FW
Bangladesh’s export earnings have fallen 7.59 per cent this quarter. Value addition in readymade garment sector dropped 3.31 percentage points in the quarter. The country’s exporters are losing their competitive edge due to the overvalued currency and the increasing cost of doing business. The US-China trade war resulted in a slump in consumption of readymade garment products. The consumption fall also forced the country’s exporters to lower prices.
Import of raw materials represents 38.99 per cent of the country’s export value. The readymade garment sector imports raw cotton, synthetic or viscose fiber, synthetic or mixed yarn, cotton yarn and textile fabrics and accessories for garments as inputs for the production. The readymade garment sector contributes 83.52 percent to the country’s overall export earnings. Due to Bangladesh’s high dependency on garment exports, any instability in this sector in future could result in huge unemployment and a trade deficit. So the country needs to diversify its export basket.
Bangladesh’s competitors have already succeeded in this. Vietnam for instance emphasises electronics and other value-added export products. Bangladesh has to develop factory to port communication in order to reduce lead times and has to have a one stop service in trade procedure and documentation in product transaction.
Pitti Immagine Uomo will be held in Florence, Fortezza da Basso, Italy from January 7 to 10, 2020. This is the world’s most important platform for men’s clothing and accessory collections and for launching new projects in men’s fashion. New collections for fall /winter 2020-21 will debut. The show will host more than 1,200 brands of which 540 will be foreign ones and 265 will be new ones and expects to welcome about 36,000 visitors.
Unisex brand Telfar will incorporate unisex designs with comfortable sportswear. Contemporary design brand Closed and the British fashion designer Nigel Cabourn will combine their creative visions in a new exclusive capsule collection that draws inspiration from vintage military uniforms. Sergio Tacchini, an Italian sportswear brand founded in 1966, will showcase a retrospective celebrating the brand’s heritage as well as highlighting the newest collection. A group of artists, actors, models, designer and friends will honor designer Karl Lagerfeld who passed away last year. They will present their personal interpretation of the designer’s most iconic piece–the white shirt. A flag show will depict seemingly simple rectangles of fabrics in constant movement. The idea is to show this can express identity, feelings, thoughts and sense of belonging–just like clothes and brands.
Atul Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India and Mahesh Sharda, President, International Cotton Agency expound on the current market scenario for cotton in India
Much of the cotton currently available in our country has been damaged due to the recent rains. Therefore, we would have to wait for another 15 days to know the correct cotton prices. Currently, cotton prices are quite low as the available cotton is of low quality and has a moisture content of 25 percent to 50 percent.
Extended monsoon is the spoiling the quality of our cotton. We normally require cotton of 75 to 78 RD but have to contend with 72 RD cotton. We cannot ignore the weather conditions this month. The next ten days will be extremely crucial for the crop.
Though cotton is produced on a much larger scale globally, USDA recently reduced its production by 4 per cent. Earlier, the association produced 22 million bales. Now, it produces only 20.8 million bales as most of its buyers are adopting a wait and watch policy.
India will continue to be the world’s top cotton producer as consumption will continue to rise. The current low prices will also boost consumption.
Pakistan’s garment manufacturers and exporters can’t participate at the US trade show Magic. Reason: they can no longer afford to be a part of this comprehensive fashion marketplace as costs are too high. They now hope for subsidies, which will enable them to be present at the show and target the lucrative US textile import industry. In real terms Pakistan’s textile exports have remained stagnant in the last six years. During the same period textile exports from Bangladesh and Vietnam have increased seven per cent to ten per cent. Pakistan share in the global textile trade has declined from 2.2 per cent at the start of the century to less than 1.70 per cent. The country is looking at boosting its foreign exchange reserves through a jump in exports.
Magic showcases women's and men's apparel, footwear and accessories. It fuels the business of fashion by helping facilitate connections between buyers and brands with outstanding services like retail concierge and matchmaking programs, bridging relationships and strengthening connections. Additionally, retailers and buyers have opportunities to learn, network, and conduct business with new and returning exhibiting brands. From the height of advanced contemporary luxury brands, to the latest trends in fast fashion, Magic fuels the business of fashion bi-annually in February and August every year.
