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The US is now looking at rejoining the TPP. It already has bilateral deals with six of the 11 nations in TPP. Japan is the biggest economy in the current TPP. It says the US is welcome back. Vietnam also welcomes a US return. For the US, a multilateral deal with TPP countries would counter Chinese competition and would be faster than negotiating one-on-one with each of the 11 other nations.
However, the TPP is finely balanced, like glassware. It would be extremely difficult to renegotiate or change just one part of it. President Trump withdrew the US from the accord during his first week in office. The pact, which was conceived as a counterweight to China’s rising economic power in the region, had been negotiated under the Obama administration but never approved by Congress.
After the US withdrew, the remaining nations, representing 13 per cent of global output including Japan and Canada, finalized a revised version of the trade pact, renaming it the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP.
Meanwhile the tit for tat tariffs between China and the US appear to have eased. The two countries ultimately may end up levying no new tariffs on each other.
Timberland is progressing toward its goal of operating in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. In the category of responsible product innovation, Timberland has set a goal to have 100 per cent of its cotton sourced from organic, US or Better Cotton Initiative-certified growers by 2020. In 2017, a 81 per cent was achieved, a 40 per cent increase on the same period in 2016.
Timberland has also increased its use of recycled PET in its footwear portfolio, incorporating the equivalent of 40 million plastic bottles into its ranges in 2017. The elimination of perfluorinated compounds also forms part of the brand’s 2020 targets. In 2017, 91 per cent of the durable water repellents used in Timberland’s products were PFC-free.
Timberland planted 4,13,757 trees in 2017, taking the firm’s tree-planting initiatives to 9,654,820 to date; this puts the company on track and in a strong position to exceed its goal of ten million trees by 2020. Timberland is a global outdoor lifestyle brand. The company is working in Haiti with smallholder farmers. Cotton varieties from Brazil, India and the United States have been planted, with a Haitian cotton strain. Timberland hopes to transition from being a supporter of smallholder farmers to purchasing cotton from them for the brand’s supply chain.
Italy-based sock knitting machine manufacturer Cesare Colosio has introduced a knitting machine for producing shoe uppers. The S1+ is a circular knitting machine. It accelerates performance with unprecedented results - a shoe upper can be produced every five to seven minutes. It enables the production of uppers for any kind of application, from technical sports shoes to fashion footwear for leisure time.
The machine allows the manufacture of shoe uppers formed of independent zones, each composed of one or more yarns with different elastic properties, mechanical resistance and performance, according to the desired final effect. This enables endless designs and color combinations, without producing any waste. The system reduces consumption and enhances production.
In addition to speed, flexibility and zero waste, the new technology offers other important strengths. The resultant supply chain is streamlined, with consequent cost reductions. The operator can easily create three-dimensional areas and eyelets for the laces, which will form a whole with the upper, directly on the machine during the upper production. The S1+ guarantees quality, reliability and maximum simplicity in use, thus allowing optimization of production times and costs. The knitting machine was developed to meet the growing demand for sports and fashion shoes with knitted uppers.
Apparel Textile Sourcing will be held in Miami from May 21 to May 23, 2018. Some 200 apparel companies from over a dozen countries are expected this year. This is a global gateway to the world of apparel and textiles, welcoming manufacturers, service providers and associations from over 15 regions with top brands, retailers, designers and sourcing professionals from China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, the US, and more.
The trade show is a business platform bringing together a range of categories ranging from apparel, fabrics, trims, textiles, house wares and accessory suppliers. Seminars by curated industry experts will discuss the global textile and sourcing landscape. The event will focus on the industry’s hot topics such as AI, trends in manufacturing, sustainability, sourcing, customs, logistics, influencer marketing, and blogger outreach.
The educational series of seminars, panels and events will appeal to everyone, from students, designers to seasoned industry veterans. For anyone in the business of creating or selling apparel and textiles between Asia and the Americas, the event will give them the opportunity of being updated on the latest trends in textiles, giving them an exclusive opportunity to network and meet designers and suppliers from around the world and take advantage of complimentary educational seminars.
