D-E08), presenting the United States diva Taylor Swift’s own brand. Kate Liegey, who is responsible for tailoring Ms Swift’s clothing, is bringing the latest Taylor Swift collection to the show together with the singer’s single Wildest Dreams from her latest album. Also, Fortuna Tokyo from Japan, known for using traditional textile nishijin-ori in their designs, showcases their high-quality fashion products, with the leading actors Kanta Sato and Reina Bisa from the upcoming movie Mischievous Kiss as guest models for the show. Another highlight is the EcoChic Design 2015/16 Grand Final Fashion Show by Redress that is scheduled for third day.
“Hong Kong is the third largest exporter of clothing and accessories with $6.7 billion exports and has US and EU as the largest buyers constituting 63 per cent of export market. The top five export countries are: US, Japan, UK, China Mainland and Germany. HK imports clothing and clothing accessories worth $13.37 billion”, says Shirley Chan, Chairperson, HKTDC Garment Advisory Committee and CEO YGM Trading. “As per latest study by Euromonitor there’s growth in menswear market, keeping in line with that we have introduced Men In Style and the focus on menswear runway shows,” she added. On how China’s slowdown would impact Hong Kong industry, she said that HK can already feel the impact, there’s a slowdown in luxury market and the industry needs to adjust to the changes. “We have seen good times but all the time may not be the same. The HK steret and shop associations are trying to come to terms with high rentals and adjust to market realities, likewise we need to adjust as per the weather change also, as winters are shrinking,” she opines.
“China economy is facing a down turn, as it is connected with world markets. However, 6 to 7 per cent GDP growth in itself is not small. Rising wages, migration of business to Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh to an extent is also impacting the economy, but still we cannot say there’s a mass exodus of business considering China has mass business base. Of course, RMB has deflated, but China also imports a lot of raw materials, since US dollar has also got devalued, the advantages of devaluation in yuan are getting offset. Furthermore, TPP impact also can be seen,” said Lawrence Leung, Chairman, Knitwear Innovation & Design Society.
Byron Lee, Senior Exhibitions Manager, HKTDC also announced, a new show ‘Centrestage’ that shall be held at the same venue between September 7-10, 2016. The show is being positioned as fashion spotlight for Asia focused offerings. The new show will have both exhibition and fashion show model-beside trend forums etc. Centrestage is being revamped as a new avatar of World Fashion Boutique to align with current global fashion calendar in new positioning and new Asia focused offerings.
Adidas has set a target that by the end of 2016, 75 per cent of all dyes used in its apparel will be approved by Bluesign. Bluesign is a Switzerland-based certification company that applies standards for textile product manufacture and use of hazardous substances.
The apparel and footwear brand aims to have 30 per cent of all auxiliary chemicals used in apparel approved by Bluesign. Auxiliaries are substances used to support the production process, but which do not add a function to the product.
Adidas surpassed its 2015 goals, which were set at 50 per cent of all dyes and 10 per cent of auxiliary chemicals approved by Bluesign. By the end of the year 65 per cent of dyes and 30 per cent auxiliary chemicals had been approved.
To help achieve its target of eliminating all polyfluoro carbons by 2017, it has been working with chemical companies to explore formulations which are still in an R&D phase. In total, more than 8,400 lab tests were conducted and 43 wear tests were performed in a sporting environment.
Meanwhile the company has met its target of phasing out plastic micro beads from its body care products. This was in response to criticism that some of the company’s products contained micro beads.
www.adidas-group.com/
The German textile sector’s development in 2015 was superior to clothing sector. Job situation remains positive. So the two sectors are expected to register a gain in turnover of 1.5 per cent in 2015.
The job situation in both sectors is robust. In October employment increased in the textile industry by 2.3 per cent and in the clothing industry by 1.1 per cent. The two sectors have increased jobs in the past 10 months by 1.4 per cent. Domestic production shows differing results. While textiles could increase its production volume by 1.6 per cent in October, the clothing segment recorded a backlash of 6.1 per cent.
Production prices in the textile sector increased after some months of stagnation. In clothing they were more constant and will be around 1.4 per cent above the level of 2014. Textile retail turnover showed signs of recuperation after the sharp decrease in summer 2015. It added seven per cent. In October and against the same month of 2014 it increased 0.9 per cent.
