FW
After the Centre announced its decision of withdrawing the marketing incentive scheme, it has made a negative impact on the weavers in Krishna district, since it has led to decline in sale of handloom products resulting in piling of inventories.
The weavers feel decline in sales are driven by the withdrawal of rebate on the products. Handloom products worth nearly Rs 9 crore to Rs 10 crores are piled up in godowns and the 36 cooperative societies operating in the district were said to be holding up stocks worth more than Rs 11 crores up to March 31 this year. With the APCO making some purchases and marginal sales in retail market, the total stocks have now reduced to Rs 9 crore to Rs10 crores.
The Central government discontinued the scheme in 2012-13 fiscal year. Earlier, under the scheme, the Centre used to offer a rebate of 20 per cent on retail sale of handloom cloth to help weavers’ cooperative societies improve sale and get continuous employment to the members. Apart from the impact of scheme withdrawal, even pending dues are adding to the woes of the weavers. The government is yet to disseminate dues for the 2010-11and 2011-12 years under the market incentive scheme, which has touched Rs 1.51 crore.
Islamic Fashion and Design Council (IFDC) is taking various initiatives to promote works of designers in effective ways. The organisation boosts talent from the fashion industry by providing them exposure on a global platform. IDFC is inviting submissions from designers make the most out of this opportunity.
Various steps, IFDC is launching include buyer initiatives, wherein retail buyers from department stores to boutiques have joined hands with IFDC to create growth opportunities for designers. The organisation is also teaming up with high-traffic events and media initiatives worldwide focusing on creating brand awareness and organizing private buyer viewings and select audience. It has been forming marketing collaborations in cities around the world including New York, London, Paris, Milan, Jakarta, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Kuala Lampur to further establish connections between the designers and global fashion industry.
Selected designers’ works would also be promoted through media, social media, and high-end publications. Also iFash and mainstream consumer awareness plans are being launched to provide increased exposure to designers.
Islamicfashiondesigncouncil.org
Turkey is Europe’s largest textile manufacturing and supplying hub. Major textile brands source their clothing from Turkey. These textile exports have propelled Turkey to become the fourth largest clothing manufacturer in the world and number one in Europe.
With the removal of international trade barriers for China, the Turkish textile sector started losing its labour cost advantage and in order to maintain its competitiveness, producers moved toward new designs, fashions and quality labels, targeting higher income clients.
Huge amounts of raw cotton are available in Turkey. The country is one of the biggest in the world in terms of cotton yarn production capacity. Similarly the Turkish man-made textile sector is also well-developed with a very strong presence in all kinds of synthetic fibers and yarn production and processing.
The apparel sector constitutes nearly 30 per cent of Turkey’s net exports while textile has a share of nearly 23 per cent. Thus these two sub-sectors that are complementing each other have a share of 53 per cent in net exports. Of late, Turkey’s yarn imports from India have been sluggish and have started declining since January 2015. India’s exports of spun yarns in March 2015 were down 46 per cent year on year.
The Techtextil Innovation Award 2015 has picked winners. An international jury of experts selected eight projects. They include printers for three-dimensional woven structures, embroidered electrodes for long-term ECGs, algae-based snow, an artificial womb, and maritime textile for cultivating kelp.
One of the winners in the new technology category is Sosa Fresh for its 3DWeaver, a 3D printer that can produce three-dimensional woven structures step-by-step. The other winner in this category is Emil Stutznäcker for its high-performance sewing technology with automatic handling in the sewing area.
Two companies have been singled out for the award in the new concept category: Switch Embassy for a washable LED screen that can be used in many areas of application, from clothing to interior furnishings, and the ITV Denkendorf Research Institute for BioGlizz, a biological alternative to artificial snow, which is based on an algae-covered textile layer.
The Techtextil Innovation Award in the new product category goes to the Empa Research Institute for an embroidered electrode that can be used for long-term ECGs and thus takes account of the growing demand for textiles in medical applications.
In the new material category, the jury gave the award to Sioen Industries for developing a maritime textile that makes it possible to cultivate kelp and alternative sustainable biomasses.
techtextil.messefrankfurt.com/.../en/.../techtextil-innovation-award.html
Bangladesh is pulling up its socks on quality check for RMG exports. Ispahani Summit Alliance Terminals a new company has set up a quality control center to ensure export of quality apparel products. The company will offer pick and pack services and work as an agent of foreign buyers. Buyers will pay the charges and fees against the services provided by the quality control company.
There are some 20 such companies in Bangladesh. The first quality control company, Koheni Negali, came up in 1998. Apparel exporters, however, fear there would be hidden costs that buyers would pass on to exporters. They also claim that the lead time of exports will be reduced and cost of export products would go up following the latest decision. They fear disputes may arise with foreign buyers over the issue of a private quality control center and affect the export trade.
The entire issue of a private quality control mechanism for export of apparels may be reviewed soon to make it more exporter-friendly. Buyers sometimes are wary of sending foreign quality control experts due to the political turmoil and security reasons. Currently quality control representatives of foreign buyers check quality of products inside factories and hand those over for shipments after packing.