The State Bank of India has asked Reliance Industries to complete its proposed takeover of Alok Industries and pay the Rs 500 crore equity component in its takeover of the bankrupt textile company.
The Reliance-JM Financial Asset Reconstruction consortium won the right to buy Alok Industries in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process in March last year. Reliance wants to raise about Rs 4,550 crores through bank loans while infusing a Rs 500 crore equity in the company. State Bank wants to make sure that at least the equity component comes in so that it has some surety. The bank is hoping that Reliance at least deposits the equity component in the interim, which will help it proceed with the paper work for the transaction simultaneously as the loan gets sanctioned. SBI, the lead bank, had initiated insolvency proceedings against Alok Industries in June 2017. It was among the 12 accounts with outstanding loans greater than Rs 5,000 crores.
Silvassa-based Alok Industries is a fully integrated textile company with a presence in the cotton and polyester segments. The company owes lenders a total of Rs 30,000 crores, which means banks are taking a collective haircut of 83 per cent. The majority of the Rs 30,000-crore dues are to financial creditors, with the company owing Rs 624 crores to operational creditors.
Garment Technology Expo (GTE) will be held in New Delhi, January 10 to 13, 2020. This trade show will bring together businesses from across the apparel manufacturing industry. GTE aims to act as an international business-to-business platform for businesses to promote their products and services. The event will also include seminars and conferences on trends and technological advancements in the garment production industry, as well as on how to manage production.
Besides showcasing a wide range of machinery used to make textiles and garment manufacturing, such as sewing machines and leather finishing machines, the event will also feature businesses which specialise in manufacturing accessories, ribbons, trims, embellishments, beads, sequins, belts, buckles, brand tapes, labels, and buttons, among other categories. Clothing designers attend the show to source parts to use in their own garment manufacturing process. A special focus will be given to handloom textiles from across India. GTE expects to draw visitors from a wide range of businesses in the fashion industry including shoe manufacturers, buyers, boutique owners, apparel designers, textile printers, leather goods manufacturers, knitwear manufacturers, exporters, and dyeing and finishing companies, among others.
GTE launched in 2001 and has had 26 editions of progressive growth and consistent patronage.
India’s merchandise exports from April to November 2019 were down by about 1.99 per cent. Fortunately, the order book position of Indian exporters is very encouraging. The faint volatility in the currency has also been a positive factor. Liquidity is also improving though it can get better. Infrastructure improvement and initiatives on the logistics front will impart further competitiveness to India’s exports. If the global situation improves, which is likely in the first half of 2020, India can look for a 15 per cent growth in exports during the next financial year.
However, Indian exports need to be aligned with the changing import patterns of the global economy. Half of the global imports today are accounted for by electrical and electronic products, automobiles, machinery, petroleum products and plastic products. Unfortunately, the share of such products in Indian exports is less than 33 per cent though petroleum products account for roughly half of it. India’s global share in such products is much less than one per cent. With the R&D advantage and the professional manpower at its disposal, concentrating on sectors where global trade is likely to rise further will yield benefits for India. It is estimated that FDI can help in expanding India’s share in global high technology imports to about two per cent in the next three years.
As of November 2019, nearly 9,000 textile retail stores down shutters in major markets across the US and Europe. The closures were 55 per cent higher than the previous year. MotherCare, the UK baby and maternity clothes retailer, has filed for bankruptcy and will close all its 79 shops in that country.
As many as 10 major brands, including Forever 21, Payless and Barney's, filed for bankruptcy between January and October. JC Penney, Gap, Sears and Victoria’s Secret are among major companies that have downsized. Zalando, the European e-commerce brand, is winding up sourcing from India after closing its private label segment zLabels. The company used to source garments annually from India—mainly from Bangalore and Tirupur—but has decided to end that.
One of the key reasons for brands to shut down is changing consumer trends and competition from e-commerce players. Some big retailers have opted for bankruptcy because they want to get out of leasing contracts. Most of these retailers have set up shops in locations which are taken for lease for long years. In the current market conditions they can't afford to pay such a hefty rent and can't cancel the lease, which will call for heavy compensation. Filing for bankruptcy gives a cushion for retailers to come out from this problem.