Import surplus of the two sectors increased by 16.3 per cent as against 2014. Raw material imports sank by 3.3 per cent against 2014. Working hours increased in October. Textiles added two per cent and clothing 1.5 per cent.
Brands are turning to sustainable clothing in a big way. Denmark’s Denim Project is aiming to save 70 million liters of fresh water over the next two months as part of a plan to drive innovation in the resource intensive industry. It says that 15 per cent of cotton is wasted every year during the manufacturing process, enough to produce three T-shirts for each person on the planet. Cotton is very water intensive. Waste cotton equates to 38.5 billion liters of fresh water, which could provide drinking water to 25 million people a year.
Subsequently, Denim Project has designed a fabric made of 98 per cent production waste, with stretch fabric, the remaining two per cent, being the only new material. Waste material, leftover from the clothes manufacturing process, is sorted into color and spun into yarn, which is then reused to make the new garment. The process uses no dyes and saves a kilogram of cotton per item, which the company estimates is equivalent to 11,000 liters of water.
On same lines, high street fashion brand H&M’s new denim styles are made using cotton recycled from textiles collected at the brand’s stores. Currently it is able to use 20 per cent recycled cotton from collected clothes but is investing in new technology that will enable it to increase this share.
Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) and 1,888 Mills have entered into a partnership. 1888 Mills is a leading US manufacturer of home and hospitality textiles. Cotton made in Africa is an initiative that works toward improving the living conditions of cotton farmers and their families in sub-Saharan Africa.
By cooperating with CmiA, 1888 Mills’ home and commercial textiles can now contribute to protecting the environment and supporting small-scale cotton farmers. The partnership will allow a luxurious product to be made from high quality cotton that is produced in an ecologically and socially sustainable way. It’s aimed at inducing global manufacturers for home and hospitality to continue to support more sustainable ways of textile production.
Currently, CmiA supports more than 7,00,000 smallholder cotton farmers in 10 African countries and works with 30 international brands and retailers. 1888 Mills is a global manufacturer of home and commercial textiles catering to the retail, hospitality and healthcare markets worldwide. As a pioneer in global towel manufacturing, 1888 Mills operates facilities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United States. It’s a leader in home and commercial manufacturing for bath, bedding, kitchen, window and commercial apparel. The group participates in initiatives that promote environmental stewardship and contribute to the reduction of poverty.
www.1888mills.com/
Faced with the loss of their traditional export markets because of political and security problems in their neighborhood, Turkish textile companies are looking to penetrate new markets to sustain their export growth. Turkey is surrounded by a violent neighborhood: a war-ravaged Syria, an unstable Iraq and sanctions-plagued Russia. One advantage Turkey had over China is its proximity to Europe -- knowing and understanding Europe's needs. But now Turkish exporters are forced to look for markets beyond their borders in Southeast Asia.
Garment makers are looking at Malaysia, Japan, the ASEAN region and Canada. Malaysia is seen as an especially attractive market because of its stability unlike China which is passing through turbulent economic times. Turkish companies expect Malaysia, along with Singapore and Indonesia, to grow in the future. They want to actively increase their contacts with the Malaysian textile sector.
Turkey is Europe's largest textile manufacturer and the fourth largest clothing manufacturer in the world. Many major textile brands such as Esprit, H&M, Hugo Boss, s.Oliver, Adidas, Nike and Zara source their clothing from Turkey. Turkey's total global textile exports in 2015 amounted to $14 billion, of which home textiles accounted for three billion dollars. Turkey's home-textile exports in 2014 amounted to $3.3 billion.
Dadabhau Bhuse, Maharashtra minister of state for co-operation urged the local weavers and entrepreneurs to create own brand so as to earn identity and reputation in the competitive market. The minister was inaugurating a Buyer-Seller meet in Malegaon, Maharashtra recently.
Bhuse highlighted the potential of grey and ready-to-wear fabrics manufactured in Malegaon to attract the global market. There fabrics and saris being sold in local and international markets are manufactured by people of Malegaon. But, since powerloom weavers in Malegaon do not have a brand name, the sellers are using their own name and selling these quality products and earning handsome profits, Bhuse observed.
