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Top apparel manufacturing and exporting companies from Ludhiana in Punjab have agreed to set up manufacturing units in Bihar post a meeting of their management with top state government officials recently. This initiative is projected to generate over 20,000 jobs. The company executives also met a delegation of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
It was reported that the Ludhiana delegation, comprising Harish Dua, president of Knitwear and Apparel Exporters Organisation and owner of KG Exports, Narinder Chugh of Million Exports, Rajat Sood of Oriental Dyeing and Pawan Garg of Worldwide Textiles Private Limited, met Bihar industries department Principal Secretary S Siddharth, Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) Managing Director RS Shrivastava and other officials recently.
These manufacturers supply to big international brands and designers in France, Germany and the US.
It may be noted that the state has earmarked a land tract of 115 acres in Bihta on the outskirts of capital Patna to set up an apparel and textiles park.
The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) on Tuesday said the promised abolition of all duties on the import of cotton yarn would overwhelmingly enhance value-addition, leading to enhanced exports and reduced the trade deficit.
Ijaz Khokhar, Chief Coordinator PRGMEA, in a statement said, “The PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in a recent meeting with PRGMEA, has assured us to pass directives to the textile division of the Commerce Ministry to move a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for removal of all duties and taxes on cotton fibber import.”
“We hope the PM will fulfil his promise of addressing all issues of apparel sector on a priority basis and a decision to this effect will be implemented at the earliest to provide level-playing to the value-added textile sector.
“The PRGMEA had requested the PM during his visit to the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry to do way with all the duties on cotton yarn import to help cut cost of doing business and bridge the gap between production and consumption.
“During the meeting the PM was also urged to restore the role of industrial associations in disbursement of duty drawbacks under the revised PM’s exports incentive package to ensure transparency,” he added.
Labour costs in Myanmar is expected to see a 33 per cent increase this year, and sourcing costs may also follow.
The country’s National Committee for Minimum Wage has agreed to set the daily salary wage for workers at 4,800 kyat ($3.55) up from the current 3,600 kyat ($2.66) that has been in place since 2013, and a 33 per cent hike.
This is based on an 8-hour work day, six days a week, garment workers in Myanmar will be earning a minimum wage of $85 a month.
Though the hike may seem significant percentage-wise, it comes in lower than the 55 per cent increase to 5,600 kyat ($4.14 a day, $99 a month) that workers and unions had been demanding. Of course the unions aren’t happy about it.
Secretary of the Cooperating Committee of Trade Unions (CCTU) and a former workers’ representative of Central Labour Dispute Arbitration Committee U Ye Naing Win was reported to have said, “We are not satisfied with the committee’s daily wages of K4800. We [workers] are asking for increase in wages since we are starving. They shouldn’t ask for a discount.”
The country’s Labour Union Federation, however, has objected to even raising the wage rate to 4,800 kyat, even though Myanmar’s Minimum Wages Act of 2013 calls for a review of wage rates every two years; which technically should have happened in 2015 and again in 2017.
For now, unions in Myanmar are demanding that the government consider the actual cost of living when evaluating an appropriate raise, especially in light of impending rental fee increases. Though the wage panel has set its rate, the committee will take suggestions and objections in the coming weeks and set a final figure within 60 days.
Other low-cost sourcing countries, like Mauritius, Mexico and Cambodia, have been increasing wages of late and correspondingly labour costs are set to climb this year.
Almost 70,000 people demanded that Armani and Primark reveal where they make their clothes as they called upon major garment brands and retailers Armani, Primark, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 and Walmart to make transparency a part of their New Year’s resolutions and publicly disclose the factories that produce their clothes.
Throughout January, activists will deliver golden boxes of signatures to luxury brand Armani and cost-cutter Primark in major European cities. Other targeted brands can also expect to find signatures left on their doorsteps. The golden signature gift boxes are the culmination of the global #GoTransparent campaign, led by Human Rights Watch, Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labour Rights Forum. The campaign launched a minimum global standard of transparency for the garment sector - the "Apparel And Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge" and convinced seventeen brands to commit to publish information on the factories they source from, including addresses and numbers of workers.
The #GoTransparent campaign specifically targeted the five brands Armani, Primark, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 and Walmart, which are considered to be among the most secretive about their supply chain data and who refused to commit to more transparent supply chains by signing the pledge. The information that the “Transparency Pledge” is meant to reveal is vital for workers and activists to be able to alert brands to labour rights violations in their supply chains. Transparency in supply chains will help prevent such dramatic gestures as needed after the Rana Plaza blaze in Bangladesh in 2013, when workers and activists had to re-enter the ruins of the building to search for brand labels. They had to risk their lives to establish who should be held responsible for the tragedy.
