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Cotton has been competing with primarily with synthetic fibers and in the past several years, cotton has been become much more expensive than other fibers. In Q1 of 2011, cotton accounted for more than 60 per cent of the market in women’s apparel. Today, it accounts for just about 40 per cent of the.
But there has been a turn in the market. Cotton prices are becoming competitive with synthetic fibers. And retailers, brands, manufacturers are looking at cotton with renewed interest. Cotton Incorporated is helping cotton regain its market share.
Women’s apparel accounts for about 60 per cent of the clothing market while men’s makes up around 30 per cent. Cotton didn’t lose quite as much market share in men’s apparel and there has actually been a little increase in this space in the last four or five quarters.
The cotton industry is trying to sell into a consumer market that is much more demanding than it was a few years ago. This time the fight is complicated by new trends in products such as active wear and terms like sustainability. As a result, performance has become a major theme in the apparel market. One of the areas Cotton Incorporated has been working on is how cotton can compete with synthetics in the performance market.
As a part of the initiative, Cotton Incorporated has developed a number of new technologies such as Storm Cotton, a waterproofing technology; TransDry, a moisture transfer technology; Wicking Windows, another moisture transfer feature; and Tough Cotton, which is an abrasion resistance technology.
Canton Fair will be held in China from May 1 to 5, 2017. Top Chinese textile and garment suppliers, all key players in the global space showcase latest and best functional and environmentally-friendly products. More than 5,000 suppliers will exhibit men’s and women’s clothing, kids' wear, underwear, furs, leather, downs, fashion accessories and fittings, home textiles, textile raw materials and fabrics, sports and casual wear, carpets and tapestries.
The exhibition is in response to increasing demand for premium textile products. Textile and garment suppliers are shifting from OEM to ODM suppliers to focus more on stylish design and technological enhancement. The Canton Fair has upgraded from a trade show to become an integrated platform for information exchange in the industry. It helps partners achieve business objectives in every aspect. Attendees gain a comprehensive and diverse vision of the current global textile and garment trade. They can visit upstream and downstream manufacturers to establish or help maintain long-term cooperation. They can also find newly-introduced stylish designs from France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and more, as well as attend forums and summits to explore the latest fashion trends.
The ultimate chance for buyers and suppliers is not only to provide and find premium quality products but also visit factories and get acquainted with the latest fashion designs.
Cambodia’s garment exports rose 14.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, from the same period in the previous year. Considering factories have been shutting down and few new ones are opening, this comes as a surprise. Indeed, overall production capacity has reduced but the total value of the country’s exports has been still going up.
Therefore, in the first quarter of 2016, Cambodia recorded 122 factory closures compared to just 12 new garment and footwear factory openings. Cambodia lacks a commercial upstream textile sector and the industry needs to import almost all its raw materials. Roughly 60 per cent of fabric imports are from China, followed by South Korea and Taiwan, which are around 15 per cent each.
But Cambodia is looking into diversifying its raw material import markets. When it comes to exports, Europe accounts for around 45 per cent of while the US makes up 25 per cent, followed by Canada, Japan and China. The country has favorable trade access to major developed markets like Europe, China, Japan and Canada.
Additionally, Cambodia is taking part in negotiations over forging a possible free trade agreement between the 10 members of Asean and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Intertek Hong Kong has launched a High-Performance Textile Testing Center at its Garment Centre premises. The innovative facility is one of the best-equipped testing centres in the region, providing a wide-ranging range of advanced technology performance testing for global brands, retailers and manufacturers.
Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide. Through their network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 42,000 people in more than 100 countries, the Group is re-defining the industry with our Total Quality Assurance proposition. It’s developing a complete range of testing methods, including for comfort and protection and easy care. With global sportswear retail market is expected to reach $185 billion by 2020, combined with increased trend for athleisure, has led to the need for leading brands and manufacturers to deliver high performance functionality and increased performance testing to meet global standards.
With a focus on delivering innovation and superior customer service, the Intertek Hong Kong test centre offers over 200 high-performance tests and unique testing technology including compression-sock testing and non-destructive down-fiber penetration resistance testing accredited by the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS).
And as Christina Law, Chief Executive, North East Asia, Intertek points out customers are keen on integrating high-performance features into their products, but are often faced with many challenges, including sourcing, technical and compliance issues. “Intertek Hong Kong has always been a innovator in origination and in launching this new state-of-the-art facility, it supports the foremost position to offer total peace of mind to the customers through our Total Quality Assurance solutions, and signifies a new chapter in every accomplishments."
Quang Viet Enterprise, a Taiwan-based garment manufacturer, has increased their shipment forecast for the year 2017 from 10 million units to 10.5 million units. The figure is nearly 15 per cent higher than last year’s 9.1 million units.
The company manufactures down jackets, PrimaLoft and ThermoBall jackets. Adidas was its biggest customer in 2016, accounting for 32 per cent of overall sales. Quang Viet has also received new orders from other renowned brands such as Nautica, Aigle and Converse.
Sales aggregate in the first two months of this year decreased five per cent from a year earlier as customers are yet to finish inventory digestion. However, the company expects sales to pick up in the second quarter — a high season for down jacket manufacturers.
