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The global market for custom printed T-shirts is expected to witness significant growth with increasing disposable incomes and shifting trends towards fashionable apparels particularly in developing nations. In addition, advances in printing technology allow printed T-shirts in multiple colors and designs.
According to a report by Credence Research Inc “Custom T-Shirt Printing Market – Growth, Share, Opportunities, Competitive Analysis, and Forecast 2016 – 2023,” Asia Pacific is the largest as well as the fastest growing market for custom printed T-shirts. Textile manufacturers from Europe and North America are outsourcing their manufacturing to low cost manufacturing countries like India, China and other emerging countries in the Asia Pacific. North America and Europe have a rising demand for digital printed T-shirts.
The growth of the custom printed T-shirt market is strongly influenced by the adoption of digital printing technology. Low priced solutions and advances in inkjet heads enable the use of a variety of inks from different suppliers. The digital printing technique is also expected to benefit from rapidly changing fashion trends which demand shorter production cycles and high quality prints.
Screen printing is a conventional technique used for T-shirt printing across the world and accounts for the largest revenue share. The screen printing technique is expected to maintain its dominant position through the period 2016 – 2023. The market is highly fragmented with a large number of local players in each regional market.
Retailers in Asia-Pacific have been turning traditional stores into bricks-and-clicks, offering click-and-collect services. Some of them are also engaging convenience stores as their network of in-store pick-up points to attract the new generation of busy consumers.
Mobile internet retailing in India saw particularly strong growth in 2015 due to the growth of internet-enabled smart phones in the country and small-screen viewing prior to purchase of any product or service. Furthermore, mobile applications, which allow consumers to shop on the go, also fuelled the growth of mobile internet retailing in 2015.
Some 70 per cent of leading retailers in India were present in both online and offline channels in 2015. Traditional retailers are no longer the leading players in India. In fact, companies which are technologically advanced and interact with the consumer base via both online and offline media were the most successful ones during the year.
Both grocery and non-grocery retailers registered higher footfalls for large-format stores in 2015. Large formats offer a variety of brands and price ranges and also provide consumers with much larger options to choose from.
Despite predictions and forecasts in-store retailing in 2015 still accounted for 93 per cent of sales in Asia-Pacific.
Global leader in textile odour control and prevention, Microban® International will re-launch its textiles division globally this month. After the re-launch, brand partners and consumers will see an entirely new Microban from next generation technologies and freshness solutions to a new logo, positioning and tagline.
Banking on its 30-year heritage of providing innovative protection solutions for extended freshness and odour control in textiles, the company will introduce a complete brand refresh, including a new website launching in October and revamped marketing collateral for its brand partners. Microban will also expand its product and sales team with seasoned apparel industry executives. In addition, it is already hosting a Fresh Bar experience at Outdoor Retailer Summer Marketin Salt Lake City from August 3 to 6 where attendees of the show will be able to compare apparel and footwear fabrics treated with Microban technologies against untreated fabrics. The re-launch of its global textile division builds upon Microban’s debut of its recent odour capture and antimicrobial products like Excalibur® and Scentry® now being used by top apparel and footwear brands and manufacturers.
Microban recently received bluesign® approval for its ZPTech®, a wide-spectrum antimicrobial technology for textiles used by more than 60 leading sports, athleisure, apparel and footwear brands. The branding will debut at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in a redesigned booth where visitors will experience the latest in odor control science at the Microban Fresh Bar comparing products that have Microban technologies against products that do not.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) along with the Textile Sector Skill Council (TSC) organised an interactive session with textile manufacturers in Amritsar. Among the speakers was Swapna Mishra, director, Textile Sector Skill Council (TSSC). She explained the functioning and working of the Council and informed industrialists about government’s subsidies for training of employees. The industry could benefit from the schemes to train current employees or they could make a new cluster of people for training. She also stressed that this would create employment, skilled labour pool in Amritsar as the local units are facing shortage of workers.
