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Delegates attending this year's Planet Textiles event in Copenhagen on May 11 will gain a unique insight into how China's latest five-year plan will impact environmental issues in China's textile manufacturing sector by 2020. Speaking at the event will be Zheng Jian, Project Manager at the Office for Social Responsibility with Chinese National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC). Jian has been working on sustainability issues in the Chinese Textile and Apparel Industry since 2005. The five-year plan for China's textile industry was recently launched by the government, and CNTAC is the key organisation charged with the task of ensuring the plan is properly implemented and interpreted throughout the industry.
CNTAC’s office for Social Responsibility recently led the work of the Textile Sustainable Manufacturing Coalition, an initiative that was set up by CNTAC, the China Dyestuff Industry Association and the Artificial and Synthetic Leather Committee of China Plastics Processing Industry Association. The work of the project includes environmental information disclosure, chemicals information exchange and sustainable technological innovation in textile supply chains in China. Delegates at the event will hear the latest on these plans in addition to other environmental initiatives underway in the world's largest textile and clothing manufacturing sector.
Among the key speakers at Planet Textiles include environmentalist, mountaineer and filmmaker, Rick Ridgeway (Patagonia's vice president of environmental affairs), senior governmental representation from the German Ministry's Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, and the European Clothing Action Plan, which will talk about how to embed a circular economy approach to the European clothing sector.
Ghezzi, the Italian yarn manufacturer for twisted, stretch and fancy yarns made with synthetic, artificial and natural fibers has launched a range of new generation premium stretch yarns at the recent Filo Yarn and Fibre Exhibition in Milan. These new yarns with ROICA Eco Smart by Asahi Kasei are said to deliver high performance stretch together with sustainability benefits.
According to Ghezzi, ROICA Eco-Smart is an eco-friendly, stretch yarn and is the only more sustainable, eco-stretch elastane that is GRS certified (Global Recycling Standard by Textile Exchange). The production of this yarn uses more than 50 per cent pre-production industrial waste material and is designed responsibly and ethically for customers looking to bring contemporary stretch to their own more sustainable product lines.
The smart and innovative material is designed to help clothing manufacturers deliver a more responsible high performance without compromise, while appealing to the modern consumer’s desire for better value.
Ghezzi has been a partner of ROICA, but also of CUPRO by Asahi Kasei for many years. CUPRO is a refined, matchless material with a soft silk like touch. Its soft versatility is said to make it perfect for the modern wardrobe’s fashions, intimates, special occasion and everyday casual wear.
Nantong Teijin has developed a range of high performance fabrics and environmentally friendly solutions. The products are targeted at Chinese markets for sports and casual fashions and garments. It’s made of thin- to medium-thickness fabrics. Microft is a moisture-permeable, water-repellent fabric produced with functional, high-quality microfiber. The laminated version combines soft texture with enhanced waterproof properties up to water pressure of 10,000 mm or greater.
Solotex is a polytrimethylene terephthalate fiber that is highly soft, stretchable, shape-retaining and durable. As Solotex is partially bio-derived, it also helps to conserve fossil resources.
Teijin is a technology-driven global group offering advanced solutions in the areas of sustainable transportation, information and electronics, safety and protection, environment and energy, and healthcare. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers, such as aramid, carbon fibers and composites, healthcare, films, resin and plastic processing, polyester fibers, product converting and IT. The group has some 150 companies and around 16,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide.
www.teijin.com.cn/en/about/
India will soon have a simplified textile policy. The new policy is aimed at increasing production and productivity of the textile sector, generating more employment, bringing down the cost of production, penetrating into newer markets, and introducing more value added products and focusing both on exports and domestic markets.
There may be some relaxation in labor laws such as allowing women to work at night. Some kind of tax incentives may be provided to weavers to make the sector attractive. This also includes tax holidays and interest subvention.
Most incentives or subsidies given now are production related. Those related to processing and skilling would be continued. Exports from India are expected to become unviable after 2017 as India is a signatory to WTO guidelines. There will be a review of subsidies and concessions. Some will be continued and some will be phased out. There may be production-related sops.
The Textile Upgradation Fund scheme has been revised. The growth of Indian textile sector has been hampered by factors such as high cost of production, sudden spurt in interest rates on working capital and an increase in labor wages. The industry has sought modifications in contract laws.
The biotech industry in India has opposed the notification fixing the maximum sale price of BT cotton seeds. It says the move violates the principle of free market economics and would discourage research.
BT cotton seed price has been fixed at Rs 800 per packet of 450 gram, including the trait value of Rs 49 per packet. The industry feels an atmosphere for promotion of innovation would have given the farmer new technologies for generating higher income and that slashing trait fees does not support innovation in the long term. The decision, it says, runs counter to the Make in India initiative and would be detrimental in the long run as companies would reconsider their investments in seed based R& D in the country due to the current uncertain environment. There would be no opportunity for companies to bring new products to the market.
The sharpest cut is on royalty or trait fees. They were reduced by 74 per cent. The latest prices will come into effect from the next kharif crop season, sowing for which begins in June. While the move will benefit nearly eight million cotton farmers in India, it raises concerns about the country’s intellectual property rights regime.
