FW
"Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia kicked off here at Moscow yesterday on March 12. The opening show was attended by Alexander Kibovsky, Minister of Government of Moscow, Head of Department of Culture in Moscow Government."
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia kicked off here at Moscow yesterday on March 12. The opening show was attended by Alexander Kibovsky, Minister of Government of Moscow, Head of Department of Culture in Moscow Government.
The Fashion Week opened with Detskiy Mir Fall-Winter 2017/2018 collection Born to Be a Rock Star. Daring and bright clothes of rock musicians reflecting to the rebellious kids' spirit, designer made the most use of glam, punk, hard rock and casual attributes that are so typical for contemporary indie-rock. Gleaming skirts and sneakers, pink ballerina skirts, headbands, leggings, denim jackets with patches, monochrome T-shirts with prints, black leather jackets and bombers with rolled up sleeves - using numerous pieces of this design kit one can put together a lot of interesting looks.
Evening wear for kids and teenagers were presented by the design duet Kibosvskaya & Pablosky. The catwalk featured princes in three-piece suits of thick silk and princesses in veil ball dresses. Oriental and European themes mixed in the garments: feathers and sequin with lace and flounces. Mauve and plum shades were balanced by sky-blue, turquoise and violet.
The collection L’erede was inspired by the street art. Cozy dresses coupled with leather jackets, cable-knit sweaters, ballerina skirts, 'business-like' two-piece suits - for every day, and sport costumes – for special events, every set beamed with freedom and bright individuality. Through the prism of colors, the collection looked calm and peaceful - powder pink, warm greyish brown, airy blue, white and dusty pink.
Fall-Winter collection Arcturus from Vadim Merils was all about lightness, moves, clear lines, precise cuts. The collection displayed garments for progressive youth, street stylers and trendsetters of the Big city. Military came alongside with glam-rock, and casual with clubbish wear items. Symbol of the collection is the Arcturus star that shines for all those in love, reckless and daring.
Character of the Fall-Winter collection from Dimaneu showed a girl who might have steeped out from Vrubel's the Swan Princess: incomprehensible and unforgettable. The collection featured traditionally minimalistic set of colors: garnish red, cool blue, dark-blue, white and all-absorbing black. The keynote of the collection was embroidered flock of birds and prints depicting fairytale princess. The silhouette balances from one edge to another: it is either stretched and straight, or made of puffy draping with underlined delicate waist.
Business style in the big city was demonstrated by Chapurin for Finn Flare. Shirts with petal sleeves, puff jackets and oversize dresses, loose pants with creases proved well that business environment could be comfortable. Among the highlights of the collection were large bows on the bags, massive scarves and hoods. Principal colors of the collection were steel grey, scarlet, black and emerald green.
Highlight of the Fashion Week Slava Zaitsev presented his Fall-Winter collection 2017. Signature style of the master could be traced in the entire line: from the outwear to evening gowns pret-a-porter de luxe. Luxurious garments with outlined silhouettes, trendy outwear made of jacquard and colored wool cloth, three-piece suits and cocktail dresses - feminine attributes were highly praised in the collection, even to the degree of the cult. The highlight of the collection was the bride's dress laced with fancy headwear.
Yulia Nikolaeva created an intellectual shell for a city girl. Straight cuts, A-shaped silhouettes, with one or two major color tones - seemingly simply elements gave birth to the multilayer floppy looks. The illusion has been completed with neat accessories - belt bags, backpacks and clutches. Winter-like dark but warm and thick shades of brown are emphasized by the color of ice coffee with milk.
Collection Fall-Winter 2017/18 from Alexandr Rogov impressed with the complexity and challenges: asymmetric dresses come along with costumes made of brocade, light semi-transparent blouses and skirts with finishing. Main feature of the collection was branded elastic bands.
In the presentation corner, Igor York showcased a line of handmade bags with the texture of steel 'buzz'. Acute and perfectly matching color of the bags allowed to shift an emphasis to the shape. Backpacks, wallets, clutches, hobo and satchel bags shine but due to precise lines look neat and minimalistic.
Tukatech has launched the enterprise edition of its Tuka 3D system for virtual product development for Indian enterprises and fashion designers. This edition includes all the high-functioning 3D development capabilities at a more attainable price.
As the necessity for new technologies and processes becomes increasingly more apparent in the apparel industry, designers and manufacturers of all sizes are turning to 3D solutions to increase efficiency in product development and enable effective global communication.
