US teens vouch for brand Nike
Nike is a favorite brand among Gen-Z, aged 13 to 20, in the US. Teens are moving away from traditional youth brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch. In the apparel sector, youth brands such as Hollister and Aeropostale have also lost ground with Gen-Z consumers in the last five years.
Reduced interest in these heavily mall-reliant retailers could well reflect a wider trend, as young consumers move away from destination retail, increasingly preferring convenience store-style spaces. Athletic shoe brands such as Reebok, Converse, Vans and Puma have also lost out among Gen Z over the last five years.
Gen Z is highly social, online and offline, with greater conversational engagement than adults in most consumer categories. Discussions about brands are behind on an average 19 per cent of consumer purchases, accounting for somewhere between seven and ten trillion dollars in annual sales.
Nike is the most talked about apparel and footwear brand, discussed by 11.2 per cent of teens, up 34 per cent since 2013. There is also a decline in discussions concerning retailers such as Nordstrom, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Kmart, Sears, and TJ Maxx. However, important as trends may be, there are plenty of brands that are succeeding despite them.
India: Tirupur knitwear exports down 13 per cent
In the first four months of the current year, knitwear exports from Tirupur have fallen 13 per cent. One reason is GST and the consequent reduction in duty drawback and rebate of state levies. Tirupur garment exporters have greeted the increase in basic customs duty from 10 to 20 per cent on specified garments.
The duty hike on import of 23 knitted garment items and one knitted fabric is expected to help protect the domestic textile industry. Knitwear exporters had been appealing for swift action in this regard as textile imports from countries such as China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia have increased significantly.
Exporters say there is a need to restrict import of textile products. They have prepared a white paper detailing the threat from China, with Chinese companies setting up factories in countries bordering India to take advantage of labor, low wages and customs exemption available to these countries in EU and Canada. Under the South Asian Free Trade Area agreement, specified garment items imported into India from Bangladesh are also exempted.
The Tirupur knitwear cluster is looking forward to the Indo-Pacific economic corridor as it would open up traditional apparel markets abroad. The corridor is a treaty of 12 countries, including India, the US, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand among others.
Premiere Vision Paris to launch B2B marketplace
Première Vision Paris to be held from September 19 to 21, will see the launch of a B2B marketplace. Targeting an international database of 2,50,000 upstream professionals, the marketplace aims to bring together 1,500 companies and 70,000 textile products, leather, accessories, designs and clothing.
Initially, limited to sample orders, before a possible opening to massive orders, the offer is currently reserved for 756 weavers for the launch. The products are put online by the companies themselves or, with their consent, via the Première Vision photo studio, as a part of the selection of materials that will comprise the trends of future editions. This offer to professionals is complemented by various services, mainly geared towards connecting manufacturers and contractors, plus an editorial content dedicated to market trends and developments.
The project is part of a wave of progressive digitization of various fashion and textile trade shows. It is a strategic project that will support the commercial development of the show’s exhibitors by providing them with a permanent connection with their customers. It is also a way to adapt to production processes that have become very diverse and fragmented.
Premiere Vision aims at supporting the evolution of the sector, whose new players are waiting for new tools.
Philippines aims at FTA with Turkey to boost garment industry
The Philippines is aiming at a free trade agreement with Turkey. The aim is to help revive the garment industry and take advantage of Turkey’s weak currency. The Turkish lira has suffered a major beating following the country’s trade standoff with the United States. The Philippines sees this is an opportunity for garment manufacturers because Turkish textiles have become more price competitive with the depreciation of the exchange rate.
The free trade agreement could introduce a zero-tariff regime. Rates are between 10 and 20 per cent currently. Since the abolition of textile quotas by the World Trade Organization in 2005, garment and textile enterprises in the Philippines which relied on quotas faced difficulties leading to closure of factories and downsizing.
Spinners, who turn raw material to yarn then to fabrics for garment factories, have dropped in numbers. Out of more than 30 spinner companies, only two have remained. At present, 39 per cent of the industry is composed of exporters, and 61 per cent is subcontractors, which include small contractors catering to garment exporters, or backyard businesses.
The industry is gearing up to jumpstart its resurgence and gain back its reputation as a competitive player in the domestic and international markets.
Bangladesh: New Accord has wider scope
The Bangladesh readymade garment industry is undoubtedly safer, and lives have been saved. After the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy, global apparel brands no longer ignore dangerous working conditions at their supplier factories.
