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The government has announced Rs 8,450 crore additional incentives to enhance the country’s exports. This move is expected to mainly benefit sectors such as textile and medium and small-scale enterprises (MSMEs) as it is these two sectors that was most affected post demonetisation and GST. Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu recently unveiled the mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 with a view to boosting exports. Announcing the decisions he said the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) incentive rate would be raised by 2 per cent across the board for labour intensive and the MSME sectors. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President, Ganesh Kumar Gupta, has suggested gradual extension of MEIS to other exports segments as they also were facing various challenging export issues.
Gupta urged a one-time relaxation to meet export obligations should be provided to the industry so that they can escape the penal provisions which will be disruptive and will provide an opportunity to enhance exports as well as provide employment. The increase in annual incentive by 34 per cent to Rs 8,450 crore will benefit the leather, handicraft, carpets, sports goods, agriculture, marine, electronic components and project exports.
The focus of FTP, he says, will be on exploring new markets and products as well as increasing India’s share in traditional markets and products. The key emphasis will also be on enhancing participation of the country’s industry in global and regional value chains.
The FTP will provide additional annual incentive of Rs 749 crore for the leather sector; Rs 921 crore for hand-made carpets of silk, handloom, coir and jute products; Rs 1,354 crore for agriculture products; Rs 759 crore for marine products; Rs 369 crore for telecom and electronic components; and Rs 193 crore for medical equipment. The five-year FTP set an ambitious target of the country’s goods and services exports at $ 900 billion by 2020. Its other aim is to enhance India's share of global exports from 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent. The Government did not accept garments exporters’ demand for measures, which improved market access and cost competitiveness.
Australian company Nanollose has produced what it believes to be the world’s first plant-free viscose fiber. This gives Nanollose a significant opportunity in offering a sustainable alternative for plant-based fibers such as viscose that can have significant environmental impacts. Viscose, also referred to as rayon, is a well-established fiber made from cellulose predominantly derived from wood pulp and used to make everything from apparel to home furnishings.
However, there are significant environmental concerns surrounding production as a considerable amount of trees are cut down, chipped and then treated with hazardous chemicals followed by an energy intensive purification process to source the cellulose required for viscose production. Unlike conventional rayon, Nanollose’s sustainable plant-free viscose is derived using microbes that convert biomass waste products from the beer, wine and liquid food industries into microbial cellulose, in a process that takes less than one month and requires minimal land, water or energy. The microbial cellulose is then converted into viscose fibers using the Nanollose technology that is compatible with existing industry processing and manufacturing equipment.
Nanollose initially plans to tap into the established coconut industry to secure a supply of plant-free microbial cellulose, which will then be processed into viscose and other fibers using Nanollose technologies.
As the textile sector is India’s second largest employment provider, the government has taken several initiatives to enhance international competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. The mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has largely focussed on ‘ease of doing business’, ‘ease of trading across borders’, ‘exploring new export markets’, ‘new export products’, ‘simplification of procedures and processes’ and ‘establishing national trade facilitation committee’ headed by the Cabinet Secretary, to boost exports.
P Nataraj, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has stated that the uniform tax rates and practices post the implementation of GST across states have led to considerable reduction in the logistics and transaction cost for exporters. He has appreciated the formation of the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) under the Cabinet Secretary to focus on transparency, technology, simplification of procedures and infrastructure augmentation, among others. 24 x 7 customs clearance extended to 19 sea ports and 17 air cargo complexes would help exporters informs Nataraj.
The government is yet to consider the long pending demand of including cotton yarn exports under MEIS and IES schemes and also to consider the fact that fabric exports under RoSL that are essential to utilise highly capital and labour intensive surplus production capacities in the spinning, weaving, knitting and processing segments, he stated. The government could have considered the industry’s demand of GST free domestic procurement against EPCG and Advance Authorisation Scheme to boost exports under the mid-term review.
He hoped the government would soon announce enhanced duty drawback rates for all textiles taking into account all embedded/blocked levies and enable the exporters to continue to have the level of export competitiveness that they had under pre-GST era.
