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Four US textile trade associations – the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), American Fiber Manufacturers Association (AFMA), Narrow Fabrics Institute (NFI), and United States Industrial Fabrics Institute (USIFI) – have outlined the causes of the $95 billion US trade deficit in textiles and apparel and have suggested remedial steps for boosting US production and jobs. In addition, NCTO’s Upholstery Fabrics Committee submitted a statement detailing the reasons for the US trade deficit in upholstery fabrics, focusing on the imbalance with China in particular.
The associations feel if America were to reverse its trade-related red ink and create more jobs, policymakers must have a better understanding of market and economic factors responsible for driving production offshore. They also have urged the United States to continue to treat the People’s Republic of China as a nonmarket economy country under US antidumping and countervailing duty law, adding that China’s widespread use of nonmarket economic activities is one of the biggest drivers of America’s trade deficit.
NCTO is a Washington-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers. The value of shipments for US textiles and apparel last year rose by nearly 11 per cent since 2009. US exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were 26.3 billion dollars in 2016.
The United States is currently the largest raw cotton exporting country in the world, accounting for 36 per cent of the total cotton export value in the world. The biggest market for US cotton is Honduras followed by Mexico. The Dominican Republic is the third leading importer of US cotton and China is the fourth leading cotton export market for the US.
World production of cotton is about 25 million tons annually. China is the world’s leading cotton producer but most of the cotton produced is consumed by the domestic market. India ranks second in cotton production but a large proportion of the cotton produced is also consumed by the Indian textile industry. The United States ranks third in cotton production in the world.
India is the second leading exporter of raw cotton in the world. Exports of raw cotton from India account for 15 per cent of the total global export value of this product. Cotton plays a vital role in the economy of the country and cotton exports contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Telangana are the three leading cotton producing states in the country.
Africa’s share in the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Although Africa does not have a significant domestic textile industry, cotton is grown by small holders in some countries of Africa.
The International Apparel Federation hosted the first session of Texprocess Forum on May 9, Texprocess/Techtextil, Germany. The subject of the session was ‘Industry 4.0’. The first sub session featured Karsten Newbury of Gerber Technology, Philippe Ribera of Lectra and Dave Gardner of Spesa. Industry 4.0 and the digitization of the apparel industry in particular is a powerful way to enable new and better business models. A company’s strategies must include digitization, the speakers said, since it is not small firms but slow firms that get eaten.
The second sub session featured Ger Brinks of Saxion University, André Wissenberg of Oerlikon and Fernando Pimentel of Abit of Brazil. They made clear that the introduction of virtual reality, the use of robots and artificial intelligence is happening in the industry, but it is a complex process. Inevitably fully automated garment production will be possible on a profitable basis.
The third sub session presented the audience with Rosanne van der Meer of the Girl and the Machine, Dieter Stellmach of the Denkendorf Institute and Tansy Fall of IoTex Magazine/WTiN. They showed how start-up businesses are using industry 4.0 technology to offer consumers new experiences, for instance, by selling a product before it is made, involving the customer fully into the design. So service becomes a major part of the value proposition.
Sinterama, the international leader in polyester yarn, in association with Polygiene, the world leader in odour control and freshness technology, have developed 100 per cent recycled fibre 'Newlife' with permanent odour control technology as opposed to the standard topical application in the yarn and fabric finishing stages.
Sinterama’s Newlife is a unique, complete and certified system of recycled polyester filament yarns coming from 100 per cent post-consumer PET bottles sourced and processed into a polymer through a mechanical process and spun into yarn exclusively and entirely in Italy that is also 100 per cent recyclable at the garment level. This whole process constitutes Sinterama’s proprietary High Tech Conversion Model (HTCM) which has become a benchmark in mechanical recycling.
Featured in Sinterama’s Newlife range, the process offers customers 100 per cent post-consumer recycled, anti-bacterial yarns. As the yarn is treated at fibre-level it will bring considerable benefits to the customer in terms of odour control, easy care and longer lasting garments, and open opportunities for the two brands in important categories: workwear and the care-sector, with potential to develop into other categories as well.
