India topped among the countries exporting children’s wear to the US between January to July 2018. India’s export earnings in the period grew 1.50 per cent and volumes grew 19.87 per cent. During the seven-month period, US volumes of junior wear imports grew 3.07 per cent while values were up 1.76 per cent from the same period of the prior year.

India is the only country that saw a surge in both volumes and value terms, surpassing China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia as far as percentage growth is concerned. Bangladesh and Vietnam, India’s close competitors in the children’s category, fell in value terms and grew in volumes but stayed far behind the growth tapped by India. While Bangladesh’s earnings were down two percent, Vietnam’s export value fell 1.90 per cent from the previous year.

While Bangladesh’s volume of children’s wear exports to the US grew by 1.83 per cent, Vietnam managed to witness a decent growth of 5.29 per cent in exports of children’s wear. China’s volumes fell by 1.74 per cent and values of exports dipped 2.74; Indonesia too drastically noted a decline by 8.29 per cent in value and 10.12 per cent in volumes of junior wear exports to the US.

India has surpassed Sri Lanka in underwear exports to the US, from January to July 2018, a growth of 10.77 per cent during the first seven months of the year. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, was able to ship just $149.86 million worth of underwear, a fall of 16.07 per cent.

In volume-terms, India clocked in a growth of 2.87 per cent and shipped 10.21 million dozen of underwear during the period, whereas Sri Lanka declined massively by 21.86 per cent and could just ship 6.58 million dozen underwear in the US market.

India’s unprecedented growth can be attributed to various factors. India and Sri Lanka both export high-end underwear to the US, however India’s advantage was less unit prices than Sri Lanka’s which helped the country in surpassing both in volumes and values.

India’s unit prices were $18.11 per dozen, whereas Sri Lanka’s was $22.77 and in the present era where cost-competitiveness is at all-time high, the country with ‘low cost and high quality’ combination emerges as victorious and the same happened with India.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has secured a $2 billion loan to establish cotton plantation and textile factories in Abia, Kano and Lagos states. The new investment commitments coming into Nigeria’s textile sector, of which Aba is a major beneficiary, will be actualised within the shortest possible time. The proposed investment will create thousands of jobs for the vibrant and creative youths in Aba.

The President recently attended Forum for China-Africa Cooperation where he met executives of one of the largest cotton and garment companies in the world who will soon establish operations in Aba.

In June 2018, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission granted an electricity generation licence as well as a distribution licence for the market. This will enable the generation and distribution of 9.5 Megawatts of electricity within the market.

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has joined hands with the Ministry of Textiles (MoT), Government of India (GoI), to spread awareness on the importance of cleanliness through the campaign Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) from September 15 to October 2, 2018.

The council has kicked off the campaign with a camp at AEPC’s Okhla office. The campaign was inaugurated by Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani in the presence of chairman of AEPC HKL Magu, heads of garment industry associations and industry members.

The Swachhata Hi Seva campaign stresses on shramdan. Towards this, a cleanness drive in the neighborhood of Okhla would be undertaken during this ceremony by the apparel industry.

"Apparel business from the US is gradually skewing towards Bangladesh. Recent OTEXA figures reveal, Bangladesh exported denims worth $507.90 million to the US in 2017, a 9.57 per cent surge over previous year. Mexico’s exports, on the other hand dipped 7.92 per cent to reach $793.46 million. During the first six months of the year from January to June ’18, Bangladesh exported denim worth $245 million, a 16.86 per cent growth, while Mexico, the second biggest denim apparel supplier to the US, reported a 2.73 per cent decline to reach $360 million. Rising wages in Mexico as well as trade negotiations on NAFTA is affecting Mexico’s growth. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has a growing denim fabric base, low wages and automation, which has helped it to manufacture more of value-added garments and beat Mexico in women’s and girl’s (WG) jeans category."

Apparel business from the US is gradually skewing towards Bangladesh. Recent OTEXA figures reveal, Bangladesh exported denims worth $507.90 million to the US in 2017, a 9.57 per cent surge over previous year. Mexico’s exports, on the other hand dipped 7.92 per cent to reach $793.46 million. During the first six months of the year from January to June ’18, Bangladesh exported denim worth $245 million, a 16.86 per cent growth, while Mexico, the second biggest denim apparel supplier to the US, reported a 2.73 per cent decline to reach $360 million.

Rising wages in Mexico as well as trade negotiations on NAFTA is affecting Mexico’s growth. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has a growing denim fabric base, low wages and automation, which has helped it to manufacture more of value-added garments and beat Mexico in women’s and girl’s (WG) jeans category.

Low unit prices, controlled supply chain driving growth

The key factor behind Bangladesh’s steep rise is its low unit price. The unit prices offered by Bangladesh were around $76.27 per dozen in H1’18, which is much less than Mexico whose unit prices were $101.92 per dozen. High unit prices hurt Mexico’s denim exports despite having ‘zero’ duty rates advantage for jeans shipped to the US under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

In FY 2017-18, Bangladesh exported denim apparels worth $2 billion which is expected to cross $6 billion by 2021. This will be drive by new investments by Bangladeshi denim exporters both in fabrics and garments manufacturing which would increase capacity, push up export earnings, offer competitive prices, and take the lead in the global denim market.

