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Portuguese clothing exports increased 2.2 per cent during the first five months of the year. Italy was the fastest growing customer during this period, corresponding to a 33 per cent rate development. Other markets were: France with a 4.5 per cent growth and the Netherlands with 11.6 per cent growth. The main markets for fashion from Portugal are the US, Spain, Germany and the Nordic countries.
Exports account for 70 per cent of Portugal’s textile and clothing business. The industry has been able to carry out an extraordinary reconversion and modernization. It is primarily clustered in the north coast region of the country and encompasses spinning, weaving, finishing, knitting, apparel manufacturing, home textiles and technical textiles. Located in the same region are the Technological Centre of the Textile and Clothing Industry and the Centre of Nanotechnology and Smart Materials.
The country’s textile industry has shifted over the past two decades from an emphasis on price to value in response to competition from low-cost countries. The focus now is on fashion, design, technological innovation, logistics and international markets. Portugal is promoting textiles in three silos: brands/fashion/design, private label and home textiles. Home textiles represent nearly 40 per cent of the sector’s exports to the US.
Mode City along with Interfilière will bring in consumer-centric future by creating a B2C or Business to Consumer component. Participation in the B2C segment will be optional for exhibitors, who may choose to have separate stands or pop-up shops in the Summer Camp area. Brands and retailers will have the opportunity to get to know consumers and their social influencers, leading them to update and take more risks with their products.
The new format will allow consumers to discover new brands, particularly the growing number of small independent brands who may not have an internet presence. Beyond the exhibits, consumers may opt for private tours of the trend areas or reserved seats at the fashion shows.
Textile innovators might take the opportunity to explain new yarns and sustainability issues to consumers, as retail displays and hang-tags often fail to do the job. The new format follows the example of several ready-to-wear brands, who have recently chosen to show their collections directly to consumers via social media.
Understanding the new consumer has proven a challenge for many brands, retailers, and suppliers. In addition, the globalization and hybridization of the market is driving more exhibitions in diverse locations, while the supply chain is being required to run faster and leaner.
Milano Unica, which recently concluded its latest edition on July 12, 2018, registered 6,000 visitors, almost 4 per cent more than its 2017 edition. The number of exhibitors also grew 4 per cent as compared to July 2017. The exhibition showcased latest trends in eco-friendly textiles. In February 2018 edition, 53 exhibitors had showcased 250 fabric samples in the new sustainable fabric trend area while this edition featured 123 companies showcasing 50 fabric samples.
Some of the innovations displayed included: Iluna Group velvet laces entirely made with sustainable materials including Roica Eco-Smart family fibers. Similarly, Schoeller launched its cotton-feel technical materials treated with PFC-free Ecorepel Bio treatment. Albini launched a series of eco-friendly products such as Zero24, a wrinkle-free line of shirting fabrics. It also offered fabrics made with organic linen and cotton, biological silk, BCI cotton, but also Tencel Micro and Cupro.
Various innovations were introduced in the wool market, too. Reda and its Reda Active line of innovative wool fabrics offered a series of jackets made with wool and Cordura as a special jacket by Rossignol designed by Damir Doma. A special top by US brand Armadillo made with Merino wool, a new men’s bathing suit made with wool and Cordura that is tear-proof and dries fast, skiing casks by Kask, lined with its techno-wools, and sneakers whose uppers are made with functional and weather-protective wool knit.
Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, recently hosted a technology day in New Delhi. Dedicated to exporters and brands of India, the seminar paved the way to digitalisation with Industry 4.0 and the methods that can help companies meet today’s challenges and address the highly competitive global market demands. The event brought together 20 decision makers from leading manufacturers, exporters, and brands community present in New Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Faridabad area.
India is currently adopting technology to achieve efficiency. Today, the impact of data generated by companies, and their optimisation, plays a vital role in decision making. Smart manufacturing technology allows companies to achieve full supply chain transparency. By improving process visibility, they can adopt new business models, improve operational efficiency and produce in larger volumes. Thanks to innovative technology, exporters and manufacturers can define the KPI’s of their departments to analyse the measurable for informed decision making which supports to keep up in this rapidly moving fashion world.
Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will be held from September 27 to 29. Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is a comprehensive platform to showcase supreme apparel fabrics and accessories. The event will see 4,000-plus suppliers and more than 70,000 trade buyers. The earlier date for the industry’s largest trade event is attracting many of the biggest apparel fabrics and accessories back to the 2018 edition.
Birla, DuPont, Hyosung, Invista and Lenzing will have Group Pavilions. As the most comprehensive sourcing platform in the industry, the fair’s product groups include cotton, wool, manmade, silk, linen / ramie, denim and knitted fabrics, as well as lace and embroidery, fibers and yarns, garment and fashion accessories, original pattern designs, sustainability products and services and digital printing technologies. Application areas for these products include women’s wear, men’s wear, suitings, shirtings, casual wear, functional wear / sportswear, denim wear, lingerie and swimwear, children's wear and more.
Two international promotion bodies Cotton Council International and The Woolmark Company also return, as will global Chinese players Bros Eastern and Huafu Fashion. Among the many Japanese participants will be Komatsu Seiren and Stylem, while Dormeuil and Malhia Kent from France participate again this year. Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics will run concurrently with the CHIC and PH Value fairs this edition.
India and Mauritius are negotiating a free trade agreement. The broad contour of the FTA will include trade in goods, trade in services, dispute settlement, trade remedies, economic cooperation and technical barriers to trade.
The choice of items for India for greater market access, though, is not too big as only around six per cent of goods in the island nation are dutiable; the rest are already duty-free. But as Mauritius is part of a host of FTAs in Africa, India is hopeful that a bilateral trade agreement with the country could open the doors wider to the entire continent.