The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building was an unprecedented, independent, legally binding agreement between trade unions and brands. Expert fire and building safety engineers working for Bangladesh Accord have inspected more than 1,600 factories making garments for over 200 brands and retailers. Initial inspections identified 1,18,500 fire, electrical and structural hazards of which 84 per cent have been corrected. The Accord training team has conducted 2,838 safety committee training sessions with workers at over 1,000 factories.
Five years on, Bangladesh Accord stands as a model for industrial relations, and shows that brands and unions can work together to solve systemic problems. However, the work of the accord, which expired at the end of May 2018, is not complete. Too many life-threatening hazards at supplier factories remain, which is why more than 180 brands have signed the new Transition Accord.
This accord has greater scope to cover home textiles and footwear and, crucially, gives more power to workers. The new agreement recognises workers are not peripheral to the due diligence process, but core to it. It upholds the importance of freedom of association in ensuring workers have a genuine say in protecting their own safety. It will also establish a training and complaints protocol to ensure that this right is respected.
Kornit enter India riding on Arrow Digital
Kornit’s direct to garment machines, inks and consumable spare parts and other relevant products will now be distributed in India by Arrow Digital, which will also provide service and application support to Indian customers. Kornit is a digital textile printing company. It’s looking at increasing its presence in India’s the digital printing segment. Kornit’s portfolio of direct-to-garment products is the perfect fit for its aggressive growth strategy in the digital textile market. Its goal is to continuously improve its customers’ experience in every aspect. Expanding its network of sales and support personnel and being close to where its customers are located is a key initiative towards achieving that.
Arrow Digital is a distributor of materials and equipment for the digital printing and cutting markets. Arrow aims at taking the direct-to-garment market to the next level, combining its support and expertise with Kornit’s cutting-edge technology for this segment.
The Indian garment industry, with the rise in the skilled labor market, is now moving towards mass customization. Also people are now switching from screen to digital printing. Green technologies, better quality and on demand short runs are now the trend. Social media and e-commerce are contributing to the demand for digital technologies.
Indorama to invest in Uzbek cotton sector
Indorama is investing in modern cotton and textile production in Uzbekistan. This will include the cultivation of raw cotton, corn, or another crop on crop rotation basis. It also includes the organization of deep processing of raw cotton and the production of cotton yarn.
Indorama, based in Singapore, is one of Asia’s leading chemical holding companies. It started in 1975 as Indo-Rama Synthetics, which was a yarn spinning company and manufactured cotton yarn. During the 1990s, the company diversified into the production of synthetic spun yarns and polyester fibers. Its strategy to drive sustainable and profitable growth in both high-volume necessities and the stable but high margin and high value-added HVA business continues.
Currently, Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth-largest cotton producer among 90 cotton-growing countries. It produces about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton annually and 1.2 million tons of cotton fiber annually.
Uzbekistan accounts for about six per cent of global cotton production and about 50 per cent of the cotton fiber produced is shipped for export. One of the policy priorities of Uzbekistan is further development of its textile industry. Uzbekistan takes consistent steps to increase the volume of cotton fiber processing. Investors from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Turkey and other countries have invested in its textile enterprises.
India can replace US exports to China
Following China’s trade war with the US, India can export more cotton, corn, almonds, wheat and sorghum to China. In fact, there are at least 100 products where India can replace US exports to China by benefiting from the higher import duty China has imposed on products originating in the US.
Fresh grapes, cotton linters, fluecured tobacco, lubricants and certain chemicals, including benzene, are a few products which the US has been exporting to China. India too has been exporting these products to China but now there is scope for India to increase exports of these products because of the tariff differential and the substantial demand in China.
While China has imposed 15 to 25 per cent tariff on these goods coming from the US, other countries are subject to a five to a 10 per cent duty. Moreover, India has been granted additional duty concessions under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement, making its exports more competitive.
Corn is of specific interest to India as the country is a huge corn exporter. While American corn is subject to 25 per cent duty, APTA countries can get up to 100 per cent concessions on corn exports to China.
Cotton plants in Gujarat affected due to irregular rains
Written by FWCotton industry experts say, the cotton season in Gujarat is likely to affected due to irregular rains. The season is likely to begin a month late. Even the plants are likely to be smaller than the normal. Some places in the state received high and some had poor rains. This has affected the growth of cotton plant.
As per the data of Gujarat Agriculture Department, cotton sowing in the state has reached over 2.71 million hectares, about 2.33 per cent higher than last year’s 2.65 million hectares. Though, sowing has increased, it is much lower than industry expectations. Normally, the new cotton season in Gujarat begins in October and ends in September every year, but this time the season is likely to start from October end or in November due to abnormal monsoons in the state.
