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Yarn Expo was held in China from October 11 to 13. This is a yarn and fiber sourcing event which attracted suppliers and buyers from around the world.
This year, the exhibition space expanded by 115 per cent, accommodating 494 exhibitors from 13 countries and regions. Suppliers were happy to see there was a strong demand for their products at the show. They could connect with existing customers and with new buyers. There were good suppliers from Indonesia, India and Vietnam. The show is comprehensive with different kinds of products including cotton yarns and specialty yarns available.
On the other hand, buyers felt the fair offered a wide range of products with high quality and competitive prices. This is one of the biggest yarn fairs in the world. It helped companies expand their sales channels and learn about current market demand. They could meet high-end domestic and overseas customers.
The Aditya Birla Group connected with its target customers this edition. A lot of fabric and apparel companies visited the booth and wanted to know more about the company’s fibers. Aditya Birla’s products are eco-friendly and differentiated so there is a big potential for them in China. Many visitors came to the booth of Indo-Rama Synthetics and some of them even placed orders onsite.
Surat is yet to recover from the blows of demonetization and GST. India’s polyester capital has suffered more than five lakh job losses and an estimated 40 per cent plunge in production.
The entire polyester value chain from yarns to garments is under pressure. The withdrawal of high-value banknotes put sudden brakes on the disposable income of consumers, with grave consequences. Textiles have been almost erased from customers’ priority list. Shops which usually gear up for the forthcoming wedding season wear a dull look.
Surat ushered in the polyester revolution in the country, offering saris and dress material at Rs 125. Surat boasts of 7,00,000 looms that make the grey fabric bought by 65,000 traders. The grey fabric would go to the 400 dyeing and processing houses and get routed to embroidery units for embellishments for the final garment.
Now the city presents a sorry picture. The migrant workforce has been sent packing to their states — Orissa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar — and those who remain behind are desperate for work. Almost 4,00,000 women who would earn Rs 300 to Rs 800 a day by working from homes —sewing, stitching or pasting diamonds and other embellishments on fabric — have no work.
Bangladesh will host a khadi show from November 10 to 11. Organised by the Fashion Design Council of Bangladesh, it aims at breathing new life into fashion, mothered by the technique of khadi, a fabric that is an essential part of the Bangladeshi textile heritage.
A team of designers will showcase khadi clothing, empowering the people behind the handiwork. The belief is that conscious measures to preserve the culture through khadi will enrich the lives of the core Bangladeshis.
As a part of the Future Fabric Show, a two-day fashion show was held on November 3 to 4. The gala event opened with an unexpected act — a dance drama choreographed to highlight the glory of khadi. The dance act gave priority to the country’s heritage and the need to take environment-friendly measures to preserve its culture. The show emphasised the need to create conscious designs inspired by the past that would be sustainable for the future.
Another distinguishable feature of the show was the experimentations with the blouses — everyone gave a new face to the traditional blouse with ruffles, fringes and long frock-sleeves with intricate designs. Future Fabric Show 2017 comprises both local and international designers, who have collaborated to achieve the same goal, that of revitalising khadi.
"Apparel sector wage compensation is extremely low, creating a stir in the industry. A new report by Deloitte for Oxfam Australia reveals big brands are to be blamed for keeping people working for them in poverty, which means they are not paying a living wage. Oxfam describes living wage as: enough money to provide a worker and their family with food, shelter, healthcare, clothing, transportation, electricity and water, childcare and education, plus a little leftover for emergencies or savings. And that wage should be earned in no more than 48 hours a week."
Apparel sector wage compensation is extremely low, creating a stir in the industry. A new report by Deloitte for Oxfam Australia reveals big brands are to be blamed for keeping people working for them in poverty, which means they are not paying a living wage. Oxfam describes living wage as: enough money to provide a worker and their family with food, shelter, healthcare, clothing, transportation, electricity and water, childcare and education, plus a little leftover for emergencies or savings. And that wage should be earned in no more than 48 hours a week.
