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British men’s knitwear brand Ross Barr will now be sold in China. Opportunities are being created for UK businesses by China’s new silk road. Ross Barr has generated sales throughout the UK, Europe, China, Japan, South Africa, Australasia and South America.
Britain has a well-deserved reputation for being at the global forefront of fashion and clothing design. China’s middle-class and wealthy consumers are increasingly seeking out boutique, quality brands with a story to tell, rather than just the major international labels.
Ross Barr will be available this autumn/winter in a department store called The British House in Beijing. The British House highlights UK businesses to help them capitalise on China’s appetite for British goods.
The British House features British fashion, homeware, art and education, including brands such as Turnbull and Asser, Johnstons of Elgin, Heals, Duke and Dexter and John Smedley.
Ross Barr’s garments will be displayed in the Men’s Dressing Room, alongside other clothing and accessory brands. The British House is a store exclusively showcasing British premium brands and modeled on a London townhouse. The 13,000 sq ft store is spread across two floors and is styled like a home, with product displayed in each room. Shoppers can scan the items they like and buy them online using tablets. The products will then be shipped directly from the UK to their home within eight to 11 days.
Fespa Eurasia will take place in Turkey from December 7 to 10, 2017. The three-day exhibition will provide graphics and signage professionals as well as textile decoration specialists the chance to discover new opportunities and see the latest product innovations and applications for the screen, digital and textile industry under one roof.
It will feature many leading international and regional manufacturers and distributors. Aleph, Canon, Eray Reklam and Folpa are among the exhibitors. Visitors will have access to a host tofree content at the show including textile printing and signage workshops and Fespa's vehicle wrapping competition, Wrap Masters Eurasia, which will return to this year's show.
The theme for the event is Dare. The aim is to encourage visitors to explore and identify something that has the potential to expand the boundaries of their existing business offering and challenge them to discover new ideas and routes to market.
Textile printing will once again have a substantial presence at Fespa Eurasia 2017, with a number of exhibitors showcasing solutions as well as a dedicated textile feature. Textile printing and garment decoration have always been a big focus in the Eurasian print industry and textile is one of the biggest opportunities for print service providers today.
Everlane and Marks and Spencer (M&S) are two examples of retailers working to transform the denim industry. Everlane, a brand built on ethical and transparent pricing and manufacturing processes, is adding denim to its portfolio of high-quality products. The factory has solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems. The factory also boasts technologies that allow the company to mitigate pollution-producing aspects of the denim production process. So much so it’s perfectly safe to drink the water that comes out of the plant.
M&S too is introducing Sustainable Selvedge men’s jeans that use low-impact technology, which allows the retailer to produce denim with five times less water than conventional manufacturing methods as well as lower energy consumption and chemical use. The jeans require 14 liters of water as opposed to the standard 70. Cotton is sourced through the Better Cotton Initiative and fitted with biodegradable leather patches and recycled thread and zip tape.
The production process of denim generates a considerable amount of waste water, which is often released untreated back into the environment, contaminating water sources and soil with chemicals and heavy metals. Poor practices and lack of regulation are having a negative impact on the health of local populations, with communities near denim manufacturing hubs demonstrating significantly higher instances of reproductive and fertility problems, as well as chemical poisoning.
British retailer John Lewis, the favorite department store of British middle classes, has created a gender-neutral children’s clothing department. John Lewis’ own brand children’s clothing is being labeled Boys & Girls or Girls & Boys (in equal numbers) while all in-store signage is gender neutral. A line of unisex pieces is also in production.
Both H&M and Zara have created unisex ranges for adults, while more high-end fashion names like JW Anderson and Rick Owens have championed unisex designs. Last year, Louis Vuitton dressed Jaden Smith, the 17-year-old son of Will Smith, in pieces from women’s clothing range for an ad campaign promoting its spring 2016 collection.
John Lewis’ aim has been to avoid reinforcing gender stereotypes within its collection and instead provide greater choice and variety to its customers so that the parent or child can choose what they would like to wear.
Gap was accused of being sexist last year by labeling girls as social butterflies and boys as scholars. Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket chain, was recently criticized for putting yellow dinosaurs on its boys’ school shoes and pink butterflies on shoes for girls.
However, John Lewis still sells a wide variety of children’s clothing including traditional clothing for girls and boys.
A conference on the clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) sectors is being held in South Africa on September 6 and 7, 2017. The point of discussion is the impact of downgrade of South Africa’s debt on its industry and the broader economy. The downgrades by various rating agencies during 2017 (and possible future downgrades) will raise the cost of borrowing for workers, businesses, government and consumers. This will have a negative impact on investments by businesses and on spending by consumers on products made in CTFL factories.
It is feared this could lead to increased factory closures and retrenchments in the CTFL sectors, placing an even greater strain on South Africa and its poor. The country already has high levels of unemployment.
The conference will consider the impact of the downgrades (including of possible future downgrades, especially of local currency debt) and measures to mitigate its impact, including a proper and credible turnaround plan to be formulated immediately and implemented expeditiously.
The event is being attended by 500 delegates, including CTFL factory workers, union officials, factory directors and managers, service providers, government officials, the retail sector, as well as delegates from associated sectors like cotton farming. The whole value chain will be represented.
