FW
France may cancel its financial offer for garment factory remediation if Bangladesh failed to make the required progress in this regard. A review of the progress in its credit facility program undertaken for upgradation of safety standards of the country’s export-oriented readymade garment sector didn’t satisfy France.
French development agency AFD aims at assisting and supporting Bangladeshi RMG factories to upgrade their safety standards (on a priority basis) as well as their social and environmental performances.
France is concerned about the slow progress in the preparation of the credit facility program to finance safety retrofits and environmental upgrades in the Bangladeshi readymade garment sector. Bangladesh is one of the cheapest places in the world to make clothes, and its plentiful supply of inexpensive labor has made it second only to China in global apparel exports.
Accord and Alliance together have inspected roughly 2,000 factories in Bangladesh for structural, electrical, and fire safety, most of which have at least begun a process of remediation. While both accords require participating brands to pay for inspections, neither requires companies to pay for the safety improvements themselves—which could total nearly a billion dollars nationwide. Brands typically commit to maintaining their orders if factories upgrade and might even pay for some orders in advance.
As per the report UK clothing import market has been seriously disrupted after announcement of Brexit. Decision of the UK leaving the EU has resulted in decline of overall clothing imports by 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 from a year earlier. In a report by Emerging Textiles , there is a significant difference between previous years, with export prices down and volume of imports increasing, however the report mainly focused on knitted and woven garments,
This difference is sharp with what had been experienced in the previous years, when export prices were lower and volumes had sharply increased in UK
During the first quarter, UK’s clothing shipments from outside the EU increased by 1.5 per cent versus a decline of 4.9 per cent in the first three months of 2016, while the average unit value rose 17.5 per cent as against a slight rise of 0.6 per cent in the same quarter of 2016. There was a jump in export prices by more than 20 per cent in woven suits and trousers. But, in woven suits and trousers, the level of imports in volume has dropped by double-digits, according to the data released by EURATEX.
Mitsuhiro Shima is president of Shima Seiki. He was the vice president. He replaces his father and company founder Masahiro Shima. Masahiro is now chairman of the board of directors.
Mitsuhiro Shima joined the company in 1987. He became a director in 2002 and executive director in 2007. He has been in charge of system development, machinery production, material purchasing and corporate planning before becoming vice president in 2012.
The transition takes place during financially favorable times, just as the company announced one of its best fiscal years in its 55-year history. This includes a 25.9 per cent increase in net sales, a 94.8 per cent increase in operating income, and a 121.6 per cent increase in net profit over the previous fiscal year.
Shima Seiki is a Japanese flat knit machine manufacturer. Founded in 1962 and soon became an industry pioneer with Masahiro's invention, the fully automated glove knitting machine and the fully automated seamless glove knitting machine. The seamless glove became inspiration for the eventual development of the seam-free whole garment knitting technology for which the company is now best known. Meanwhile it became an industry leader through its continuous innovation and consistent renewal of benchmark technology which more often than not has become the reference standard for the industry.
In 2016, 40 per cent of European e-shoppers purchased goods or services from a vendor located in an EU country different from theirs. There is still a significant growth margin, especially considering the high number of European small businesses and SMEs which sell internationally in France alone, the national e-commerce and distance selling federation FEVAD estimates that 55 per cent of them presently do.
In terms of cross-border purchases the Spanish market has 58 per cent of local e-shoppers spent money abroad last year. A practice, which is popular in Italy too, with 47 per cent of consumers going cross-border. On the other hand, the huge German market, home to many European e-tail leaders, has a different approach, with only 26 per cent of consumers going cross-border. As for the UK, the largest e-market in Europe, its figure is consistent with the European average, at 40 per cent.
In 2016 the European e-tail market was worth €530 billion, and UK e-tailers were with €174 billion, a figure which is expected to come close to €200 billion in 2017. Germany follows the UK at a distance, with an e-tail market worth €77.9 billion, and France is third with €72 billion.
At the end of 2015, only 7.5 per cent of Eurozone e-tailers were selling abroad. According to FEVAD, 68 per cent of leading websites are now retailing internationally. In early 2017, a report compiled by e-commerce market researcher yStats revealed that more than 50 per cent of online shoppers worldwide make transactions via e-tailers located in a country different from theirs.
EU for a long time has worked on harmonising community regulations regarding e-commerce. Initially, the regulators had to deal with the free-returns policy adopted universally in Germany, which the country's e-tailers are keen to preserve. At present they are faced with another huge challenge in the form of Brexit, with its as yet undefined impact on transaction duties.
Iconic denim brand Wrangler has joined Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a multi-stakeholder initiative working to unite the agricultural supply chain in defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, fiber and fuel production in the United States. It engages in broad communication and collaboration with agricultural stakeholders to ensure a coordinated, outcome-based approach to sustainable agriculture grounded in science. By providing useful measurement tools and resources, Field to Market helps brands and growers track and promote continuous improvement at the field level.
Wrangler is the first major apparel brand to join the initiative, as an associate member working to help increase the supply of sustainable cotton. The brand buys roughly 50 per cent of its cotton from US growers. Wrangler is taking a leadership role in catalyzing continuous improvement in the sustainability of US cotton.
