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Three decades ago Daejae Kim arrived in Los Angeles and entered the apparel business for in downtown’s fashion district, where a thriving Korean entrepreneurial community was beginning to take hold. Kim’s wife worked as clerk and he peddled textiles, eventually building his own wholesale and manufacturing business selling trendy women's clothing. Today, Korean businesses comprise a third, maybe even half of the businesses in the garment district. According to the Korean American Apparel Manufacturers Association, they generate around $10 billion in annual revenues and provide 20,000 jobs.
However, now, Kim and other Korean American clothing manufacturers are considering new destinations as they say they are squeezed by Los Angeles' rising minimum wage, strict labour enforcement and ebbing South American clientele following a Federal raid against alleged money laundering operations in 2014. Thus, they are looking at relocating to El Paso.
A few days ago, a broker from the Texas border town visited LA to describe factory space and talk price per square foot with the business owners. Besides, the trade association that represents 1,800 Korean-American manufacturers and distributors, later this month, would be sending a group to scout El Paso. However, Kim says that the proposal is in its preliminary stages, with only a few dozen companies until now expressing a serious interest in moving.
While they aware scouting El Paso, the trade association’s representatives also planned to meet El Paso officials and view potential factory sites. Richard Cho, President of the association, said that there's little risk that Los Angeles' garment district will abruptly empty as business owners collectively migrate elsewhere.
Over the next two years, Philippine's garment exports and other merchandise goods are expected to double to $1.5 billion. This is due to rising demand from two of the country’s biggest markets, Europe and US. The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc (Philexport) said that Philippines’ inclusion in the generalised system of preferences (GSP) buoyed renewed interest for local goods in the two key markets and forthcoming economic integration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region.
President of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap), Robert Young, says now they are embarking on a social compliance awareness programme to enable local manufacturing industry to cash in on growing export opportunities. There is a need for socially-compliant factories, or those that maintain lawful, safe and respected working conditions with no negative impact to the environment.
He mentioned that they wanted to improve labourers’ conditions and also Philippine’s economic conditions. Young says exporters would have to comply or move out because of tough competition as soon as the Asean integration comes into effect. It would be borderless trade and competition is limitless as far as price, quality and design are concerned.
As per GSP programme, duties would be eliminated on almost 5,000 types of goods when imported from 122 designated beneficiary developing and least-developed countries and territories, which also includes the Philippines. The programme aims to promote economic development by taking these steps.
The second edition of World Textile Summit (WTS) will explore sustainability strategies that create business value in the textile manufacturing value chain. Scheduled for November 13, 2015, and co-located with ITMA 2015 in Milan, WTS 2015 will be a unique one-day event that brings together the world’s most influential textile leaders to debate issues of strategic importance to the global industry. It is owned and organised by CEMATEX, WTiN and MP Expositions.
Elaborating on the concept, Charles Beauduin, President of CEMATEX, said, “ITMA 2015 will be an opportunity for manufacturers to view and compare the latest in resource-efficient textile technologies. Such investments take place against a policy background where senior decision-makers have to consider their sustainability strategies against corporate objectives. World Textile Summit 2015 will help to place sustainability in its context as a key component of value creation in any business.”
“WTS 2015 will be different from other conferences examining sustainable methods in textile manufacturing. Instead of delving into the detail of technical solutions, delegates will hear from international experts on the business value created through a strong sustainability strategy,” added Mark Jarvis, Managing Director of WTiN.
Programme development will be assisted by an advisory panel that includes Jason Kibbey, Executive Director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition; Jonas Eder-Hansen, Programme Director of the Nordic Initiative Clean & Ethical; LaRhea Pepper, Managing Director of Textile Exchange; and Patrick Laine, CEO of the Better Cotton Initiative.
The keynote speakers include Frank Henke, VP for Social & Environmental Affairs at Adidas Group, will explain how environmental and ethical awareness can make a textile manufacturer more attractive as a potential supplier to major brands and retailers, Paula Oliveira, Director, Interbrand will focus on sustainability as a key factor in differentiating brands and companies, Helga Vanthournout, Engagement manager, McKinsey & Co will talk about the circular supply chain, Linda Keppinger, Global Materials Director, Nike will speak on sustainable textiles: trends in product development. Another session would see Gemma Cranston, Senior Programme Manager, Natural Capital Leaders Platform, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership will speak about natural capital challenges for cotton production, Vivek Tandon, Co-founder, Aloe Group will highlight embedding sustainability into the mainstream capital markets.