The five targeted brands appear to be out of sync with the growing trend towards more transparency in the garment industry. Ben Vanpeperstraete of Clean Clothes Campaign decries the non-cooperation, “Any brand that refuses to share information about their supply chain should be a huge red flag for consumers. What are these brands hiding? Do they even know where their clothes are coming from? If brands are taking the necessary steps to prevent labour abuses in their supply chains, then they should eagerly want to share detailed information about the factories and workers who make their clothes with the public.”
The 17 brands that signed the “Transparency Pledge” are Adidas, Asics, Asos, C&A, Clarks, Cotton On Group, Esprit, G-Star RAW, H&M Group, Hanesbrands, Levis, Lindex, New Look, Next, Nike, Patagonia and Pentland Brands.
Le Tien Truong, General Director of the Vietnam National Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) disclosed, the country textile and garment industry has targeted a year-on-year 10 per cent increase in export to $34 billion in value terms in 2018 in spite of issues in markets at home and abroad. He reported Vinatex’s performance at a meeting in Hanoi. Vinatex reported its total revenue in 2017 was 45.55 trillion VND ($2.02 billion), out of which domestic sales contributed to 10.39 trillion VND, which is 22.8 per cent of the total revenue. The pre-tax profit in 2017 reached 1.43 trillion VND, the group disclosed. The organisation has targeted a revenue of 48.5 trillion VND and a pre-tax profit of 1.45 trillion VND for 2018, a Vietnamese news agency was said to have reported.
As Vietnam’s textile and garment industry will face more competition this year, Truong urged the industry to continue to invest in technology to create stability, sustainability and efficiency in production. Last year, the country exported textile and garments valued at $31 billion, higher than its target of $30 billion. Major markets such as the US, the EU, Japan and the Republic of Korea maintained good growth while there were breakthroughs in exports to other markets such as China, Russia and Cambodia, noted Truong. The Korean market grabbed fourth place in 2017, close to the Japanese market, reaching an export value of $2.7 billion. Exports to China last year was $3.2 billion, the same as the export value to Japan. This year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will withdraw 53.5 per cent of its shares in Vinatex as part of their Prime Minister’s divestment initiatives.
UBM Fashion, the international leader in fashion tradeshows, has partnered Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for an exclusive partnership designed to support American fashion designers, brands and promote the growth of emerging talent and the fashion industry as a whole. As a part of the partnership, CFDA and UBM Fashion will create programs that help talented emerging designers bridge the gap between compelling design and commercial success.
Key programs will include enhanced retailer matchmaking services, special events and cost assistance at UBM Fashion tradeshows for new CFDA members. The partners will also work together on educational and mentorship programs created to help CFDA members in areas such as marketing, sales, distribution, manufacturing and finance.
UBM Fashion and the CFDA will also collaboratively coordinate the timing of New York Fashion Weeks and related Market weeks for men's and women's fashion. Further, PROJECT will present 4 participating Designers for the first time during NYFW: Men's on February 5th at Skylight Modern. Steven Kolb, President and CEO of the CFDA exults, "The CFDA is always looking for partnerships that help designers reach new retailers and consumers. UBM Fashion's portfolio of programs and extensive contacts with retailers both large and small will help fuel the industry's growth." The partnership will launch in January 2018 and focus on UBM Fashion's dual-gender show PROJECT and its advanced contemporary event Coterie, as well as the recently launched MAGIC Japan.
The United States of America has improved its denim jeans imports by 1.78 per cent collectively in men and women categories from January to November 2017 period. According to recent data the largest importer of apparels in the world maintained the pace of denim jeans’ demand even after observing consumers’ switch to blended apparels. Though, the country witnessed a fall of 0.60 per cent in volume of men and boys (MB) denim jeans imports, it posted a growth of 4.64 per cent in women and girls (WG) category.
On the other hand, as against the $ 1.55 billion (down 2.71 per cent) import values in MB denim jeans, the US imported jeans worth $ 1.39 billion (up by 2.20 per cent) in WB category. Mexico has emerged as the largest jeans exporter to the US as far as MB category is concerned. It exported denim jeans to the US worth $583.45 million with a drop of 9.08 per cent.
Further, the Latin American country has not contributed much in the WG denim jeans exports to the US. Mexico just fetched US worth $82.92 million in the category and ended up at the 5th spot in the tally. Bangladesh grabbed the second spot with the export value of $ 235.25 million (in MB category) with a notable surge of 10.95 per cent when compared to the export value of $212 million during the prior-year period. It also marked a commendable growth of 5.69 per cent with export values of $180.82 million in denim jeans exports to the US.
Speed is a key component of luxury fashion as big brands such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Coach, Helmut Lang, Burberry and Rag & Bone are picking up the pace of production cycles, adopting new strategies focused on increased flexibility and faster-paced production cycles to adapt to increasing competition and demanding customers.