Oklahoma is the fourth largest cotton producer in the US. A 17 per cent increase in cotton production has been forecasted due to more acreage being placed in cotton. A lot of people are moving to cotton now. As of August 1, Oklahoma had 4,50,000 acres in production, an increase of 55 per cent. Last year the state finished the season with 2,90,000 acres in cotton and was ranked sixth nationally in acres harvested.
In 2003, Oklahoma was ranked 13th nationally in cotton production. The state’s cotton production in the late 1990s and early 2000s hovered at 530 pounds an acre. However, advances in technology and methods of fighting the boll weevil have improved yields dramatically.
Texas leads the US with a forecast of 5.7 million acres, with Georgia second at 1.3 million acres. Mississippi third in forecast acreage. The prospect for cotton crop in the US has been lifted above 20 million bales, an 11-year high. This despite damage from Hurricane Harvey. The forecast for the crop in India, the world's top grower, has been raised to 6.46 million tons and that for production in China to 5.16 million tons.
Yarn and Fabric Show will be held in Sri Lanka from September 15 to 17, 2017. This will be held together with Home Textile Sri Lanka Expo and Sri Lanka International Air Freight, Shipping and Logistics Expo.
The three shows targeted at the entire business community will assemble technology, yarn and fabric manufacturers and the logistics sector under one roof and enable manufacturers of Sri Lanka to get to know of the latest developments and technology available so that they can compete in the world market.
More than 150 exhibitors from over five countries are participating in these expos. The textile and apparel industry of Sri Lanka has been seeing continual and steady growth in manufacturing and exports. With such consistent and enormous growth of its apparel sector, there is a definite need for Lankan textiles and apparel sector to witness latest technologies to upgrade itself.
The exhibitions are being organized by CEMS, a multinational which launched its operations in Sri Lanka in 2009. Based in the US, CEMS is celebrating 25 years in 2017 and has operations in eight countries including south and south-east Asia and South America.
CEMS organizes over 40 exhibitions a year on all important sectors of the trade and economy.
There have been promising developments in the Iranian clothing industry over the last two years. The quality of raw materials, textiles, to be specific, has improved over the years as designers have grown conscious about fashion trends. Iranian apparel producers today are able to produce and offer clothing for different tastes in various styles.
Currently Iranian apparel production meets less than 30 per cent of domestic demand but Iranian producers have the capacity to increase their share to 70 per cent. On an average, an Iranian buys two items of clothing a year.
The Iranian textile industry has the highest job creation potential after the oil industry. At least 7,50,000 people are directly involved in the apparel industry. However, the huge volume of foreign clothes smuggled into the country has had a detrimental effect on domestic producers. The abundance of foreign brands, which flaunt cheaper price tags, has eroded the competitiveness of domestic producers.
Garment manufacturing facilities in Iran are outdated due to the inability to import latest equipment because of different reasons, including lack of financial resources and years of international sanctions imposed on Iranian industries. Much of the equipment used in this industry is over 40 years old. Renovating the equipment used in the apparel industry and technology transfer are top priorities.
Over the past three years, lndia’s garment exports to the US have grown. In comparison, large garment exporting countries to the US, including China, Bangladesh and Vietnam have seen a decline in unit realisation. India, has not only maintained realisations but also expanded market share. The average realisation per square meter equivalent of apparels exported by India to the US has risen. The average for China has fallen 13 per cent whereas for Bangladesh it dropped by 11 per cent. Vietnam reported a drop of nine per cent in average realization. Due to rising labor costs in China, Chinese apparel manufacturers have been slashing prices to stay competitive in the global market.
Manmade garments such as winter wear and other specialised garments fetch higher value in the US than cotton-based garments. Compared to China, which lost market share by 380 basis points to 38.2 per cent between 2014 and 2017, India's share rose by 80 basis points to 4.5 per cent.
Indian apparel manufacturers are becoming compliant to US norms in terms of quality of products, labor conditions, and other legal aspects. While this has increased India’s cost of production, US buyers are willing to compensate for this by paying higher prices.
Bangladesh is digitally mapping its readymade garment sector. It marks a transformative industry shift towards greater transparency. Digital RMG Factory Mapping in Bangladesh (DRFM-B) will provide real time and credible factory data to stakeholders of the industry through an interactive online platform such as Google Maps. Through this initiative, a foreign buyer can access all types of information, such as the factory database, from any corner of the world. This will comprise names, locations, types of products, worker numbers, country exports, hospitals and trade union and fire services facilities.
DRFM-B will help enhance buyers’ confidence because real time information would easily be visible through this system and accountability framework of entrepreneurs would also be ensured. Through its mapping and relationship building, DRFM-B is expected to fuel advancements in Bangladesh’s garment industry, inspire shared responsibility, responsible sourcing and collective action, and build upon pre-existing improvement efforts through informed decision-making.
The interactive web-based map consisting of different types of information about factories would help establish transparency and awareness and ultimately lead to long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the country’s readymade garment sector. The final version of the map—showcasing all 20 Bangladeshi garment-producing districts—is expected to be completed by mid-2021.