Bangladesh has complete control on its entire denim supply chain and has also improved safety standards in apparel units. World’s top LEED certified factories in Bangladesh are producing denim fabric every year.

Challenges hindering investments

Bangladesh, which holds a large share in the US market, has an enormous opportunity to grow its exports, especially in premium denim jeans which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.23 per cent by 2020. However, there are numerous challenges on its growth path for example; expensive utility services are hindering new investment in the country’s denim sector. The country is still dependent on imported fabrics for 50 per cent of its production, which increases the cost of the product as well as shipping time. And even though manufacturers are opting for value-added products, it still needs to focus on how to stay ahead in the race.

Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) and its sub-industries organised a trade mission from August 6 -10, 2018 that comprised six Taiwanese companies visiting nine Indonesian textile players. During this trade mission, Taiwan suppliers showcased their products in the athletic apparel and outdoor segment. The mission also dwelt on the possibility of collaboration between the two countries in the athleisure segment

The economic growth of Indonesia in recent years has relied mainly on rising household expenditure and growing inclination towards sports and fitness. The country’s changing lifestyle is expected to generate particularly strong demand h for athletic apparel and footwear, giving manufacturers in this segment an appealing alternative to exports. Considering Taiwan’s value and proposition in global textile market, it will be the best partner for the Indonesian textile and garment industry to comply with the athleisure trend.

The average North American throws away over 80 lbs. of clothing a year. Most of this clothing sits in landfills for decades, even though 90 per cent of those items could be reused or repurposed.
To make it easier to reuse or repurpose those items and also divert them from landfills, Kidney Clothes, in partnership with Peel Region, is promoting the repurposing of these textiles with a convenient home pickup program. All cloth and cloth-based items will be accepted including clothing, linens, curtains, accessories (purses, belts and wallets) as well as outerwear like shoes and coats.

Kidney Clothes hopes this program will also assist in public education about the importance of reducing textile waste and working toward a circular fashion industry, reducing the environmental impact of an item from production to the end of its life cycle.

UK-based retailer John Lewis has launched a pilot buy-back program in partnership with recycling specialist Stuffsr. The scheme will be made available to a small number of customers as a precursor to rolling out a full-scale version later in the year.

Similarly, fashion retailer Guess has announced a partnership with I:CO in an initiative which facilitates the collection, certified sorting, reuse and recycling of used apparel and footwear.

China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) is planning to invest in Africa’s fastest-growing economy, Ethiopia. The NGO will join other Chinese firms already established in the country to grow the East Asian’s foreign direct investments in the East African nation. The growing and promising market of Ethiopia has lured many investors from Swiss to Indian, Americans to Turkish and Germans to seize business opportunities in East African country. Ethiopia plans to generate close to $30 million in exports from the textile and apparel sector by 2030.

China’s textile industry is the world’s largest both in production and exports. The increasing demand in apparel market has flourished the nation’s textile sector and changed its economic performance. China’s industrial clusters have played a pivotal role in the growth of the textile and apparel sector. The Chinese government has sought for keeping a balance in the economy by nurturing the industry.

Non-profit organisation Textile Exchange in association with auditor KPMG has developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) roadmap for the apparel, retail and textile sector. This is a set of 17 universally agreed-upon goals addressing the top current environmental, social and economic issues.

SDGs address critical operational risks and offers guidance to apparel, retail and textile suppliers, brands and retailers on business considerations and opportunities for shared value, an SDG engagement model, best practices and multi-stakeholder initiatives, and considerations for top sourcing countries.

Threading the Needle is an important first step in understanding how existing industry initiatives can advance the 2030 agenda, including adoption of more sustainable fibers and materials, responsible production and circular business practices. This is a report that provides a roadmap for companies seeking to realize the SDGs in their own sector and value chain. The report aims to provide companies with guidance and information that will help prioritize their SDG focus where it can generate the most impact.

Threading the Needle is an information source for the apparel industry to tackle the global challenges of SDGs. This valued tool kit is a starting point to integrate the SDGs into their sustainability platforms and goals. It sees collaboration as the key for impactful change.

While the US has threatened to pull out of the WTO, China has called for WTO reform to make the global trade system fairer and more effective. The 23-year-old trading club is run on the basis of consensus, meaning that every one of its 164 members has an effective veto and it is almost impossible to get agreement on any change to the rules. G20 countries want to improve the World Trade Organization.

The European Union (EU) and Britain plan to put forward a joint proposal for reform of the terms of their World Trade Organization (WTO) membership in September or October. The two sides are also discussing sharing liabilities from trade disputes including WTO litigation over Airbus subsidies in a long-running case with the United States.

The joint approach would address aspects of the EU's WTO membership terms, known as its WTO schedules that are not easily split between Britain and the other 27 EU members: agricultural tariff quotas, agricultural subsidies and commitments on services trade. The plan is they would explain together how they would see the disentanglement of the United Kingdom from the EU commitments and schedules.

The joint approach would also deal with Britain’s wish to join the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement, which liberalises access to procurement markets between signatories.