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With less than two months to go before the largest home textiles sourcing event in Asia – Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – a number of leading suppliers from around the world are gearing up to showcase their latest products. The four-day show, which will unfold from August 23-26, is one of the region’s most significant events that connects the entire home furnishings industry. This full spectrum of home textile products and accessories is provided by top manufacturers from Mainland China, as well as Asian and European countries.
Statistics indicate Indian textile exports to Latin America in the last fiscal were higher than India’s exports to a lot of other countries such as Canada, Russia and With increasingly high quality and competitive prices, Chinese home textile products are gaining in traction, while the government’s 13th Five-Year Plan encourages the industry to upgrade by incorporating more innovative ideas and advanced technology. What’s more, Chinese suppliers are no longer limited to resellers or agents of foreign brands but are capable of producing high-end products and developing their own brands. Huatex International for example is one of the exhibitors. With experience in jacquard for over 13 years, it established its own brand Texdream in 2015 to provide quality woven fabrics. Hangzhou Aico Home Textile is another well-known brand in China that will present high-end home textile products like curtains, bedding and other decorative fabrics at the August show.
A line up of new launches
Amongst the Chinese exhibitors, there is no lack of companies equipped with both sophisticated design and production ability. Yuanzhicheng Home Textile has been cooperating with a famous Italian design company, Arte Tessile, to get new product design ideas for hotel and residential usage. Meanwhile, advanced and professional jacquard design software is used to improve the product development process. They have also developed widespread sales network and worked closely with several international hotel brands including InterContinental, Starwood, Shangri-La, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Accor and more.
Zhejiang Maya Fabrics focuses on designing fabrics for high-end interior design and home furnishing industries. Their products are supplied to over 200 fabrics distributors, furniture manufacturers, design firms and hotel groups in 25 countries. In addition, they have been partnering with Art Institute of China and various Italian designers to incorporate the latest technology and innovative elements into their designs to keep up with the changing trends.
Apart from regular exhibitors, some new companies will catch buyers’ attention this year. Being the sole Asian distributor of leading British bedding brands such as Common Living, Harlequin, Morris, Sanderson and Scion, Qingdao Mirtos Textiles will also participate for the first time. Equipped with own design studio, they will be showcasing mid-range to high-end bedding products and accessories with stylish design and competitive price.
Global presence
To satisfy buyers with various sourcing needs, the show will also feature universal big names from different sectors. German brand JAB Anstoetz will be providing a series of delicate appliques to household textile decoration products, while UK’s Prestigious will offer a diverse range of fabrics for drapes and upholstery, wall coverings and home décor accessories. Some other leading suppliers also include DDécor, and Advansa Marketing, the leading German supplier of polyester fibres. Apart from fabrics and finished product suppliers, non-textiles suppliers like Somfy are also not to be missed. The Somfy Group from France excels at designing and producing automated controls for doors, windows and other building openings. Its Chinese subsidiary will make its debut in the show, presenting their world-class sun protection systems.
Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award
In addition to a sourcing platform, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles aims to bring more inspiration to the industry. This year, the show will feature the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award, for the first time, which includes a forum where leading players from the interior design, architectural design, apparel design and art sectors will share their insights on the transformation of design in the new information era. This widely recognised annual award is organised by the well-known interior design house, Andrew Martin International since it was introduced to China in 2006. There will also be a Transborder Home Art exhibition, which enables new home living styles to be illustrated in the form of furniture and installation art.
In 2016, Asia Pacific’s top 500 retailers recorded total sales of 940 billion dollars, an increase of five per cent on the previous year.
Despite slowing growth in China and Japan, south-east Asian economies performed well in 2016 with many retailers in India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam experienced double-digit sales growth.
Asia Pacific also continues to lead the digital commerce market. In 2016, mobile retailing sales totaled 328 billion dollars, an increase of 64 per cent and in China, Indonesia and South Korea, mobile commerce accounted for over 50 per cent of total digital commerce.
The Asia Pacific region contains more than half of the world’s population and is a major contributor to the global economy with extensive trading and collaboration with the rest of the world. In recent years, a significant share of global economic output and growth has concentrated in large cities in the Asia Pacific region. The region is highly dynamic, with rapid growth and urbanisation.
Asia Pacific includes parts of north Asia, south Asia, east Asia, west Asia, central Asia, south east Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
Retail sales growth for the period 2010-2016 outstripped every other region, turning in a compound annual growth rate of 13.6 per cent.
Tamil Nadu’s textile cluster is upset over the GST rates imposed on textile manufacturers, including job workers, who were so far exempt from any form of tax. While the principal manufacturers are to pay GST at 18 per cent, job workers will have to pay five per cent.
Tirupur, a knitwear and hosiery hub that earned Rs 25,000 crores through exports and posted a domestic revenue of Rs 12,000 crores in 2016–17, is dependent on job work at various levels of garment manufacturing for more than 80 per cent of its production. The textile cluster includes Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Salem, Namakkal and Karur.
Owners of textile units say the power loom sector will be badly hit by GST. They say that for something that remains as an unorganized sector, the GST taxation procedure is too complicated. Chennimalai, in Erode district, is a handloom and power loom hub, employing over 15,000 people. Erode district has more than 3,00,000 people directly or indirectly engaged in the sector.
The power loom sector in Tamil Nadu provides employment to around 9,14,000 workers, and there are over 1,800 textile and spinning mills located in the state. The sector at Chennimalai is more of a cottage industry and more than 80 per cent of the products are sold in weekly shandies.
There is apprehension in Ludhiana that with GST imported garments will get cheaper.
The special additional duty stood as a protection for domestic apparel players. With GST, this duty protection will be removed and imported garments will be five to six per cent cheaper.