Karin Tracy, Head of fashion, luxury and beauty industries at Facebook points out, “Speed is everything right now. For luxury brands, whoever is the fastest right now will have competitive advantage, full stop. They need to step out of the comfort zone of perfection, think about how to move fast and build things to let them do so.”
Experts say fast-fashion brands like Zara releases new items around five times faster than a traditional retail brand and online-only retailers like Boohoo, who can refresh their sites with hundreds of new styles daily, who are spearheading the quickened pace of trends as well as customers’ need for newness.
Having more control over the production process ensures that brands can better control the timing and frequency of new product launches. That is the reason how big brands such as Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger were able to seamlessly switch their production schedules to an in-season model within weeks.
To help speed up the production process, brands must continue to invest in technology that will use tools like 3D design, automation and robotics to eliminate inefficiencies and reduce turnaround time in the supply chain which will help keep new collections in line with customer trends. Millennials have become known for less brand loyalty and an unwillingness to pay luxury prices. Besides, millennials, as a group, don’t seem to value brands in the same way their parents might have. That’s a threat to big brands.
Across the board, luxury brands are looking to get closer to customers through their owned channels, not only to stay relevant, but to make faster decisions. Antony Karabus, CEO of HRC Retail Advisory was of the view that, “Luxury retail needs to get a much closer and tighter understanding of the customer, including the ones buying, what’s being bought and how they want to interact with you. Then they can react.”
Peru's Exports and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru) disclosed the country’s textile exports grew by 5.71 per cent in the January-November period of 2017, largely due to higher exports of carded fine alpaca hair. Thus Peru's textile exports value increased from $1.090 billion (Jan-Nov 2016) to $1.153 billion (Jan-Nov 2017). This was the result of combed fine alpaca hair sales has seen an exponential rise of 109.58 per cent, going from $32.574 million (Jan-Nov 2016) to $68.271 million (Jan-Nov 2017).
As per PromPeru’s data, exports of undershirts and cotton T-shirts (for men and women) also contributed to the good performance of Peru's textile exports in 2017's January-November period. Thus, undershirt exports totalled $57.340 million, a 17.16 per cent rise as against the same period in 2016 ($48.940 million). Similarly, cotton T-shirt exports grew by 13.53 per cent from $118.931 million (Jan-Nov 2016) to $135.021 million (Jan-Nov 2017). In the period under analysis, wool yarn and knitted cotton shirt shipments also grew by 10.57 per cent and 10.42 per cent, respectively. The US, Brazil and Ecuador were key destinations for Peruvian textile products.
Textile exports to the US amounted to $571.919 million between January and November 2017, recording a 3.23 per cent growth as against the same period the previous year ($554.047 million). Peru's textile sales to Brazil rose by 19.51 per cent from $42.953 million (Jan-Nov 2016) to $51.333 million (Jan-Nov 2017). Textile exports to Ecuador saw an 18.61 per cent growth by rising from $48.115 million to $57.070 million. Al in all, textile exports accounted for 2.91 per cent of the country's total shipments overseas in the January-November period in 2017.
How can consumers determine the real sustainability of brands? It is only if they demonstrate that they are actively making an effort to green their supply chain. Numerous industry-specific scoring systems have emerged in recent years to help in the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index which delivers methodology to evaluate companies and supply chains within their markets.
The Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI), with a list of 267 brands and 3,292 suppliers, was developed jointly by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), rates brands that have manufacturing centres in China as per the their sustainable practices. The group conducted over 1,400 audits with real-time assessments of companies’ green manufacturing processes, publishing the track record of those that have worked hard to ensure their suppliers are just as environmentally conscientious as they are.
The importance of IPE’s approach is that it utilises supply chain data for some of the biggest international manufacturers, also like other rating systems, the CITI doesn’t just look at the inner-workings and testimonies of the brand’s factories, but evaluates the corporations’ environmental impact in the supply chain.
This year the IPE and NRDC took another step towards improving the environmental track record of the world’s largest manufacturers. Their Green Supply Chain Map, now on IPE’s website, is a visual, real-time mapping of companies that are willing to support supply chain transparency. The map is based on publicly available information from China’s government databases and manufacturers’ disclosures. As of date, six companies have agreed to be featured on the map: Gap, Puma, Espirit, New Balance, Inditex and Target. The mapping tool is in its trail stage, with some data only in Chinese and other sections lacking clarity in English. But it offers a insights that up to now, required consumers and companies to search across industry-specific websites, call manufacturers and look out for other sources for information.
The IPE is the result of efforts of renowned Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun, whose extensive research has helped reveal the kinds of environmental pollution that China is struggling with. His work has also forced multinational corporations with manufacturing ties in China to step up their sustainability efforts.