India’s textile and garment shipments to Vietnam were up 44 per cent in 2017 while imports from Vietnam were up by 42 per cent. The two countries aim to bring bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2020.
Vietnam’s textile sector is growing rapidly but in an unbalanced manner due to restricted supply of raw material like cotton. So the country expects India to supply quality yarn and fabrics. And India is in a position to do this.
Vietnamese and Indian textile and garment firms see this as a good time to enhance links in investing, exporting materials and technical assistance for mutual benefit. Vietnam is one of the five largest textile and garment exporters in the world. However, the country is also one of the world’s leading importers of fabrics and materials. The shortage of high-quality materials for production is the biggest barrier to Vietnam’s textile and garment industry, hindering the country from taking advantage of free trade agreements. Cooperating with Indian businesses will be an effective measure to diversify material supply resources for Vietnam.
Trade promotion programs can help Indian businesses make deeper inroads into the Vietnamese market. These can also help Vietnamese businesses seek more material suppliers and learn from effective production models.
Swedish fashion retailer H&M aims at using only recycled or sustainable materials by 2030. It launched a pilot project ‘Take Care in Germany’ which features in-store seamstresses, sales of garment care products and online advice. Take Care aims at encouraging H&M customers to extend the life of their clothes, giving them the means to take better care of their garments.
Over the course of three days, local influencers hosted a series of free workshops, including sessions on embroidery. It was also possible to have clothes from any brand repaired by seamstresses. The H&M app, as well as tablets inside the store, played amusing videos offering tips for wiping off lipstick stains or reattaching buttons.
On product side, H&M has developed a cleaning line with environment-friendly detergents, a stain-removing spray and cleansing wipes for sneakers. Also available are a sewing kit, patches for worn-out clothes and a washing bag designed to prevent the dispersal in the water of the microscopic plastic particles shed by synthetic fibers.
The project will eventually be deployed throughout H&M’s chain, tweaking it according to consumer feedback. It’s also a way of diversifying the range and encouraging people to come to the store for this specific purpose, whether they wish to personalise a garment or have it repaired.
Farm to Fashion summit will be held in Gujarat, May 4 to 6, 2018. The textile summit will provide a common platform for the entire value chain of textiles to deliberate and develop a vision for the industry for 2030.
The event will provide opportunity for networking to more than 150 exhibitors, over 1,000 delegates, government officials and representatives of the textile industry from across the country. Farm to Fashion will showcase exclusive clothing lines with an iconic fashion show by some of the country’s distinguished fashion designers, aspirational stylists and leading fabric companies of the world. The textile event will develop a vision for the industry 2030 with focus on issues faced by cotton farmers, women empowerment, youth employment opportunities and positioning of the Indian textile industry as the pioneer in environment-friendly industry practices.
The summit will encompass a conference with 17 technical sessions by global speakers, exhibition with a focus on best Indian fabrics, café corners, a fashion show and an industrial visit. Experts and scholars will offer information and unveil insights about latest research, trends, innovations, best practices along with solutions to the challenges at hand.
Burberry has appointed Gerry Murphy its new chairman. He succeeds John Peace. Murphy has extensive experience in consumer and retail industries. He is an experienced chair and senior board member, having served as non-executive director of companies including British American Tobacco, Merlin Entertainments and Reckitt Benckiser.
He is currently chairman of Tate and Lyle and of The Blackstone Group International Partners, Blackstone’s principal European entity. Before joining Blackstone as a senior managing director in its private equity group, he served as CEO of Kingfisher, Carlton Communications, Exel and Greencore.
Over the past 16 years, British brand Burberry has enjoyed strong growth and evolved into one of the most valuable luxury brands in the world. It plans to go more exclusive. The plan appears to be an attempt to reinvent Burberry as a super-luxe brand, like Hermes and Dior, which have higher prices and margins than Burberry. Currently, Burberry handbags start at about thousand pounds while Hermes starts at three times that price.
