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Planet Textiles conference and exhibition reveals the first speakers of a uniquely diverse and influential line-up for four days of textile sustainability events in Denmark in May. Sandwiched between the two-day annual member meeting of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, Planet Textiles will feature renowned environmentalist, mountaineer and filmmaker, Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia's vice president of environmental affairs. Ridgeway is joined by a high profile cast which includes organisations such as the Chinese National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) which has chosen Planet Textiles to make its first presentation in the European textile market on the new 5-year plan – and how this plan will impact environmental issues in China's textile manufacturing sector to 2020.
Among the other confirmed speakers include senior governmental representation from the German Ministry's Partnership for Sustainable Textiles; the European Clothing Action Plan, which will talk about how to embed a circular economy approach to the European clothing sector; along with initiatives from other leading clothing and retail brands such as VF Corporation – which produces 562 million units of clothing per year from over 30 of its brands, including The North Face, Wrangler, Lee, Timberland and Volcom - to name a few.
Orissa plans to set up an integrated textile park in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 70 crores to give a fillip to the textile sector. The proposed park will be developed over 112 acres of land. It is expected to house about 22 apparel manufacturing units.
The integrated textile park scheme launched in 2005 was aimed to encourage private investments and employment generation in the textile sector by facilitating world class infrastructure for common facilities, such as roads, water supply treatment and distribution network, power generation and distribution network, effluent collection treatment and disposal system, design centre, warehouse, first aid centre, etc.
The project cost under the scheme will be funded through a mix of equity or grant from the ministry. The government of India’s support will be limited to 40 per cent of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs 40 crores for parks.
The scheme targets industrial clusters with high growth potential, which require strategic interventions by way of providing world-class infrastructure support. The project cost will cover common infrastructure and buildings for production and support activities depending on the needs of the integrated textile park.
Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation is the land acquisition arm of the state.
Assuming Sri Lanka is given back GSP Plus benefits by the European Union, these will be for a maximum of seven years. That’s because Sri Lanka is expected to reach upper middle income country status by end 2016 and GSP Plus benefits don’t apply to this category of countries.
If Sri Lanka reaches the upper middle income country status, and maintains this status for three consecutive years, the country will only be given one more year by the EU before these trade concessions are withdrawn.
Once Sri Lanka is capable of maintaining the required per capita income level the EU would then give one more year for local industries to adjust before withdrawing the trade benefits.
The categorisation of Sri Lanka in the upper middle income country category, even if it happens this year, would take place in two or three years. This would mean that Sri Lanka could enjoy the trade concessions for just seven years if GSP Plus could be re-gained this year.
Sri Lanka enjoyed the EU trade benefits of GSP Plus in 2005 and lost them in 2010 after the country came under the hammer from the EU bloc for violating human rights, among other issues.
Three international exhibitions focusing on textiles and garments will be held in Sri Lanka from March 10.The aim is to highlight the booming Sri Lankan sector and bring in reputed international manufacturers and suppliers.
The textile and apparel industry of south Asia enjoys a key position in the export sector. These exhibitions are expected to display the latest technology that Sri Lanka can adopt in the face of increased competition in the world market.
Exhibitors from over 10 countries will take part in these exhibitions, which are targeted at the entire business community, introducing international technology, machinery and material manufacturers to Sri Lankans under one roof.
The three events are as follows: Textech Sri Lanka 2016 International Expo, an international exhibition on textile garment technology and machinery; Dye+Chem Sri Lanka 2016 Int’l Expo focusing on dyes and fine and specialty chemicals; and Colombo Int’l Yarn & Fabric Show 2016.
The exhibitions are organized by CEMS Global USA, a multinational that launched its operations in Sri Lanka in 2009 as CEMS Lanka. Since its inception in 1992, CEMS Global has marked its presence as a multinational exhibition organiser in south and south-east Asia as well as South America with operations in seven countries. CEMS organises over 40 exhibitions a year on all important sectors of trade and the economy.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) unveiled its latest fashion show in Tokyo through a series of fresh initiatives. The event drew fashion experts, buyers, journalists, bloggers and celebrities, as well as the online fashion crowd to view the latest designs of some of Hong Kong’s hottest designers.
The show unveiled the latest Hong Kong designs to an audience of fashion lovers, movers and shakers, buyers, local fashion bloggers, celebrities, as well as representatives from the international fashion media. The collections highlighted Hong Kong’s design diversity. More than 900 attendees got an up-close look of fashion-forward styles, from Loom Loop’s eco-initiatives and Chinese folklore motifs with a fancy twist, to Meiking’s cubic art-meets- architectural cut, and Harrison Wong’s brilliant interplay of lines and stripes to Heaven Please+’s revisit of inventive visuals and ‘90s subculture.
A livestream of the show, organised by the HKTDC and media partner Fashionsnap on its official Periscope, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram platform, drew more than 10,000 views. Hong Kong online fashion retail start-up Goxip also live-streamed the show via its official Facebook account. The collaboration allowed fashion lovers from around the world to purchase items soon after the show.
More than 200 industry elites attended an after-show party to have a closer look of the runway designs and mingle with the creative minds behind the collections.
