Provisional data from the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) shows, Sri Lanka’s apparel exports grew by 22.64 per cent to $522.14 million in July this year. Cumulative exports between January and July increased by 20.4 per cent to $ 3.3 billion from the corresponding period of last year and $ 3.07 billion in pre-COVID 2019.
In July, Sri Lanka’s apparel exports to the US grew by 17 per cent Y-o-Y to $ 213.6 million. Exports to the EU grew by 32.3 per cent to $154.29 million and to the UK by 29.3 per cent to $ 75 million.
In the first seven months of 2022, exports to the US grew by 27 per cent to $ 1.4 billion, to the EU by 14.5 per cent to $ 963 million and to the UK by 18 per cent to $ 455.4 million. Exports to other markets grew by 16.6 per cent to $ 484.50 million.
Despite resilient performance so far in 2022, industry sources fear prospects for the remainder of the year will remain challenging. This is due to rising inflation in the EU and the US and existing inventory in the latter. Energy crisis ahead of the upcoming winter is also a factor that points to depressed market sentiments.
North Carolina educational institutions are collaborating with a key Honduran University to educate and train thousands of students for the next generation textile workforce to meet a rising tide of nearshoring and onshoring in Honduras, Central America and the United States.
The groundbreaking initiative will launch a series of educational workforce development programs, ranging from training and certificate programs to undergraduate and graduate degrees, in textile-related areas of study.
The partnership comes at a defining moment for the US, Honduras and Central America, which are seeing historical levels of investment in textile and apparel production stemming from a global supply chain crisis that has driven a significant shift in sourcing out of Asia to the U.S. and the region. Nearly $1 billion of historic textile and apparel investment is anticipated in the US and Central America this year alone. And this partnership also creates an educational pathway to economic opportunity in Honduras and the region that not only creates a skilled and resilient workforce but can also help to address the root causes of irregular migration.
South Korea-based chemical company Hyosung TNC plans to commercialize the world’s first bio-based spandex. Known as ‘Creora bio-based’, the spandex was derived using a natural material extracted from corn instead of coal, and obtained a global eco-friendly certification.
The ‘Creora bio-based’ spandex uses a corn-derived substance that obtained an eco-friendly certificate from the US Department of Agriculture, replacing a part of coal-extracted raw materials. The corn-derived substance has long been used for general fibres, wrapping papers, cosmetics, and liquid detergents, but not for high-functional textiles, such as spandex, as it is impossible to deliver unique elasticity and resilience due to technological limitations.
Hyosung TNC will initially start production of the bio-based spandex at its production bases in South Korea including facilities in Gumi, and then increase its production through global production bases, such as those in Vietnam.
In addition, it aims to continuously increase the use of natural raw materials for its products through collaboration with global fashion brands.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in the fashion and accessories segment have shown maximum growth in the last two years, as per a report by Apparel Resources.
The fashion and accessories’ segment grew by 89.5 per cent Y-o-Y in FY’22 on brand websites compared with 52.2 per cent growth the year before.
The health and pharmaceutical segment reported order volume growth of 84.8 per cent on brand websites, alongside its muted growth of 9.2 per cent on marketplaces.
This leads to a strong growth of brand websites as consumers prefer to order directly from the brand.
The FMCG and agriculture segment witnessed a Y-o-Y growth of 67.7 per cent on brand websites in FY ’22, while marketplaces grew by 50.6 per cent.
The report further said brands across segments are building a strong online presence with focus on selling directly to consumers, and companies have realised it is important to invest in strong brand website operations to develop a connection with consumers.
A delegation of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) has requested Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to lift the ban on import of textile machinery and equipment to increase the production capacity of the region and incre
Restrictions imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are impacting the hosiery exports from the country, according to WealthPK Report.
The SBP has imposed sanctions to strengthen the national economy to reduce the import bill and reduce the gap between the country’s exports and imports. ase exports.
The Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD) of SBP has banned the import of all types of industrial machinery. Prior permission is required for import of such machinery and other related items. The restrictions have hit the industry as it regularly imports textile machinery and equipment.
Exporters of hosiery products said that they were inconvenienced a lot by taking prior permission for import of machinery as they failed to fulfill their commitments with respect to export orders on time.
Mian Kashif Zia, President, PHMA says, exports act as a lifeline to earn valuable foreign exchange, especially in the current scenario as Pakistan was facing unprecedented challenges and had a massive deficit of $17.4 billion. He urged the government to resolve the issues by easing the restrictions imposed on the import of machinery.
