The proposed legislation, ‘textile industry development, promotion and standard Act’, has been abandoned by the Ministry of Textiles. The legislation was aimed at overriding multiple laws and ordinances under its administrative control. According to sources work on important issues regarding proposed textile bill, textile policy, and Export Development Fund (EDF) has almost come to a standstill.
The absence of a full-time minister and lack of direction on whether or not the textile industry should be merged with the commerce industry are just some reasons for this state of affairs. Sources state that work on the final draft of the proposed Act was completed early this year after consulting with other stakeholders. The Act was pending for the lat six years and now, the proposed legislation was ready to be submitted to the Law Division for vetting; yet it is around seven months and the Law Division has not received it.
The Federal Textiles Board was notified and restructured to facilitate the textile stakeholders. The platform was supposed to serve to monitor the implementation of Textiles Policy (2014-19), along with rationalisation of cess/surcharges that is applicable on textiles value chain industry and its exports and utilisation. Besides, the Research, Development and Advisory (RDA) Cell was set to be the secretariat of the Board. Moreover, the existing RDA Cell officers were supposed to be responsible for the overall implementation and monitoring of Textile Policy. The Board, however, is yet to meet after all this time.
China will host the annual Yiwu Tex fair from Nov 30 to December 3. This is a textile machinery exhibition that a focuses on knitting and hosiery industries, targets advancement, energy saving and automation technology, providing a one-stop platform for knitting and garment industry professionals. The show promotes green and sustainable production, helping enterprises to grasp current business opportunities.
The trade fair presents new textile technology applications in knitting and garments, medical hosiery, seamless underwear, functional sportswear, interior auto parts, footwear, home textile and many other sectors. A series of events and forums will be held concurrently with the show to discuss hot topics of the industry and analyse latest design trends, offering a combination of theory with visual display for buyers to experience the latest fashion industry topics.
A knitwear collection will be displayed to showcase the best knitting technology. The show will feature forums on the latest trends in lingerie and knitted apparels, functional sportswear. The knitting industry occupies an important position in China's textile industry. In 2014, export value of China’s textile products increased 4.06 per cent compared to the previous year. Knitwear accounts for 44 per cent of the total textile export value.
www.yiwutex.com/
Ruling out the common notion that the Muslim consumers hardly demand fashion clothing, a recent report by Thomson Reuters says that globally, Muslims spent $266 billion on clothing and footwear in 2013, more than the total fashion spending of Japan and Italy combined. The report further adds that this figure is expected to increase $484 billion by 2019.
Reiterating this, the Islamic Fashion and Design Council (IFDC) says that Islamic fashion, which they call as iFash industry is heading toward a $500 billion market. However, experts point out that the global fashion brands are recently waking up to this untapped yet prosperous Muslim women’s fashion market.
Global brands unveil special collections for Ramadan
Several mainstream designers have started producing clothes and collections especially for Muslim women. A Pew Research predicts that the number of Muslims in the world will equal that of Christians by 2050—along with its constituents’ impressive spending power.
No wonder, global fashion brands now creating collections to cater to this growth segment. DKNY was the first to launch a women’s capsule collection for Ramadan last year. This year, Tommy Hilfiger unveiled its own Ramadan capsule collection this June, and fashion designers, manufacturers and retailers including Net-a-Porter, Zara, Oscar de la Renta and Mango are also offering lines especially themed for the holiday around Ramadan.
However, Muslim shoppers are of the opinion that such collections should be created all round the year rather than confining them to the period around Ramadan. Experts believe that designers must now cater to this high-growth category beyond the holy month. Some apparel brands are moving in that direction. Japanese clothing brand, Uniqlo, for instance, has launched a new Hana Tajima LifeWear collection consisting loose blouses, skirts, dresses as well as traditional kebaya and hijab on July 3, which is available in certain Singapore stores and online. The aim is to cater to all the consumers in general without really making a line only for a certain community.
Creating a global appeal with Muslim fashion
IFDC is one of the institutes taking various initiatives to promote works of designers in effective ways. The organisation boosts of talent from Muslim fashion industry by providing them exposure on a global platform. IFDC’s initiatives include buyer initiatives, wherein retail buyers from department stores to boutiques have joined hands with IFDC to create growth opportunities for designers. The organisation is also teaming up with high-traffic events and media initiatives worldwide focusing on creating brand awareness and organising private buyer viewings and select audience. It has been forming marketing collaborations in cities around the world including New York, London, Paris, Milan, Jakarta, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur to further establish connections between the designers of Muslim fashion and global fashion industry.
