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Brexit could be a sort of blessing in disguise for the British textile industry. The exit of UK from the European Union has resulted in a depreciation of the value of the sterling. This in turn has rendered UK’s textile and garment exports much more competitive for the export market. In wake of this situation, textile retailers from UK are eager to source more of their raw material requirements from local markets. Another factor that has led to this change in sourcing pattern is that with the fall in the value of sterling imports have turned more expensive.
The accentuating factor for the trend is the depreciated value of the sterling. The trend is more encouraging for domestic markets as the UK has not signed any free trade agreements with the EU. This will imply that EU countries will not be able to dump their goods in the UK market at cheaper prices. Customs duties would pose a stiff barrier and UK’s domestic markets will be subject to less competition from imports. On the flip side, the UK has also to circumvent the problems posed by the denial of access to a single EU market.
"Fashion retailing and manufacturing has takein a tragic turn over the years. Statistics reveal, today, about 80 billion new pieces of clothing are made each year, which is around 400 per cent higher than what it used to produce 20 years back while the global population only grew about 30 per cent. A new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation says cumulatively around the world a truckload of clothes get dumped every second. The average American throws about 82 pounds of textiles a year, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerated."
Fashion retailing and manufacturing has takein a tragic turn over the years. Statistics reveal, today, about 80 billion new pieces of clothing are made each year, which is around 400 per cent higher than what it used to produce 20 years back while the global population only grew about 30 per cent. A new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation says cumulatively around the world a truckload of clothes get dumped every second. The average American throws about 82 pounds of textiles a year, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerated. Of the clothing that reaches second-hand stores like Goodwill—only 15 per cent of all discards—some is recycled into shoddy (filling for cheap furniture) or upcycled into things like denim insulation, but most of it is shipped to poorer countries. However, they too have limits—African countries including South Africa and Nigeria recently banned Western castoffs, which have overwhelmed their markets, causing the decline of their local fashion business. Is it possible to retrofit a $1.2 trillion industry? Here are three revolutionary fabrics greening the industry.
Biopolymers in place of old fabrics
Two types of textiles, petroleum-made polyester and field-grown cotton, often woven together, have been the most preferred fabrics for decades. Ramani Narayan, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, states much of what we wear now is a blend of PET, a petroleum-based fibre, and cotton fibre. But these fabrics have their issues. Cotton, which makes over 30 per cent of our clothes’ yarns, is a natural material, but it consumes huge amount of water and even accounts for almost 20 per cent of pesticides and 25 per cent of the insecticides used in agriculture worldwide, before it’s even picked. The production of polyester, the demand for which has doubled in the last 15 years, is an energy intensive process that requires a lot of oil and generates harmful emissions, including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases, like hydrogen chloride, all of which contribute to respiratory disease. Adding PET to a textile gives better performance, it makes fabrics more moisture-resistant and gives them more washability. But they aren’t bio-degradable. Unless PET threads are decoupled from cotton and recycled, they don’t decompose, but separating fibres is extremely challenging. Towards this end, biopolymers are macromolecules—long chains of smaller molecular units strung together. These basic units can be amino acids, nucleotides, and monosaccharaides. The most common biopolymer is cellulose, which makes up one third of all plant material on earth. Cotton is 90 per cent cellulose, but there are other, less polluting alternatives.
Biopolymers can be grown or harvested from other plants like kelp or from living organisms like bacteria or yeast, which produce biopolymers as part of their lifecycle. The resulting fibres can be woven into a variety of textiles akin to polyester, leather, or a cellulose-like yarn. To a certain extent, these materials can sequester carbon from the atmosphere, acting as wearable carbon sinks. And when they are thrown away, these biopolymers will decompose. According to Narayan, using biopolymers in clothing can reduce energy and freshwater use and reduce climate change resources.
