FW
Online retailer Hail Women plans to launch its unique professional wear collection. Inspired by the European style to Wall Street fashion, the collection caters to conscious women who love to wear formal, smart, comfortable dresses. The collection is ideal for professions like law, business, and finance, which have a client interface, high importance is given to professionalism and employees are supposed to be well-dressed and well-groomed but still not look flashy
The international style corporate wear targets all women ranging from a company’s CEO to a fresher, corporate, students, working professions who prefer wearing formal clothes but have limited choice. The collection can be bought online through its website and includes semi-casual and formal dresses like tops, shirts, trousers, suits, etc.
A Spanish businesswoman has created a textile woven from the fibers of pineapple leaves. Carmen Hijosa is a clothes designer by trade and having abandoned leather on environmental grounds spent eight years developing her alternative textile, which she calls Pinatex. Pineapple fibers are very fine and strong and flexible. Pinatex looks like leather but doesn’t feel like leather. It’s its own material. When it gets wet it dries like leather and it behaves like leather in every way except it’s completely sustainable.
Hijosa founded the company Ananas Anam to market Piñatex. She works with pineapple farmers in the Philippines who harvest and strip the fibers, which are finished into Piñatex in Spain. To make one square meter of Piñatex takes 460 leaves - but there’s no shortage of raw material. Global pineapple production topped 25 million tons in 2016.
Since its commercial launch in 2015, Piñatex has been used by about 500 manufacturers, including vegan sneakers sold by fashion house Hugo Boss. The leather industry has its critics. Aside from the resources needed to raise cattle to slaughter, the industry uses chemicals with tannery waste containing large amounts of pollutants. So pineapples aren’t just good to eat. They can also be good to wear.
Bangladesh’s readymade garment supply chain still suffers from lack of shared responsibility on the part of global buyers. Very few factories, if at all, have received financial assistance from buyers instead they have seen reduced prices. The fundamental business model of the garment supply chain has not changed. Production remains an industry with high levels of opportunity for countries to connect to global value chains, but that has come at a price for workers.
However, transparency of buyers and working conditions in the country’s readymade garment factories have improved since the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013. The inspection process continues to be problematic. Reasons include multiple inspections by multiple inspectors, miscommunications and unplanned inspections.
There is a stronger concern for worker safety and labor standards on the one hand and continued tensions between buyers’ demands for low production costs and speed on the other. Factories in shared or non-purpose built premises need to relocate. Firms in such premises which were not able to meet the new standards had to move and often ended up in more remote regions. Such factories have to bear the relocation costs and do not receive financial support from buyers, the government or their industry associations.
"The Fairyland for Fashion, the banner under which the twice-yearly Paris trade fairs held by Messe Frankfurt France at the Le Bourget exhibition centre are grouped, is dedicated to materials, clothing production and forward planning for textiles, clothing and accessories. The event comprising the upcoming Apparel Sourcing, Avantex, Leatherworld, Shawls& Scarves, Texworld and Texworld Denim Paris shows, will be held from February 11-14, 2019 in Paris Le Bourget."
The Fairyland for Fashion, the banner under which the twice-yearly Paris trade fairs held by Messe Frankfurt France at the Le Bourget exhibition centre are grouped, is dedicated to materials, clothing production and forward planning for textiles, clothing and accessories. The event comprising the upcoming Apparel Sourcing, Avantex, Leatherworld, Shawls& Scarves, Texworld and Texworld Denim Paris shows, will be held from February 11-14, 2019 in Paris Le Bourget.
An absolute must for anyone involved in designing collections of clothing and accessories, The Fairyland for Fashion will feature over 1,800 exhibitors, producers from every continent, who will on average meet over 14,000 principals. The event will include lectures, round-table discussions, catwalks and specific itineraries for fabrics.
Wide range of RMG on display
Apparel Sourcing Paris, the biggest trade fair in Europe for sourcing, comprises 600 clothing manufacturers from 17 countries. From basics to high-end, the fair covers the whole range of ready-to-wear for women, men and children, grouped by area of expertise in fashion clothing: knitwear, dressmaking, tailoring, sportswear, evening wear, made-to-measure, lingerie and swimwear, workwear, textile accessories, etc.