While Mauritius understands that the pact can’t be very wide as India’s tariffs are relatively much greater, India also accepts that actual tariff cuts have to be offered rather than merely giving a margin of preference over other countries.
With China already prepared to sign an FTA with Mauritius later this year, the pressure on India is greater. Geopolitical reasons for signing a free trade pact with Mauritius are also important as India cannot allow China to have a greater influence there.
Negotiations on the FTA had first begun in 2005, but they were soon suspended as there was no agreement on the definition of enterprise and treatment of shell companies in the chapters on services and investment.
Global Brands Group will sell a substantial part of its North American branded business to Differential Brands Group for $1.38 billion. The move, announced at the release of its annual results said it will allow it to cut debt, pay a modest special dividend to shareholders and free capital to grow a more focused business, the company said. It will also result in about half of its 7000 staff leaving the company.
Global Brands Group is currently carrying about $1.1 billion of debt, much of it related to its 2014 spin-off from Li & Fung and subsequent listing.
The assets to be transferred include: licences for Disney, Star Wars, Calvin Klein, Under Armour, Tommy Hilfiger, Bebe, Joe’s, Buffalo David Bitton, Frye, Michael Kors, Cole Haan, Kenneth Cole and the BCBG Max Azria label which it bought last year for $27.4 million after the company filed for bankruptcy.
On branded product side, the group’s European and Asian businesses will remain as before, while its US business will now focus on footwear and its remaining fashion business. Brand Management will continue to be managed on a global basis.
The EU is Cambodia's second biggest trading partner after the US. Cambodia's exports are dominated by garments, footwear and agricultural products. Cambodia even exported more than 1.42 million bicycles last year, passing Taiwan as the leading exporter to the EU. It Cambodia has duty-free access to the EU for exports of all products, except arms and ammunition.
But this is conditional on compliance with a long list of international human rights standards, including civil and political rights and labor rights. About 80 per cent of the increase in Cambodia's exports since 2007 has been to markets offering preferential access.
But no amount of diplomacy can explain away the reality of Cambodia's horrific human rights record. Various reports by the UN and human rights groups have been sounding alarm for years. There has been a ruthless crackdown on human rights and the dismantling of the rule of law and democratic institutions in Cambodia. An association representing the country’s roughly 600 garment and footwear factories is worried about the impact on the industry if the EU amends or removes trade preferences for Cambodia. The soft diplomatic approach favored by some in the EU has proven to be a waste of time.
For 2017-18 Bangladesh’s export earnings from lingerie items — innerwear and nightwear — were up 7.84 per cent compared to previous fiscal. Manufacturers are now making fresh investments in this segment as they try to grab a bigger share of the global market. The prospect of orders coming in a large number following a rise in the cost of manufacturing apparel in China has made attracted local investors. To add more value added products to the export list, dozens of garment factories have started manufacturing lingerie in the last few years, contributing to the rise in export volumes.
As entrepreneurs have already demonstrated their expertise in this segment in the last one decade, buyers are now showing interest in sourcing such items from Bangladesh. Besides, buyers who have already been sourcing other garment items now want Bangladesh, well known as a garment-producing country ensuring quality and lead times, to produce lingerie.
Lingerie is called engineering industrial garments since it is a complicated and technical product that needs a sophisticated design with the right fabric and tailoring to yield a good and satisfactory fit. Exporters have set their sights on this value-added product to maximise their earnings amid a growing demand for it.
Sustainability is now an integral part everyday life with consumers’ growing awareness and their stance to opt for eco-friendly products. And to sustain existing customers and lure new ones, textile and apparel companies are creating ethical robes and offering innovative products. They are also making sure that the impact is percolated till the end of the value chain and their suppliers so that no unethical practices are imbibed and followed. In line with this, San Francisco-based startup Allbirds, founded by Joey Zwillinger and Tim Brown, introduced the world’s most comfortable shoes. Among the materials used by the brand are recycled bottles for laces, castor bean oil for the insoles, recycled cardboard for packaging as well as its signature merino wool and tree fibers for the shoe uppers.
In May, Adidas Speedfactory in its first high-performance
running shoe made with Parley Ocean Plastic off the West Coast, and The North Face recently revealed the pilot phase of its green project, Renewed, a collection of refurbished clothes sourced from returned, defective or damaged apparel. Stella McCartney launched her fashion house as the first vegetarian luxury brand and has built her business based on the practice, founding the ‘World of Sustainability’ platform to document the start-to-finish process of operating a modern and responsible company. Other well-known brands that have established their sustainability credentials include Patagonia, Eileen Fisher and Reformation.
Fast fashion companies’ initiatives
And fast fashion companies are not far behind. H&M for example in its 2017 Sustainability Report revealed recycled or other sustainably sourced materials made up 35 per cent of the company’s total material use. Mattias Bodin, sustainability business expert in materials and innovation, H&M, stated every year the company takes new steps towards its bold goal to only use recycled or other sustainably sources materials by 2030. This significantly reduces the use of natural resources and the negative impact the business has on the climate. High-street e-tailer Asos partnered with the Centre for Sustainable Fashion to launch a circular fashion training programme to educate its designers on sustainability. Nike, Under Armour and other mega footwear and apparel players have also joined the fray — publishing their own annual sustainability reports to keep track of their advancements in this arena.
While universal guidelines for sustainability have yet to be determined, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition is the most credible governing body for the industry, developing the Higg Index that enables brands and retailers to measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance. It empowers businesses to improve conditions for factory works, local communities and ultimately the environment.
Although millennials vouch for sustainable fashion and social change, the eco-friendly factor of a fashion product are often dominated by factors such as price and value. A LIM College survey determined that even though the generation favours sustainable apparel and accessories, the industry is not providing them with sufficient choices that also meet their most important criteria for making a purchase.
