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In the world of luxury and high-street fashion, more western brands than ever are seeking to capitalize on a previously underserved market by learning about the needs and desires of muslim consumers, as reports suggest that global revenues from modest fashion bought by muslim women alone hit $44 billion in 2015.
The report revealed that muslim consumers spent $243 billion on clothing and footwear in 2015, accounting for 11 per cent of the global market. This figure is expected to reach $368 billion by 2021.The report also says that the U.A.E. to be leading the world in modest fashion, ranking the country as having the number one most developed ecosystem.
According to Alia Khan, Founder of the Islamic Fashion and Design western brands are certainly studying it better, learning about it, understanding it and doing their best to cater to it. Luxury brand DKNY (Donna Karan New York) introduced its first Ramadan collection exclusively for the Middle East In 2014, and in 2016 D&G once again used the holy month to showcase its luxury selection of Hijabs and Abayas. There is a strong Muslim consumer influence and it’s leading to better options for the Islamic audience, says Khan. And this is not just something that consumers buy for Ramadan, this is a full-time and lifetime commitment.
Islamic fashion has been rebranded as modest fashion is a recognition that its appeal transcends women of faith. In some circles, it is seen as revolutionary. Feminists think it will dismantle the patriarchy. Muslims think it will banish Islamophobia and doomsayers think it will be the end of western secularism. Certainly, modest fashion is a coming revolution – but one that will leave crucial parts of society intact.
For the first five months of 2017 Tunisia’s exports of the textile and clothing industries sector rose 11 per cent. The same applies to the leather and footwear industries, whose exports increased by 8.2 per cent. Similarly exports from the miscellaneous industries sector grew by 13.1 per cent.
Tunisia’s exports from the industrial sector grew 12.4 per cent compared to the first five months of 2016. Industrial sector imports for the first five months of 2017 were up 16.3 per cent. The increase in exports was mainly due to the mechanical and electrical industries, whose exports increased 20.3 per cent. Similarly exports from the agri-food sector grew by 5.5 per cent.
Industrial imports increased for all sectors. These increases range from 7.7 per cent for the leather and footwear industries to 63.2 per cent for the agri-food industry. The top export destinations of Tunisia are France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United States. The top import origins are France, Italy, China, Algeria and Germany.
Top exports of Tunisia are insulated wire, pure olive oil, non-knit men’s suits, crude petroleum and non-knit women’s suits. Top imports are petroleum gas, refined petroleum, cars, wheat and low voltage protection equipment.
A large number of small garment factories those are out of the ongoing inspection network, makes a bad case for factory remediation - a process that has been in place for nearly four years. It has been learnt that these small production houses which are not directly linked with the European and North American retailers are left in the lurch as there is apparently no agency with required funds to conduct inspection. The number of such factories is reportedly around a thousand.
Following the Rana Plaza building collapse, garment factories all over the country were placed under the inspection network of three inspection initiatives -- Accord, Alliance and the National Initiative. These three initiatives have been inspecting nearly 4,000 factories to fix structural, fire and electrical loopholes in the factories. At present it appears that while bulk of the factories under scanner has been done with, but still there are around a thousand factories - small in size and rely mostly on subcontracting - which are yet to be inspected.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) is the designated agency to inspect these factories, but inspection of these factories is pending for want of funds. The DIFE has been strengthened lately with manpower, though inadequacy still persists. However, with its available resources, the state agency has been pursuing its job, but lately its activities got almost stalled due to fund constraints. A good number of the small factories, which are to be inspected by DIFE, have moved to either their own buildings or relocated their activities to rented buildings. Now, in the absence of inspection, they are not in a position to plan future activities. It was expected that the government would provide the DIFE necessary funds to complete the inspection, but this is not happening and it remains uncertain whether any prospective international body, ILO included, would be forthcoming to help undertake the pending works.
Despite the amazing task, the inspections -- first ever in the country - have laid out in details the fundamentals about managing factories -- from setting up to running, as functional productive units. At the same time, the inspections have brought home the perils of not doing what was required long back at the time of setting up of the units at whatever locations the owners thought suitable, with little or no clues as to the dos and don'ts.
At a time when garment export is the life-blood of the country's economy, facilitating its operation needs remediation and compliance of all small or big production houses. Although a majority of them are not directly linked with exporting, they are the ones which while surviving on sub-contracting, facilitate exports by the major exporting houses. Although they are the backyard of big export houses, absence of facilitation for them to fulfil the required compliance norms would harm exports on the one hand, and on the other, halt their growth into exporting units themselves.