Sea to the rescue with Algiknit,
AlgiKnit uses kelp, a type of seaweed, to produce a biopolymer called alginate, which is then used for textile production. Kelp grows all over the world, forming offshore kelp forests. Some kelp species grow quicker than the fastest-growing terrestrial plant, bamboo, and are inexpensive to farm. As it sprouts, kelp cleans water too—absorbing phosphorous, nitrogen, and five times more carbon dioxide than land plants—so farming it near seaside cities can improve polluted local waters. Tessa Callaghan, co-founder, AlgiKnit, stated that the team’s big challenge has been to get their end fibre to be strong and flexible enough for use on an industrial knitting machine. It took a lot of experimentation to ensure compatibility between yarns and machines, but one of the team’s goals is to be able to use the yarn in the existing fibre and textile infrastructure, to streamline the new material’s acceptance.
Leather from yeast
Modern Meadow’s yeast-produced collagen is another biopolymer that is about to make its runway debut in a form of a leather product named Zoa. The New Jersey-based company designs DNA that can yield collagen, the protein that makes up leather. Susan Schofer, VP – business development, Modern Meadow, informed the company designs DNA that can make collagen, the main building block of leather, then purify it, and then use an assembly process to turn it into leather. Compared to traditional leather industries, Zoa’s production has a lower environmental impact and more fashion design opportunities. Modern Meadow will be introducing Zoa to market in 2018.
Sequester Methane
California startup Mango Materials makes its fabrics by feeding wastewater methane to methanotrophic bacteria that eat it and produce PHA-based polyester that can be woven into threads or molded into various shapes. Unlike the oil-based PET fabrics, PHA threads are biodegradable. Anne Schauer-Gimenez, VP – customer engagement, Mango Materials, highlighted since methane is a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, clothing made from Mango Materials’ fabrics has the potential to mitigate global warming, if used on a larger scale. When Mango Materials makes its polyester fabrics, the methane is essentially sequestered from the atmosphere, for as long as the clothes remain intact.
Turkey wants to improve its existing strong trade and economic relations with Bangladesh by singing an FTA. The countries will consolidate cooperation in key areas such as trade and investment, defense, education, tourism and connectivity. They are improving economic and trade relations. Bangladesh wants Turkey to withdraw the 17 per cent and 19 per cent additional duty imposed on Bangladeshi readymade garment and ceramic products.
Bangladesh has been having nearly seven per cent growth over the past few years. It has sought Turkish investment in special economic zones. On many international issues both Bangladesh and Turkey hold similar positions. They have signed two bilateral documents to enhance cooperation in the areas of small and medium enterprises and maintain the standards of products. This will cover areas such as small and medium enterprises, industrial production, standardisation, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and skill development.
Bangladesh and Turkey have also reiterated their commitment to work closely and support each other on bilateral and international issues of mutual concern, including the issue of forcibly displaced Rohingya people from Myanmar.
As per WTO World Trade Statistical Review 2017, the ratio of international trade growth to GDP growth fell to 0.6, indicating the worst year since 2001, and growth was just 1.3 per cent in terms of volume; the weakest growth rate since 2008. Euratex, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, notes that in spite of a bright EU economy, textiles and clothing activity in the EU lost its earlier momentum, in particular towards the end of the year.
As per the latest bulletin released by the Textile Confederation, textiles and clothing moved in opposite directions: Textile activity improved to some extent, while movement in the clothing industry showed no signs of recovery. Last year witnessed the slowest growth in EU exports since the financial crisis, while the retail turnover was less dynamic — recording a modest growth — when compared to the previous year Despite political issues, overall situation in the EU and OECD countries continued to improve. The EUs economic improvement did not benefit the clothing sector, whilst the textiles sector moved marginally ahead by just 1.6 per cent. Production prices again fell across the EU as a whole, with an overall reduction of 1.1 per cent. The only exception was in the UK, where output prices went up. However, this recorded a lesser decline when compared to 2015.
