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Among various forms of slavery, employing children in the textile industry in India is a cause of concern. It is said that the practice of slavery is rampant in more than 90 per cent of South India's spinning mills that produce yarn for Western brands.
Researchers have asked for mapping of supply chains and do tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organization, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.
Most female workers employed in the 734 mills involved in the research were aged between 14 and 18, ICN reported and up to 20 per cent of the workers were younger than 14. The concerned report further states that employees were forced to work long hours by employers who often withheld their pay or locked their employees in company-controlled hostels. Many of them also faced sexual harassment. ICN Director claimed in a statement that they have raised the issue for five years now, but even to them the scale of this problem came as a shock.
K. Venkatachalam, chief advisor of the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association said that he was not aware of the research. He said the state government had recently filed a report in the Madras High Court clearly stating that these issues are no longer prevalent in the industry and the matter has been closed.
India is one of the world's largest textile and garment manufacturers. The southern state of Tamil Nadu is home to some 1,600 mills employing between 200,000 and 400,000 workers. Traditionally the dyeing units, spinning mills and apparel factories have drawn on cheap labor from villages across Tamil Nadu to turn cotton into yarn, fabric and clothes, most of it for Western high street shops.
Polish company Inovatica sp. z o.o. has developed ‘biotextile’ an innovative T-shirt fitted with bio-monitoring capacities that allows to perform electrocardiography (EKG) on the patient wearing it. Bogumil Zieba, the company’s managing director, confirmed that Inovatica aims to launch large-scale production of the particular T-shirt and that the next phase of the project will be to introduce it to the domestic and foreign markets.
Senior company representatives said that bio-monitoring system could be integrated with the T-shirt in a way that would make it possible to wash and clean it and use it in a regular way. The product should also allow recording the electrical activity of a patient’s heart with the use of electrodes placed on their skin.
The company is currently working on developing a new technology that would help allow producing individual T-shirts based on a 3D scan of the patient’s body. Once the necessary technology is available, Inovatica will introduce its bio-textile product to the Polish markets and also launch export sales of the T-shirt.
Amid expectation that regional trade can provide opportunities to both the economies, Pakistan has called upon Uzbekistan to explore joint ventures in the textile sector. This invitation was given by Pakistan Commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan while he was chairing a meeting with a high level Uzbek delegation headed by Ulugbek Rozukulov, Deputy of the Prime Minister of Republic of Uzbekistan.
The minister welcomed the delegation and said that the visit would help promote trade and economic relations between the two countries. In order to realise the vision of regional connectivity for enhanced economic integration and to follow up on initiatives taken during the Prime Minister’s recent visits to central Asian countries, the Ministry of Commerce has chalked out a comprehensive plan for trade promotion exclusively focused on Central Asia, he said.
The trade volume between the two countries was $3.92 million in 2015-16 which increased from $2.98 million in 2014-15. Pakistan’s exports to Uzbekistan have witnessed marginal increase from $1.347 million in 2014-15 to $2.07 million in 2015-16 while imports from Uzbekistan have also slightly increased from $1.56 million to $1.843 million during the same period. The minister said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was not reflective of the true potential. Uzbekistan is a country of about 32 million people with exports of $13.32 billion and imports of $12.5 billion.
The Swedish company, We are SpinDye has developed a new method that could revolutionize the manufacturing of synthetic fibers and thereby of pants, jackets and backpacks.
The new method involves no high use of water or heavy use of chemicals in the dyeing process. It is resource-efficient, sustainable, colorfast, and no bleaching out.
The way We are SpinDye dyes synthetic fibers is completely different from the way other textile companies do. It’s focused on sustainability and environmental protection. Above all, the immense use of water is significantly reduced by innovative procedures. Recycled plastic is melted down; the desired dye pigment is added to the undyed material. After that, yarn is produced from it in the desired strength. Clients and manufacturers can further process this yarn as usual.
We are SpinDye is offering its technology for all synthetic materials, such as polyester or nylon, and also for rayon. A combination of synthetic fibers and unbleached wool can be used. There are no limits for manufacturers in further processing: The fabrics can, for example, be coated or equipped with a membrane.