Guglielmo Fiocchi, Sinterama CEO says the agreement fits perfectly with the tradition and strategy of Sinterama to develop and innovate constantly, giving customers durable, healthy, green solutions, with additional features to delight the end user. Christian von Uthmann, Polygiene CEO observes the partnership will open new doors in categories where they see large growth potential. Polygiene treated fabrics will be capable of withstanding industrial level laundering. In addition, the shorter lead-times with the ability of pre-treated fabrics to be stored and colored is an exceptional market advantage to an even wider audience.
The German government will provide 7 million euros grants to Bangladesh to enhance the capacity of selected commercial banks to better address the funding needs of garment factories for their ongoing remediation work. The economic relations division and the German Embassy in Bangladesh have signed an agreement to roll out a project.
Muhammad Alkama Siddiqui, Additional Secretary of the ERD, and Thomas Prinz, German Ambassador, signed the agreement saying that financing of environment and safety retrofits in the Bangladesh readymade garment sector. The project will also support garment factories to bridge the knowledge gap in investments and remediation upgrades, and also aid the actual implementation of these investments. The funding would enable effective utilisation of credit, promote workers safety and improve environment standards in the apparel sector.
The project is a joint development effort by France, Germany and the European Union (EU). The objectives are to enhance the capacity of the selected commercial banks to better address the funding needs of RMG factories and support factories in bridging knowledge gap regarding investments and remediation upgrades and also supporting the actual implementation of these investments.
For the first quarter Century Textiles and Industries has gained massive profits compared to the same period last year. Net profit stood at Rs 36.83 crores compared to a net loss of Rs 2.3 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Total income from operations rose four per cent to Rs 2,353.5 crores on a year-on-year basis.
EBITDA – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – grew 4.8 per cent to Rs 204.83 crores compared to Rs 195.37 crores as compared to the same period last year while EBITDA margins expanded 11 basis points to 9.67 per cent in the same period.
Mumbai-based Century Textiles and Industries is active in textiles, viscose filament yarns, cement, and pulp and paper. In the textile business, Century has two revenue streams: cotton fabric and denim units that can be integrated with ABFRL’s businesses. The company has a vertically integrated plant at Bharuch for manufacturing cotton fabrics. Century earned about Rs 1,817 crores, or 8.6 per cent of total revenues, from its fabrics and denim business.
The cotton division of Century is one of the oldest in India and manufactures a wide range of premium textiles and supplies to many international players, including Royale Linen, Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Belk and US Polo.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association, in collaboration with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC), has released industry guidelines establishing testing standards for legwear, hosiery, and socks. Covering a range of issues - including product safety, labeling, and physical attributes such as color, fastness, and fit this resource provides useful, product-specific testing recommendations for the industry and its lab partners.
Rick Helfenbein, President and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association says these testing guidelines are the latest in a series of member-driven tools that AAFA has released to help the industry ensure cost-effective solutions for common problems.
The legwear industry is unique explained Dan St Louis, Director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center at Catawba Valley Community College. Specific industry testing guidelines are long overdue to ensure the industry has the proper and specific guidance it needs to produce quality, compliant products.
This testing guidelines document is a free, open-industry resource that will be housed on the AAFA and MSC websites. Future versions will be released as updates become necessary.
"India's import of cotton woven fabrics has been moving south over the years. Cotton woven fabric imports during 2016-17 (provisional) at $133.46 million, is 18 per cent lower than in the previous year. Imports especially fell significantly from 2014-15. In that year, at $189 million imports were 28.71 per cent lower than in the previous year. In 2015-16, imports were to the tune of $163.19 million. 100 per cent cotton fabric accounts for over 50 per cent of total cotton fabric imports."
India's import of cotton woven fabrics has been moving south over the years. Cotton woven fabric imports during 2016-17 (provisional) at $133.46 million, is 18 per cent lower than in the previous year. Imports especially fell significantly from 2014-15. In that year, at $189 million imports were 28.71 per cent lower than in the previous year. In 2015-16, imports were to the tune of $163.19 million. 100 per cent cotton fabric accounts for over 50 per cent of total cotton fabric imports. However, its share in total cotton fabric imports has been falling steadily from over 65 per cent in 2012-13. Heavy cotton fabrics including denims, twills, etc., make up second largest share with over 32 per cent in cotton fabric imports.
