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The United States will extend duty-free treatment to imports of all statutorily-eligible travel goods (including luggage, handbags, backpacks, tote bags, etc.) from all eligible countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
The change will go into effect on July 1, 2017 and is expected to provide major benefits to US companies, US workers, and US consumers.
Today, the industry pays in excess of 90 million dollars a year on duties, which can now be re-purposed towards well-paying jobs for US workers, lower costs for US consumers, and/or increased investments in product innovation. Additionally, this move will encourage diversification of the supply chain into developing economies, including the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association has applauded the decision. Now it wants footwear eligible for GSP benefits going forward. AAFA has long supported efforts to include travel goods under the GSP program.
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a preferential tariff system extended by developed countries to developing countries. It involves reduced tariffs or duty-free entry of eligible products exported by beneficiary countries to the markets of donor countries. GSP is presently extended by 29 developed countries.
The top 100 of the biggest US retailers have held on to their spots by focusing on value and embracing new ways consumers are shopping.
The country’s largest retailers are posting strong vitals. They’re embracing creative disruption, reinventing physical stores as places for brand experiences and exploring new ways to connect with the consumer. The top four are Walmart followed by Kroger, Costco and The Home Depot. Amazon is at number seven. Amazon’s rise is attributed to investments in apparel, groceries and the mass market.
The top 100 retailers are listed by US sales, which may include estimates for private or closely held companies.
Multi-format retailers are powering growth, online is ascendant and aggregation by traditional channel definitions doesn’t provide the same scale advantages it once did. However US brick-and-mortar retailers are bleeding badly. E-commerce is gobbling up a growing share of sales, store productivity has dwindled.
In just the first three months of 2017, the US retail industry lost some 60,000 jobs.
Brands recognize that if customers want a no-fuss transaction they usually can get that online. More and more are experimenting with different types of in-store experiences, or working to integrate their digital and physical operations in innovative ways.
The Pike digital textile printer from SPG Prints offers new standards of quality and production efficiency. Among the benefits are reductions of lead times by up to 50 per cent, reduced stockholding costs, faster time-to-market, and improved print quality, including the ability to print micro patterns, broadening the scope for new designs.
Ideal for volumes of more than two million linear metres per year on substrates up to 1850 mm wide, the Pike uses single-pass technology with fixed-array piezo-electric print heads. Using SPG Prints’ Archer technology, fine details and bright, saturated blotches can be produced with variable drop sizes ranging from 2 to 10 pL. Archer technology also enables ink to be precisely fired on to substrates from a distance of 4 mm, giving the Pike unparalleled substrate versatility.
Printing digitally eliminates screen preparation time as well as chemical and water waste. Job changeovers require only the digital files to be loaded, and, possibly, the substrate changed.
Another trend that is challenging textile printers is more complex designs. More colors and finer detail are increasingly requested by fashion brands, and the desired results are simply not possible with screen printing. High-performance digital printers, like the Pike, can deliver the designers’ concepts.
Textile production in the United States is struggling to recover. The value of textile production was down one per cent in 2015 from a year earlier. Textile production represents only around 1.2 per cent of total US manufacturing shipments.
There were 2000 fewer textile manufacturing facilities in 2014 than in 2004.Over the past decade more than 2,00,000 textile manufacturing jobs have been lost due to automation.
Over the last few decades, textile employment in the US declined the most during economic downturns, but has failed to increase after economic recovery. In 2015, textile manufacturers added more than 1,100 jobs over the previous year, the first significant employment gain in nearly 20 years. However, due to automation, consolidation, and import competition, the industry is still struggling to see sustainable growth.
Over the last few decades, textile employment in the US declined the most during economic downturns, but has failed to increase after economic recovery. The overall employment in the US textile industry is expected to shrink to around 1,74,000 by 2024. The number of textile mills in the US is 25 per cent lower than in 2007.
The US is one of the world’s largest textile and apparel markets.
The combined ITMA and CITME shows will be held in China, October 26 to 30, 2018. Leading textile machinery manufacturers from around the world will attend. The combined showcase offers them a cost-effective platform for their products and services in Asia.
In today’s global market, textile makers are sourcing innovative solutions and upgrading their facilities. The drive for better technological solutions is expected to grow in Asia, especially China. Hence, leading brand names will have a large presence in at this event.
Japan Textile Machinery Association is a special partner of the show.
To enhance the country’s position in the global value chain, China has drawn up a roadmap to upgrade industries through innovation. Its Made in China 2025 strategy aims to drive manufacturers swiftly toward smart industrial production and value-added manufacturing.
Rising labor costs and the need to stay competitive in a challenging business environment have spawned the demand for intelligent manufacturing. Advance information and communication technology allows effective integration of the entire textile and garment production processes. Such seamless integration will enable manufacturers to be more responsive to customers’ specific requirements.
The last such combined show in 2016 welcomed 1,673 exhibitors from 28 economies and had over 1,00,000 visitors from 102 countries.