Experts feel that popular brands such as DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango, Zara and Oscar de la Renta should not restrict their offerings to geographies like the Middle East. In fact, the fashion should reach out to those who are unaware of the Muslim fashion to make it truly global. Reaching out to audiences in the countries, who are already aware of Ramadan and fashion accepted by Muslim women would not really help the prospects of this segment. They assert that designers and designer brands should retail their Muslim-focused collections in Western stores to bring Muslim fashion in the mainstream.
While FDI to Vietnam has fallen significantly in the first six months of 2015, heavy investments were made into the textile & garment sector. The sector saw at least $1.12 billion out of the $5.58 billion worth of capital registered into it. One of the three largest projects was capitalised at $660 million, the highest ever in the field. The project, in a yarn factory in Dong Nai province, was registered by an investor from Turkey.
Others include a $300 million project by a British investor in HCM City and a $160 million project in Tay Ninh province by a Hong Kong investor. Prior to that, Vietnam licensed three large projects to investors from China, including $400 million textile & garment complex in Nam Dinh province, $300 million in Quang Ninh province and $200 million in Hai Duong. Smaller projects are capitalised at tens of millions of dollars. Forever Glorious, a subsidiary of Sheico Group from Taiwan, has committed to invest $50 million in a project to make underwater sportswear.
Gain Lucky belonging to Shenzhou International plans to invest $140 million to develop a fashion design and high-end product development center. According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vinatas), once Vietnam officially joins TPP, it would enjoy a zero percent tariff when exporting textile & garment to the US instead of 17-30 percent.
Except Vinatex, there is no other company into production of input material, which is the biggest challenge for Vietnam’s textile and garment industry since it has to rely upon imports from China.
The Berlin tradeshow saw a wide and interesting mix of collections from streetwear to contemporary and high-end collections. The recently concluded tradeshow hosted 1,000 companies and 1,800 collections, attended by buyers and insiders from all over Europe (mainly US and Asia). Though the future of Euro and Greece is shaky, the mood was optimistic and enthusiastic. Patrick Stupp, CEO of womenswear label Rich & Royal, said that generally, buyers have lower budgets to spend on fairs. This brand, though scored almost a two-digit growth on the number of orders during the last ordering season and grew 50 per cent.
Einstein & Newton, the T-shirts only label expanded its product portfolio within the last season into full-range apparel collection for women and men. This brand, located on the outside area were providing a barbecue in a truck-booth for visitors.CEO, E&N, Mario Lipovac speaking about the tradeshow said that the label had developed into a brand for high-quality retailers that were exhibiting at Premium.
A denims show had apparels inspired by the 70’s which were a hit, outer jackets in military styles, luxury sportswear, ‘Shoendals’, a new footwear trend, wood watches in accessories and the colour orange were all a part of the show.
Now wear clothing that kills bacteria, conducts electricity, captures harmful gas, wards off malaria and weaves transistors into shirts and dresses. Researchers at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY say that they are capable of creating clothing out of cotton, which can do all this. Juan Hinestroza, Associate Professor of Fibre Science, who directs the Textiles Nanotechnology Laboratory at Cornel says that cotton is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood materials. He says that we can control cellulose-based materials one atom at a time.
Students, led by Prof Hinestroza, have turned cotton fibres into electronic components, such as transistors and thermistors. This means, instead of adding electronics to fabrics, the fabric is converted into an electronic component. The group also added conformal coatings of gold nano-particles and semi-conductive and conductive polymers to tailor the behaviour of natural cotton fibres. Prof Hinestroza explained that the layers are so thin that flexibility of the cotton fibres is always preserved.
A dress was created by Abbey Liebman using conductive cotton threads capable of charging an iPhone. With ultrathin solar panels for trim and a USB charger tucked into the waist, the garment captured enough sunshine to charge cell phones and other handheld devices, allowing the wearer to stay plugged in.
Synthesising nano-particles and attaching them to cotton, besides creating colour on fibre surfaces without the use of dyes, allows the new surfaces to efficiently kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria. This could ward off colds, flu and other diseases, state the researchers.
Textile Exchange has released the 2014 Preferred Fiber and Materials Report, which showcases an increase in the use of preferred fibers and materials. Preferred materials include recycled polyester, lyocell, organic cotton, and more.