The company works on the principle of the least possible damage to the environment. Use of water and chemicals is reduced to a minimum.
India is in talks with China’s leading e-commerce firm Alibaba.com to help domestic garment exporters market their products online and educate them about payment gateways, security and privacy issues. With Alibaba’s help, India’s garment exporters will be able to promote, design and customise their products online as per clients’ needs and get assured payment, officials informed. The idea behind the intended partnership is to deliver end-to-end solutions for exporters especially the smaller ones who can’t keep huge inventory, they said.
In this regard, the Apparel Export Promotion Council, India’s nodal agency for promoting business between exporters and buyers, has held four to five rounds of discussion with the Jack Ma founded company so far. It’s not only that, the Council said that it was open to talks with other players also. If the deal comes through, small exporters in India will be able to market and sell their products to companies in other countries since sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors.
Promoting small exporters is high on the government agenda because 79 per cent of India’s garment exporters have revenue of less than Rs 10 crore ($1.47 mn) per annum. The council may also seek its online partner’s guidance for managing logistics in the future, officials said.
Although there are more than 8,000 garment exporters registered with the council, less than 100 use online platforms to promote and sell their goods. Exporters need to also explore the e-commerce method of doing business and not limit themselves to face-to-face interactions, the officials observed.
According to industry experts, climatic changes and fast moving fashion trends have made buying patterns unpredictable. Hence, online presence will enable year-round buying and faster delivery for manufacturers and exporters. The entire process of design to delivery, which used to take up to three months in 2004, has now been crunched to 30-35 days and can be further reduced if online platforms are used, they said.
In 2015-16, India exported readymade garments worth $17 billion. The industry has seen fluctuations in the past six years due to global economic uncertainty and loss of competiveness to emerging economies in the region, especially China and Bangladesh. Shipments to the European Union, the top destination for India’s garment exports, fell 5.5 per cent in 2015-16 from the previous year.
According to Ashok Rajani, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), exports of India's garment is poised to register a positive growth in 2017-18. He was speaking on the sidelines of the award for excellence in global exports for apparel sector. He said that the Council has an ambitious target for export and job creation in the next three years. For this, he called upon the winners to be mentors to the start ups and SMEs in this sector and together strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Divulging on the subject, he further added that the garment export industry was poised to grow in 2017 with the initiatives announced by the government along with the good quality products aided by innovative design prowess that will drive the change for the industry. The growth will also help in meeting the target of Rs. 6,000 crores and create one crore jobs set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a special package for the Apparel Export Industry.
Highlighting the achievements of the industry during 2015-16, Rajani observed that in 2015-16, the share of textiles and apparels in total exports increased to 15 per cent from 13 per cent in 2013-14. He said that he was proud to inform that India has today an expanded capacity with seven new Common Effluent Treatment Plants with Zero Liquid Discharge technology in last two years covering 3000 SME units. He also said that eight apparel and garment making centres were set up in all NER (North- Eastern) States and Sikkim for promoting garment manufacturing in NER (North-East).
Cordura Brand will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. On the occasion, festivities will happen throughout the next year that will present a wide selection of new uses, special design collaborations, innovative developments and parties. The first anniversary celebration will take place at the specialized trade show Outdoor Retailer USA that will happen from January 9 to 12 in Salt Lake City, USA.
The celebrations will be followed by the Munich Fabric Start-Bluezone (January 31- February 1 2017), ISPO Munich (February 5-8) and Techtextil in Frankfurt (May 9-12). In all these shows, Cordura Brand will disclose a new collaboration with Cotton Inc. and Lenzing Tencel powered with the Cordura Brand nylon 6.6 performance fiber technology.
Another premiere will be a generation of Woolrich fabrics. This new partnership will present garments made with ‘Wool-Dura, a special technology that combines together the appreciated durability of the Cordura Brand fiber with the natural Woolrich wool qualities of warmth, comfort and softness born with the aim to create a modern classic.