The report says, on an average, only 4 per cent of the price of an article of clothing sold in Australia goes toward garment workers’ wages. That’s 40 cents on a $10 T-shirt. In Bangladesh, that percentage drops to 2 per cent, where workers earn as little as 33 cents an hour; Indonesia, its 48 cents an hour; Vietnam, they make 49 cents an hour. If brands absorbed the cost of paying living wages within their supply chain, it would cost them less than 1 per cent of the price of a garment. Indeed with profits being made at the factory, wholesale and retail levels in garment supply chains, there is room for big brands to absorb these costs without passing them on to consumers.
Pay disparity
As per reports, just eight men around the world held the same amount of wealth as half of all humanity. One of those eight men is Inditex founder Amancio Ortega. Perhaps, there is no starker example of the growing global inequality than the garment industry, where millions remain trapped in poverty, while a few amass great wealth. Though garment industries have improved economic conditions of many low-cost sourcing countries, benefits have not been shared at the bottom. Oxfam says, Asia is home to most of the world’s garment production. Although the region has experienced strong economic growth in, the poorest 70 per cent of people in Asia have seen their income share fall. Meanwhile, the share held by the top 10 per cent increased rapidly.
What needs to be done
In Bangladesh, a living wage would be more than five times the current minimum wage. In India, it’s three times more, and in Indonesia, Vietnam and China, a living wage would be more than four times the minimum wage many workers are being paid. Oxfam points out the apparel industry can afford to pay a decent wage to garment workers. On a $25 T-shirt, if a company opted to pay a living wage, factory labour costs would maybe jump from $1.00 to $1.15 and transport and tariff costs would go from 75 cents to 77 cents. That would mean supply chain only needs to absorb 17 cents more. Profit margins vary from 3.4 per cent to 8.4 per cent based on the product and sourcing destination. If manufacturers and brands absorb the costs rather than pushing them to consumers, their margins will only drop a little to allow workers to earn a living wage. This is especially the case if wholesalers and retailers also work to reduce their overhead costs. The only way to make inroads with living wages is through government intervention.
The report suggested to recognise purchasing practices and pricing policies have an impact on wages (and working conditions) and commit time and resources to calculate labor costs of merchandise to ensure prices facilitate payment of a living wage at the least. This means the freight on board (FOB) price should cover a living wage labor cost.
Bangladesh’s export earnings from the apparel industry saw only a 0.20 per cent rise 2016-17. While India’s earnings from apparel exports rose by 12 per cent in 2016-17. In the last fiscal, garment shipments from Bangladesh to India were down 4.85 per cent year-on-year.
The value of the taka against the dollar, poor infrastructure and shortage of power and gas are the key challenges for the export oriented readymade garment sector in Bangladesh. Garment buyers are shifting to India from Bangladesh due to the inefficient port facility and the extra lead time.
Garment production cost has increased near 18.01 per cent in the last two years in Bangladesh. Similar costs are also increasing in competing countries but the rate of increment is much higher in Bangladesh. With continuous increase in salaries, gas and electricity price, system losses, Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers are struggling to retain their advantage over major competing countries.
India has allowed global apparel brands to open stores in India with a clause that at least 30 per cent of their products are made in India. This policy helps the apparel manufacturing industry of India as it can manufacture global brands in its domestic factories.
Consumer demand for textile products—including clothing and home textiles—is predicted to grow by 2.8 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2025. However, growth will be driven almost entirely by a rise in demand for textile products made from synthetic fibers.
As a result, the share of non-cotton textile products in total consumer demand for textile products will increase from 73 per cent to 79 per cent between 2015 and 2025 whereas the share of cotton textile products will fall from 27 per cent to just 21 per cent. Further, demand for cotton textile products at the end of this ten-year period will still be less than the level of demand seen in 2010.
Consumer demand for textile products made from synthetic fibers will grow by an average of 3.7 per cent per annum over 2015 and 2025 whereas consumer demand for cotton textile products will grow by only 0.2 per cent per annum. The rise in the share of non-cotton textile products reflects a significant increase in the share of textile products made from synthetic fibers. In fact, this share rose in each of the 10 years to 2016 and is expected to rise further in 2017.