One of the global luxury fashion brands Hugo Boss, has joined more than 460 partners from across the global textile supply chain to join the ‘Cotton Leads’ program, which aims to raise awareness of responsible best practice in the USA and Australian cotton sectors.
Members of the initiative include US retailers such as Macy’s, Target, Kohls, Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers as well as a host of suppliers to the global cotton textile supply chain.
The Cotton Leads program says it intends to raise awareness of responsible cotton production practices; strict regulations that protect the environment and people, and points to nation-wide cotton research and development programs and sustainability benchmarking that are common to both the US and Australian cotton sectors.
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay noted that brands and retailers are demonstrating a genuine desire to deliver products made from responsibly-produced raw materials, but also acknowledged it is not the only sustainable cotton initiative on the market.
Just as Hugo boss is a leading global fashion brand, the Cotton Leads program leads the way in both responsible cotton production, and the sharing of best practices and other educational resources with the global cotton community.
Forever 21 has been copying famous Gucci trademarks and tweaking them a bit. There is a chunk of time that passes from the moment Gucci’s designs hit the runway to the moment they’re available to buyers. Retailers can make a killing high jacking styles from Gucci and other high-fashion brands because of the delay.
Gucci is pursuing its own claims against Forever 21 as part of its ongoing commitment to the vigorous protection of its valuable intellectual property rights and distinctive brand identity.
If taken to court, the case will most likely be a matter of freedom of speech and the reach of trademarks. If Forever 21 can prove that its designs are merely inspired by and not direct copies of the Gucci designs, it will be able to continue making the knockoffs.
Forever 21 is bullish on retaining its position as the most preferred fashion destination. It targets young and fashion conscious consumers.
The brand was founded in the US in 1984 by Korean immigrants. The retailer operates over 600 stores under the Forever 21, XXI Forever, For Love 21, Heritage 1981, and Reference brands. Stores can be found throughout the US and in Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.
Major brands have decided to improve conditions at their factories in Bangladesh. These include Primark, H&M, Zara and Massimo Dutti.
The agreement will cover more than 1000 factories in Bangladesh and up to two million garment workers. The agreement adds protection for workers who lobby for safer working conditions and extends factory inspections to cover spinning mills as well as washing and dying facilities.
Bangladesh is home to about four million garment workers, who make cheap, throwaway fashion items and household goods for export to big-name stores. Many of the factories draw criticism for offering a regime of scant worker rights, lax safety standards, long hours and poor pay.
A culture of throwaway fashion means stores put value over quality and sell overly cheap clothes to wealthy consumers at a high cost to the people who make them.
Global fashion retailers say they have come together to protect workers in developing nations and ensure the safety of buildings. There has also been legislation to ensure greater supply chain transparency.
The previous Bangladesh Accord, signed in 2013, paved the way for fire, electrical and structural safety inspections in more than 1,500 factories and set out plans for the installation of fire doors and stronger buildings.
But nearly four years on, more than 80 per cent of factories are running late on renovations.
Of Chinese downstream mills, all dyeing mills in Wujiang were shut down from June 26 as well as 80,000 water-jet looms in Jiashan.
Operating rate in Changshu seems at high level while the actual sales look anything but good. In fact, the market still stays in the slack season. Fabric inventory is relatively high on the whole or only transferred to fabric traders from warp knitting plants. Currently the fabric is sold on credit. Actually inventory of warp knitting plants is also mounting. Traditional peak season is predicted to start in August.
The feedstock inventory will be properly controlled with the expected impacts of environmental remediation.
Sales of oxford made of DTY improved in early June but turned slack again in late June. Inventory keeps low now but will accumulate gradually later. Dyeing mills with fabric made of DTY in Zhejiang operate at intervals, with adequate fabric and yet few orders. With theoretical slack season in July-September, replenishment is inactive.
As feedstock procurement is finished and remediation on environment is implemented further, sales of the mills may be affected. The market sentiment may change around mid-July. PFY plants may provide discounts in case of decreasing sales and accumulated inventory amid current good book profits.
Vietnam’s textile exports saw an annual expansion of 5.42 per cent in 2016, the highest among apparel exporting countries. Still last year was a difficult one for Vietnam’s apparel industry. Annual apparel imports of the United States decreased 4.8 per cent and those of Japan and South Korea dropped by 1.7 per cent and four per cent.
In addition, major textile exporting countries devalued their currencies at a high rate, about ten per cent, while the Vietnamese currency depreciated by just one per cent, making the country’s garment products more expensive than those of its rivals.
Many foreign investors who invested in production in Vietnam with the hope of reaping Trans-Pacific Partnership benefits began to cut orders and move back to their factories. So the pressure to find new customers and alternative orders at Vietnamese enterprises was huge last year. The Brexit vote and the US Presidential election also had negative impacts on the country’s apparel exports.
There are shortcomings in Vietnamese garment companies. They are not proactive in search of new customers and markets. Businesses sign contracts with intermediary agents without directly contacting big customers.
More importantly, Vietnamese companies are unable to exercise any supplier power to influence the decision of buyers and are easily replaced by other suppliers.