Papua New Guinea sees potential to build and support the garment and textile industry in the country. The country will encourage local manufacturing in order to reduce the import of manufactured garments including second-hand clothing.
So it is working toward building its own clothing brands, cutting down on the bill of finished garments and increasing employment opportunities in the business and textile industry. There will be investment in the industry to boost and establish new technologies towards training.
The government is keen on diversifying the economy and would like to cut down the import bills on goods that the country can produce to meet its own local demand. These certain goods include rice, vegetables, dairy products and garments and clothing. While the cost of production in Papua New Guinea is high due to a number of factors, the necessary policy and incentives will create the right business climate for the country to produce its goods to meet its own growing demands.
Papua New Guinea has a fast-growing fashion design industry. A Papua New Guinea female entrepreneur is funding the building of a garment and textile factory in the country. The factory will target the tourism and hospitality industry with table cloths, linens, blouses, towels.
More than 100 fashion brands across 42 companies are now publishing lists of their suppliers, representing a dramatic increase in transparency in the past 18 months.
Fashion Revolution assessed 40 leading fashion brands in 2016 and found that only five brands published a list of their manufacturers and only two published the names and addresses of sub-contractors or fabric/yarn suppliers. Follow up research in June this year found a dramatic push towards transparency, with106 brands across 42 companies/parent groups disclosing at least some of the facilities making their clothes.
Since the beginning of 2017 brands that have published a supplier list for the first time include ASOS, Berghaus, Benetton, Brooks Sports, Joe Fresh, Hugo Boss, Uniqlo and others.
Over the past year Marks & Spencer has published an interactive map of its suppliers in both food and clothing, which spans 53 countries and covers 1,229 factories employing 787,331 workers. Gap, C&A, VF Corporation (which owns more than 20 brands including The North Face, Timberland, Vans and Wrangler) and Australia's Jeanswest have all revealed the names and addresses of the factories that manufacture their clothing around the world.
Publishing supplier lists is important because it helps NGOs, unions, local communities and even workers themselves to alert brands of any potential human rights and environmental issues in their supply chains.
"Through its various manufacturing shows, and in parallel to its shows proposing specific materials, the Premiere Vision group aims to implement an international sourcing strategy to serve increasingly global and multi-product fashion brands. The goal is to help international fashion brands save time in their sourcing research thanks to a qualified, readable and structured offer and a strong fashion/product orientation."
Through its various manufacturing shows, and in parallel to its shows proposing specific materials, the Premiere Vision group aims to implement an international sourcing strategy to serve increasingly global and multi-product fashion brands. The goal is to help international fashion brands save time in their sourcing research thanks to a qualified, readable and structured offer and a strong fashion/product orientation.
Next September, at the Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte will develop a transversal manufacturing offer the strategy is to enrich the sourcing offer in terms of geographic regions, as well as market segments and product specificities and to meet the needs of changing markets. Beside Premiere Vision Manufacturing, the show of fashion manufacturing specialists from the Euro-Mediterranean basin and the Indian Ocean, the group is boosting its manufacturing sourcing proposals through three initiatives.
Increased focus on Sourcing
A specialised space called “The Sourcing Connection” is the Asia Pacific Sourcing Show that participates Première Vision Paris as a specialised space. Confirmed by an audit by Bureau Véritas the show offers a unique selection and have 65 per cent compliance with the market standards.
Talking about the Premiere Vision Manufacturing area it presents the techniques and know-hows of manufacturers from the Euro-Mediterranean basin and Indian Ocean. Every season, this selection of fashion-manufacturing specialists provides solutions regarding fabrication, supply chains and services to fashion, lingerie, sports and accessories brands. They represent proximity sourcing, enabling rapid responses and greater control of manufacturing quality, organisers explain.
The show has been reorganized since the February 2017 edition, buyers can quickly grasp and locate the know hows of the manufacturers they can work with, as the offer is now broken down by activity sector.
Euro-Mediterranean business Order writers are committing themselves less in advance and are increasingly turning to Euro-Mediterranean sourcing, organizers explain. The Mediterranean countries gained market share. The importance in terms of imports to Europe has increased from 17.6 per cent in 2015 to 17.9 per cent in 2016.In 2016, European clothing imports totaled EUR 81 billion compared to 2015.
The latest edition of White, which ran from June 17 to 19 in line with the men's fashion week recorded a 20 per cent increase in participants, with 300 brands showcasing as compared to 250 in June 2016.