Inditex, the owner of the Zara chain, has reported strong sales growth for the first five weeks of the new financial year. But it plans to slow down its rapid pace of store openings.
Inditex will focus store openings on flagship sites in prime locations. It will aim for 6 to 8 per cent growth in new sales space in the coming years, below the previous guidance of 8 to 10 per cent.
Sales of items such as broderie anglaise blouses and floral lace dresses from fashion label Zara’s spring collection helped push sales across Inditex’s stable of brands up 15 per cent, at constant exchange rates, in the first five weeks of the financial year that started in February.
Inditex, the world's biggest clothing retailer, opened 330 stores in 56 markets in 2015, with a new Zara shop in Hawaii becoming the group's 7000th store worldwide. Its brands include upmarket label Massimo Dutti and teen fashion chain Bershka. It expanded online sales to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Australia during the year and may complete its online presence in all European Union markets in April.
Inditex’s net profit came in at 2.88 billion euros for the financial year which stretches from February to January, boosted by the relative weakness of the euro against a basket of around 60 currencies.
https://www.inditex.com/
China's exports witnessed their heaviest fall in nearly seven years in February diving more than a quarter as feeble global trades offset the weaker Yuan and raised pressure on Beijing to ramp up domestic demand as a driver of expansion. While promising reforms and higher spending to boost the world's number two economy, the below-forecast reading is the latest data raised fears of a ‘hard landing’ in China and comes days after Beijing cut its growth target for this year.
Last month, customs figures showed exports sank 25.4 per cent on-year to $126.1 billion, sharper than the 14.5 per cent economists predicted and the worst performance since May 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis. China is the world's biggest trader in goods and a key driver of international growth but its firms have been battered by weak demand from major markets as the global economy stutters. In turn, its slowing expansion has sent commodities prices plunging, battering producer economies such as Australia.
China’s imports fell for the 16th consecutive month, plunging 13.8 per cent to $93.6 billion. Analysts at ANZ Research cited ‘weakening global trade’ and ‘sluggish domestic demand’ as factors driving the ‘disappointing’ export and import results.
Textile Exchange has the released the second set of 13 new documents within the full suite of Material Snapshots, produced in 2015 with financial support from VF Corporation and in collaboration with Brown and Wilmanns Environmental, LLC.
The new snapshots offer a deeper dive into the life cycle issues of 27 fibers and materials, covering both ‘preferred’ and ‘conventional’ options. Each snapshot combines available LCA data and information with detailed literature reviews to provide a reliable and comprehensive, yet succinct, analysis. Included in each snapshot is an overview of: unit process descriptions, process inputs and outputs, performance and processing attributes, potential social and ethical concerns, availability, certification and pricing details, suggested questions to ask when sourcing the material, and system diagrams.
Designed for more technical users such as materials, sourcing, and sustainability professionals, the new snapshots are not aimed at users looking for a more summary view of a fiber or material; for that, Textile Exchange offers a set of 33 Material Summaries, produced in 2013/14 with support from VF Corporation (previously also referred to as ‘Material Snapshots’).
Founded in 2002, Textile Exchange is a global nonprofit organisation that works closely with all sectors of the textile supply chain to find the best ways to minimise and even reverse the negative impacts on people, air, water, animals, and soil created by the $1.7 trillion industry.
Foreign investors and retailers are exploring investment opportunities in Tanzania. There is a significant potential for a flourishing textile and garment industry in the country, thanks to the country's cotton production capacity. Tanzania boasts of bumper cotton harvests, with expertise and infrastructure to sustain the spinning, weaving and manufacturing elements of the value chain. The country can therefore be a base for vertically integrated textile and garment operations.
The country has formed a fund whose objective is to stimulate the textile and apparel industry. With expertise in technology, management and marketing, the unit is designed to facilitate supplier relationships, build training capabilities and coordinate friendly policies for investors.
It is working closely to improve the regulatory environment, incentives for investors, the quality of inputs and upgrading of the industry. It will help new investors locate empty factory space in identified regions and link investors to joint ventures.
Because of Tanzania’s categorisation as a less developed country, its cotton, textile and apparel products enjoy unparalleled access to almost all of the world’s most important markets. While there has been variability in production levels in recent years due to price instability and weather fluctuations, there has been progress in introducing contract farming in some of the growing regions, which is already leading to higher and more stable yields as well as higher quality cotton.
The Nigerian textile industry is under performing due to the influx of cheaper fabrics from China and India.
There are about 30 textile mills running in the country but only at an average of 40 per cent of installed capacity. In order to encourage domestic production, a ban was imposed on textile imports in 2010. However, this led to increased smuggling. It’s estimated that smuggled imported textiles account for over 85 per cent of fabrics sold locally. Nigeria spent some $130 million on textile imports in the third quarter of 2015.
For most manufacturers the high cost of financing is a major roadblock. Annual interest rates on their loans are close to 30 per cent whereas in China rates of less than six per cent are sometimes available. About six years ago a textile and garment intervention fund was set up. However the impact of the fund was modest since beneficiaries tended to refinance their existing loans and spend very little on capital investments.
Policies geared towards boosting textile and garment industries are being developed in Nigeria. An intervention fund will be established that will offer loans at a single digit interest rate.