The share of these fabrics has increased over the years from 23-28 per cent to the current level. In this category, denim fabric imports account for 37.8 per cent. However, imports have dipped on a per annum basis since 2013-14, when it was around $22.5 million. In 2015-16, denim fabric imports was $18.91 million which went down to $13.57 million in 2016-17, April-Jan.
MMF fabric imports
According to estimates import of MMF fabrics in 2016-17 are also down 10.55 per cent to $173.80 million. In the last few years, imports had shown significant increase. In 2013-14, it was $167.15 million around 14.38 per cent higher than in the previous year. Similarly, in 2014-15, imports touched $198.85 million that is a growth of almost 19 per cent. However, in 2015-16, imports were down 2.28 per cent to $194.30 million. And in 2016-17, provisional figures reveal, imports could be down 10.55 per cent. China remains the largest exporter of MMF fabrics to India, accounting for 73 per cent share. In cotton fabrics, China's share in India's imports is 65 per cent.
India's fabric demand
During April-January 2016-17, MMF fabric production at 12,118 million sq. m. was 5.79 per cent lower than in the previous year's period, reflecting lower demand for the fabric in the country. Lower exports of apparel and sluggish domestic retail market are the major reasons for the drop in fabric consumption. At present, MMF fabric imports account for just over 5 per cent of the domestic production. One needs to look at how apparel exports are expected to fare. Going by the global economic scenario, the market in US and Europe are going through a downturn, as a result, a number of large retailers are closing down. This will have an impact on India's apparel exports, and demand for fabric. Additionally, India's production and exports are heavily tilted towards cotton.
Meanwhile, minister of state for textiles Ajay Tamta had directed textile commissioner's office to gather data from ports all across the country about the volume of fabrics being imported from China. He feels this move would allow the government to decide on an appropriate duty structure for these imports. The ministry's decision to examine fabric imports follows reports that undervalued imports from China have paralysed Surat's MMF industry. Meanwhile, around 50 per cent of powerlooms in the cluster are running at 50-70 per cent capacity. However, low capacity utilisation was also a result of the government's demonetisation drive, which halted the cash transactions and trade in the industry.
Global leader in color and specialty chemicals Archroma has entered a collaboration with Patagonia, the American clothing company for its Clean Color collection, Patagonia has used dyes made from natural sources, along with other supply sources. Earth Colors by Archroma is a range of dyes synthesized from agricultural waste. It is plant-based dyes, sourced from up to 100 per cent renewable resources. The colors change and fade over time, which is part of what makes these dyes unique.
The selected Earth Colors dyes are the gorgeous palmetto green and citrus brown made from non-edible palmetto green parts and bitter orange peels left over from agriculture industry or pharmaceutical extraction.
Many of Patagonia’s synthetic dyes use less water, energy and Co2 when compared with conventional processes. However Patagonia, founded in 1973, always looks for ways to do less environmental harm. The company already collaborates with Archroma for its denim collection.
Archroma is committed to challenge the status quo in the belief that the industry can be made sustainable. Patagonia has chosen Archroma’s eco-advanced dyeing technologies for its newest sustainable clothing endeavor. The two support each other in accelerating sustainable concepts in the textile value chain.
After being embroiled in a controversy home textiles maker Welspun India has a system called Wel-Track that traces cotton from the source to the point of sale. While the system tracks physical verification on the floor, the radio-frequency identification device technology allows tracing the cotton from the farms to the gin (a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fiber from seeds) to the spinning to weaving to the last end of a product, which is cutting suit.
There is also a QR code that can trace it back to the source. It has also tied up with one of the biggest farmers in the US for sourcing of Supima cotton. The company is starting to see good upswing in hospitality and expects three times growth in the next three years. Then it has health and wellness, e-commerce and its domestic brands apart from different channels of growth across different countries.
The portfolio of innovation contributes around 36 per cent of the turnover and 16 per cent is the brands. The biggest upswing for Welspun in the domestic market comes in the latter half of the year. Nearly 75 per cent of the selling happens August onward. Overall Welspun’s sales from online channels have seen a 40 per cent growth this year and in the next year a 100 per cent growth is expected globally, primarily in the US, UK and India.