Bangladesh: Garment exports to India up 115 per cent in 2017 fiscal
In fiscal 2018, Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to India were up 115 per cent compared to exports in fiscal 2017. Of the total amount, earnings from knitwear products were 89.75 per cent higher than the same period a year ago. Earnings from woven products were up 124.79 per cent.
Also, since India has raised duties on clothing imports from China, this has opened an opportunity for Bangladesh readymade garment exporters. India has doubled import duty on about 328 textile and apparel products from China. As a non-traditional export destination, India is a potentially great market for Bangladesh. It is logical if India’s textile products imports from China decrease, Bangladesh can grab the space.
Since India has a large population and a growing middle-income group, there is scope for exports from Bangladesh to Indian markets to see a sharp rise. Bangladesh already enjoys duty and quota-free market access to Indian markets. Now Bangladesh manufacturers have to develop good relations with global retailers, who are opting to open outlets in India. Non-tariff barriers are a great challenge for Bangladesh in penetrating Indian markets.
In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh’s export earnings from the apparel sector were 8.76 per cent higher compared to previous year earnings.
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Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to jointly make eco-friendly jute apparel
Readymade garment manufacturers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka teaming up to develop eco-friendly jute-based garments with help from a design school. Known to be competitors in the apparel industry, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are currently discussing how the clothing market is evolving beyond polymer. These have reportedly been initiated by MAS’ Mahesh Amalean and Brandix’s Ashroff Omar, the two largest apparel exporting companies in Sri Lanka with operations in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the USA.
The discussion between industry leaders of the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi apparel sectors is a positive sign on increasing trade between them. Manufacturing jute-based apparels would undoubtedly result in an expansion in Sri Lanka’s apparel sector into other markets of South Asia. Foreign companies interested in doing business in Sri Lanka could explore opportunities in the country’s apparel sector and also look at setting up base to venture into the Bangladeshi apparel sector.
Pakistan: PRGMEA recommends export emergency to control decline
Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA), has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to declare ‘export emergency’ in the country to control the decline in export sector. Pakistan’s current account deficit surged over 40 per cent in fiscal year 2018-19 to $18 billion. Low export is a major reason for the growing trade deficit, with the prime minister forming committees to address the deficiency. Value-added textile exporters want the federal government to formulate separate policies for various sub-sectors of the textile industry in order to resolve their sector-specific issues and problems.
As per Sheikh Luqman Amin, Senior Vice-Chairman, PRGMEA, different sub-sectors of the country’s textile industry cannot be treated equally due to their varying needs and requirements. Hence, the new government and textile ministry should formulate separate policies for the value-added and other sub-sectors of the industry in order to facilitate improved production and export.
Amin believes value-added textile exporters are facing a severe problem in meeting the export orders due to multiple reasons. These include: seeking the attention of the government on issues of ease of doing business; cost of doing business, one window operation, minimum interference of bureaucracy and formulation of a counsel of all stakeholders to resolve the issues of exporters. He stressed on the need for early clearance of outstanding refund cases.
Indian garment manufacturers need to speed up to grab global business
"As India aims for 20 per cent yearly growth in exports over the next decade, Indian manufacturers need to develop a business strategy that can help the country to succeed in the US and European markets. In 2025, global trade in the textile and apparel market will cross $1.2 trillion. China has nearly 40 per cent share in global exports. However, in the past few years, the country is experiencing a downward trend in apparel exports and has vacated nearly $30 billion worth of space in global trade. Growth in global trade and China’s shrinking exports share present a lucrative opportunity for other countries with competitive manufacturing facilities. India can become one of the biggest gainers in the changing landscape of global apparel trade. Drip Capital offers insights into some of the intriguing aspects that can make India a global textile destination."
As India aims for 20 per cent yearly growth in exports over the next decade, Indian manufacturers need to develop a business strategy that can help the country to succeed in the US and European markets. In 2025, global trade in the textile and apparel market will cross $1.2 trillion. China has nearly 40 per cent share in global exports. However, in the past few years, the country is experiencing a downward trend in apparel exports and has vacated nearly $30 billion worth of space in global trade. Growth in global trade and China’s shrinking exports share present a lucrative opportunity for other countries with competitive manufacturing facilities. India can become one of the biggest gainers in the changing landscape of global apparel trade. Drip Capital offers insights into some of the intriguing aspects that can make India a global textile destination.
The prerequisites
Today, fair trade has become a prerequisite to sustain globally. Fair trade advocates expect that everyone in the
value should earn enough to fulfill basic household needs, regardless of volatile market prices. Environment sustainability is also a big concern and consumers in the West want products that are made judiciously. Indian manufacturers can stand out by positioning themselves as practitioners of Fairtrade. Environmental stewardship and labour-friendly working conditions can become India’s USP.
