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"Just like corporates in steel and automotive industries, apparel companies are increasingly waking up to sustainability and doing their bit to go green. In line with this, Pratibha Syntex, Indore, is going to be the first company to release its sustainability report. Last year, Arvind, had produced its first ever sustainability report for the year FY 2013-14. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo, also generated a sustainability report under its parent company Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL)."
Just like corporates in steel and automotive industries, apparel companies are increasingly waking up to sustainability and doing their bit to go green. In line with this, Pratibha Syntex, Indore, is going to be the first company to release its sustainability report. Last year, Arvind, had produced its first ever sustainability report for the year FY 2013-14. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo, also generated a sustainability report under its parent company Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL).
Green initiatives
Pratibha Syntex, winner of GLASA award, is India’s first textile factory to achieve the ‘bluesign system partner’ status. It has decided to convert all its materials to 100 per cent sustainable products regardless of whether buyers take interest in them or not. Some of its key efforts to achieve this goal cover both environmental as well as social aspects like using zero discharge facility when its 100 per cent processed water is recycled with 93 per cent efficiency and is reused in the operations of the plant. Rain water harvesting in one of its facility makes its water positive. Under solar powered facility, electricity generated from solar panels constitutes 30 per cent of power consumption by the company. It has replaced its entire lighting system with LED lights which leads to significant amount of energy savings. Sameer Bhand, VP-Strategy & Sustainability of the company states that Pratibha’s focus is not just on bringing change but inducing overall transformation.
On similar lines, Devadas PM, AVP, Business Excellence, IE & Sustainability, Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, says the company is working on seven sustainability missions with targets identified and fixed for each mission. Like energy, it reduced purchase of grid electricity by 25 per cent through demand/waste reduction and achieved 14 per cent reduction in consumption by implementing the LED lights across all the factories. Very soon, 60 per cent of Madura plants’ energy consumption will comprise of solar energy.
Exporters’ initiatives
While large corporates are leading the pack, exporters are also doing their bit. A Sakthivel, Chairman, Poppys Knitwear, Tirupur, says the company uses 100 per cent BCI cotton and organic cotton yarn for its garment orders as required by buyers. It is first factory in Tirupur to initiate the green factory project. The company has fitted solar street lights, sewage treatment plants, servo motors in sewing machines, which consume less energy. Even more than 30 per cent of the normal tube lights have been replaced by LED lights. One more such company making commendable efforts is Raj Group, Panipat. The company has converted 40 per cent load of electricity by solar rooftops, converted pet-coke boilers to LPG and is running printing rotary machines totally through LPG plant. With rain water harvesting in place, the company is developing three big parks nearby its factory and has planted 500 trees in these parks for ensuring fresher, cleaner air.
Investments needed
But these efforts need substantial investments to gain sustainable status. Poppys Knitwear plans to spend approximately 2 per cent of its total budget on sustainability. It also envisions replacing remaining normal tube lights with LED lights, incorporate windmill power projects and solar panel roofings. Making it a core agenda of the organisation, for Pratibha Syntex, sustainability is not a programme with certain budget; it is in the company’s DNA and therefore its entire operation is very much aligned with it. Madura Fashion & Lifestyle has spent Rs3 crore till date and further plans to invest in solar installation at 4 of their facilities, rain water harvesting systems in 5 facilities and reduction of waste in all their activities. Raj Group is putting 500 KLD plant for ZLD, using recycled cotton, BCI cotton and GRS cotton in our products.
High input costs are resulting in the closure of a large number of textile mills in Pakistan engaged in making yarn and fabrics. The spinning industry is incurring heavy losses by supplying yarn below cost. The textile industry has been hit hard due to the high cost of energy, resulting in making Pakistan’s exports uncompetitive in the global market.
The industry now wants measures to be taken on an immediate basis to improve the efficiency and viability of the textile industry. These include: expeditious payment of long outstanding sales tax refunds and other refunds to address liquidity issue and check the large scale influx of imported yarn and fabrics in the country to save the domestic industry.
Pakistan has been facing a drastic decline in exports during the last four years. The country will encourage investment in the spinning and weaving sectors in such a manner that the maximum cotton can be converted into yarn and downstream products as it will facilitate farmers and the spinning industry while helping the whole textile chain and national economy in general.
