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Japan’s fast fashion brand Uniqlo’s supplier factories in China have poor working conditions. As factory workers’ base wages are too low to make ends meet, workers have no choice but to work overtime for 112 to 134 hours a month. This violated China’s legal upper limit on overtime of 36 hours a month. Women work 11 hours a day and are given only one or two days off in a month. Working hours may stretch from early in the morning until 10 pm or 11 pm.
When workers organized a strike in 2009, the company used gangsters to deal with the striking workers with physical violence. There have also been protests at Uniqlo in Indonesia. The aim was to draw attention to Uniqlo’s disregard for the fate of thousands of women who lost their jobs at Uniqlo's former supplier in Indonesia – and are still owed wages and severance payments. Uniqlo was evading accountability for workers who lost their jobs when a factory closed down in early 2015. The closure put 4,000 people out of work and pushed them into a desperate situation.
Fast Retailing claims it is keen on improving employees’ working conditions in order to fulfill its responsibility as a global company.
Deepak Perwani head of Pakistan Fashion Council has special plans for his country’s fashion industry. Other than showcasing designer collections, the Council will also be offering aspiring youngsters a chance to show their mettle on the ramp says Perwani.
According to Perwani, August 14 will see a special Millennial Show that will feature 10 promising designers. Talking about the fashion business in Pakistan that stands apart from its Indian counterpart, he says they may seem to be moving parallel but the Pakistani fashion is extremely cut-oriented. As per him yellows, oranges, greens and pinks are finding a place in their wardrobe. The fact that that their mindset is becoming more metrosexual
Having spent over seven years in the US, Perwani returned to the land of his origin because of the inspirational craftsmanship and designs to experiment with. That was more than two and half decades ago, and Perwani has had no regrets. Having steadily climbed the rungs to reach the top, he often takes to the hinterlands to help empower women of the minority communities by teaching them varied crafts that cater to city tastes. Perwani visited them every three months to talk to them, teach them stuff like how to make Rs 100 a day.
The proposed textile park in Warangal will offer units a host of benefits. This includes developing infrastructure around the surrounding villages to facilitate better connectivity to the park and special incentives like capital and power. Mill owners are assured of obtaining all necessary permissions in the shortest possible time.
Telangana’s vision is to have a fiber to fabric facility in the textile park. Everything right from spinning, dying to processing to finished goods facilities would be made available in the Mega Park. While textile parks in different parts of the country like Solapur, Tirupur and Surat are engaged in manufacturing specific categories of garments, the park in Warangal will cover all segments. The plan is to connect all spinning units both handlooms and power looms to the textile park. The park is coming up on 2,000 acres and around 1,200 acres have been earmarked in the first phase of development.
Telangana produces 60 lakh bales of cotton and consumption by local mills around 10 lakh bales. About 10 lakh bales are produced in erstwhile Warangal alone. About 33 spinning mills are operating in Telangana with a 20 lakh spindle capacity. The state is coming up with a new textile policy soon.
Textile Auxiliaries market expects to clock in good growth by 2024. The global textile auxiliaries market can be segmented based on type, application, process type, and geography. Based on application, the textile auxiliaries market can be segregated into apparels, automotive textiles, geotextiles, home furnishing, industrial textiles, smart textiles for military and defense.
In terms of process type, the global textile auxiliaries market can be classified into pre-treatment, finishing, and dyeing and printing. The pre-treatment process prepares the fabric for finishing and dyeing. Most textile auxiliaries are used during this process. Ability of textile auxiliaries to improve the durability of fabric during the pre-treatment process is anticipated to propel their consumption in the pre-treatment processing stage of fabric during the forecast period.
Based on geography, the global textile auxiliaries market can be divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Textile auxiliary is a group of textile chemicals used for various functions at different stages of textile processing. Textile auxiliaries are employed during textile processing to increase durability and esthetic appeal of textile products.
Italy hopes to benefit from CETA, the free trade agreement between Canada and the EU. The agreement aims to promote international trade while safeguarding Europe's high quality standards, complying with product origin regulations and protecting trademarks. The deal took seven years of discussion to finalise.
Italy feels CETA would contribute to bolstering Italy’s current economic growth, which is still weak. The Italian sectors which are expected to benefit the most include fashion, footwear, food, furniture and industrial machinery.
The Canada-European Union CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) will create jobs, strengthen economic relations and boost Canada's trade with the world’s second largest market. It can increase Canadian-EU trade by 20 per cent.
CETA is a progressive free trade agreement which covers virtually all sectors and aspects of Canada-EU trade in order to eliminate or reduce barriers. At one time, only 25 per cent of EU tariff lines on Canadian goods were duty-free. With CETA, the EU will remove tariffs on 98 per cent of its tariff lines. Once CETA is fully implemented, the EU will have eliminated tariffs on 99 per cent of its tariff lines. But the full agreement is years off with regional and national parliaments needed to green light the agreement.
Britain has assured Bangladeshi exporters of duty-free access to its markets post Brexit. Exporters, especially apparel manufacturers, retailers and buyers, feared that with Brexit, Bangladesh would have to pay taxes for exporting goods to the UK.