The textile industry in Amritsar was once called the ‘Manchester of India’ is struggling due to global slowdown. The sector is being hurt by constant hike in raw material prices, electricity rates, VAT charges, property tax and so on. Manufacturers and traders are passing on the high input cost to retailers. High tax also prevents dealers from getting registered.
Shawl Club secretary Piara Lal Seth informed the gathering that over 47 new units of shawl manufacturing with 400 shuttle-less rapier looms with electronic jacquards came up between 2002 and 2013. Most of these units were Woolmark licensees. About 4,500 latest embroidery machines have been installed from 2002-2009 for value additions. Dyeing and finishing, woolen and worsted spinning mills, cone dyeing of yarns and printing industries are well established here to support the textile industry in Amritsar which now stands to the international standards.
During the first half of 2016, Turkey’s total exports were down by 3.8 per cent to $70.7 billion. Exports rose by 1.4 per cent for textile and raw materials to $5 billion, by 7 per cent for ready wear and garment to $8.7 billion in the same period. Textile and raw material industry did with a small exports increase, while ready to wear and garment industry achieved a remarkable boost. In June 2016, Turkey’s overall exports surged by 1.8 per cent to around $11.9 billion. During January-June 2016, overall exports were down 3.8 per cent to $70.7 billion.
Textile and raw materials industry achieved 6.3 per cent increase at $889 million exports in June. Looking at January-June, the increase was only 1.4 per cent bringing the figure to around $5 billion. However, ready wear and garment industry recorded 7 per cent hike in exports at $8.7 billion compared to the same half of 2015. The industry obtained $1.53 billion income, a 5.2 per cent decline in exports compared to June 2015.
The largest textile and raw materials exports were made to the EU (28) nations in total, in June 2016 and January-June period. Exports to the union were up by 16.6 per cent in June to stand at $477 million. In the first half of this year, exports to the European Union (28) were up 11.4 per cent to $2.7 billion.
Export of man-made fibre yarns from India continued to grow unabated with export of 100 per cent man-made fibre yarns from India valuing $20.76 million in June this year, up 35.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis while volumes was 7.82 million kg, up 40.5 per cent as compared to the same month last year. The total volume comprised 2.93 million kg of polyester yarn, 3.81 million kg of viscose yarn and 1.07 million kg of acrylic yarn.
Exports of polyester yarn went up by 6.9 per cent in value while the value of exports of viscose yarn surged 108.3 per cent in June, this year. Exports of Acrylic yarn saw a drastic climb down of 24.7 per cent in June. Unit price realization was down US cents 14 a kg for polyester from a year ago and that of viscose yarn was down by US cent 1 a kg. Acrylic yarn unit price realization was down by US cents 70 a kg year on year basis.
It is interesting to note that polyester spun yarns were exported to 49 countries in June with total volumes at 2.93 million kg of which 23.2 per cent was shipped by Turkey alone. Twelve new destinations were found for polyester yarn this June. Among these Canada, Argentina, Uganda, Algeria and Russia were the major ones which imported. Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia were the fastest growing markets for polyester yarns while four countries did not import any polyester yarns during the month including Botswana and Nigeria.
Export of viscose yarn was at 3.81 million kg and was exported to 25 countries with Iran being the top buyer. It was followed by Belgium. Both these markets accounted for 45.7 per cent of the entire viscose yarn exported in June. Brazil, Egypt, Germany and Indonesia were the fastest growing markets for viscose yarns while Portugal, United Kingdom, Canada, China and Turkmenistan were the new major markets.
Pakistan, South Korea and Vietnam were the major countries that did not import any viscose yarns during the month among 7 countries.
Garment manufacturers in Tirupur have urged textile mills in their region to drop the move to increase prices of hosiery yarn as cotton prices are climbing down. Cotton prices have come down by Rs 2,000 per candy (about 355 kg) and the inclination of mills to increase cotton yarn prices will severely affect Tirupur garment export sector, points out A Sakthivel, President, Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA).