Alfonso Saibene Canepa, Director, Canepa SpA , Roger Yeh, President, Everest Textile Co, Taiwan and Ajay Sardana, Vice-President, Aditya Birla Group will present case studies on value creation from clean manufacturing, Burak Tun, Director Sales, Menderes Tekstil and Alan Garosi, Global Marketing Manager, Fulgar will again present case studies on values creation from sustainable materials.
www.worldtextilesummit.com
Denims available in the West come from far-flung places across the continent. Thomas Huriez, a young French man decided to walk a different path and introduce an eco-friendly version of the much-loved jeans. Huriez opened his multi-brand organic clothing store in 2007, but soon realised that there were few people who made eco denims and shoes and he didn’t have enough to stock up. So, he decided to fill the racks with an imaginative new label that ensure denim gets back to its nation of birth. The thick indigo fabric started under the name ‘Serge de Nimes’ or ‘de Nimes’ thus named after the French town from where it originated. Huriez launched ‘1083’, working on this basis and wanting to make the world a cleaner place.
His company takes its name ‘1083’ from the distance between the two furthest points of France: 1,083 km. It operates on the basis that its denims and shoes are made and sold on home ground, thus eliminating any connection with sweat shops and long-haul travel. Up and running for two years now, the brand is based the South-eastern district of Romans sur Isère and has already attracted enough attention to have 20 employees. Huriez says he is surprised by the rapid success of the project. However, he says he won’t steer away from his original plan by the lucrative potential of exports.
Huriez would, in fact like to use his business idea as a model to inspire entrepreneurs in other European countries to follow him. If there was a demand from UK, Germany, or France, though, he said, they would export for a limited period and sell with a note explaining what they were doing.
Avantex, the trade fair for high-tech fashion fabrics, will open its doors with around 30 exhibitors from September 14, 2015. The fair would welcome exhibitors from Germany, Austria, Belgium, China, France, Switzerland, Taiwan and Thailand, to its first event in Paris Le Bourget. The two days will see seminars dedicated to technology for fashion, Avantex fashion show
Visitors will be able view an assortment of intelligent fabrics developed using nanotechnology, cosmetic or luminous textiles and connected fabrics. They will also be able to develop customised finishes and special coatings with weavers, embroiderers and start-up businesses.
Commenting on the show, Michael Scherpe, CEO of Messe Frankfurt France said, “With Avantex, we are bringing something new to Paris, which will be able to boast a trade fair dedicated to products for tomorrow’s fashion. We have always been responsive to market development and are delighted to have been able to establish this event to promote technological textiles, which even the professionals don’t know much about.”
Each exhibitor is offering added value and developments which should be of interest to fashion labels and designers, many of which want to integrate technology into their creations. The selection committee is relying on experts from the Taiwan Textile Federation for its choice of exhibitors. Taiwan, the country with the majority of exhibitors, will be represented by 18 companies, six of which will be in the Taiwan Textile Federation’s pavilion. Europe will be represented by six companies.
Visitors will be able to begin their discovery of the fair at the dedicated Avantex Forum, where Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud, the artistic directors, will highlight a selection of the exhibitors’ themes and developments. The complexity of the added technological value influences the price of the fabrics. A series of seminars featuring speakers, exhibitors and experts from start-ups and European and Taiwanese organisations will highlight the future of fashion and how technology will have an impact on the textiles.
Visitors will also be able to experience the application of technical fabrics to fashion at four scheduled fashion shows. They will highlight creations made by French designers using fabrics from the exhibitors and collections assembled by the exhibitors themselves.
www.avantex.com
Maersk Line has announced discontinuation of its ME5 Indian subcontinent-Mediterranean link – a capacity reduction of around 16 per cent of its services between the Middle East-Indian subcontinent and Europe. The company meanwhile has said that it would add new port calls on its ME1, ME2 and ME3 services and launch a feeder shuttle service linking Chennai, Colombo and Salalah to compensate for the termination.
The current schedule of the ME5 launched this February included Chennai, Colombo, Salalah, Djibouti, Jeddah, Aqaba, Port Said, Genoa, Valencia and Algeciras, deploying seven vessels of around 4,600 teu turning in seven weeks. The Danish company’s move is viewed as a step to safeguard against the worsening global freight rates owing to low demand. But it would have a negative impact on several global clothing retailers which rely on feeder links to Colombo from the apparel production hub of Bangladesh.
