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For the third quarter home textile firm Welspun India saw a 47.07 per cent decline in consolidated net profit. Total income in the quarter fell 7.06 per cent compared to the same period last year. The fall in income is attributed to the decline on account of volume decline due to customer destocking coupled with goods and service tax impact on duty drawback.
Welspun has been taking steps to be prepared for the future in terms of its brands, channels, innovation, traceability solutions, sustainability solutions and many other areas. Welspun is a Mumbai-based terry towel producer. It is looking at helping cotton farmers grow better quality cotton and also encourage them try organic cotton. Welspun is guiding and mentoring farmers on right practices, right seed and right pesticides. Cotton farmers are being mentored on the kind of crops to grow after cotton harvest so as to help them improve the overall soil nutrients like nitrogen. The company is looking to cover at least a fifth of farmers supplying cotton to it by 2021.
Welspun India targets doubling revenue by 2022. The US continues to be a key market for Welspun. Currently the US contributes around 65 per cent to its business, with 25 per cent to 30 per cent coming in from the rest of the world, and five per cent from India.
Tintex, the Portuguese textile manufacturer has reported significant interest from international fashion brands at the recent ISPO show in Munich. There were numerous enquiries from buyers for its recently launched B.Cork water-based laminated fabrics. First launched at Performance Days in November, the laminated fabric coating made from cork can be used for woven or knit fabrics and is breathable as well as environmentally friendly — on the basis that cork would have otherwise gone straight to landfills.
B.Cork is fully commercialised with a patent-pending for the accompanying water-based lamination technique and is free from formaldehyde and solvents. The company says the coating is suitable for applications on both knits and woven textiles, along with all of Tintex’s ‘smart fibre bases’. Cork, even without the added benefit of being sourced as a pre-consumer waste product, is becoming an increasingly popular material for brands that place environmental issues high on its agenda.
Abel Coelho of Tintex says all the material comes from the waste produced during cork manufacturing in the drinks industry. Tintex also launched Fabric 4846 at ISPO, which the company says is a blend of tencel, smartcell and elastane clean fit by Roica. The fabric aims to combine Tencel’s moisture management properties with zinc oxide’s healing properties from Smartcell, making up a knit activewear.
The redefining of Tencel brand is a key milestone for Lenzing’s new brand strategy to enhance product offerings, foster connection with customers and consumers, and drive consumer demand. Tencel is well positioned to be a major growth engine in the textile sector, with a brand portfolio comprising Tencel Active, Tencel Denim, Tencel Home, Tencel Intimate, and Tencel Luxe, all enabled by two versatile and highly compatible fibers, Tencel Modal and Tencel Lyocell.
Tencel is adopted as Lenzing’s textile specialty brand for apparel and home applications, and is aimed to help create a unique and differentiating brand in the modal and lyocell fiber markets. The redefined Tencel product brand, along with the tagline Feels so right, will enable Lenzing to embark on communication around messages that move beyond fiber types and characteristics towards everyday use and benefits that brands and consumers value.
Since 2015, Lenzing has been migrating into a specialty fiber business with a strong focus on innovation, quality and sustainability. New swing tags and marketing materials will be launched at the retail level to provide clarity on product benefit claims containing Tencel branded fibers. The swing tags, along with more detailed guidelines on B2B and B2C use, are now available on Lenzing’s new e-branding service platform, which caters to B2B customers and retail partners, offering faster, more sustainable and more user-friendly solutions for certification and licensing.
Pakistan’s textile exports rose 10 per cent in December 2017 compared to December 2016. Textile exports during the first six months of the current fiscal year were up 8.07 per cent compared to July-December 2016. Among the reasons for the increase are flow of cash under the PM's incentive package, payment of sales tax refunds as well as the depreciation of the local currency, which improved exporters’ liquidity situation.
Also, 50 per cent of the rate of drawback of local taxes and levies was to be provided, without condition of increment, and the remaining 50 per cent to be provided if the exporter achieves an increase of ten per cent or more in exports during fiscal year 2017-18 as compared to fiscal year 2016-17. An additional two per cent was allowed for exports to nontraditional markets - Africa, Latin America, non- EU countries, Commonwealth of Independent States and Oceania.
Major measures have been introduced to facilitate duty drawback of local taxes. The energy cost in Pakistan is more than 30 per cent of the total conversion cost in the spinning, weaving and processing industries. Industrial gas tariff in Pakistan is about 100 per cent whereas the electricity tariff is about 50 per cent higher than their regional competitors’.
Supima has entered into an agreement with Oritain Global— an international forensic science firm — to provide a testing platform to verify the origin of Supima cotton. Oritain Global, will use their scientific technology to measure the naturally occurring elements that exist within the cotton fiber — based on the geographical production area the cotton is grown in. The project will cover the entire American Pima cotton growing region and create a unique ‘fingerprint’ for Supima® cotton.
Grant Cochrane, Oritain’s CEO says, “The unique fingerprint analysis identifies different levels of chemical attributes that are found in the product itself and enables the cotton to be verified against its claimed origin. This platform offers a solution to address the traceability challenges that have been faced by the global cotton industry in recent years.” Manufacturers, brand owners and retailers are increasingly focused on ensuring there is transparency within their supply chains. A huge part of this is knowing – and trusting – where their product comes from.