On the denim front, the Cordura Combat Wool Denim range is developed with Struktur Studio (specialized fabric and sports apparel creative studio) and Artistic Milliners. The new Artistic Milliners’ denim fabric Authentic Alchemie Collection will offer a portfolio of on-trend, classic, hard wearing, and authentic original Cordura Denims with at least four times more abrasion resistance than traditional cotton denim fabrics.
In 2017, Cordura Brand will also introduce the first results of their design collaboration with North Carolina State University College of Textiles for the “Menswear for the Millennial Male” project. The aim of the initiative is to help students bring to life innovative, tech-focused professional apparel for the modern male consumer.
The second edition of Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) will go underway from August 21, 2017. The three-day apparel, textile and fashion event is one-of-a-kind programme for people from the apparel, textile, fashion and fabric manufacturers, factories and leaders from across the world to meet each other. The show promises to provide a platform to develop global industry connections.
ATSC has also secured a 50 per cent increase in exhibit space for the event that will be held in Toronto’s International Centre. The event will bring to Canada hundreds of apparel and textile manufacturers from around the world, including China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, US, UK, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and many more. It will include comprehensive trade show and conference.
The programme is to be held in association with Canadian and International partnerships such as the Canadian Apparel Federation (CAF), US based Fashion Business Inc. (FBI) and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel (CCCT). JP Communications, a business sourcing platform is the producer of the event. ATSC debuted in 2016 with more than 200 booths of merchandise and over 1,800 attendees.
A 21-member delegation of Chinese companies recently visited Pakistan. There they showed keen interest to enhance business collaborations in textile sector with their Pakistani counterparts. The Chinese delegation led by Deputy Director General, Department of Commerce, Zhang Shaoyun, Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region visited the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). The delegation was representing textiles, garments, clothing and apparel and chemicals sector companies in China.
Speaking on the occasion, Shaoyun said that Pakistan was the fourth largest cotton producer in the world while China was leading exporter of textiles products. Thus both countries have great potential to complement each other and enhance cooperation in the textile sector for achieving better growth, he added.
He further said that China has modern textile technology and machinery and added that close cooperation between private sectors of both the countries in this field would not only yield mutually beneficial outcomes, but it would also help Pakistan's textile industry to upgrade itself and improve productivity. He hoped that visit of Chinese companies to Pakistan would also help in exploring opportunities for promoting bilateral trade, joint ventures, investment and multi-dimensional economic cooperation between Pakistan and China.
In his welcome address, ICCI President Khalid Iqbal Malik said that textile products played a major role in Pakistan's exports. Pakistani textile exporters were now focusing on value addition of textiles products to achieve better results and urged that Chinese textile companies should share technology and expertise with Pakistani counterparts to realize these goals, he said. Due to high domestic labour cost, China was relocating its manufacturing units to other countries and it should consider Pakistan as its first choice to take benefit of our educated and skilled labor at affordable cost, he added.
"ITME- TIT conference “Paradigm Shift-What’s Next in Textiles” focused on the theme ‘Targeting Indian textiles and clothing business at $300 billion’ was successfully conducted as a day-long conference on December 6, at the recent ITME exhibition in Mumbai. Who’s who from the industry, academia and government offered their valuable insights to make India the next global textile hotspot. TIT (The Technological Institute of Textile & Science) Conference was organised by FashionatingWorld/ DFU Publications and co-organised by TAI Delhi"
ITME- TIT conference “Paradigm Shift-What’s Next in Textiles” focused on the theme ‘Targeting Indian textiles and clothing business at $300 billion’ was successfully conducted as a day-long conference on December 6, at the recent ITME exhibition in Mumbai. Who’s who from the industry, academia and government offered their valuable insights to make India the next global textile hotspot. TIT (The Technological Institute of Textile & Science) Conference was organised by FashionatingWorld/ DFU Publications and co-organised by TAI Delhi
Chief guest Textile Commissioner Dr Kavita Gupta, in her keynote address, spoke about the schemes and campaigns run by the Centre to make India an attractive destination for textiles. “Though spinning industry is performing extremely well in India as compared to other sectors, although we don’t have incentives for spinning. Garmenting and technical textiles have a subsidy of 15 per cent, weaving and composite have subsidies of 10 per cent. Indigenous textile machinery only has 40 per cent share to the total demand, in this area we need to promote joint ventures. There is a pressing need for advanced machinery setups to be a competitive country in the global textile sector.” Elaborating further, she added, in garments, we have got additional 10 per cent subsidy that makes for 25 per cent subsidy in total. We need to do a lot of R&D in the textile sector as well as textile machinery sector. We understand the need to upgrade the industry, bring in more technology and that’s why we have incentives, capacities can be raised only by joint ventures and tie- ups. She also asserted that the government is providing assistance not only in the form of capital investments but other areas as well, it has decided to pay for the entire EPFO.