If India is to achieve close to 20 per cent yearly growth in apparel exports, manufacturers have to invest in skills training and process improvement to match global competitiveness. In recent times, there has been increased focus on skill development but these initiatives need to scale up. If the Indian garment industry remains at same productivity levels, they would need 35 million more workers to fulfill the new demand, which is nearly impossible. The objective should be to match the productivity levels of China in a few years, average output per hour and per machine output both in terms of quality and quantity. Indian policies make it difficult to import the fabric needed to produce winter or some specific garments. Locally, the textile industry is focused on cotton which leaves the exporters with no material to produce such products. This policy to protect the demand for local cotton producers is perhaps doing more than good.
Need for Fast fashion retailers to tighten their eco goals
"A new report by Changing Markets Foundation on sustainability has yet again brought fast fashion retailers under scanner as the biggest pollutants. The report concludes that many firms are still not doing enough to ensure sustainability of their textile supply chains. While there has been bold leadership from some retailers, a large part of the industry has still not demonstrated willingness to engage on the issue or set out policies on viscose production. These include: Burberry, Ikea, Missguided, Gucci, and Prada, as well as supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Lidl, Morrisons and Asda."
A new report by Changing Markets Foundation on sustainability has yet again brought fast fashion retailers under scanner as the biggest pollutants. The report concludes that many firms are still not doing enough to ensure sustainability of their textile supply chains. While there has been bold leadership from some retailers, a large part of the industry has still not demonstrated willingness to engage on the issue or set out policies on viscose production. These include: Burberry, Ikea, Missguided, Gucci, and Prada, as well as supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Lidl, Morrisons and Asda.
Viscose is a soft semi-synthetic fibre commonly used to make lighter clothing and is the third most-used fibre in the textiles industry after polyester and cotton. It is created from cellulose that is chemically extracted from trees, a process that requires hazardous chemicals. A number of major producers have been accused of failing to follow adequate health and safety processes, leading to pollution from production processes impacting surrounding water and soils.
Some well-known UK fashion retailers are sourcing viscose fabric from two factories in Indonesia and India,
which have been accused of polluting their local environments and harming human health with toxic chemicals. As per Changing Markets Foundation, if managed properly, viscose has the potential to be a largely sustainable fibre as it is made from plant matter and is biodegradable.
Path to sustainability
Changing Markets Foundation has set up a roadmap for sustainable viscose sourcing. Seven brands have signed up so far and started engaging with their supply chains on how to guard against the risk of viscose-related pollution. Inditex, Asos, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Tesco, Esprit, and C&A are the first signatories. Next has reportedly indicated plans to commit to the roadmap, which sets out best available techniques for viscose production in the near future.
Carmen Chan, Senior Sustainability Manager-F&F Clothing line, Tesco, says while she understood the complexity of the environmental challenge of viscose, it was not possible to tackle it alone. Collaboration is the key to help transform the textile and clothing industry. M&S has stated it will not source from any man-made cellulosic fibre suppliers which do not transition to a closed-loop manufacturing system by 2023-25, explaining such a system should recycle the majority of chemicals used during the production and prevent the process from negatively impacting human health and environment.
Phil Townsend, Sustainable Raw Materials Specialist, M&S says the roadmap was an important step forward in reducing environmental impact of viscose for making clothes. However, the industry needs to work together to create positive change and achieve the Changing Market Foundation's goals. Ikea has stated that it is working towards a goal that all Made Cellulose fibres shall come from responsibly sourced wood and be produced having minimum environmental impact to land, air and water.
The two largest viscose producers in the world, Austria's Lenzing and India's ABG, have both now committed to making all their sites meet EU Ecolabel requirements for production. In China, the country's 10 largest producers have joined together to form the Collaboration for the Sustainable Development of Viscose and are developing a 10-year roadmap for improvement, the report said.
Many more to achieve…
Natasha Hurley, Campaign Manager, Changing Markets Foundation says the onus was on manufacturers and their customers to turn commitments to improve their supply chains into detailed plans and ensure transparent reporting of their performance, including complaints and grievances. After many years of complacency from fashion brands and producers with regard to the environmental impacts of viscose manufacturing, the tide is finally beginning to turn towards more responsible production methods," she said. But the unlikely bedfellows of luxury brands and discount retailers continue to ignore an issue that is blighting people’s lives and the environment. What's more, most luxury fashion brands are failing to publicly disclose supply chain information. This is unacceptable. It’s time for them to wake up to transparency and sustainable fashion.