This is of particular importance as brands make claim associated with provenance and want to be reassured their product – in this case, Supima® cotton – isn’t being contaminated by inferior products coming from undesirable sources, he added. Supima® CEO Marc Lewkowitz says the partnership fulfils Supima’s decade long objective to find a simple and natural way to use the fiber to verify provenance. The Oritain methodology simply measures what is naturally inside the fiber.
Apparel Textile Sourcing will be held in Miami, May 21 to 23, 2018. The event will bring together hundreds of international apparel and textile manufacturers from China, India, Bangladesh, the US, Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico and many other countries and territories from across Central and South America and all around the globe. Small businesses, retailers, manufacturers and designers across the United States and Latin America will get a boost.
Next to the hundreds of manufacturers’ booths and exhibits, ATS Miami will deliver three days’ worth of an unprecedented platform of global connections in manufacturing and fashion. Attendees will gain new insights and information to best navigate and profit in the international sourcing process.
The ATS brand has established itself internationally with Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada, held every August in Toronto. In 2017 the event grew by more than 50 per cent in attendees and international exhibits. The same formula of success is the basis for ATS Miami.
The fair is committed to making Miami the nexus for commerce between Asia, North America, and Latin America. ATS Miami provides a unique opportunity for apparel and textile importers and retailers to intersect and access the most current importing information from top industry insiders.
The ATS Miami design pods and fashion show will include international apparel producers, Latin American artisans, Made-in-Americas manufacturers and active design students.
The European Outdoor Group (EOG), the association of sport industry players, including brands, retailers and distributors, is shifting the sector's main summer trade show. From 2019, the Outdoor trade show will be organised in partnership with Messe Munchen, making the Bavarian capital the European sport industry's trading centre. Three destinations were under consideration, Munich, Friedrichshafen and Hamburg. A poll of 94 per cent of the EOG members ensured Munich gained 65 per cent votes so the Outdoor trade show will move to a new location in Germany. A section of international visitors preferred Friedrichshafen for its lake and alpine environment but others felt travelling there was a hassle.
Obviously Messe Friedrichshafen’s management was not happy with the vote, "We look at the vote's result with huge disappointment. The Outdoor show was born a quarter of a century ago on the shores of Lake Constance and here we have written a unique success story for this industry," said the CEO of Messe Friedrichshafen, Klaus Wellmann. The EOGs retort was the poll "was wholly democratic" and “Munich received three times as many votes as its closest competitor." EOG further added the move was consistent with its 'Vision 2020' for the European outdoor industry.
The show's 25th edition will still be held in Friedrichshafen from June 17 to 20, featuring nearly 900 exhibitors from 40 countries.
Aquafil will acquire Invista’s nylon 6 business activity in Asia Pacific. Aquafil is one of the main players in Italy in the production of synthetic fibers, particularly for polyamide 6 applications. Invista is a leading integrated producer of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibers. This deal will accelerate Aquafil’s investment program in the area of the Asia Pacific that remains the region with the highest potential in terms of demand growth for synthetic fibers.
Founded in 1965, Aquafil is present in three continents with a workforce of over 2,700 at production sites in Italy, Germany, Scotland, Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Thailand, and China. Aquafil is a pioneer in the circular economy also thanks to the Econyl regeneration system, an innovative and sustainable process able to create new products from waste and give life to an endless cycle. The nylon waste is collected in locations all over the world and includes industrial waste but also products (such as fishing nets and rugs) that have reached the end of their useful life.
Such waste is processed so as to obtain a raw material, caprolactam, with the same chemical and performance characteristics as those from fossil sources. The polymers produced from Econyl caprolactam are distributed to the group’s production plants, where they are transformed into BCF yarn and NTF yarn.
The Asian Development Bank has inked a deal with Bangladesh’s Eastern Bank for a $20m loan in support of the country’s textile and garment industries. Christine Engstrom, Director, ADB’s private sector financial institutions division disclosed says the textile and garment sectors are essential parts of the Bangladesh economy, raising incomes for large numbers of workers, particularly women. “We are confident that our partnership with Eastern Bank, a trusted financial institution in Bangladesh, will contribute to the development of the textile and garment sectors in the country.”
The country is the second largest exporter of textiles and garments which accounts for around 15 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP. These sectors employ over four million people of whom around 85 per cent are women. The money will be used to finance socially and environmentally sustainable projects largely those that meet structural, fire and electrical safety standards.
For the fourth quarter Lectra had a strong growth in income from operations, on a like-for-like basis. Net income was up 16 per cent at actual exchange rates. Orders for new systems were three per cent lower. Revenues were up seven per cent. Income from operations was up 13 per cent like-for-like. The operating margin was up 0.8 percentage points like-for-like but down 1.1 percentage points at actual exchange rates.
Currency changes mechanically decreased revenues by four per cent and income from operations by 16 per cent at actual exchange rates compared to like-for-like figures.
In 2017 the company proceeded with its first sales of software with a software-as-a-service model to a deliberately limited number of customers, in selected test countries. The company has been debt free since March 31, 2015. Cash and cash equivalents, and the net cash position, were up sharply compared to December 31, 2016. This is also a record level, which will enable the company to self-finance its internal and external development.
For 2018, the company is targeting six to ten per cent revenue growth, like-for-like, and seven per cent to 15 per cent growth in income from operations before non-recurring items, like-for-like.