In the first 10 months of 2019, Cambodia’s exports of garments, textiles, footwear and travel products were up 6.45 per cent. Export rights have been granted under the preferential trading system to 78 garment, footwear and bag factories. There has been a 24 per cent increase in the number of such registered facilities. There was a 170 per cent increase in the bag factories registered.
Cambodia has seen positive effects of the US-China trade dispute, which has prompted a surge in garment and footwear registrations. The growth of garment factories last year got a boost mainly because of the need to find alternative sourcing destinations away from China. Growth in travel goods factories was strengthened by the eligibility of the products for the US’ Generalised System of Preferences. More than 500 factories in Cambodia employ more than 7,00,000 workers. To boost exports to international markets, the country is continuing to strengthen the supply chain and diversify the exports market through integration within the Asean Economic Community. Efforts are being made to improve capacity and efficiency by strengthening human resources and reforming management and administrative structures, as well as improving public services.
Cambodia’s economy depends heavily on its garment and textile industry, and the EU is its largest export market.
The fast fashion market has changed tremendously over the last 20 years. Digital-first retailers like Asos, Boohoo, Revolve and Missguided are producing trend-driven garments and accessories designed for digitally native millennial and Gen Z customers. Conference organiser RetailX’s ‘The Fast Fashion 2019’ report reveals, the sector will make up 10-20 per cent of total revenue share in key European fashion markets in 2019.
Despite the wide reach of fashion sector, the online model for fast fashion is not likely to succeed as only a few e-commerce players have fared well in 2019. To succeed, brands need to focus on inventory and supply chain management besides increasing their speed of delivery.
Brands focus on quick deliveries
As most online fast fashion brands depend on short design-to-delivery times, they buy basic clothing in bulk. This enables them to produce trendy pieces that are sold off within
a few weeks at a break-even price point. However, retailers like Asos, Boohoo and Misguided sell these trendy pieces at very cheap rates, the government conducted an audit on labor exploitation in these brand factories in November 2018. To allay the fears of the UK’s House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, Boohoo informed its cheap £5 dresses are a marketing tool to attract customers to visit the website and these loss-leading items make up only 80 of over 6,700 dress styles on the site. The brand aims to attract people with trend-led quick turnover items, sourced locally for speed, so that they then make purchases from the core product offering, typically with higher profit margins.
Another popular brand Missguided ensures quick delivery through ‘near-shoring.’ The brand can turn around a product from China in under four weeks and from Pakistan in under two weeks. It also keeps its budget flexible to alter its collections according to what’s trending on the social media.
Using data to predict trends
Companies that use data to forecast trends are best positioned to succeed. Smart fast fashion companies now rely on data to inform the buying process and buy into only what will sell. For instance, US online retailer Revolve uses proprietary data tools to measure influencer impact and social engagement to inform product choices.
By managing its inventory, the company has recorded a 15 per cent year-on-year net sales growth since 2018 and a return to profitability, with an $82 million rise in profits for Q3 following a loss in Q2. Despite a drop in share prices by approximately 40 per cent since its IPO in June, Revolve still has growth potential thanks in part to its proprietary technology and data tools. In 2019, retailers are also focusing on buying back successful styles that resonate. Boohoo increased stocks of its most popular styles by 110 per cent this season, while PrettyLittleThing increased its replenishments by 265 per cent.
New initiatives for customer acquisition
Driven by payment capabilities of its customers, fast fashion e-tailers: Asos, Missguided, PrettyLittleThing and Boohoo have partnered new pay-later payment service Klarna to lower the barrier to purchasing. The payment platform target millennials and Gen Z consumers.
In 2020, many British fast fashion brands plan to expand their operations globally, particularly in the US, where they have seen increased success in 2019. A recent example of this is Missguided which plans to increase investment in US expansion tenfold. Boohoo Group also increased its international revenue 64 per cent over 2018, owing to its successful stint in the US market.
Influencer marketing will also drive the growth of fast fashion retailers next year as all Revolve, Boohoo Group and Missguided plan to expand upon big influencer and celebrity deals inked in 2019. However, this can lead to market saturation and make finding an influencer space a challenge for retailers in 2020. Retailers therefore, need to constantly push the envelope and stay ahead.