Quang Viet also has factories in Vietnam and China. It operates 305 production lines, which can produce 9,50,000 garments each month. To fulfill consumer demands, 15 new production lines will start operations. Quang Viet is one of the world’s leading suppliers of garments for the outdoor sports industry. It began operations in 1995. One of its strengths is its willingness to seek out efficient methods in executing new ideas and technology on seam sealed, thermo ball, padded, bonded, soft shell and down jackets.
The power loom sector in India makes up 80 per cent of woven fabric production, 60 per cent of total fabric production and provides direct jobs to 63 lakh people especially people below the poverty line, rural masses and women. Power loom sector meets the clothing needs of entire population in the country apart from fetching sizable forex earnings. Hence, competitiveness across the value chain depends on the performance of the power loom sector.
In the last seven years, the power loom sector has been facing numerous challenges due to sluggish global and domestic market conditions. Though capacity has increased by 12 per cent in the last seven years, fabric production went up only 2.4 per cent. High production costs, labor shortages, transport costs, five state VAT, mass closure of dyeing units, exorbitant cost of machines and manmade fibers, hank yarn obligations are some of the major challenges.
Also the GST Plus agreement signed by Pakistan and EU in 2013-14 has had a huge impact on India’s power loom fabric exports with 9.6 per cent duty advantage given to Pakistan. Meanwhile, subsidy schemes have been devised for the sector including TUFS and subsidy for conversion of non-automatic looms, semi-automatic looms.
The Italian apparel industry has a well-established reputation for premium fashion products. The apparel and the textile industry, in Italy plays an important role in the country’s GDP and export earnings. The sector employs over 4, 10,000 workers in just over 50,000 apparel companies spread across the country. More than half of its sales in 2015 were generated from international markets.
As one of the top 10 export categories in Italy, apparel made up nearly four per cent of the total annual exports. The US, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, and Russia are some of the largest exporting destinations for Italian apparel products. Women’s wear is the largest segment in the apparel industry and growing by 2.3 per cent year on year. In comparison, men’s wear is increasing at 0.9 per cent.
The country plans to promote its fashion and apparel industry as well as fashion exports globally. Their plans include funding trade shows and multichannel marketing and distribution, expanding Made in Italy brands into more department stores and e-commerce platforms around the world. The total value of Italy’s apparel market was estimated at $36.6 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $42 billion by 2020.
Madura Coats, in collaboration with Permess, has opened a studio in Bangalore to meet the sampling requirements of customers and help them quickly launch new products and designs. The studio will provide a range of garmenting solutions rather than just trim components. It is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and equipment with in-house sewing, fusing, washing and testing facilities to provide all the required technical and back-end support for garment manufacturers and brands.
Madura Coats is part of Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer. Permess, based in the Netherlands, makes dot coated woven, knitted and nonwoven fusible fabrics for garment interlining applications from cotton, viscose to polyester. Coats will be able to provide samples and technical support within the demanding lead time requirements of the industry. An in-house Embroidery Service Center provides embroidery solutions to brands and manufacturers.
The studio will enhance Permess’ ability to demonstrate the suitability of specific interlinings to different garment applications and also help customers choose the specific feel and handles their needs. Madura Coats and Permess had earlier partnered in 2016 to jointly promote, sell and distribute interlining products for the Indian market and deliver the full range of superior woven, non-woven and tricot interlinings catering to both exporters and premium domestic manufacturers.
Designers are experimenting with color changing clothing. Researchers and designers around the world are developing techniques and technology with exciting possibilities. Color-changing textiles are still in their infancy but knowledge around them is beginning to spread. However, thermochromic inks have been used for decades, from novelty items such as mood rings, to packaging that indicates when food or drink is at the right temperature, to more utilitarian applications such as thermometers and battery indicators.
One such technology is Ebb that uses color-changing threads that respond to electrical charges. The threads are conductive and coated in thermo chromic pigments. Developers are weaving and crocheting these threads to create different designs and effects. While the color change is currently slow, they hope to eventually make it as fast as e-ink, which would open up many possible applications.
Working with leuco dye-based thermo chromic inks, researchers have developed methods to allow colorful patterns to appear on solid-colored fabrics in response to environmental temperature changes. Leuco dyes are colored when below their activation temperature and clear or very light above that temperature. They are usually blended with other pigments, which allows them to change from one color to another. Researchers have experimented with different blends to create inks that look similar to each other when below the temperature threshold, but reveal multiple hues when warmed. They have also created designs with inks that activate at different temperatures, creating textiles that change multiple times as the temperature rises.
Belarus-based company Mogilevkhimvolokno, the largest producer of polyester fibers and yarns in Europe, is building a new industrial cluster. The new cluster will operate on a full cycle basis, from processing of raw materials to manufacturing finished products. During the first stage of the project the new cluster will focus on production and processing of technical yarns. The second stage involves production of a wide range of products mostly intended for export, including tent cloth, rubber technical goods, and others.
Among the products to be produced are fire hoses, preforms, special clothes, and chemical coatings. The new cluster will also house new R&D facilities that will focus on the design of new products. The cluster is expected to contribute to the rise of profitability of the entire Belarussian technical textile industry.
Belarus aims to be a technical textile production hub in Europe. It hopes to increase exports of finished products to the EU and in particular to Germany, where the demand for nonwovens and technical textiles has significantly increased in recent years. In addition to the EU, part of the production of the new cluster will be exported to North American region.
