"Not so thin women do not have to contend with ill-fitting and uncomfortable clothes anymore. Brands these days are extending their size ranges to cater to more diverse body shapes. Some of them are adopting newer technologies to create made-to-measure clothes that fit their customers like second skin."

Not so thin women do not have to contend with ill-fitting and uncomfortable clothes anymore. Brands these days are extending their size ranges to cater to more diverse body shapes. Some of them are adopting newer technologies to create made-to-measure clothes that fit their customers like second skin.

A 3D body model to create perfectly fitting garments

Newer fashion e-commerce brands like RedThread and Measure & Made are ensuring absolute comfort for women buying from their online store. RedThread founder and CEO Meghan Litchfield interviewed almost 100 women of all shapes and sizes over a period of 18 months about their most preferred styles and the fit issues they were facing.

The brand has also collaborated with technology partner Cala to scan each woman’s body. For this, the customer first uploads his selfies through a data-encrypted text-link sent by the brand. Using these selfies, RedThread and Cala auto-generate a 3D body model and come up with perfect-fitting garments — mainly staples like wide-leg pants and T-shirts — for that shopper. This initiative has garnered a positive response from its customers as over the eight months in business, the brand has a return rate of less than 4 per cent and plans to expand its product range in the coming months.

Size matters

Measure & Made, launched in January this year, uses the Fitlogic technology that not only takes into account the body shape of its customers but also their sizes. The company categories women into three shapes: straight, hourglass and extremely curvy. Using these parameters it has created a quiz for shoppers that inputs their height, typical dress pant size and body shape, among other stats, to find out what their Fitlogic size is. Using this technology, the brand has so far sold over 250,000 pairs of pants and jeans since its launch and has a return rate of less than the 50 per cent of national e-commerce average.

Dealing with excess inventory

While brands like RedThread and Measure & Made are successfully implementing these technologies to create customised clothes for women, the trend is not catching on with bigger brands and retailers as the concept is not easy to achieve. However, made-to-measure brands can achieve this as they can have around 100 factories manufacturing clothes for them. Around 70 per cent of RedThread’s garments are pre-made. The company just tailors these garments by hand in its South San Franciso factory within a week of receiving the customers’ measurements. This also helps the company to curtail the amount of waste it generates.

China’s textile and garment exports fell 2.37 per cent in January to June 2019 over the same period last year. Though textile exports were up 0.66 per cent, garment exports fell 4.93 per cent. From January to June, exports of yarns, fabric and related products from China saw a year on year growth of 0.7 per cent. And exports of garment and accessories were down 4.9 per cent year on year.

In June China's textile exports were down 3.24 per cent year on year. And garment exports declined 2.73 per cent. Since May 10, the United States has officially imposed additional tariffs on Chinese products, including textile yarns, fabrics, knitting, industrial finished products and some home textiles. It has brought some pressure on China’s exports to the United States. But both have agreed to restart economic and trade consultations on the basis of equality and mutual respect. They also agreed that the US will not add new tariffs on Chinese exports. Garments and most home textiles that have the largest proportion of exports to the US will not be affected by the increase of tariffs, which will help stabilize the confidence of US buyers in continually purchasing from China and release positive signals.

Welspun’s total income was Rs 1736.29 crores during the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1600.94 crores during the period ended March 31, 2019. Net profit was Rs 150.04 crores for the period ended June 30, 2019, as against net loss of Rs 79.29 crores for the period ended March 31, 2019. EPS was Rs 1.49 for the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 0.79 for the period ended March 31, 2019.

Total income was Rs 1736.29 crores during the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1577.78 crores during the period ended June 30, 2018. Net profit was Rs 150.04 crores for the period ended June 30, 2019, as against Rs 127.21 crores for the period ended June 30, 2018. EPS was Rs 1.49 for the period ended June 30, 2019, as compared to Rs 1.27 for the period ended June 30, 2018.

Welspun is in the midst of a massive transformation driven by sustainability. It is refining systems and processes. But its biggest interventions are around the creation of vibrant and progressive farming communities. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, the main cotton producing regions for Welspun, farmers are given complete farm management solutions right from the field to the market.

The flax plant from which linen is made requires no irrigation. There is no issue over genetically modified crops. The process for producing the plant is completely natural and the process for producing linen fiber from the plant is mechanical, so it uses no chemicals. Linen is, in essence, a result of blending, with up to 20 or 30 blends in the finest yarns.

By 2025, cotton, polyester and linen used by Inditex will be organic, more sustainable or recycled. The goal covers all of Inditex’s eight brands including Zara. Cotton, polyester, viscose and linen together comprise 90 per cent of all the raw material that Inditex sources. The group has established an in-house label called Join Life.

The Inditex statement is a call for linen producers to embrace certification programs that are already in place so that buyers can have confirmation from third-party certification bodies that the fibers meet their requirements. One of the programs available, European Flax, which includes audits from bodies including Bureau Veritas, is enough to win inclusion in Inditex’s Join Life. Another certification program is called Masters of Linen, which guarantees that the linen is 100 per cent made in Europe, from fiber and spinning to weaving and knitting.

European farmers produce 85 per cent of the global supply of linen fibers.

Revenues of readymade garment companies are expected to increase owing to a high domestic demand and spurt in exports. Domestic sales, which account for 80 per cent of the sector’s revenue, increased at a CAGR of 9.6 per cent in the last five years to Rs 4.83 lakh crore. This growth is set to further increase to 10-10.5 per cent this year, due to an increase in reach of both organised retail and brands in tier-II and -III cities and rising growth of value apparel retail segment.

Garment exports in the first six months of this year increased by over 10 per cent. These exports are likely to benefit from rupee depreciation, partial restoration of export incentives and revival of demand in the UAE, the third-largest exports destination after the US and the European Union.