Pakistan is helping the entire chain of textile sector to adopt and upgrade to new technology. Funds have been allotted to carry out research activities and bring about a qualitative improvement in industry-academia linkages.
Vietnam’s pact with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) which took effect in October 2016 has enabled the country to access a market of 183 million people with a GDP of nearly $2.2 trillion. The union include: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgystan.
Currently about 900 Vietnamese exporters are active in the EAEU market, with key exports including seafood, coffee, rubber, tea, rice, apparel, woodwork products and confectionery. From 2017, there has been a strong increase in Vietnam’s import of Russian food, coal, steel, paper products and chemicals, while healthy growth has been recorded for Vietnamese shipments of mobile phone components, apparel and farm produce to Russia.
In fact, Vietnam-Russia trade makes up 90 per cent of total trade revenue between the country and the EAEU, while trade between Vietnam and Belarus and Armenia in 2016 even recorded a decrease from 2015. The reason: Vietnam has a long-time trade partnership with Russia and an inadequate understanding about other EAEU markets.
So Vietnam-EAEU trade has fallen short of potential, staying at just over $3 billion on an annual average. Vietnamese enterprises have to study these markets and boost their product quality to maximize trade before the EAEU signs free trade agreements with more nations.
US’ imports of men’s and boys’ outerwear increased 4.1 per cent in the first half of the year. An increase in men’s outerwear was responsible for most of the gain. China maintained its position as the largest exporter to the US for outerwear, increasing its share by 2.1 percentage points to 43.4 per cent of total outerwear imports in the first half of 2017. China is the largest source of both men’s and women’s outerwear in both the knit and woven fabrication segments.
Canada’s outerwear shipments to the US have skyrocketed this year, with dollar volumes up by 126 per cent and units ahead by 46 per cent. The average cost per garment of imported Canadian outerwear has increased by 54 per cent in the first half of 2017.
Indonesia, India and Bangladesh, also key suppliers to the US, gained import share in the period. Though the second largest source of outerwear in the first six months of 2017, at 18 per cent of the total, Vietnam lost 0.9 percentage points of share in the period, with the biggest decline in the women’s and girls’ categories. The first six months of the calendar year typically represent less than 30 per cent of annual outerwear imports.
The US Group has been Pakistan’s top denim and twill exporter for 20 years. With two brands - US Denim Mills for fabrics and US Apparel and Textiles for garments-the group has been building on its reputation for reliability.
Known for its selvedge and innovation strengths, the US Group is now focusing on technology usage to enhance great denim styles from the past with new comfort, performance, sustainability and fashion benefits. This year, the company’s inventions are targeting authentic styles that helped launch denim in the 1970s. A range of fundamental denim fashion, including rigid and office-smart as well as selvedge, are being re-imagined to create greater sustainability, refine vintage styles and advanced fibers and weaves.
The company is also revamping it processes for reductions in water usage, while moving to harm-free chemicals. US Group is boosting organic production of bottom-wear cotton to satisfy the fashion industry's increasing demand. More recycled denim is being produced - including super-soft jeans that re-use the fluff that flies during weaving. Further techniques are being perfected to allow more post-consumer up-cycling. And new fabrics are being invented to utilize discarded bottles, unwanted poultry down-feathers, and even collected spider silk.
The Woolam Gin in the US has been awarded the Global Organic Textile Standard certification. This makes it the first certified US organic cotton gin utilizing Applied DNA’s molecular tagging system, which provides a single platform to tag, test, and track the organic cotton fibers throughout a certified supply chain.
The GOTS standard provides a chain of custody assurance covering cotton processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading and distribution of home and apparel textiles made with organic fiber. The standard prohibits the use of toxic inputs during the processing stages and includes strong labor protections, including prohibitions on child labor. As of January 2017, more than 1.4 million workers in more than 4,600 facilities in over 60 countries were certified under GOTS.
Woolam Gin is a third-generation family operated cotton gin. In 1991, it became the first gin in the United States to gin organic cotton. It is committed to processing cotton of the highest standard.
Applied DNA offers molecular technologies that enable supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping and DNA mass production for diagnostics and therapeutics. It provides innovative, molecular-based technology solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion.