Working with schools to design courses which meet the needs of fashion companies has always been at the heart of Lectra’s education program. The company brings together partnership schools and industry experts to discuss how changing professions in fashion are impacting training programs. It organizes competitions with Missoni, Balenciaga, and Armani in Italy as well as Peacebird in China and JC Penney in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, Lectra collaborated with H&M and the Arts University Bournemouth for a competition centred on the design of a collection with zero waste. The process was totally digital, from design to the creation of a virtual prototype in 3D. Students learnt to optimize each stage of the process. The event also threw a spotlight on China and its major role in the evolution of the fashion industry. It brought together major Chinese companies, experts, and representatives from the biggest schools in China.
Exchanges on the impact of the Made in China 2025 plan on the fashion industry were meant to better prepare students for tomorrow’s professions, where digital and automation will occupy a far more central position than today.
Fashion professions are evolving as companies make their first steps towards Industry 4.0, adopting 3D and rationalizing the lifecycle management for their collections.
The global cooling fabrics market is expected to be worth $3.24 billion by 2025. A growing focus on fitness, sports, and leisure activities coupled with increasing health consciousness is likely to propel market growth. The innumerable benefits offered by cooling garments such as moisture wicking, sweat evaporation, breathability, and ventilation have enhanced their use among athletes. Additionally, these fabrics address sustainability issues by saving energy that is required to heat or cool the environment around the wearer.
The sports apparel segment is expected to account for 44.5 per cent of the global market in 2025. Demand can be attributed to heat, moisture, and perspiration resistant, lightweight, smart, and easy to carry wearables, which assist in regulating the wearer’s body temperature in line with the outside temperature. The technological advancements in the product to enhance the performance of garments are likely to fuel its demand in the forecast period.
Demand for cooling fabrics in military and industrial applications is increasing. This is due to their benefits such as temperature regulation, resistance from harmful UV rays and pollutants as well as the protection they provide to the wearer in case of excessive heat exposure. Demand from the healthcare and fashion industries is anticipated to accelerate the market growth.
Bangladesh home textiles which produces high quality textiles for home furnishing, is looking at the EU to increase its market share. Analyst forecast export earnings from the country’s home textile segment would go beyond $1 billion by next year (2018) as the industry is seeing steady growth in international markets over the last couple of years. As per EPB statistics, the country’s home textiles export increased by 6.13 per cent to $799.14 million in the last fiscal year (2016-17). Around 70 per cent of the earnings come from the EU market.
Looking at the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, Euratex data, the EU imported home textiles worth $6.86 billion in 2016, where Bangladesh market share was 7 to 8 per cent. The value of global home textiles stood at $107.4 billion in 2014 and is expected to cross $131.5 billion by 2020. To this end, a group of local entrepreneurs are going to take part in a four-day International trade fair ‘Heimtextil Frankfurt 2018’ at Frankfurt in Germany early in next year. Heimtextil, the biggest international trade fair for home textiles, will be held from January 9, to 12, 2018.
The exhibition will showcase the world’s largest range of textile products. A wide range of products will be on display at the Heimtextil under the division of home textiles and the household textiles product segments, as well as a services segment. A total of 19 Bangladeshi entrepreneurs will take part in the exposition and display their products. Of these 10 will be participating with help from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh.
With official estimates of losses pegged at a whopping Rs 15,000 crore nearly 50 per cent of the cotton crop in the state has come under pest attack. A total of 42 lakh hectares is under cotton and nearly 20.36 lakh hectares spread across 18 districts has been affected with pink bollworm a major cotton pest.
Officials of the state agriculture department say there have been complaints of Bt cotton seeds failing for the last two to three years, the magnitude of the attack and losses are unprecedented for this year. So far around 80,000 farmers had applied for compensation with the agriculture department. But field inspection of only 2,188 farms has been completed.
The cost of insecticides and pesticides, which constitute nearly 40-45 per cent of the total cost of production, was also projected to come down through use of Bt seeds. On the basis of these claims, companies manufacturing the seeds were charging farmers a higher sum. This year 160 lakh packets of Bt seeds each costing Rs 800 were sold bringing in business of Rs 1,280 crore for companies and nearly 96 per cent farmers in the state use Bt seeds.
Chandrakant Patil, Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation says the state cabinet has given permission to conduct inspections of affected area. Compensation will be given to the farmers either through state disaster relief fund or the national disaster relief fund. The first two picks have yielded more cotton than last year. The pest attack has only affected the third picking.
The first edition of the Global Textile Technology & Engineering Show (GTTES 2015) was very well received. Now, bookings are on for the second edition is from December 4, 2017. The next edition is slated to open doors from February 1 to 3, 2019 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai. GTTES 2019 is being supported by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Government of India/Maharashtra and has already received a significant response. A wave of excitement and anticipation from foreign exhibitors and enquiries from overseas delegates are a testimony to the success of the previous edition held in 2015.
