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Pakistan’s budget for 2018-19 focuses on general industry and trade. The zero-rating regime has been continued. But exporters say their refunds should be disbursed and that export development surcharge should be abolished. They also want the one per cent tax on export to be reduced to 0.5 per cent. They argue, their problems will multiply owing to the liquidity crunch and as a result the trade deficit will further widen. The liquidity crunch is a major stumbling block in the way of improving exports.
Exporters want a reduction in electricity and gas tariffs. Energy is an important element regarding the cost of production particularly for the spinning, weaving and processing industries. Exporters say its availability at a regionally competitive price is important. Another of their proposals is that gas prices should be uniform throughout the country.
In value added textiles, particularly garments and knitwear, Pakistan lacks variety both in products and type of fabrics. The country does not produce blended yarn and blended fabrics that the global market demands. Pakistan’s textile exports rose 7.2 per cent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Textile exports make up around 60 per cent of the country’s total exports.
Bangladesh’s textile industry accounts for over 70 per cent of export revenue and 13 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. The country has more investor-friendly policies than many of its neighbors and cheaper skilled labor. The country has tax-free access to 37 countries, including the European Union, Canada and Australia.
After liberation in 1972, Bangladesh opted for a socialistic economic policy by nationalising all big industries, including large textile mills. However, the country took a more capitalistic view of development by not only opting for a market-oriented economic policy but also handing over these mills to the private sector in phases.
This signaled a breakthrough in the industry, which provides five million jobs for the people of the country. The country today is an export-oriented economy, thriving on cotton and readymade garments.
Last year, Bangladesh came up with a textile policy, targeted at expanding the export market. One of the focal points of the policy is to strengthen the primary textile sector to fulfil the local demand of textiles and promote a medium and high value added export oriented garment industry.
Knitting industries in the country are self-sufficient. The spinning, weaving, power loom, knitting, dyeing and finishing industries are strong.
Fashion group Esprit Holdings plans to shut its loss-making operations in Australia and New Zealand, concentrating resources in developing Asian markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The Europe-focused apparel retailer stated it will close 67 directly managed retail stores in the two countries that contributed HK$297 million (£27.8 million) of revenue in the fiscal year to end-June 2017, less than two per cent of its total revenue. It gave no further details.
Esprit, which has a market capitalisation of $659 million (£485 million), stated the divestment would result in up to HK$200 million in one-off costs from provisions for store closures and the impairment of store assets, and would have a "negative impact" on its results for the year to June 2018. The retailer posted an 11 per cent drop in 9-month revenue.
There is an increase in the number of luxury brands taking style inspiration from street wear and incorporating sportier and casual urban aesthetics into their designs. They are establishing exclusive design and marketing collaborations with street wear labels, hip-hop and rap recording artists and entertainers, and fashion and social media influencers.
Luxury fashion houses have been partnering street wear brands and introducing sneaker- and street wear-inspired products. Louis Vuitton partnered skateboard brand Supreme on a design collaboration. The collection, which was sold in pop-up stores in major cities worldwide in June 2017, included T-shirts, hoodies and bags emblazoned with Supreme’s white logo on bright red Louis Vuitton patterns.
Luxury brands are adapting to changing times and striving to connect with a younger and diverse customer base, grooming the next generation of loyal luxury customers. The historically conservative luxury goods industry is striving to attract a more diverse and younger client base. Luxury goods companies will increasingly need to innovate and keep up with millennial and Gen Z trends in order to capture and grow sales among the younger generations. The introduction of GST is expected to provide India a huge competitive advantage to India's luxury sector.
"In a new report, ‘Too Deadly To Wear: Levi’s Pollution, the Booming Fashion Industry and Its Role in Deaths from Air Pollution and Climate Change,’ Stand.earth calls out the fashion industry in general and Levi Strauss, in particular, as having an outsized role in the deadly impact of climate change and air pollution across the globe. Specifically, Stand.earth claims the fashion industry contributes to 38,000 deaths a year from climate change and Levi’s annual contribution to climate pollution equals that of 1.1 million cars."
In a new report, ‘Too Deadly To Wear: Levi’s Pollution, the Booming Fashion Industry and Its Role in Deaths from Air Pollution and Climate Change,’ Stand.earth calls out the fashion industry in general and Levi Strauss, in particular, as having an outsized role in the deadly impact of climate change and air pollution across the globe. Specifically, Stand.earth claims the fashion industry contributes to 38,000 deaths a year from climate change and Levi’s annual contribution to climate pollution equals that of 1.1 million cars. Todd Paglia, Executive Director, Stand.earth, says the fashion industry is the source of approximately 8 per cent of global climate pollution. If it were a nation, it would be the fourth largest climate polluter on Earth. Yet major brands like Levi’s continue to drag their feet on comprehensive climate action, ignoring the massive amount of pollution hiding in their supply chain.
Brian Kropp, HR practice leader, Gartner, points out Stand.earth is lashing out at Levi’s but their criticism
applies to the whole apparel industry. They are actually framing this campaign as inviting Levi’s to lead the industry in ending its dependence on coal. Anne Bahr Thompson, Founder, Onesixtyfourth, highlighted Levi Strauss is being called out because it does care and focus on environmental issues. Unfortunately, activists don’t take into account practical business realities and expect companies to do everything immediately and at once.