India has requested Uzbekistan to consider reduction of import tariff imposed by Uzbekistan, especially on fabrics and made-ups. India’s commerce and industries minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged visiting Uzbek ministers to reduce duty on readymade garments and to simplify the procedure for registration and certification.
Uzbek minister of foreign trade Elyor Ganiev and minister of foreign affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov held detailed discussions with Sitharaman on deepening trade and economic ties between India and Uzbekistan. Sitharaman suggested setting up and activation of a private industry led Joint Business Council to develop and enhance business relations at all levels including investments, trade in goods and services.
Sitharaman also requested Ganiev to consider reduction of import tariff which are comparatively higher especially on fabrics and madeups (up to 30 per cent), MFN duty on readymade garment products which is 31.1 per cent and simplifying the procedure for registration and certification.
The Indian side also requested Uzbekistan to become a member of multilateral INSTC Agreement which would facilitate increased international transit cargo traffic through Iran. Both sides underlined the high importance of transport and logistics infrastructure for strengthening bilateral trade ties.
The International Apparel Federation (IAF) has secured a partnership agreement with World Textile Information Network (WTiN), delivering members major savings on subscriptions to WTiN’s comprehensive textile information portal.
The portal is organised into a series of insight channels, each focusing on a textile community such as knitting and weaving, effects or technical textiles. Additionally the portal delivers an expanding suite of deep market intelligence channels, currently comprising textile economics, digital textiles, medical textiles and performance textiles channels.
WTiN will offer a discount of 23 per cent on new subscriptions to IAF members and associate members. In addition, new subscribers introduced by the IAF will be entitled to one year’s free subscription to their choice of business-to-business magazines from WTiN’s portfolio.
WTiN is a leader publisher of business and technical insights for the global textile industry. The magazine portfolio includes Digital Textile, the world’s most important source of information for digital printers; Twist, for traders, processors and brands using natural fibers; and International Dyer a heritage of almost 140 years, and covers the full range of textile finishing applications.
IAF is the world’s leading federation for apparel manufacturers, brands, retailers, their associations, and the supporting industry. Associate members of IAF are prominent companies or institutes in technology, business services, retailing, logistics, culture and education.
Egypt wants to corner a larger global share for cotton amid competition from lower-quality cotton producers. A decision to set a guaranteed price for buying cotton from farmers has led to a significant increase in cultivated areas. These are the prices the government will pay to farmers in case they cannot sell their crops.
Difficulties in obtaining foreign currency make textile factories buy more Egyptian cotton for their production. There has been a tightening of controls over farms that cultivate lower-quality cotton. Inspections were tightened last season, resulting in higher production of good quality long staple cotton for which Egypt is best known. Egypt hopes for higher exports as a result of more areas being cultivated by cotton. It is also looking to more raw cotton going textile factories before being exported to gain from added value.
Raw Egyptian cotton is exported to countries like Pakistan which mix it with lower quality material and sell it as Egyptian cotton. This has harmed the reputation of Egyptian cotton in the global market. So the country will export thread and fabric rather than raw cotton.
Textile factories in Egypt currently import cotton because it is cheaper. Egypt may increase import duties on cotton to support locally produced crops.
Cambodia has launched the Cambodia Garment Training Center Institute (CGTI) for workers in the garment and textile industries to gain intensive skills for the development of productivity in the sector. The garment industry has been growing for decades and employs almost one million people while contributing to the country’s economic growth. With more than one million workers there are 1,168 factories and enterprises in Cambodia.
With a soft loan from the French Development Agency (AFD), CGTI has been built by the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia. Andrew Tey, Director of CGTI, points out Cambodia’s garment and footwear industry is facing many challenges and competition, while wages are set to be reviewed and will increase year-on-year, this requires better quality of production.
Right now Cambodia lacks a soft training institute, that’s why GMAC is pitching in to improve productivity. Else Cambodia will lose business to competitors countries like Vietnam, while Myanmar. The CGTI in cooperation with Singapore-based TaF.tc is providing Singaporean trainers and setting up courses for its first three years to train locals to become next batch of trainers.
Tey says the institute has already held its first class in mid-July, which comprised 43 students from three garment factories who are now working as assistant supervisors and team leaders