The transparent process, focus on providing value for money and quality service in the exhibition has generated exceptional trust and appreciation for India ITME Society as organiser of both GTTES and India ITME series. GTTES 2019 aims to provide a platform to bring together leading strategists, experts, innovators and management developers from Europe, America and the Asia- Pacific region.
GTTES 2019 will offers participants a range of opportunities, from engaging with industry leaders, to showcasing products and services to an international audience. To enhance the effectiveness of the event, participants will be provided numerous opportunities to learn all aspects of latest industry resources and tools from business, governmental and academic.
India ITME Society has hit the right chord with the needs of the textile industry through this exclusive show that will capture the world's attention on strengths and opportunities in global textile industry, with special focus on post spinning segments like weaving, processing, knitting, embroidery, garmenting and more. Participants could enhance their business prospects and trade for textile machinery manufacturers by interacting with agents/dealers from India and across the world.
The Indian denim industry has been operating at 60 per cent to 70 per cent capacity due to a slowdown in demand and over capacity.
If the situation continues there can be more production cuts. Denim needs to be cut, sewn and washed before it can be marketed. These upstream activities are majorly done in the unorganized sectors of Delhi, Ulhasnagar and Bellary. These hubs mainly slowed down due to the liquidity crunch in the economy since demonetization and the slow acceptance of GST by small players. As 85 per cent of the fabric is sold in the domestic market, denim fabric mills are badly hit.
Since the upstream activities of garment sewing and washing will take a while to work smoothly with the formal banking system, no recovery of the market in the near future is foreseen.
The denim fabric manufacturing industry used to be the sunrise industry in the entire textile value chain of India. Over the last decade, it was growing at a healthy rate of 15 percent CAGR. Currently the industry has an annual installed capacity of 1.5 billion meters, which is the world’s largest, after China. The sales turnover of the industry is estimated to be around Rs 15,000 crores. This industry gives direct employment to five lakh workers.
At present there are 46 denim fabric mills operating in the country. The current domestic consumption of Indian denim fabric is 750 to 800 million meters. Denim fabric export is 200 million meters.
A new report has disclosed that the vast majority of the fashion industry has a totally unsustainable business model, as their so-called ‘fast fashion’ labels churn out cheap, disposable fashion, hitting stores as often as twice a week. The report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation notes, one garbage truck’s worth of textiles is wasted every second, and less than 1 per cent of clothing is recycled into new clothes. $500 billion is wasted every year on clothes that are barely worn and rarely recycled. The report puts forward a vision strategy for a ‘new textiles economy’ in which the lifespan of clothes is longer, they’re produced with fewer chemicals and renting, reselling and reuse become the norm.
In fact six ethical brands now offer an alternative to destructive ‘fast fashion’. Rent Your Wardrobe is a concept where people swap, rent and exchange the things they need and want ― is taking root in the fashion industry, and ‘Rent the Runway’ is a prime example. For $159 a month, the New York-based business lets customers rent four items of clothing at a time. For those with less money to spend, customers can borrow four pieces a month from the business’s 500-label inventory for $89. Jennifer Hyman, the company’s co-founder says they want to put H&M and Zara out of business. The company Rent The Runway is going strong, it managed $100 million in revenue and has raised $190 million in funding.
The Online Marketplace: When children grow out of clothes, toys and accessories companies like Kidizen address this issue through technology. It’s an online marketplace. The site has over 4,00,000 registered users in the US. Similarly Crossroads Trading Co buys, sell and trades second hand clothes. It offers second hand branded clothes at an affordable price.
Ryan Yasin designed Petit Pli, Clothes That Grow With Your Children. The material he developed, inspired by origami, is lightweight, waterproof and can expand in two directions, meaning that each piece can span seven sizes (from six months to three years). Swedish company Houdini Sportswear specializes in organic, chemical-free clothes that can be thrown on the compost heap when they’re beyond repair. More than 90 per cent of Houdini’s range, which is sold in 20 markets globally, is made from recycled, recyclable, renewable or biodegradable fabrics. Then there is Veja’s whose vegan sneakers have been seen on the feet of celebrities. The sneakers are made from sustainable cotton and rubber.