US-based Tukatech, provides fashion technology solutions for the garment and apparel industry. The California apparel industry uses TUKA systems extensively for digital pattern-making, grading, and marker-making. The company hopes to see a similar phenomenon in India with the onset of a more economical edition of Tuka.
Vendors, brands, and retailers worldwide implement Tuka 3D in their product development process. With this they can reduce product development time from 90 days to only seven days or increase the first sample acceptance rate from about 93 per cent to 99.8 per cent.
Not only does Tuka 3D provide an exceptional 3D product development solution, users can also take advantage of Tuka cloud, the web-based sample room for digital collaboration. This solution serves as a database of virtual samples and is also a communication platform that enables product development to take place in a digital environment reminiscent of the traditional design process.
Textile shop owners in Surat have been asked to pay property tax for the shelf space created inside the shops for storing the grey fabrics and finished stock. They want the dual property tax on textile shops to be abolished. Most shops in the textile markets have been built at a height. Shop owners have created shelves to store the bundles of grey fabrics and finished stock since there are no huge storage godowns.
A dual tax was imposed on the textile shops having storage shelves. The property tax department was asked to consider the shelves as godown and thus shop owners were asked to cough up dual tax — the entire shop as well as the shelf area. Shop owners in the textile markets say they have been paying the dual property tax since 2014 but most textile markets still do not get an adequate water supply, lack basic amenities and have to contend with an unhygienic environment.
Owners have purchased shops from realtors who built the textile markets. The textile industry in Surat is mainly engaged in yarn production, weaving, processing as well as embroidery. The Middle East is the major export market for Surat's textile products.
Pakistan’s textile exports have slumped and one of the major reasons for poor performance of the sector is the failure to cope up with technological advancement. Conversely, Bangladesh and Taiwan have adopted state of the art technology and captured a significant chunk of the international market.
In order to boost falling exports of textiles and garments, the sector has been injected with funds. In addition, export financing rate offered to the textile sector stands at 3.5 per cent, the lowest in the last 10 years. The sector has been the lifeline for Pakistan’s exports. The country is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world. Moreover, Pakistan also has the largest spinning capacity in Asia after China and India.
Pakistan wants to do exports of $35 billion dollars by 2018. The top five textile sectors have been given a zero-rated sales tax regime. Sales tax and customs duty on imports of textile machinery and cotton have been abolished. A number of projects of power generation through hydel, coal, solar, wind, and other resources have been initiated.
New export destinations including Mexico, Central Asia, Africa and Doha are being looked at. About 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports go to ten countries, namely, USA, China, UAE, Afghanistan, UK, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Italy and Spain. Right now Pakistan’s exports to South America, Africa, Central Asian Republics and Russia are less than ten per cent of the total exports of Pakistan.
Bolt Threads will release a limited edition knit necktie made of 100 per cent Boltspun spider silk—the first spider silk product ever available for purchase. The unisex tie is 100 per cent spider silk made by humans using the company’s proprietary technology.
The company, based in the US, was incepted in 2009 out of a curiosity about natural spider silk and the idea of engineering novel protein materials. Through its proprietary technology, the company has developed a way to closely mimic silk created in nature for mass commercial production, pioneering more sustainable and non-toxic processes for textile manufacturing.
Bolt Threads, a biotechnology company, is creating the next generation of performance fibers and fabrics using proprietary breakthroughs in industrial biotechnology. Working at the molecular level, Bolt Threads will transform the textiles market, turning renewable raw materials into products with outstanding properties that meet specific consumer needs.
Spider silk’s qualities are nearly mythical. Its tensile strength is comparable to steel’s. Yet it is lighter and can be as stretchy as a rubber band. A real spider generates silk in specialized glands in its abdomen, and creates the silk strands using a spinning organ called a spinneret. Synthetic spider silk could be used for everything from automobile parts to medical devices to performance outdoor gear.
Monforts’ coating modules can be used with or without a magnet system. The coating systems are available in four versions – basic, multi-functional, universal and multi-functional. The coating units will be displayed at an exhibition for technical textiles and nonwovens, Techtextil in Germany from May 9 to 12, 2017.
The basic version offers manual adjustment in two positions for air knife and roller knife coating and printing without magnet for working widths of up to 240 cm. The multi-functional version with two position manual adjustment is designed for magnetic knife coating with a working width of up to 240 cm and screen printing.
The universal version features motorised adjustment with three positions for foam coating, roller knife coating and magnetic knife coating; for working widths above 240 cm. The fourth, multi-functional version, with three position motorised adjustment, has been designed for direct fabric feed coating applications using printing templates and operating modes with roller knife and magnetic knife.