Burberry will be taken out of all but the most exclusive stores. True luxury brands command immense pricing power and generate fabulous margins and cash flows. They sell to wealthy consumers and just like their customers are more resistant to downturns.
"Fashion industry is one of the biggest contributor towards global economy, with an annual worldwide revenue of well over £1 trillion. It aids millions of jobs around the world. A recent study by Global Fashion Agenda and Boston Consulting Group predicts a rise of 63 per cent in overall fashion consumption between 2017 and 2030, with increasing demand from developing countries leading swiftly towards a point where over 100 million ton of apparel and footwear will be purchased each year. This growth comes at a huge environmental cost. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation research describes how, if growth in fashion"
Fashion industry is one of the biggest contributor towards global economy, with an annual worldwide revenue of well over £1 trillion. It aids millions of jobs around the world. A recent study by Global Fashion Agenda and Boston Consulting Group predicts a rise of 63 per cent in overall fashion consumption between 2017 and 2030, with increasing demand from developing countries leading swiftly towards a point where over 100 million ton of apparel and footwear will be purchased each year. This growth comes at a huge environmental cost. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation research describes how, if growth in fashion continues along its current trajectory, by 2050 the textile industry would account for around a quarter of the world’s total allowable carbon emissions, when considered under a scenario that would hold global warming below 2°C. In order to circumvent the eco impact, leading companies are coming up with sustainable solutions to chart green growth.
Towards sustainable expanse
Lyocell for example is a fiber made from wood pulp and has a low environmental impact in its production and processing when compared to alternatives like cotton, although this comes with higher costs. Because of its growing sustainable properties, companies like Patagonia and Banana Republic are making it a feature within their product lines.
Aiming to shift demand towards valuing fewer, higher quality products, which can command higher prices and result in lower total resource use, designers and brands are increasingly following the mantra of Dame Vivienne Westwood, ‘Buy less. Choose well. Make it last.’ WRAP’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan finds out that making clothes that last just three months longer can help cut 3 per cent from the carbon, water and waste impact of companies in the fashion supply chain. Thanks to new age tech tools, one can produce unique variants of common designs with customer input. Brands including Nike, Adidas, Vans and Converse each now have their own online create-your-own offerings.
Circular economy principles
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that an industry-wide move to adopt circular economy principles could add €160 billion in value by 2030. Despite the fact that there has been a cultural shift, where some items that were once second-hand are now considered vintage, still only 18 per cent of clothing in the EU is currently reused or recycled. But there are signs of positive with the industry becoming more collaborative and circular. Major retailers including Zara and Marks & Spencer are introducing collection points for old clothes at their stores. This has increased opportunity for recycling. Materials like wool have been recycled for hundreds of years, but mass production technologies are now advancing so that more fibre recycling is becoming far more cost-effective. This is closing the loop, helping turn waste fabrics back into useful materials, cutting down the need to produce virgin fabrics.
In line with this, companies like Rent the Runway are using e-commerce models to turn expensive dresses, often bought and only worn once, into something that can be worn once by many people. MUDjeans leases its products for a one year term, with free unlimited repair services, after which they can be changed for a new pair and returned for recycling or upcycling. Moreover, countries such as Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda all are now looking for preventing the import of second-hand garments and shoes to protect their domestic industries.
Japan’s Fast Retailing owners of Uniqlo, posted a 35 per cent rise in second-quarter operating profit and upgraded its full year forecast by 13 per cent as overseas sales took the lead in driving growth.
Operating profit at Asia’s biggest clothing retailer was around 56.6 billion yen ($529.47 million) in the quarter ended February. This was above a consensus estimate of 49.1 billion yen from eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Forecasters see profit hitting 221.4 billion yen. Fast Retailing upgraded its full-year operating profit forecast to 225 billion yen from 200 billion yen earlier.