The textile industry fears that there will be an increase in imports from countries such as Bangladesh and China, where the cost of manufacturing is lower due to the availability of cheaper labor.
GST will render imported polyester fabric cheaper than made-in-India polyester fabric. The industry wants the GST on polyester yarn to be brought down from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.
Prior to GST, the industry had duty protection of 5.5 per cent from cheap imports. After the GST, all duties have been subsumed in five per cent of GST for both domestic manufacturers and importers. This, in effect, means no protection, as both domestic manufacturers and importers will be required to pay the same duty.
Prior to GST, the countervailing duty included six per cent excise duty on cotton and 12.5 per cent with Cenvat credit on polyester. Ludhiana is a leading producer of woolen and acrylic knitwear although it also uses extensively cotton and other blended fibers to produce a wide range of fabrics, hosiery, knitwear and readymade garments.
One of the most awaited events, India Couture Week 2017 will celebrate 10 years this month. The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) is all set to bring the most extravagant showcase this month.
The fashion show will be a seven-day affair starting from 24 July at the Taj Palace hotel and at a few off-site locations in Delhi. Like always, the chosen locations will be exciting and astonishing for all fashionistas.
The fashion event will witness India's top 14 couturiers including Anita Dongre, Tarun Tahiliani, and Varun Bahl and more. The designers will set the mood for trends relevant to India and its celebration of life with colours, sheer, and shine.
Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI says that this year is the most momentous year as 10 years of Couture Week has been an incredible journey, which has been the only event in the country to offer a prestigious platform to couturiers to showcase their talent in offering irrepressible indulgence. The journey impossible without the support of board members and the FDCI team. The company looks forward to presenting many more editions of this magical event as we take it to a new high with seven days.
Three US companies say China, India, South Korea and Vietnam dump fine denier polyester staple fiber (PSF) in the US market with a damping margin of 21.43 per cent to 103.6 per cent.
The three US enterprises are DAK Americas, Nan Ya Plastics and Auriga Polymers.
Virgin and recycled manufactures contributed to 98 per cent of total polyester staple fiber imports to the US in 2016. US imports of polyester staple fiber rose by 7.6 per cent a year from 2011 to 2016 while exports during this time fell annually by nine per cent on an average.
China, South Korea and India have been the US’s top three sources of PSF since 2011. Imports from China, India, South Korea and Vietnam account for around 79 per cent of the total.
China’s polyester staple fiber export volume has continued to grow since 2011 and exceeded one million tons in 2016. In the past six years, the average export volume to the US was around 21 per cent of the average total. However the proportion of exports to this country mildly fluctuated downward from the highest of 25 per cent in 2011 to 19 per cent in the first five months of 2017.
At least eight people were killed and up to 50 injured after a boiler exploded at a garment factory in Bangladesh. The explosion was so powerful it destroyed parts of the factory, including a roof and several walls.
The factory is owned by textiles manufacturer Multifabs, which makes clothing for mostly European brands.
Bangladesh has more than 4,500 garment factories employing four million mostly female workers at a minimum monthly wage. The industry is notorious for poor workplace safety, with many of the factories lacking basic equipment such as ventilation and air coolers.
In April 2013, the nine-story Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people in one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
The country and international buyers have been trying to improve working conditions in the garment sector, which adds about 29 billion dollars in terms of exports to the country's economy.
In Bangladesh, 3.5 million workers in 4,825 garment factories produce goods for export to the global market, principally Europe and North America. The Bangladeshi garment industry generates 80 per cent of the country’s total export revenue. However the wealth generated by this sector has led to few improvements in the lives of garment workers, 85 per cent of whom are women.
Bangladesh’s garment factory owners have expressed their deep displeasure over a unilateral decision made by EU brands and retailers to extend the presence of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh by three years.
They say Bangladesh is a sovereign country and that the unilateral decision is not a sign of partnership. They add that without consultation with stakeholders, Accord cannot extend its timeframe. If Accord wants to work after 2018, it would have to send a proposal in this regard to the government of Bangladesh.
At the OECD Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris on June 29 EU retailers and global trade unions announced the extension of the agreement on Accord for a second term saying that the agreement will enter into effect when the current Accord expires in May 2018.
Accord is a European retailers’ platform. Accord conducted a successful pilot safety committee training program at 56 supplier factories having registered trade unions and the initiative has formed safety committees in 33 of the factories.
If any factory seeks financial assistance for remediation, Accord would facilitate negotiation over the issue between the lead buyers and manufacturers.
A total of 1,388 out of the 1,452 readymade garment factories inspected by Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh are lagging behind the schedule in implementing corrective action plan while remediation in 57 factories are progressing as per schedule.
For the first quarter of 2017 Abercrombie & Fitch’s net sales were down four per cent and gross margin was pressured by steep traffic headwinds and more promotional activity than had been planned.
Comparable sales were in line with expectations and have improved sequentially over the past few quarters across all brands, geographies and channels. Comp sales were down ten per cent.
Abercrombie & Fitch expects gross profit rate for the year to be slightly below last year’s adjusted rate of 61 per cent.
The company plans to close 60 stores in the US by the end of this year, and to remodel 47 stores and open seven full-price stores and two outlets. Strategic initiatives include strengthening its omni channel presence, engaging with customers through loyalty programs and social media, renovating stores through an updated prototype model and partnering with wholesalers and franchisers to reach more consumers.
Abercrombie & Fitch expects comp sales to remain challenging for the full year and to see trend improvements in the second half of the year. The company expects the gross profit rate for the year to be slightly lower than last year’s adjusted rate of 61 per cent. The company expects operating expenses to be down three per cent from last year, with 65 per cent of the reduction occurring in the second half of the year.
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.