A mini textile park is coming up in Salem, Tamil Nadu. The state will either bear 50 per cent of the cost that will be used for the construction of roads, sewage treatment plant and captive power plant or offer subsidies worth Rs 2.5 crores to manufacturers.
Around 10 apparel manufacturers will build the park. But they have to buy the land on their own and establish at least ten work sheds in the textile park to get the subsidy. Further, the total investment in building construction and machinery should be double the amount spent on the above-mentioned facilities. Entrepreneurs should open a bank account in a nationalised bank in the name of the park. The subsidy will be released in three installments and the entrepreneurs should produce all necessary documents at the time of release of each installment.
The aim is to improve the living standard of handloom and power loom weavers in the district. The entire project will be monitored by the Director of Handloom and Textiles which will hold meetings with manufacturers to take the plan forward. Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the country’s handloom textiles production and 50 per cent of exports.
Spinnova is a developer of wood-based textile fibers based in Finland. Spinnova is currently researching methods to increase the amount of textile fiber produced by its proprietary technology. The wood-based textile developer is currently the only one in the world that is able to convert pulp directly into textile fiber without using chemical solvents. Fabrics made out of the fiber have a smaller ecological footprint than traditional alternatives as they can be reused, recycled and composted.
Chemical solvents are used, for example, in the production of viscose. Spinnova has been involved in material research for years and has paid close attention to developments in this area. Globally significant expertise and technology needed for material development exists in Finland.
The company wants to find new materials for producing fabrics and textiles for environmental reasons. Spinnova, founded in 2014, has developed its technology based on research conducted by the Technical Research Centre of Finland.
Spіnnova uses a globally unіque technology to turn wood fіbers dіrectly іnto yarn, wіthout complex chemіcal processes. The patented Spinnova yarn technology is the first sustainable and cost-efficient alternative to cotton, providing unprecedented benefits and advantages compared to other technologies and materials. It leaves a smaller envіronmental footprіnt than polymer or cotton-fіber processes.
Orissa has framed guidelines for apparel parks. The guidelines will be applicable to industrial bodies as well as young entrepreneurs who want to start their business in the state. Entrepreneurs who want to set up textile units will have to obtain an identification number through the micro, small and medium enterprises department whereas bigger industrial bodies will have to do the same through the department of industrial policy and promotion.
To set up apparel parks, the promoters will have to obtain permission from the Odisha State Co-operative Spinning Mill Federation Limited (Spinfed), which monitors the physical and financial activities of member spinning mills and power loom industries in the state.
Spinfed will examine the preliminary report submitted by the promoter of the park and then accord approval. Land for the park has to be obtained by the promoter. But they will get assistance from the government for land acquisition mainly for private land.
Orissa aims to boost the textile sector through this policy by setting up apparel units, parks. The state has come up with six different policies under the ease of doing business based on the potential of the state and textile is a focus sector.
Michael Kors total revenue rose 5.4 per cent in the second quarter. It faced a 1.8 per cent drop in same store sales in the second quarter. The company has forecast revenue of $4.59 billion for the year ending April 2018. The company expects Jimmy Choo to contribute up to $225 million to sales for the rest of the year.
Once a top name in affordable luxury, Kors is grappling falling same store sales, as people shop online. Over-distribution and a reliance on promotions to boost sales also eroded its brand value and appeal. To reverse a more-than two-year slump in same-store sales, Kors is pursuing a multi-brand strategy for growth. In July, the maker of the popular Mercer and Hamilton handbags announced a deal to buy Jimmy Choo. The company has also pulled back heavily-discounted inventory from department stores and off-price channels, refreshed its line of bags and shut underperforming stores.
Sales also got a fillip as the company boosted new products and high-end accessories by 40 per cent for the fall season and sold more bags at full-price, helping it overturn a one-year slide in total revenue for the first time.