Euratex reports, “Employment in the EU for both textiles and clothing sectors remained almost stable in 2016. Taking into account the need to increase productivity to contend with global competition, as well as consumer confidence that only appeared late in the year, we could definitely view this general trend as a real sign of resilience. The textiles sector was in a more robust position, enabling it to boost employment, whereas the clothing sector again declined.”
Preliminary data for Q1 of 2017 was also favourable for the textile sector, despite a decline in spinning and weaving and nonwovens, whilst finishing has recovered somewhat. Knitted items (circular knitting) continued to grow, but at a reduced pace. Other textiles, including technical textiles, expanded more sustainably where growth was seen mainly came from the Eastern European countries. The clothing sector continued to reduce production, yet turnover rose marginally. Managers’ expectations during the second half of 2017 continued to rise with positive assessments of production enhancement.
The Sri Lankan’s handloom sector is ‘seeing good days’ following many governmental initiatives to revive the sector. Many Lankan handloom makers are reaping good profits, says the minister of industry and commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. The handloom sector in Sri Lanka faced a slow decline since 1990s, and the government initiated several measures to successfully revived the sector.
The Minister said currently, all handloom products made in Sri Lanka are selling at a quick pace and despite this, the sector is unable to meet the growing demand. Most sales are from domestic buyers and the remaining revenue comes from sale to tourists. Most Lankan handloom makers are in the East. Among other leading provinces for handlooms are Central and Southern parts. The government plans to improve the country’s handloom sector and his Ministry strives towards promoting this sector and also supports handloom makers.
The Minister further pointed out that 70 per cent of handloom makers are women and therefore strengthening this sector is a way to empower rural women. This sector is also a contributor to government's self-employment creation plans.
Revealing the strategy, he said that the handlooms makers use high quality colourful yarn for their produce which are expensive. Therefore, the Ministry is working on a project to make low cost dyes for the handloom sector by establishing a handloom dye and colour centre using latest technology, in the North Central Province. The Minister was grateful to the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology in Salem for training about 35 Sri Lankan handloom craftsmen who were also introduced to new market trends.
As per the annual survey conducted by Make it British, — the go-to resource for information on UK manufacturing and British-made brands— UK’s textile manufacturing is booming with production up 25 per cent; and 50 per cent of businesses reporting an increase in turnover, when compared to last year. This comes despite economic uncertainty with issues surrounding the availability of skills for an industry that just a few years ago everyone considered to be dead. Kate Hills, Founder and CEO of Make it British, explains this survey reveals that 2017 has been another great year for the sector. There is increased interest from overseas and more companies are looking to source locally. As a result, more factories are opening or working longer hours and taking on apprentices to keep up with demand. The increase in production and turnover is being helped partly by the exchange rate working in UK manufacturers’ favour. One manufacturer reported: “as the pound loses its value our turnover has increased by 30 per cent”. Whilst around a third of UK textile manufacturers are exporting more than they were in 2016, there is a tremendous opportunity for growth.
The workforce remains a concern for many, with two thirds reporting that the average age of their workforce is over 40. A key challenge for 2018 will be how to attract more young people into the industry- and quickly – with the average employer only having taken on one young person in the last year. The positive news is that the workforce is getting younger and apprenticeship schemes are driving interest, with one manufacturer reporting: “We have a relatively young staff and support apprenticeships for improving skills.”
So what does the future hold for UK textile manufacturers in 2018? Nearly 100 manufacturers from across the fashion and textile sector were surveyed, ranging from small workshops producing luxury women’s wear to textile mills producing millions of metres a year. It’s looking decently good with respondents scoring 3.2 on a scale of 1 to 5 when asked how optimistic they feel about the future of their industry.
The Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2) and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative announced a $3.9 million grant to support the second phase of R&D at cutting-edge research hub, the Defense Fabric Discovery Centre that opened in October. The funding follows an initial $2.2 million announced in May by Lt Gov. Karyn Polito to support the opening of the Defence Fabric Discovery Center, and brings the state’s investment to the partnership between MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development & Engineering Center to $6.1 million.