The enriched White Man and Woman show was dedicated to menswear and women's pre-collections, as well as special projects and international collaborations that attracted more foreign visitors through its doors this season. However, the tradeshow was rejected by Italian guests, recording a 12 per cent decrease in local attendance numbers compared to last year. After hiring Muriel Piaserin a consultant role, White was bent on attracting more international guests. The fair continued its relationship with Danish tradeshow Revolver, which bought around forty brands to Milan to showcase in a special space compared to the ten or so brands to come to Italy last season.
In another White initiative, some twenty Korean brands came together for this edition. Besides, the tradeshow continued to collaborate with the Italian Fashion Chamber (CNMI) with two runway shows from its official calendar: Danish brand Wood Wood and POAN, the fashion label launched in 2015 the talented Austrian designer Georg Weissacher.
Other labels worth noting included Nehera, which shows in Paris and participated at White for the first time, and the Finnish label Aalto, which also shows in the French capital. In a stand, the hat brand Regen was also a standout; the milliner being a finalist this year at the Hyéres Festival in the accessories category.
The brand new section dedicated to sport was another interesting addition.
Victoria's Secret has learnt a lesson about paying its employees and not messing with their time. The company has reached a 12 million dollar settlement for their use of call-in shifts.
A call-in or on-call shift is where a retail store will over schedule hours in case the store is busier than expected at a given time. Employees call in a few hours before the on-call time posted on their schedule, and they are told whether or not they are needed. If they are not needed, they are not compensated for their potential scheduled time.
In 2014, a Victoria's Secret employee named Mayra Casas decided this was unethical and unfair to employees, so he hired a lawyer and took on Victoria's Secret in a class action lawsuit. The employees involved in the suit declared that call-in shifts required them to mold their lives around the possibility that they might have the chance to work more hours.
The lawsuit originated in California. According to California labor law, employees must be paid for reporting time for on-call shifts, equating to payment of half the shift if they don't end up working, or equal to two hours if they are called in for less than one hour of work.
This ongoing lawsuit has affected the scheduling practices of several retailers in the US. Six retailers have agreed to stop using on-call scheduling following an inquiry by a coalition of nine attorney generals.
MODINT, the Dutch association for the Fashion and Textile industries and lead of the fashion mission and Sistema Moda Italia (SMI), have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which highlights the growing interaction between the Dutch and Italian fashion and textile industries. On the occasion of the State Visit to Italy by Their Majesties TheKing and Queen of The Netherlands and a Dutch trade delegation led by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Lilianne Ploumen, the Italian and Dutch fashion and textile industry will join hands.
During the Best of Both event to be held on June 23 in Milan, the minister and a delegation of Dutch and Italian VIP’s and innovators active in the fashion and textile industry will witness the signing of a promising memorandum of understanding (MoU). The MoU defines actions by MODINT and SMI to help the Dutch and Italian fashion and textile industries work together on recycling, labour standards, sustainable raw materials and domestic production. MODINT and SMI are both members of the International Apparel Federation (IAF), an international organisation that supports industry development by helping to build intelligent connections among its members. In the MoU, Italian and Dutch businesses will explain how they cooperate, how they can support sustainable value chains, how they envision their business growing together in the coming years, and what their respective governments can do to support that growth.
The MoU as well as the event will support working towards the ‘Best of Both’, a cooperation for improving sustainable business practices.
Because the apparel and textile industry business models are relying more and more on sustainability and transparency, responsible production within Europe is gaining popularity and Dutch and Italian supply chains are becoming more intertwined.
Monforts has published a magazine on Indian textile producers. Monforts is a leading manufacturer and exporters of textile machines in Germany.
The 32 page magazine highlights the latest solutions and production techniques with a number of leading textile producers in India; placing special emphasis on textile finishing with the company’s range of Montex stenters, Thermex continuous dyeing, and Eco-Line ranges.
It includes articles on increased production capacity for Nahar Fabrics, a second production line for the Vardhman Group, five new Monforts units for Trident’s new bed linen division, expansion by Himatsingka Linens and first time investment in Monforts for Premier Fine Linens to improve quality control.
An in-depth technical article on cost savings for continuous dyeing with Monforts Econtrol T-CA and Eco Line finishing is featured. The magazine also includes a report on the country’s first Eco-Line installed at Arvind’s Ahmedabad mill.
Monforts new Advanced Technology Centre features descriptions of fabric processing including denim coating, elastane treatments, over-dyeing, and the creation of special surface effects and more.
The company is known for quality in fabric treatment, energy efficiency in production, uncomplicated service and more environmental compatibility in exhaust air treatment. It has developed innovative technologies and concepts that revolutionise the textile finishing market.