Britain has announced once it leaves the EU it would continue to provide duty-free access to nearly 50 developing countries, including Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Haiti, and that it has a commitment to help developing countries grow their economies and reduce poverty through trade.
The UK is the third largest single export destination for Bangladesh. From July to May of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh’s exports to the UK fell by 5.61 per cent. The UK currently imports around £20 billion a year from developing nations, including Bangladesh. In the 2015-16 fiscal year, Bangladesh earned $3.80 billion in exports to the UK, of which a lion’s share, about $3.52 billion, came from the readymade garment sector. However, there is still a lingering fear that grants or development funds from the UK will diminish as it will have to bear the expenses of executing the Brexit process.
Bangladesh would have to pay £24,79,76 thousand in tariffs to UK customs if it stopped enjoying trade benefits from the UK after the execution of Brexit.
The market for hard luxury product is segmented on the basis of mode of distribution channel used for offering products to consumers. Luxury goods comprises accessories, footwear, apparel, watches and other high end items and targeted at premium consumers. The market for luxury goods sees three types of consumers, which include kids between 0-12 years, teenagers 13 to 19 years and the rest in adult group. Luxury goods market can also be segmented on the basis of application which includes soft luxury and hard luxury. Soft luxury goods include designer apparels and leather goods such as hand bags and others, which are easily available in hypermarket stores or directly operative outlet. Where as hard luxury goods comprise jewellery and premium watches. The hard luxury goods are offered to consumers through premium outlets, or sold through internet.
Because of consumer convenience, preferences and availability of products at lower price online retailing is expected to be the most preferred mode of distribution in the forecasted period. Besides, the second most preferred mode is expected to be company’s brand retail outlets as they provide better offerings at less price.
Globally, demand for hard luxury goods is increasing and is expected to account for fastest CAGR growth as compared to other regions. Expanding middle class coupled with the need for premium class products are the key drivers of hard luxury goods in ASEAN region. Furthermore, wide varieties of product offerings in each segments and continuous innovation and product launch is expected to influence consumers in ASEAN region to fuel market growth of hard luxury goods in the forecasted period.
However, the market possess some restraining factors as consumers perceives these products as expensive and also it is considered as a premium class product and not an absolute necessity.
Adobe’s first Digital Price Index (DPI) identifies tremendous choice, volume and velocity in the online apparel category. Nearly half of the 7,000 new apparel products that appear online each day are targeted at women (3,150), while one-quarter (1,750) target men and the rest are aimed at children, babies and footwear. Nearly one-third (30.8 per cent) of all spending on women's clothing went toward products that are one month old or less, while 18 per cent of spending on men's apparel was for items that were one month old or less.
May apparel data show prices for apparel online dropped faster than offline. The DPI found 4.3 per cent year-over-year price deflation in May. Data also points to the biggest discounts for the highest and lowest priced apparel online. High-end apparel, the top 25 per cent most expensive items online, shows a 5.5 per cent drop in prices year over year while low-end apparel, the lowest 25 per cent, saw prices decrease by 7.5 per cent over the same time period. The middle 50 per cent of apparel shows minimal deflation from the year prior.
Apparel sold online is clearly developed with a specific velocity in mind, and an incredibly high turnover rate, compared to other categories.
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Yoga Apparel Market 2017-2021" report to its offering.The analysts forecast the global yoga apparel market to grow at a CAGR of 3.16 percent during the period 2017-2021.
Global Yoga Apparel Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.
One trend in the market is technological advances in product features. The manufacturers of yoga apparel are continuously looking to improve the technology and features of the product to achieve higher customer satisfaction. The consumers of yoga apparel analyze the quality of the products on various parameters.
According to the report, one driver in the market is rise in the popularity of yoga. Yoga is one of the ancient forms of workout and meditation that originated in India. In recent years, yoga has gained a significant popularity globally, especially in North America. The popularity of yoga in the United States and Canada is continuously increasing. The region exhibited a significant acceptance of yoga in recent years.
Further, the report states that one challenge in the market is volatility in raw material cost. In the present market scenario, fitness wear manufacturers are experiencing fluctuations in their profit margins. This is due to the fluctuating prices of raw materials and the increasing competition among vendor. An influx of local players has been observed in recent times because the establishment costs are low.
WRAP has produced a Sustainable Clothing Guide to share best practice on how to design, produce, and sell sustainable clothing. The charity is looking to encourage designers and technologists within brands and retailers to use the guide to embed durability in products by making them last longer and so they can easily be repaired and reused.
Extending the life of clothes by nine months of active use would reduce carbon, water & waste footprints by 4-10 per cent estimated by WRAP. A number of cases studies illustrate how small changes can make a difference. Those involved include ASOS, COS, John Lewis, New Look and Ted Baker.
The Textile Recycling Association was involved in the guide through WRAP’s work on the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan. Director Alan Wheeler says that it was generally believed that 80 per cent of a product’s environmental impact is decided at its design stage and this was more or less true for clothing.
There is a need to sell more clothing that is better quality and that is more durable to improve the overall sustainability of the clothing supply chain, being physically durable it needs to have emotional durability as well.
He further stated that there was no point having an item made to last but then going out of fashion so quickly that it sits in a cupboard for several years before being discarded. A well-designed garment would take into consideration how easily it can be recycled after it can no longer be reused.