Wrangler will coordinate with Field to Market to focus on cotton-growing practices that not only reduce environmental impacts but also improve profitability for growers. Wrangler plans to work with Field to Market to create a program that includes scores of growers who are focused on journeys of continuous improvement for healthy soils, collectively focused on achieving the best possible results for yield, irrigation water use, efficient input use, soil conservation and reduced emissions.
The China Cotton Association (CCA) and Cotton Association of India have signed an MoU for co-operation on a host of matters relating to cotton, including regular exchange of delegations between the two trade bodies, training, information exchange and dissemination and speedy resolution of member’s issues, among others. The partnership will go a long way in making cotton trading safer in both countries, says CAI. Nayan C Mirani, President CAI says, India and China are the largest cotton economies, and signing this MoU will go a long way in resolving the issues faced by traders in both the countries.
This MoU will promote Indian cotton in China and cover the way for good trade practices and cooperation between both.
The Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia (GMAC) has officially launched the GMAC Human Resources Club to build a knowledge bank, share information, experience and expertise improve the industry. Kaing Monika, Deputy Secretary-General of GMAC, says the administration and human resources management of the industry are important. They are relevant to people management, policy, rules and regulations of the country. The club is open to all GMAC members. This is the part of the initiative to collect all industrial insiders at management level from the administration and human resources department of all garment, footwear, and travellers’ goods sectors to come together to exchange experience, knowledge, and information, he stated.
Members feel the club will play an important role to build more capacity for industry insiders. GMAC HR Club has also laid out some policies, training activities, knowledge sharing and information sharing that’s critical to improve the skills and make decisions in the job. He feels the club is important especially for those who have just joined at the management level as it helps to solve issues in the daily work.
Nou Mun, human resources manager of Master King, he is glad to be a member of the club as it will give him more experience and knowledge from the peers in the industry. Around 512 garment export-oriented factories, 59 footwear factories and 48 sub-contracting factories have come together to share experiences, information and knowledge for the improvement of the industry says Monika.
Bangladesh may permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in the readymade garment sector. Japan is particularly interested in investing in Bangladesh’s apparel sector both in high end and basic garments. Foreigners usually want to invest in high end fashion garments where local manufacturers hardly have any stake.
Local manufacturers oppose foreign investment in the apparel sector outside export processing zones (EPZs) fearing a chaos in the industry as foreign companies will employ workers paying higher wages compared to them. Over 300 foreign-funded apparel factories are being operated inside the EPZs.
When a joint venture factory offers wages higher than the government wage structure, workers in local factories also demand the same. Local manufacturers are not against allowing FDI in the apparel sector but they say foreigners should also invest in the backward linkage industry.
They reiterate that Bangladeshi manufacturers are good enough to invest in basic garments and don't want any competitor in these products. They add that they have built the apparel industry with great effort and over a long period and that any foreign investment would undercut their main competitive advantage, which is low wages.
Apparel is the main exports in Bangladesh. In fiscal 2015-16, Bangladesh’s earnings from the export sector was $31.21 billion of which over $28 billion was from apparels.
The global textile staple market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.9 per cent from 2017 to 2027. Growth in per capita spending in the Asia Pacific region will boost the textile staple market.
Textile components are widely used in transportation vehicles and systems including cars, trains, buses, airplanes and marine vehicles. The automotive sector is witnessing rapid development in China along with parts of Southeast Asia. In a fluctuating economic environment, the Chinese automotive industry has registered steady sales growth. Also, India’s economy is expected to grow at a robust pace in the coming years as most economic indicators predict a positive outlook towards the automotive industry, driven by strong consumer demand. This in turn will have a positive effect on the textile staple market during the forecast period.
China and other developing countries such as India are significant producers of textile staples. However, the region is slowly becoming an important consumer as well, because of consistent growth in incomes driving demand for textile staples. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in household cotton consumption in developing regions than in other parts of the world. The increased penetration of organised retail is also likely to boost the consumption of textiles in domestic markets, especially in India.
Alessandro Zucchi is the new president of the Association of Italian Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT). He succeeds Raffaella Carabelli. Zucchi has many years experience in the textile machinery sector, and is currently managing director and a partner at Ferraro, a manufacturer specialising in finishing machinery. In addition, he is a shareholder in another company in the sector, Burocco Valvole, of which he is executive vice president.
Since 2015, he has been involved with ACIMIT’s delegation at Cematex, the Committee of European Textile Machinery Associations. ACIMIT represents 300 manufacturers, employing close to 12,000 people and producing machinery for an overall value of about euro 2.7 billion, with exports amounting to more than 85 per cent of total sales.
Along with the new president, the assembly also elected new vice presidents Federico Businaro (Isotex, Santex Rimar Group), Cristian Locatelli (Marzoli, Camozzi Group), Andrea Piattelli (Unitech) and Michele Riva (Reggiani Macchine).
Italy is the world’s second largest producer of machinery for the textile industry. In the production of machinery for tanning, and for the footwear and leather goods industry, Italy accounts for over 50 per cent of world production. A renewed climate of enhanced trust is currently perceived in the textile sector, triggered by the government’s commitment to enact a range of significant incentives for the country’s manufacturing system.
