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With major apparel companies ramping up efforts to expand presence within the country and abroad, the fashion market in South Korea is expected to grow 3.3 per cent this year. The size of the domestic fashion market is predicted to reach 39.3 trillion won in 2017, up from 38.3 trillion won estimated for last year says a report by the Samsung Fashion Institute.
This marks the fourth consecutive year of single-digit growth. The market expanded 11.8 per cent on-year in 2011. A grim outlook has prompted major apparel companies to revamp their strategies, bolstering overseas expansions and mergers as a way to brace against the slowing market.
E-land has been a leader among the players in entering foreign markets, currently running some 7,300 stores under its 44 different brands in China with solid revenues. The fashion division of Samsung C&T Corp., the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, and LF, the apparel affiliate of LG Group, have both tapped into Asia's biggest country.
Industry say companies need to come up with a fresh approach for overseas markets, as distinguished items are a key to success in the cutthroat environment where consumers are already swamped with ‘Louis Vuitton and Cartier’. According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea's apparel trade balance remained in a deficit, with exports reaching $1.89 billion and imports totalling $8.33 billion.
‘Make it British campaign that seeks to involve Bristishers in ‘You make it’ is witnessing a rise in the number of requests from businesses looking to work with UK manufacturers. A survey by Make it British reveals 45 per cent of UK textile manufacturers say business is better than last year.
Explaining this Kate Hills, CEO and Founder of Make it British said her organisation has a wealth of high-end manufacturers in the UK who provide a valuable service to British designers and who rely on the skills, flexibility and location of these suppliers when developing their collections for London Fashion Week. Make it British has seen a surge in enquiries from people looking for advice on where to find UK manufacturers and how to work with them. For this Make it British has launched ‘Ask Kate’.
It’s a live interactive broadcast every Thursday when Kate Hills gives people the opportunity to ask questions in real time. As a part of the answers she gives plenty of essential tips and practical advice for businesses looking to make their products in the country.
Adding to that Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council (BFC) observed that many of the British designers are already manufacturing product here in the UK and they frequently ask to make introductions and provide more information on the right production partners. The survey showed that many manufacturers are reporting increases in production of 25-50 per cent compared to 2015. Of the 95 UK textile manufacturers taking part, 30 per cent said they were receiving more enquiries now than prior to the EU Referendum.
Make it British organises an annual two-day event, Meet the Manufacturer, which showcases the return of manufacturing to the UK. It’s the only sourcing event exclusively for British fashion, textiles and homeware. This year it would take place on May 24 and 25 at the Old Truman Brewery, London and would boast of over 150 exhibitors plus a series of workshops and seminars, connecting manufacturers of textiles, apparel and leather goods with buyers, designers and retailers looking to produce quality British-made products.
For setting up a technical textile cluster in Tamil Nadu, the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) is talking to several agencies where common facilities, including R&D could be provided for start-ups. Since very few are into export of technical textiles at present, A Sakthivel, Regional Chairman, FIEO (Southern Region) says though the potential is immense, exporters would have to look at product diversification to achieve higher growth.
India’s export performance data for January this year has been positive and remained so for the last five months of current fiscal after two years of continuous negative growth. World trade is expected to be better during in the current fiscal (2017)and in the next (2018) at least in emerging economies.
But the prices of all products have started to fall globally. This could pose a huge challenge for manufacturing sector in India. Taking this into consideration, the Commerce Ministry should consider the present market situation and extend better facilities to the exporters in its mid-term review of Foreign Trade Policy, Sakthivel added.
Emerging Russian brands Artem Shumov, Naidal, Lumier Garson, ZA_ZA, Saint-Tokyo and Turbo Yulia will take part in the International Fashion Showcase (IFS) in London. IFS is an exhibition established by the British Fashion Council aimed at supporting young designers from all over the world. The show is on from February 17 to 21, 2017. The annual IFS project is one of the key platforms of London Fashion Week which reflects the symbiosis of fashion trends and contemporary art.
The event will be held at the Somerset House, the largest exhibition complex in London. The venue is an ancient 16th century building which recently has become one of central London’s prominent exhibition and festival platforms where London Fashion Week is held annually. Held from 1984, the London Fashion Week is among the five most prominent fashion weeks of the world being one of the largest platforms of fashion industry where over 150 designers present their new collections.
For the main theme of IFS exhibition will be local/global. In accordance with this theme every country is invited to study the influence of local traditions on fashion trends and examine how emerging designers can transform their local culture into a global language. To present the subject Local/Global the Russian designers have turned to stylistics of folk artistic crafts, imaging going back to the Russian historic background and traditions with the view to identify the Russian fashion in the global arena.
The Russian Fashion Council and Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia are long standing partners of the British Fashion Council. Russians taking part in the international IFS project will open a new page in the history of this partnership. The International Fashion Showcase (IFS) is held in London during London Fashion Week since 2012. Till now, over 450 designers from 57 countries of the world have taken part in it.
The project enables fashion designers from all over the world to show their works to the international audience, including buyers, journalists and other experts of the fashion industry. A panel of industry experts headed by Sara Mower (fashion critic, contributing editor to US Vogue and advocate for young designers at the British Fashion Council) will assess talents and perspectives of participants. Russia is going to take part in this international project for the first time.