The grant, which will support R&D into innovative, revolutionary fibres and fabrics that have applications in the defence sector was made as a part of M2I2 which provides a vehicle for the state to match Federal investments made in the Manufacturing USA institutes, including the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA). Gov. Charlie Baker says by supporting important projects and organizations like this, the Commonwealth’s M2I2 program helps ensure Massachusetts continues to lead in innovation and advanced manufacturing.
Eric Evans, Director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory explained the Commonwealth’s investment in the Defense Fabric Discovery Center creates a significant, new research and development capability at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The Baker-Polito Administration has committed over $100 million in funding over five years to the M2I2 effort.
Through manufacturing excellence the Indian textile industry is aiming at trying to achieve worldwide acceptance for its products. A new textile policy for 2017-2022 is being drafted. Awareness about government subsidies and schemes is being created across all forums. The textile industry is being encouraged to experiment with technical textiles such as agro textiles, geo textiles, medical textiles in order to be able to compete with European nations which contribute 60 per cent of the overall production of geo textiles.
Instead of just making a typical commodity product, the industry is attempting to change the product pattern and add more value to it to make India the largest producer of synthetic fiber globally. Systems and processes are key enablers for competitiveness in the apparel industry. India is known for having a robust industry structure. Even though labor costs are reasonably low, they can be improved upon with skill development. This would help in greater efficiency and also in satisfying the customer demand for quality, latest designs and timely delivery. Work efficiencies are being improved, starting from fiber to fashion. Four key trends are significantly impacting industries around the world. These are the millennials, digitization of business, the emergence of industry 4.0 and China’s expanding economy.
India will undertake a scheme for capacity building in the textile sector with a budget outlay of Rs 1300 crores for two years. The scheme would enable the industry to adopt scientific principles for upgrading the skills of employees and achieving higher productivity. It would also facilitate cost cutting and quality improvement, train fresh workers, but also upgrade skills of supervisors, executives, managers and entrepreneurs. The Indian textile industry has been lagging in productivity behind countries like China, Bangladesh, Vietnam etc. It is the second largest employment provider next only to agriculture.
It is essential to train the workforce on a scientific basis and constantly upgrade skills to remain globally competitive and also enable employees to earn good remuneration. Earlier the ministry of textiles had launched the Integrated Skill Development Scheme. Under this scheme, around 11 lakh people got benefited. And of the people who have been trained 70 per cent need to be placed in the entire value chain of the textile sector.
India is looking at policies and programs to encourage economies of scale. Looking at the demand the industry is working toward economies of scale. India is the second largest exporter of textiles and apparel next to China. But while China’s share is almost 40 per cent of global exports, India’s share is about five per cent.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) in collaboration with the Defence Research and Defence Organization (DRDO) are working to develop a smart, intelligent, lightweight and lower in price jacket for soldiers with unique feature and design; it is also integrated with interconnects, antennas, sensors and chips. Advanced features like signal processing chip, chemical sensor and communication chip will help soldiers in mobility, threat detection and communication.
Textile-based flexible circuit boards and multi-chip modules will be developed in the initial stage. Later, modelling, fabrication and testing of different types of radio frequency and microwave antennas on textile-based and polymeric substrates will be undertaken. Finally, several kinds of sensors will be developed and integrated into the textiles. Anuj Dhawan, Professor-in-charge of the five-year timeframe project, disclosed it is in the initial stages, but their goal is to get it operational within three years.
At IIT-D’s Joint Advanced Technology Centre (JATC) set up by DRDO where over a dozen researchers are working on the jacket in three phases at the JATC as per the IIT-D website. An official said that these features embedded in the jacket will be very help soldiers in adverse circumstance. For instance, the gas sensors will help detect gases and identify their type and through communication chips, soldiers can pass on messages and at times of emergency, inform their colleagues, or seek help.