Chennai-based menswear and boyswear clothing firm Indian Terrain Fashion (ITFL) plans to double the number of its exclusive stores to 400 by FY ’25.
Charath Narsimhan, Managing Director and CEO, the brand plans to increase the number of EBOs to 400, most of which will be in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.”
Around 60 per cent of the new stores would be franchise-owned while the rest will be company-owned, he adds. The company also aims to explore the possibility of entering girl’s clothing segment.
During FY ’22, ITFL had posted revenues of Rs. 336 crore against Rs 213 crore in the previous fiscal year and now aims to clock a turnover of Rs. 500 crore by 2025.
Vidyuth Venkatesh Rajagopal JMD, ITFL, says, this would achieved by rapidly expanding the reach of boyswear segment, brand building and brand positioning with new apparel offerings, increasing footprint across small towns, cities and geographies in India and enhancing and improving retail and online presence, amongst others.
High cotton prices, Russia-Ukraine war and dwindling demand from the apparel industry have hit the Indian spinning industry hard with many cotton yarn mills across the country planning to cease production.
Already, many mills have stopped working for two days in a week. Additionally, many mills have discontinued their second shifts also in the remaining five days.
Tamilnadu Spinning Mills Association (TASMA) has also sent an advisory to its members to stop production. All member mills of the association are voicing their concerns over the recent losses due to dwindling demand amid rising cotton prices and poor marketing of yarn.
However, many mills continue to run their mills as usual, even with high losses.
Besides Tamil Nadu, spinners in Gujarat are also facing the hit.
The industry has been repeatedly representing the Government to completely withdraw the import duty on cotton imports or at least to extend the withdrawal up to 31 March 2023, but the exemption is available only up to 31 October 2022.
Cambodia’s National Council on Minimum Wage plans to increase the monthly minimum wage for the garment, footwear and travel goods industry for next year. The council recently invited representatives of employers and employees to propose their respective figures for the negotiations as they require more internal discussions.
Presenting key statistical updates on socio-economic criteria to form the basis for the 2023 minimum wage talks, the council also received inputs like current inflation, competition and market situation from the representatives of employers and employees.
The monthly minimum wage for the sector was increased from $192 in 2021 to $194 in 2022. However, workers were not granted fringe benefits like a transport and housing allowance of $7 and a regular attendance bonus of $10 per month.
The next meetings will be held on August 24 and 31 and September 7, 14, 22 and 23 at the ministry of labor and vocational training.
The imports value of US textile and apparelsincreased by 28.1 per cent Y-o-Y to $11.45 billion in June. The imports volume increased by 18.2 per cent Y-o-Y to 10.65 billion sq m. US apparel imports value in June 2022 rose sharply by 40.3 per cent Y-o-Y to 8.64 billion and the imports volume increased by 18.9 per cent Y-o-Y to 2.76 billion sq m.
The US textile and apparel imports volume from China declined by 11 per cent Y-o-Y to 3.25 billion sq m in June 2022. The imports value reached $2.95billion increasing by 15.8 per cent Y-o-Y. US apparel imports value from China in June 2022 rose by 32.9 per cent Y-o-Y to $1.98 billion, and the imports volume reached 1.04 billion sq m, up by 12.5 per cent year-on-year. Compared with 2019, the total imports value from China decreased by 11.5 per cent, and the reduce rate saw a seasonal decrease.
Over the past 5 years, China's share in US textile and apparel imports was on the decline. And it stayed at 25.8 per cent by June 2022.
Around 544 medium and small garment units have invested Rs 745 crore in the state besides adding about 64,000 jobs over the past three years, owing to the state’s favorable garment policy, says Shankar PatilMunenakoppa, Handloom & Textile Minister. Launched in 2019, the policy will be in force for two more years.
Mega projects under the policy attracted another Rs 1,060 crore investments, creating about 17,300 jobs. The garment policy 2019-24 aims at attracting investment of up to Rs 10,000 crore and adding about 5 lakh jobs, adds Munenakoppa.
Known as the garment capital of India, Karnataka provides a fifth of the clothes manufactured in India. Karnataka plays a major role in exporting raw materials. Karnataka contributes 49 per cent of mulberry silk production, 12 per cent of wool production and 6 per cent of cotton production.
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