A fact that needs to be noted is that Levi’s joined more than 300 companies, including Gap, Nike, Guess, Eileen Fisher and VF Corporation in the Science Based Initiative to reduce CO2 emissions. Thompson explains, this gives them two years to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, in their own operations and within their supply chains, based upon strict criteria. They are in the process of doing exactly what the protesters are calling them out for.
Is there a damage to the brand?
Dino Villegas, Marketing Associate Professor-practice, Texas Tech University feels, it’s a brand that has been able to maintain relevance for more than 160 years. But now Levi’s is an easy target on pollution and even if this particular attack does not have an immediate effect on brand equity, other attacks in the future can be damaging. Ultimately, it’s the consumers who will decide the fate of brands as Kropp said, corporate social responsibility is more complicated today than it was a decade ago, as companies are being pressured into joining more causes, by more people, through a greater variety of channels, with activist campaigns able to get more attention through social media. If it steps up its environmental efforts further or faster, it won’t be to pacify these activists.
Making the right statement, Thompson said, that changing the model for business cannot happen overnight. Activists should be commending Levi’s efforts and asking how they can help speed things up. We absolutely should call out companies who are irresponsible and negligent. But we need to support and work alongside companies, like Levi’s, that are trying to do the right thing.
Ethiopia’s textile industry is fast catching up with the likes of Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and other Far East countries. The prospects of advancing to a medium level of industrialization are within sight. Ethiopia with a young labor force of 45 million people has a huge potential in the manufacturing sector. The annual manufacturing growth which is currently 25 per cent is projected to increase gross domestic product fourfold and its share in exports to 50 per cent.
Buoyed by medium term prospects for growth, textile and apparel companies are all set to expand their operations. The flow of foreign direct investment into the country over the six months since last June has risen 22 per cent compared to the same period the previous year. Half a dozen textile parks have either become operational or are under construction.
Eighteen leading apparel and textile companies from the US, China, India, Sri Lanka and six local manufacturers have set up factories at an industrial park in Hawassa. This is a state-of-the-art park. Spread over 1.3 million square meters, it has been designed to employ 60,000 people at full capacity and generate export revenue amounting to a billion dollars. It has 37 factory sheds and its own renewable electricity source. It also employs zero liquid discharge, enabling it to recycle 90 per cent of sewage disposal.
Bangladesh commerce minister Tofail Ahmed has sought duty-free benefit from Thailand for 36 more products, including garments and medicine. Currently, Thailand provides duty-free access to 6,998 Bangladeshi items. However, garments that account for 81 per cent of Bangladesh's total exports are not on the list of these products.
In 2016-17, Bangladesh exported products worth $48.57 million to Thailand and imported products worth $781.6 million from the country, according to the commerce ministry. Meanwhile Thailand has expressed a keen interest to invest in Bangladesh's infrastructure, power, energy and other potential sectors.
The Indian textile sector contributes 16 per cent to the country's GDP. But when only 16 per cent of the GDP comes from manufacturing, it is not enough for a sustainable economy. Thus it is necessary to scale up that contribution.
Foreign direct investment is being encouraged in the textile sector, which has the potential to create millions of jobs. The textile sector is capable of strengthening the rural economy and creating large-scale employment. However, the Indian textile industry is over-dependent on the European Union and the US for exports. But when the season goes away in those markets, there aren’t enough orders. The sector doesn't have markets in other parts of the world. So it is exploring new markets like Latin America and Australia for Indian fabrics, garments and apparels in order to boost exports.
Efforts are on to make khadi a globally accepted garment. A survey in 21 overseas markets revealed, khadi was the most recalled Indian brand, along with yoga. The industry wants a uniform textile policy across the country. This is seen as necessary since if one state offers subsidies, textile units in other parts shut down and shift to that state. India aims at doubling the annual revenue of the textile industry in the country by 2025.
Even nine years after the Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed 1,138 textile workers in Bangladesh, the safety regulation Accord has found only one taker – Tally Weij, which signed up with Accord in 2014. Another Swiss retailer Coop, which sells various brands of clothing and soft furnishings, procures its few own-label textiles from a handful of suppliers in Bangladesh and takes the responsibility for implementing sustainability standards directly. Similarly, Swiss outdoor label Mammut has built up a substantial control and management system over the past 10 years and is therefore, not a part of Accord.
Accord is the world’s first legally binding measure to improve workplace safety for garment workers. Under this agreement, inspection teams have screened over 1,600 factories and identified more than 118,500 dangers related to fire safety, electrical installations and structural issues.
Suri alpacas could be key in starting a booming natural fiber industry in New Zealand. These animals produce a rare fiber which does not need to be dyed. They are unlike their woolly counterparts, the more common alpaca, which has a sheep-like coat. The fiber is soft and is one of the rarest specialist fibers. It comes in 21 colors from shades of white to fawn.
There is expected to be a rise in demand for alpaca in the high-end fashion industry as people move away from synthetic fibers. Peru, the world's top alpaca fiber producer, supplies to international markets, mainly to Asia, the United States and Europe.
Peru currently holds 80 per cent of the world’s alpaca production. Alpaca-breeding associations, shearers, processing, industrial and artisanal dressmaking companies as well as spinners and fashion designers comprise this sector, which has reached its highest peaks over the past two years. The Arequipa region in Peru, where 95 per cent of fiber is industrially transformed, holds all production chain elements within its territory from fleece harvesting, through processing and dyeing, to garment-manufacturing with added value.
Peruvian alpaca garments and textiles have already been introduced to 30 countries. Alpaca is one of the finest luxury fibers in the world. It’s incredibly soft, with a silky smooth texture.