Lack of long term and affordable funding has continued to affect the competitiveness and productivity of Zimbabwe’s clothing manufacturing sector.
There has been some momentum gained through various support measures which are currently being implement but the gains are likely to be offset by negative effects of the drought, commodity price downturn and the significant devaluation of currencies across the region. So not much growth is expected in 2016. Sustained shortage of long term finance continues to affect the industry’s recapitalisation efforts.
The clothing sector can improve only with significant investment into capital equipment and raw materials. There is a possibility of growth in the sector if more focus is put on local procurement from the government, private sector and consumers.
In 2015, the clothing industry which manufactures clothing from fabric had a mixed performance with some significant successes, but also some failures. It is estimated to be operating at about 35 per cent overall.
The textile industry is currently operating at about 15 per cent capacity. The textile industry faces the same challenges as the clothing sector but requires a greater amount of investment. But within textiles the infrastructure is mostly still in place from prior periods of better performance, so it relatively simple to get it working again.
The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) denied the recent local newspaper reports that that Cambodia had surpassed Vietnam in garment and textile exports to the European Union (EU). This was incorrect, said the association and added that this was caused by a misunderstanding about statistics of the EU's imports of garment products that the association published recently.
The figure was about imports of garment products of the EU in 2015 (code HS61 and HS62) but was mistranslated that it included imports of both textile and garments products (with code ranging from HS50 to HS63). According to Vitas, Vietnam's exports of garment and textile products of Vietnam in 2014 and 2015 was 2.53 billion Euros (USVND61, 304 billion) and 3.13 billion Euros, respectively. Cambodia's figures were 2.26 billion Euros and 2.97 billion Euros, respectively.
The garment and textile export revenue of Vietnam remained higher than Cambodia; although the latter enjoyed a zero tax rate following the Everything But Arms, part of the EU Generalised System of Preferences while the tax rate on Vietnam's exports was 9.6 per cent.
The association said that in the short-term, garment and textile exports of Cambodia to the EU might move closer to Vietnam's thanks to a more preferential tax rate.
A textile exhibition, organized by Surat Dreams is being held in Greater Noida, March 5 to 6, 2016.The event also showcases a high profile fashion show where top models from the fashion fraternity will adorn latest ensembles from the ethnic couture.
With 108 textile manufacturers from across India, the fashion exposition is set to witness the participation of 2500 domestic buyers and 500 international buyers from the UK, USA, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and the Gulf countries.
The aim of this exhibition is to promote Indian textile brand value all over the world. The exhibition generates an excellent opportunity for manufacturers and buyers in developing business relations.
The event brings the latest trends in fashion with the perfect blend of traditional and modern western culture. The hope is to generate a profitable business relation with the international market and boost the ethnic art and culture of India. The target is to sign MOUs of around Rs 1000 crores.
Since this year there's a bigger focus on foreign buyers, one exhibitor from Kolkata is showcasing a fusion of Indo-western products and digital prints in saris, suits and kurtis. For instance the Indian sari has been redone with half print, half crushed, geometrical and flowers patterns.
Asian prices of synthetic fibers used in apparel and industrial materials have dropped for eight months in a row due to cheaper raw materials and an oversupply in China.
Sluggish demand for apparel and other textile products around the world and a healthy supply of fiber raw materials are at the root of the problem.
The Asian spot price of long polyester filament is 3.7 per cent cheaper than a month earlier and the lowest in about 14 years. Prices of polyester staple, a shorter fiber than filament, fell 3.6 per cent, the cheapest since February 2003.
One reason for the decline is that purified terephthalic acid, the main feedstock for polyester, has followed crude oil prices lower and now costs around 30 per cent lower from the recent high in May 2015.
Another is that in China, which produces more than 70 per cent of the world’s synthetic fibers, polyester supplies have exceeded demand by 40 per cent. The soft market will likely persist as long as the large oversupply does. Demand has been weak since the Lunar New Year but may start picking up in the latter part of March as apparel producers begin making fall and winter products.
Export earnings of Sri Lanka from its textile and garment sector have declined for the third consecutive month. December 2015 exports fell by 12.8 per cent. Overall exports declined by 18.7 per cent, year-on-year. This figure is mostly a reflection of Lanka’s low exports to both the EU and US markets.
Export earnings of Sri Lanka from its textile and garment sector contribute nearly 48 per cent to its total export revenue.
Garment exports to non-traditional markets like Canada, China and UAE have, however, increased by 1.7 per cent, year-on-year, during the month. The overall trade performance for the year 2015 decreased by 5.6 per cent owing to subdued global demand and lower commodity prices.
The leading markets for merchandise exports of Sri Lanka during 2015 continued to be the US, UK, India, Germany and Italy, accounting for about 51 per cent of total exports.
Sri Lanka’s export earnings, as a percentage of GDP, have been falling for years. Exporters blame growing energy costs and the strengthening rupee, making their products expensive in the global market.
Greater regional integration will help Sri Lanka capitalise on Asia’s growth while product diversification and sophistication would give scope and lift market share.