The Monforts coating range texCOAT incorporates knife over roller/air system; magnetic roller system; as well as printing head systems. Designed for constantly changing technical textile coating process applications, the systems coating modules can be quickly and easily changed by a specially designed undercarriage from the side of the unit, allowing it to be adapted for different applications.
Sri Lanka is moving toward exports of value added products. So processes in the industry are becoming more machine-operated and adopting advanced technologies and machineries. Labor will be trimmed down by 20 per cent. Production may be outsourced to countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam or Ethiopia while value creation and addition will be done domestically.
So the country is moving towards becoming a sourcing hub with regard to the apparel export industry and in the process reducing the export of non-value added or low-value added garment products while introducing increased industrial technological modernization. Sri Lanka is in no position to depend on the apparel exports industry as countries like Bangladesh which have cheaper labor are more competitive in the apparel export sector and market.
But though Sri Lanka is unable to be price-competitive and is also held back by way of the constant and acute shortage of labor, it could on the other hand capitalize on being internationally recognized in terms of quality and delivery. Quality can be developed by way of moving towards more and more value added products while cheap garments can be absorbed into the domestic market. Sri Lanka is the largest source for Victoria’s Secret lingerie and women’s wear.
A few years ago, most of the 2,000 or so villagers in Donggaozhuang, northern China, were struggling to put food on the table by growing wheat and corn. Now, dozens of them are millionaires and more on well on their way of making six-figure fortunes after switching to selling yarn online.
Donggaozhuang’s success story started with the idea of one villager, who set up an e-shop on Taobao, China’s largest online commerce platform, to sell yarn. Things went way better than he had anticipated, and in just three months, he had made a small fortune.
Word of his booming business spread like wildfire around Donggaozhuang, and the village elders soon approached the man, asking him to teach other members of the community how to set up their own online businesses. Since yarn had worked so well for Donggaozhuang’s first online entrepreneur, everyone followed in his footsteps and they all started making money. They started buying wool, turning it into yarn and selling that on Taobao.
But Donggaozhuang isn’t the only rural success story to come out of China. Nanliu, a small village in Shaanxi province, has become known as China’s stock trading village after many local farmers switched to trading stocks online.
Germay will host Fespa from May 8 to 12. This is an event for sign-making, digital, screen, industrial, textile and interior printing industries. There will be a series of seminars delivering key insights and market knowledge.
The seminar program covers a range of topics, focusing on the use of digital, screen and textile print technology in a variety of scenarios. Delegates attending these seminars have exclusive access to specialist learning opportunities, insights and discussions with respected industry figureheads, who will be on hand to provide their knowledge and understanding across a wide portfolio of printing applications.
The seminar program allows industry professionals gain access to and discuss a mix of technical and business knowledge, ensuring individuals have the tools to take their print business to the next level. Covering topics from direct-to-garment and promotional products to industrial inkjet and business solutions, the program is specifically tailored to the needs of attendees, delivering professional insight that can help to shape and transform industry practice moving forward.
Also the best wrappers from around the world will showcase their skills to win the title of world wrap master. The competition will see 36 wrappers battle it out to be crowned European Wrap Master 2017. During the wrap masters final, the wrappers will wrap a speedboat, with the final design being created by the winner of Fespa’s wrap design competition, which is running ahead of the exhibition.
Exporters in Pakistan want refunds to be done urgently. They say the cash flow crunch is causing problems, denting the country’s exports and impairing textile capacity. They stress the need to reform the tax system and make it export and trade friendly. They want gas supply at fair prices.
Other issues include the high cost of doing business, including high withholding and indirect taxes, and a distorted import tariff structure; weak implementation of export promotion measures; lack of coordinated support from formal institutions at federal and provincial levels; the relatively high cost of energy vis-a-vis regional economies; and an exchange rate regime that hurts exporters.
Exporters say an export-oriented industrial policy is needed with a focus on broader institutional support to exporters along with a duty-free regime for inputs and a strategic collaboration between public and private sectors. Small and medium enterprises need to lend financial and technological help with a focus on operational management skills, financial assistance, innovation, and technological upgradation.
The country’s falling competitiveness is also driven by poor trade facilitation, infrastructure gaps, inefficient logistics and poor investment climate. Export competitiveness can be improved by making use of the country’s GSP Plus status and bilateral and regional trade agreements, for example, with China, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.