Dedicated to technological innovation, sustainable development
Avantex Paris is the first international trade fair dedicated to technological innovation and sustainable development in the
fashion industries. Featuring 38 exhibitors from 9 countries, the fair brings together companies, from the design phase through to retail, to offer effective solutions for encouraging and shaping tomorrow’s fashion. Far more than just an exhibition, it is a real network bringing together the brands, industries and research that share a similar determination to integrate fashion and technologies for the future and to explore the challenges and prospects for tomorrow’s markets in a series of highly regarded lectures.
Flexible materials in focus
Featuring 58 exhibitors from seven countries, Leatherworld Paris is dedicated to flexible materials used in particular in certain branches of fashion such as leather goods, footwear, gloves and fur items. A vast range of fashion articles and accessories made of leather, fur and related materials that attest to a wealth of technical skills. In this domain, the finished product is certainly not overshadowed and stands its own among the other offers at the trade show, which is now attracting a growing number of retailers, in addition to buyers of fabrics or manufactured products.
Featuring Shawls and Scarves
Shawls&Scarves Paris is the only international trade fair dedicated solely to scarves and shawls. It will feature headscarves, wraps, capes, ponchos, etc in materials like cashmere, wool, silk, cotton, linen, bamboo, etc, from entry level to very high end, both woven and knits. The fair will feature 33 exhibitors from 17 countries in September 2018.
The Fairyland for Fashion, the French agency for Messe Frankfurt France, was established in Paris in 1953. The Messe Frankfurt France subsidiary was founded in 2002 in order to acquire the Texworld trade fair. Since then, its portfolio has expanded with Apparel Sourcing Paris, Avantex Paris, Leatherworld Paris, Shawls&Scarves Paris and Texworld Denim Paris. The company is firmly rooted in the global fashion industry environment while actively promoting young design at the same time. Today, with twenty staff, a turnover of 26.2 million euros and 75 marketing agencies throughout the world, the company is in a position to organise every type of trade fair in France. In 2017, the company’s trade shows brought together around 3000 exhibitors from 21 countries and 30,000 visitors from 110 countries.
The nylon industry had enjoyed a particularly favorable situation over the past couple of years. All of that is about to change, however, as 2019 is expected to be a year of more volatility.
In terms of ADN (adiponitrile) availability, 2019 may be an even tougher year than 2018. Shortage of ADN has been aggravated by several major technical and environmental forces. Understanding how the supply and demand for ADN will develop in 2019 and beyond is essential for those who both directly and indirectly depend on this essential material.
The caprolactam (used to make PA 6 EP, filament and fiber) market is becoming increasingly regional, which has a significant impact on prices and margins. This market is also heavily dependent on the cost of production directly related to the price of benzene. As a result, a combination of understanding and forecasting the cost of raw materials, including benzene, and the supply/demand balance of caprolactam and PA 6 will remain a priority for 2019.
The significant increase in polymer prices has dramatically changed the criteria for choosing materials for industrial, textile fiber applications and engineering plastics. The intensity of winter in China and the policy update to include a temporary closure of production units have both had an immediate impact on the availability and prices of cyclohexanone, adipic and caprolactam.
Indonesia’s exports of textile and textile products were up six per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. Indonesia is set to become one of the top five textile and textile product producers in the world by 2030. The textile sector is improving its efficiency and product quality. Being highly integrated from upstream to downstream, this sector is competitive and is supported by a large amount of human resources for its production activities.
Being both an export-oriented and labor-intensive sector, the textile industry has thus far contributed significantly to Indonesia’s economic growth. The textile industry grew 3.45 per cent last year, having nearly doubled from 2016. This year’s growth target is between four per cent and six per cent. In raw materials, the industry uses 51 per cent synthetic fiber, such as polyester and nylon, 37 per cent cotton fiber, and 12 per cent rayon.
But the industry still faces several obstacles in reaching full competitive potential, as nearly all cotton is imported. In contrast, 80 per cent of synthetic fiber and 85 per cent of rayon is domestically produced, with these numbers expected to increase further. The aim is to increase the sector’s share in Indonesia’s total exports to 1.6 per cent.