R D Udeshi, President (Polyester value Chain), Reliance Industries, spoke largely on the challenges facing the textile industry. He said, “We are living in a volatile, uncertain, complex world with a lot of ambiguities. We have an ambitious target of $600 billion by 2024-25, now we are talking about how to reach $300 billion target, it is always easy to make projections but implementation is never a piece of cake.” Udeshi said globally, textile is fairing much better than other commodities or sectors. In India, there is a change in the pattern of textile industry; we have demographical advantages, with the youngest population in the world. Still countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are growing faster than us, despite the fact we are rich in resources. “We have a good refining capacity unlike China, all we need is to utilize it, add value in it rather than exporting it, the export of raw material should be replaced by end product,” he added.
Prashant Agarwal, JMD, Wazir Advisors, emphasised not to focus on statistics rather maintain excellence in what we already have in place. “We should start working to achieve these growth numbers, there are a lot of areas to work on, moving from $120 to $300 billion means adding $180 billion is a herculean task. Today, global trade is about $7 75 billion, which will be somewhere around 1.25 trillion by 2025. We are growing by 8 per cent CAGR for the last few years; we are talking about 10 per cent of the total trade, so this is undoubtedly doable. The key lies in implementation,” he pointed out.
India’s share in global textile
The second session was addressed by Subhash Bhargva, MD, Colorant Limited. He said global textile trade has fallen from $827 billion to $776 billion during 2014-15. But in this fall again, India has been able to grow from $37 billion to $40 billion. It is heartening that India has maintained its share in this downfall, this shows our competitiveness. Similarly, exports have risen by six per cent to the US, 32 per cent to UAE and seven per cent to Canada. Over all in value terms, it is total four per cent.
The third session saw, Peter Golden, Head (Product Development), Saurer speaking on technology and the challenges that global textile industry is facing currently. “We believe that the major challenge in the textile sector is labour – skilled and unskilled both. There are concerns pertaining to environment. The need of the hour is to provide the right product, our focus should be on productivity, efficiency, and consumer’s profitability,” he said.
Focus on sustainability
A session on sustainability, ‘Sustainability, the only way forward’ was also a part of the event where prominent industry speakers shared their views. One of the presentations were attended by N N Mahapatra, President, Colorant Limited. “There is a lot of buzz around sustainability. We, at Colorant, focus on sustainability and keep introducing technologies that save the environment in the long run,” he said. Dr B K Behera, HOD Textiles, IIT, spoke extensively on technical textiles, its importance for India, and highlighted the innovations they are doing in this area. Sandip Arora, CEO, Polyspin India that has a joint venture with Eksoy, a multinational company in chemicals from Turkey, spoke about how Eksoy is offering solutions to save environment by replacing urea, less usage of water and energy. Ajay Sardana, Chief Sustainability Officer, Grasim spoke about sustainability efforts taken up by the group. For them, it is simply a business case scenario rather than a charity as considered by many.
The last session was on Technical Textiles presented by VDMA, a German federations of industries. Their members from various technical textile sectors made insightful presentations.
All in all, the conference offered insightful experience of industry stalwarts and gave the audience a lead to take the growth trajectory ahead.