Exports to UAE, which account for 12 per cent of total Indian garment exports, are slated to recover after a significant drop in last two years. Export incentives restored include an increase in rebate of State and Central taxes and levies by almost 200 bps in March, addition of merchant exporters in the interest equalisation scheme for pre- and post-shipment export credit and a 200 bps increase in the rebate offered to micro, small and medium enterprises under IES.

US importers are looking for sourcing alternatives in Africa. Ethiopia’s apparel shipments to the US in May rose by 119 per cent year to year. Kenya’s apparel shipments rose 44.8 per cent. Madagascar’s shipments rose 20.4 per cent and Lesotho’s were up 19.8 per cent.

The next decade could see the continent become a substantial player in global sourcing. The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) offers preferential trade treatment to a host of sub-Saharan Africa countries, from Ethiopia to South Africa. Ethiopia is seeing the fastest rate of growth in apparel imported into the US among AGOA countries. Egypt has shown consistent strength as a supplier to US brands.

Morocco’s apparel sector employs 1,75,000 people–the largest in Morocco–with 1,200 textile and apparel companies with a capacity of 1.3 billion pieces of apparel annually. Morocco is the third most attractive investment destination in Africa. It has an established industry, the ability to service fast fashion firms and the free trade agreements it has with the US and the EU. Morocco has registered a five per cent year over year increase in exports to the US and EU. The Moroccan market is highly integrated with the European fashion industry because of its proximity. Egypt is known for its textile industry, particularly cotton, as well as tailored clothing and denim manufacturing. Jordan, on the other hand, produces no textiles and has a forte in cut-and-sew synthetic knitwear.

A textile park is coming up in Egypt and it is expected to house around 600 Chinese garment and textile factories. Seventy factories have already committed to the park, while around 20 more would go operational soon. The park could provide nearly 1,60,000 jobs once all factories start functioning. The textile park is awaiting machines for nearly 140 factories by the end of the year, and once these are available, the production is expected to start full swing. The 3.1 million square meter park can help China export garments duty-free to the US as well as the European Union especially in the wake of the US imposing a heavy duty on Chinese imports. Cheap labor, low water cost and electricity cost are other major attractions for Chinese firms to come to Egypt.

Egypt could be a potential textile base for Chinese apparel manufacturers. Egypt’s location at the crossroads of the trade routes between Europe, Africa and Asia makes it an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Also Egypt is still one of the prominent textile exporters globally.

The textile sector accounts for 27 per cent of Egypt’s industrial production, making it the second largest industry after processed food. The industry contributes eleven per cent to manufacturing GDP and three per cent to total GDP. Egypt’s main export partners have traditionally been the United States and the European Union but the trade includes other Arab countries, China and Brazil.

With growing demand, apparel imports by the European Union increased significantly for the first time in May 2019. The region imported 371.79 million kg of garments from across the world which is a 13 per cent jump from 329 million kg imported in April this year.

The rise in quantities along with higher unit prices further boosted the value-wise import which stood at € 6,721.86 million (up 11.78 per cent on M-o-M basis). Cumulatively, during the 5-month period, EU imported 1898.98 million kg (up 0.59 per cent) of apparels worth € 34.85 billion, marking 8.56 per cent growth on the yearly note.

Though China, India and Vietnam’s exports to EU declined in quantity during the month, their value increased due to the currency fluctuation and high cost of manufacturing. Though the exports of China declined by 7.26 per cent in volumes, their value increased by 3.44 per cent. Similarly the volume of exports by Vietnam tumbled by 13.39 per cent but their value increased by 14.65 per cent. On the other hand, India’s export value increased by 3.81 per cent while volumes declined by 0.81 per cent.

The National Cotton Council has initiated a pilot of the US Cotton Trust Protocol, a program designed to confirm and increase awareness of the fact that US cotton producers are farming responsibly and striving for continuous improvement. The Protocol is being managed by Ken Burton, Executive Director. A multi-stakeholder board of directors will be appointed in the coming weeks in preparation for the full implementation of the by 2020. In the interim, the NCC will enroll US cotton producers in the pilot phase. Groups, organisations and firms such as gins, merchants, and marketing cooperatives are being enlisted to assist in recruiting producer participants and in verification of information obtained through the Protocol. The confidential information collected will be reviewed continually and participating producers will be able to monitor their sustainability progress – including comparing numbers with those for their geographic region and/or the entire U.S. Cotton Belt.

The Protocol was developed to help the US cotton production sector reduce its environmental footprint via specific sustainability goals targeted for 2025: a 13 per cent increase in productivity; an 18 per cent increase in irrigation efficiency; a 39 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; a 15 per cent reduction in energy expenditures; a 50 per cent reduction in soil loss; and a 30 per cent increase in soil carbon.

The trade war between the US and China is benefiting countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The massive outflow of production from China is going to them. While outerwear is moving into Myanmar and Vietnam, sportswear and bottoms are moving into Cambodia. Inspection and audit demand in Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia grew 21 per cent, 25 per cent and 15 per cent year over year in the first half of 2019. There has also been an increased general outflow into Bangladesh. Some emerging low-cost African nations have also witnessed a slow, but significant, production volume gain.

But all of this doesn’t mean one should count out China. While it may have been weakened in the battle, the country is still holding strong. In fact, demand for inspections and audits in China from businesses elsewhere in Asia grew 33 per cent year over year while demand from Eastern Europe and Russia and the Middle East grew 22 per cent and 14 per cent. Although China manufacturing has lost ground to other countries, its reign as a manufacturing powerhouse is far from over. E-commerce sellers, in particular, remain very dependent upon China manufacturing because of its ability to offer flexible minimum qualities and shorter lead times.