Dhaka is set to revive FTA with Ankara that was put on hold for months following a diplomatic stand -off due to war crimes trial. A Turkish delegation comprising officials from its Ministry of Economy is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in March to discuss the proposed pact.
As per a senior Bangladesh trade official said that Turkish officials had invited them to visit Ankara for the talks but it was decided to host this round of negotiation in Dhaka. The last round of talks was held in Ankara. In mid-May last year, Turkish ambassador to Dhaka Devrim Öztürk left the country following execution of a Jamaat Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami. Before that, on several occasions Turkey strongly condemned the executions. However, the ambassador came back to Dhaka three months later in August last year.
Bangladesh is much positive about signing FTA deals with several countries including Turkey, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Myanmar. If they can get duty-free access to Turkey, exports to the Eurasian country will increase manifold. Also, Bangladesh has reservation in signing FTA with China and India since a study by Bangladesh Tariff Commission has found opening up the market for these countries would be disastrous both in terms of revenue as well as local industries.
Dhaka had opted for signing FTA with Ankara following the imposition of 17 per cent additional duty on import of textile and garment items from Bangladesh in June 2012. Other Bangladeshi exports enjoy zero-duty benefit in the Turkish market. Apparels account for over 75 per cent of Bangladesh's total exports to Turkey. Imposition of additional duty was a serious blow to Bangladesh's apparel export to Turkey.
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) says that it has achieved $12.42 billion till the end of third quarter which accounts for 82.8 per cent of the exports target. It may be recalled that the Ministry of Textiles had set a target of $20 billion for RMG exports for the financial year 2016-17 out of which $15 billion was for April-December period.
According to AEPC, RMG exports got impacted due to several pervasive geopolitical and economic uncertainties. As the US has shown negative growth in global exports, India’s exports to the country have also seen a decrease. Out of India’s top 10 products, seven have shown a decline during the review period. Changing economic conditions in the EU market have also affected India’s exports to the world’s largest economy. RMG exports by India decreased by 0.2 per cent compared to the same period of previous financial year. During April-December 2015-16, India’s apparel exports were to the tune of US $12.437 billion.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a consortium of North American apparel retailers and buyers has claimed that 68 per cent of all necessary repairs across Alliance-linked factories have been completed till date. It also says 60 per cent of Alliance linked factories had completed their corrective action plans to a great extent.
As per James Moriarty, Alliance Country Director the Alliance has helped transform what was once one of the most dangerous industries worldwide into one of the safest and as evidence; the number of fires and safety incidents was going down. The Alliance completes its pre-determined five year tenure in 2018.
Since its inception in 1995, Tex-Styles India Fair has emerged as an ideal forum for presenting the multi-faceted splendor of the Indian textile industry and established itself as the leading fair of its kind in south east Asia.
This is the only textile show in India which provides users a one-stop platform for purchase of every conceivable textile product produced by India i.e. furnishings, floor coverings, fabrics, garments, accessories etc.
Exhibitors will be companies in fields such as cotton, silk, wool, synthetics, power looms, jute, blended and other fibers.
A yarn and fabric show is being held in Bangladesh, February 15 to 18, 2017.
More than 180 exhibitors from six countries including China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and the host Bangladesh are taking part in the show to display state-of-art fabrics, garment accessories, fleece, fancy finishings, different types of yarn, weaving ribbons, denim, knitted fabrics, artificial leather, embroidery, snap fasteners, shoulder paddings, interlining, buttons, zippers, linen blends etc.
There are seven garment factories in Bangladesh that are placed in the top ten environmentally-compliant readymade garment factories around the world.
The country has a target of reaching 50 billion dollars in textile exports by 2021Currently Bangladesh imports viscose worth billions a year which can be easily saved by producing the product from its own raw materials. Production of viscose fiber has proved more profitable than production of readymade garments. Bangladesh has made a deal with China for building a plant to make viscose fiber from jute using Chinese technology and finance.
Chinese investment in Bangladesh has increased by 30 per cent in the last couple of years due to attractive schemes. China is the top exporter of apparel products in the world while Bangladesh is in second place.
With the Trans-Pacific Partnership fizzling out, Vietnam is turning to its Asian neighbors for trade pacts. The country is looking to increase exports to markets in the ASEAN and some countries where it has bilateral trade agreements, such as Japan. It will look at ways to boost exports to the EU.
Vietnam has nine free trade agreements, including deals with India, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Seven more are being negotiated. The more free trade agreements Vietnam signs, the less it will have to rely on China and its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership for the benefits of international commerce. Vietnam is more active than other countries in forging trade deals, and that allows it to diversify its risk. Because of its export-driven economy, Vietnam probably would have benefited from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty more than any other nation. The TPP would have dramatically lowered or eliminated the tariffs the US imposes on Vietnamese goods. The US is the largest customer for the apparel, electronics, furniture, and shoes that Vietnam makes.
TPP was not only about market access. It was also a driving force for reform, for transparency and anti-corruption. Australia is interested in resurrecting some version of the TPP with Vietnam and other Asian countries.