Hosiery yarn prices, which were being sold at Rs 216 per kg in April is now being quoted at around Rs 250 per kg after three rounds of price increases. The increase in hosiery yarn prices has not been commensurate with the rise in cotton prices, said K Selvaraju, Secretary-General, Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA). Even after accounting for the recent decline in cotton prices, the cost of clean cotton (after removing waste and short fibres) increased by Rs 52 per kg since in April while hosiery yarn prices have gone up by only by Rs 34 per kg. About 70kgs of combed hosiery yarn is typically produced from 100 kg of cotton. Around 85 kgs carded hosiery yarn is made from 100 kgs of cotton.
In a letter to SIMA, Sakthivel urged them to not resort to increase yarn prices when cotton prices are coming down. He said they had an apprehension that the business created over time may go out of India and once the business is lost it would be difficult to bring it back.
Diplomats of seven African countries have invited Coimbatore's trading and industrial community to invest in their countries in different sectors including textiles. The diplomats were speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Industry (CII) in Coimbatore on “Africa Seminar Series – the Land of Unexplored Potential”. Two of them particularly highlighted the textiles and apparel sector where Indian companies can invest in their countries.
Mali's ambassador, Niankoro Yeah Samake said Coimbatore was of special interest to his country because cotton was a major export product of the country and Coimbatore a hub for textile industry. In February next year, a trade mission from India will visit Mali to explore opportunities in different sectors including cotton in that country.
Minister Counsellor and Charge d' Affairs of the Ethiopian Embassy Molalign Asfaw pointed out that Ethiopia has registered double digit growth for more than a decade and over 600 Indian companies have registered in the country. Of these, 250 have started operations. He said the country has 12 industrial parks and offers several tax incentives to investors and there are enough opportunities for textiles and apparel industries.
Diplomats from Uganda, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauritius also spoke at the meeting.
The long spell of rainy days this year till now is proving to be a cause of worry for cotton farmers in Adilabad district in Telangana. As it is the prolonged cloudy weather has already caused stunting of growth in cotton plants and it is feared that another 10 days of similar conditions could spell doom for the entire crop. Lack of photosynthesis due to the absence of sunlight and heavy weeding impeding growth are the main reasons for the stunted plants.
Though the normal rainfall in Adilabad is about 110 cm during the monsoons, the rainy days are usually spread over a four-month period under ideal conditions. However, this year, the average rainfall during the first two months has exceeded the normal quota of the corresponding period by 35 per cent as additional number of rainy days was recorded in June and July.
The initial anxiety of the dry spell gave way to spells of good rainfall. While June recorded 13 days of rainfall, the trend continued in July which had as many as 23 rainy days with local people not getting a chance to see a sunny day. The plant lost growth of about 6 inches due to damp weather. Now, the plants need sunlight immediately otherwise the yield of cotton will decrease abnormally. Under such conditions, the plants go to their reproductive stage sooner than they would have done under normal conditions. The bolls formed under these conditions are smaller.
The July nylon textile filament (NFY) market in China showed divergence from last year. Compared with 2015, the NFY market tracked a similar trend in January to March 2016 to rise up after a decline. But the downtrend began earlier than last year to fall from early May, and NFY prices were pushed up slightly in July amid deficit pressure from a surging feedstock. However in 2015, NFY prices began falling in end June and speeded up decline in July.
It is one year since the meeting of non-credit sales by eight NFY leading companies. Most enterprises have already made a conscious attempt to control credit deals, but to totally solve the arrear problem by end 2016 is very hard. Though the growth rate of account receivables in January to July 2016 is significantly lower than the same period last year, the arrears left before the 2016 spring festival were much higher than before, so the overall account receivables remain high.
Despite a higher run rate of 60 to 70 per cent in off-season, NFY demand not only comes from downstream hand-to-mouth purchasing, but also to prepare stocks in advance. Therefore, the August demand will be lighter after the transient increment, and NFY plants are suggested to control potential risks.