He pointed out the skill and potential of local weavers and powerloom owners will be a great hit. Taking a cue from ‘Make in India’, ‘Make in Maharashtra’ campaigns, Bhuse said that they need to start ‘Make in Malegoan’ campaign. The minister further said that he earnestly wishes that local grey cloth and ready-to-wear sarees and fabrics are exported directly from Malegaon with their own brand names.
The three-day Buyer-Seller Meet was jointly organized by the Regional Textile Commissioner Office Navi Mumbai and Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL).
In a move to support a full-fledged garment industry by harnessing technology and improving its citizens’ skill Rwandan government is up to set up tailoring institute. Rwanda government is planning to set up a tailoring institute to harness technology and improve skills of its garment industry.
As Francois Kanimba, Minister of Trade and Industry points out the institute will help transfer technology with regards clothes made in Rwanda and clothes that Rwandans are willing to put on. The idea is to reduce dependency on imported clothes, both new and second hand. While extending help, the Minister asked tailors in which specific areas they needed training, saying that the government is working with the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) to train over 300 Rwandans. He said the government is ready to support tailors in their efforts to start up a clothes making factory.
He said cutting down second hand clothes is in line with the government’s decision as well as East African Community countries to ensure health, self-dignity as well as reduce unemployment among local youth. The project is being undertaken along with the Association of Professional Tailors’ Rwanda.
The clothes making factory is scheduled to be established in Kigali with hope to go to other provinces of the country, hence create five clothing factories across the country. Rwanda government is currently in talks with investors that may wish to invest in the project. The investors will most probably come from China which ranks first worldwide as the top garment maker. The initial investment would include the buying 670 machines to produce different types of garments.
Rwanda has two textile companies in Kigali, including the Chinese-run C&H Garments whose products are exported. C&H Garments has invested in computerized sewing machines and will train up to 400 local workers.
During 2015, the value of imported wear products (shoes and clothes) into the country was $100 million of which $80 million (approximately Rwf60 billion) was spent on clothes (both new and second hand). Over $15 million dollars was spent on second hand clothes. A recent study carried out by the Ministry of Trade and Industry revealed that tailoring offers the best opportunity for increasing more locally made products. This initiative is aimed at Rwanda’s economic development but most specifically to create jobs for Rwandans. Success of the project will spell a drastic cut in the imports of clothes from countries like Kenya, China, and Dubai among others. Rwandan government’s target is to create over 200,000 off-farm jobs year on year.
One of the biggest spinning mills in Bangladesh, Delta Spinners is setting up a new plant for export market to increase its aggregate production to nearly 15,000 tonnes per year, an increase of around 67 per cent. Adjacent to the existing mills, the Tk 540 million new unit is being constructed on an area of 117,000 sq. ft. Expected to start operations in mid 2016, the new plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art machines with nearly 27,000 spindles.
The company is expanding its operations to cope with growing demand for both high-end and traditional yarns. Mostafa Jamal Haider, Managing Director, Delta Spinners said the company's profitability and other indexes will increase sharply when the export project starts operations.
Meanwhile Delta has opened letter of credit for procuring equipment and some of it will arrive in Chittagong Port by April 2016. Machines are being procured from the world's best manufacturers from Switzerland, Japan, Spain and Taiwan to get optimum output. The aim is to install the latest machines to produce both conventional and non-conventional yarns.
Demand for non-conventional yarns is rising in Bangladesh, which usually have high-value addition than traditional ones. Bangladesh mainly exports basic clothing but it is now gradually leaping up to another upper segment of clothing market. Demand for jersey, sportswear, suits and other luxury clothing is on the rise in recent years and for this reason, demand for high-end yarns is also growing. As per industry estimates indicate the internal rate of return or IRR might increase by 20 per cent after implementation of the project. The company's EPS (earnings per share) is expected to increase from the existing Tk 0.58 to Tk 2.0 according to sources.
Delta Spinners started its journey with financial support from erstwhile Shilpa Bank. The mill was established in early 1994 at Kaltapara in Gouripur of Mymensingh, about 140 kilometres from Dhaka. It was listed with the bourses in 1995.