Over 50 per cent of India’s container cargo is transhipped at ports outside the country, such as Colombo, Singapore, Salalah and Jebel Ali, since a few of its own ports can accommodate the biggest containerships that now ply the deep-sea routes. But a lack of direct access to ports and the infrastructure issues are holding the country’s prospects despite an opportunity amid declining Chinese yuan.
www.maerskline.com
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Bangladesh government have launched an initiative to make garment workers aware of their rights and responsibilities. A radio show was launched recently as a part of this initiative to help workers in the export-oriented readymade garment, leather and shrimp industries, to understand their rights and responsibilities in the workplace in a better manner. The one-hour radio talk show, a weekly, is titled ‘Amar Shrom Amar Odhikar (My Labour, My Rights)’. The show is being launched by the government in collaboration with the ILO and also supported by Norway.
Hasanul Haq Inu, Information Minister, believes that the show will attract a large number of listeners (workers) from across the country. He also feels it will boost understanding of basic labour issues to the benefit of both, workers and employers, by covering important issues in an interesting and informative manner. The show’s main targets are workers, supervisors and factory-level managers.
Srinivas B Reddy, ILO Country Director said the show will help improve industrial relationship in Bangladesh and they also plan to feature a variety of speakers including experts on labour rights, union leaders and other special guests who, he believes will really help listeners understand workplace issues that are important to them.
Listeners will be able to tune into the radio show in all major industrial areas such as Dhaka, Cox's Bazar, Khulna, Bogra, Chittagong, Sylhet, Barisal, and Mymensingh.
USAID will provide $18 million for RMG factory upgrades in Bangladesh, along with the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. A group of 26 North American retailers that are a part of the Alliance and USAID will sign an agreement soon on the funding programme, which would allow the participating local banks to provide low-cost loans for garment factories to improve their structural, electrical and fire safety infrastructure.
The Alliance has already completed preliminary inspections into its member factories in its two years in Bangladesh. Janina Jaruzelski, Mission Director of USAID for Bangladesh, said they would provide funds to help small and medium companies improve their workers’ safety and factory environment adding that they want to see Bangladesh as the leading apparel manufacturer in the world.
James Moriarty, Executive Director of the Alliance stated that the Alliance is making factories safer for millions of workers by making finance more widely available and affordable, and working with factory owners to make the necessary repairs He added that all factories can pass the Alliance's remediation verification visit, though progress is slow and that more than a million workers and security guards have been trained under their fire safety training programme.
Six factories are 100 per cent compliant and another 50-60 will be compliant soon, Moriarty mentioned. He also hopes that all factories would be fully compliant by the end of 2018, when the Alliance’s five-year programme ends.
Suryalakshmi is one of India's leading polyester and blended yarn manufacturers. It has production facilities across two units. The yarn division has been the value driver for the company over the years. With its focus on producing value-added yarn, the company expects to increase production capacity with a new facility to be set up at Amravati, Maharashtra. The unit will manufacture value-added and fancy yarns such as ring, slub and compact.
Suryalakshmi is the third largest single-site denim fabric manufacturer in India. The company replaced 56 airjet looms with new looms in the last three years corresponding to superior operational speed, value-added products and higher production per loom. Currently, Suryalakshmi has a manufacturing capacity of 40 million meters of denim fabric.
The company produces garments for some of the leading global brands in the world, collaborating from design to finished products. The company produces 1.07 million garments annually. The division has a decent revenue visibility with a healthy order book for the coming year. Among its innovations is an array of unique shades and interesting performance-oriented new fabrics like Cool Max, Dual Core, Bamboo. In addition its new dobby design has been a great success with international customers. With a proven track record, Suryalakshmi is now aiming to be Rs 1,000 crores company in the next few years.
www.suryalakshmi.com/
The International Sourcing Expo will be held from November 16 to 18, 2015, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australia. The event has attracted more than 450 exhibitors from India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries, who according to the organisers can gain a foothold in the Australian market.
With a major participation from the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Indian exhibitors will benefit from a strong support network during the expo. It provides a chance to showcase the latest range from India across apparel, accessories, footwear, fabrics, trims and accessories and home textiles categories to Australian trade buyers who visit the event eyeing sourcing opportunities.
“We have had an outstanding response from exhibitors for this year’s event,” said Julie Holt, Exhibition Director, International Sourcing Expo, adding, “It clearly demonstrates an interest in the Australian market for a professional and established event platform.”
The event includes a comprehensive seminar series which will feature a mix of local industry and international speakers addressing key business issues for local companies to both establish and enhance their sourcing partnerships.
www.internationalsourcingexpo