India’s textile and apparel exports grew by 14 per cent in November. Textile exports jumped nine per cent and apparel exports jumped 21 per cent. For the period between April and November, textile and apparel exports grew by seven per cent.
The old duty drawback rate which was very attractive came to an end in September 2017. Because of this attractive scheme, Indian exporters advanced their delivery schedules to avail of the duty drawback scheme. Consequently, textile and apparel exports skyrocketed in September 2017. Exports one year later in September 2018 declined sharply. From that level, however, exports are normalizing which is believed to continue in future as well to end the current financial year flat.
Indian’s textile and apparel exports are destined for all countries including China. The recovery in the US economy has given a boost to India’s textile and apparel exports. Since the US economy is on a continuous growth path, India’s textile and apparel export growth is expected to continue.
India registered a growth of 5.37 per cent in textile and apparel exports in 2017. India’s share in world trade in textile and clothing is estimated to be 4.95 per cent. With these exports, India is ranked second among suppliers in the world.
All India Textile Conference was held in Coimbatore organized by TAI on December 15 to 16, 2018. Some 600 delegates representing the entire supply chain of the textile industry participated. Technicians and engineers from the textile industry exhibited a keen interest to learn new developments in the industry.
Facing a threat from the IT sector in attracting highly qualified engineers, a message of optimism was provided to the attendees and the next generation workforce. Improving training, maintaining standard procedures substantiated by documentation and diversification of the textile sector were key points discussed in the two-day event.
An interesting aspect of the conference was a debate on the use of the term technical textiles. One proposal was a simple and new classification of the non-commodity industrial textiles grouped as consumer products; institutional products and government regulated products such as defense textiles.
The conference was held in Coimbatore after 25 years and was meant to boost confidence among textile industry stakeholders. It was organized by the Textile Association of India. TAI, founded in 1939, provides for professional growth of technologists, managers, traders, researchers, teachers, consultants and entrepreneurs. It caters to the needs of all fibers, products and all sectors of the industry. It organizes seminars, conferences, workshops and exhibitions of textiles and allied machines.
The European Commission (EC) has moved to restrict the use of four phthalates in consumer products such as coated fabrics and sport equipment. Phthalates are substances known to have toxic effects on human reproductive health. They can be present in plasticized materials in a variety of everyday products.
Consumers can be exposed to phthalates through oral or skin exposure or by breathing dust particles with such substances. The new ruling complements existing restrictions on three phthalates in toys and other childcare articles. The restriction follows the scientific and technical recommendations of the European Chemicals Agency. It will come into effect as of June 2020.
The chemicals come under the carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction category, and are known to cause cancer and reproductive health problems. The substances include formaldehyde, heavy metals and benzenes, which can sometimes be used as an ingredient in textile coatings or through the production process.
The restriction decision was adopted by amending the EU’s Reach regulation that has already significantly reduced exposure to harmful chemicals over the last ten years. The EC constantly evaluates how to enhance protection of consumers, workers and the environment. The use of chemicals in the fashion industry’s supply chain has a significant impact on the environment.
British brand Burberry is having distribution problems. The company’s supply chain remains weak. The brand’s strategic focus is on igniting brand heat — starting with influencers and key opinion leaders, which will cascade to all consumers. But shifting consumer perception, transitioning product, and transforming the distribution will take time.
Burberry is undergoing a major transformation, with a new designer, a new focus on ultra-luxury, a new logo and a change to the way it drops its product. But while early signs are encouraging, transitioning the product offer, evolving its distribution, changing wider consumer perception and seeing this translate into positive business performance will take time. Most discussions to evolve its wholesale distribution are now complete and the required changes to its third-party distribution network are expected to accelerate,
All regions performed in the first half. The UK and Italy grew, with an improvement in the second quarter, while the Middle East remained weak due to macro factors. But Asia Pacific grew by a mid-single-digit percentage. The company has seen the successful launch of its new go-to-market model. The broader luxury industry faces the prospect of slowing economic growth globally and weak demand from Chinese consumers.