The report says both survey results as well as textile industry studies demonstrate how preferred fibers are outpacing the growth of conventional fibers such as cotton. The report is designed as a tool to help brands, retailers, educators, nonprofit organizations and the entire textile supply chain understand the preferred fiber & materials (PFM) market.
The long-term goal is to support the growth and development of the PFM supply chain from fiber to finished product and on to the consumer. The report also challenges the textile community to address today’s market use of synthetics and encourages them to adopt more sustainable options. Textile Exchange works on a global scale to support the transition to more sustainable fiber and material options.
The report also congratulates the top 10 users of recycled polyester including Nike, The North Face, Target, H&M, Puma, Williams Sonoma, G-Star Raw, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Volcom and Prana and top five users of Lyocell - Inditex, H&M, Target, G-Star Raw and Eileen Fisher.
www.textileexchange.org
While the minimum wage increase was expected to have a negative impact, Cambodia’s garment and footwear sector is performing well, says a new International Labor Organization (ILO) bulletin. Exports in the first quarter hit $1.48 billion, nearly 8 percent increase over the first quarter of 2014 driven by strong demand by the European Union, which has overtaken the US as Cambodia’s main garment importer.
The bulletin, titled ‘Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains’, is a new quarterly publication published by the ILO using data from the Ministries of Commerce and Labor, the National Institute of Statistics, and the Cambodia Investment Board.
Last year, the garment and footwear industry grew by 9.3 percent to $5.8 billion, up from $5.3 billion in 2013. Footwear exports grew even faster, increasing by 23.9 percent to $438 million in 2014 over the previous year. As per the Cambodian Investment Board, 78 new garment and footwear factories were approved in 2014, with a total value of $452 million of fixed assets. In the first quarter of 2015, 19 more factories, worth a total of $72 million gained approval. With new factory openings, employment is on the rise. According to official figures, the total garment worker population increased from 497,200 in 2013 to 580,900 in 2014. During the first quarter, that number hit 605,100.
GMAC members were earlier worried that raising the minimum wage to $128 per month, effective last January, would make Cambodia less competitive compared to countries like Bangladesh, which has a minimum wage of $71 per month. Parts of Vietnam also have a lower minimum wage than Cambodia: $100 per month. GMAC warned of factory closures and investors moving to cheaper destinations. However, so far, this pattern hasn’t materialized. Only 11 factories closed in 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, factory openings exceeded closures by 14, said the bulletin found.
www.ilo.org
The US has renewed GSP facility for Sri Lanka. This has boosted Sri Lanka’s export development efforts. The US is the biggest consumer of Sri Lankan apparels. Sri Lankan exporters will gain duty free access for eligible products under the GSP program. The US GSP Program is in force until December 31, 2017. It provides preferential duty free entry into US market for nearly 5,000 products from 122 designated beneficiary countries and territories including Sri Lanka.
US importers are eligible to claim import duty paid by them for eligible products during the lapse in GSP coverage from July 31, 2013, with retrospective effect. Since 2010, Lankan exports to US have increased by 59 per cent. In 2014 Lankan exports to US were valued at $2.7 billion. In the same year, apparels comprised 73 per cent of Lankan exports to the US. In 2014, Lankan exports to the US rose year on year by 8 per cent in comparison to 2013.
Apart from apparels, Sri Lanka’s other leading exports to the US in 2014 were rubber tyres, plastic based packing materials, rubber gloves, activated carbon, coir products, and rubber floor coverings.
Rohit Aggarwal is the new VP and MD of Huntsman India. He will help grow the business, drive strategic partnerships and third party investment in India and the subcontinent. Aggarwal brings over 20 years of experience in the chemical industry, having led businesses across multiple chemical specialties, including additives, coatings, advanced materials and textiles.
Aggarwal will rejoin Huntsman after two years with Louis Dreyfus Commodities BV where he was CEO for Asia Region. He has worked out of Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. He started as strategic marketing director in advanced materials division of Huntsman before moving to Textile Effects where he progressed from vice president and business unit head to vice president strategic marketing and planning.
Aggarwal’s appointment is meant to accelerate Huntsman’s growth in a market that is exciting and filled with opportunities. Huntsman is a $14 billion chemical giant, a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. Huntsman Textile Effects is the leading global provider of high quality dyes and chemicals to the textile and related industries. It has operations in more than 90 countries and seven primary manufacturing facilities in China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand.
www.huntsman.com/textile_effects/a/Home
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