After the Indian government announced export incentives package under the latest foreign trade policy (FTP), the US, a major importer has accused India of providing incentives against the global trade rules. India, on its part has defended itself saying that it has three more years to remove all subsidies, while a number of schemes in the textile sector have already been removed.
Criticising the new sops for the textiles sector at a recent meeting of the WTO’s committee on safeguards and countervailing measures in Geneva, the US representative said providing new incentives to the sector is a step backwards as India is supposed to remove all textile export subsidies this year. However, both the countries feel that their differences could be amicably sorted out through bilateral meetings.
The five-year FTP announced last month came up with a new incentive scheme for goods exports — the Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme — under which most textiles and garments sectors have been entitled to sops worth 2 per cent of their exports, which is lower than the 3 per cent or higher sops that the sector received under the older schemes.
According to WTO rules, India has become export competitive in the textile sector as it has already accounted for more than 3.25 per cent of share in world trade for two consecutive years and needs to phase out export subsidies to the sector in eight years. Whereas, the US says that India became competitive in 2007 and should thus remove all subsidies in 2015.
www.wto.org
Denim is breaking away from its casual image. Popularity has been bolstered in part by the advanced technologies of Japanese textile manufacturers, who have turned out such products as soft, flexible denim. Many denim textiles used by luxurious brands are products of Japanese textile manufacturers.
Designers are turning out sophisticated denim fashions that overturn the fabric’s casual image. Underlying this trend is the development of new technologies and materials. Gucci used bleached denim for a military-style jacket accentuated with gold buttons and wide-leg pants with turned-up bottoms, while Fendi presented a three-piece suit using denim. Michael Kors combined a short jacket with creased pants, both using navy denim in a fetching combination.
The denim used for luxury brand clothing is a result of advanced technologies, which have led to soft, flexible denim textiles. They are comfortable to wear and create a flattering silhouette. These technologies have also added subtle hues and delicate textures to denim, making it possible to meet the increasingly diverse requests of designers.
A new long dress by Bottega Veneta used a soft denim manufactured in Japan and had elegant drapes. A jacket by Etro used a thin denim that was decorated with geometric motifs. Denim is being used for shoes and bags, too. Some denim textiles are valuable for their rarity, as they can only be manufactured on old-fashioned weaving machinery.
After falling by almost 2 percent in March, cotton prices reversed direction and rose by more than 4 percent in April, according to the latest data from the Agriculture Department. The seven-market US average cotton spot price increase by 2.65 cents per pound, to $0.644.
However, it is unclear why prices rose, since estimates for supply and demand were nearly unchanged in the month, which means the increase might be short-lived. World cotton stocks are projected to increase 8.2 per cent to 110.1 million bales in the current season. Global cotton mill use for 2014-2015, on the other hand, is forecast to rise by less than 2 per cent above last year, to 111 million bales. Although China has started to release large portions of the cotton reserves it stockpiled during the buying program in place for several years to support prices, the expected increase in demand for cotton by Chinese mills has not yet materialized. The country is expected to import 7.3 million bales of cotton in the current crop year, a little over half last-year’s level.
India, the world’s second largest exporter after the US, is expected be on par with China in cotton production this season. India’s acreage plans for 2015/2016 will have significant impact on global production and prices given its limited warehousing capabilities. The USDA estimates that, in response to continuing low prices, global consumption will exceed production in the 2015/2016 season, leading to a reduction in global stocks for the first time in six years, though stocks will still remain near historic highs and most of the stock drawdown will occur in China.
www.usda.gov
Globe Textiles (India) (GTIPL) has inaugurated its new facility in the Ahmedabad Apparel SEZ. A media release says, “GTIPL’s production facility has specific areas allotted for stores, cutting, stitching, trims and packing besides administrative spaces.”
The plant has been so designed to use natural light and ventilation, thereby saving precious energy and conserving natural resources while catering exclusively to global clients. According to Bhavik Parikh, CEO of GTIPL, “This new facility will be a harbinger for growth, in our core business areas of denim jeans and home textiles. Our existing capacity of over 4,000 jeans will get augmented with this new SEZ facility which has been setup keeping in mind best manufacturing practices and adopting environmentally friendly processes.”
The plant will introduce a range of denim jeans in various fits, finishes and styles. “Recent market trends indicate that Indian exports of denim and readymade garments to the US have been promising, while those to the EU and other South East Asian markets too are picking up,” GTIPL added.
GTIPL is a leading textiles player from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India and offers all types of yarns, fabrics in 100 per cent cotton and fabrics made from blends of cotton and manmade fibres.
www.globetextiles.net
The US apparel and footwear industry's outlook remains positive, as manufacturers will continue to benefit from lower input costs and the expansion of their direct-to-consumer businesses. The industry’s operating income is expected to grow 7 to 9 per cent on a constant currency basis for 2015.
But if foreign exchange rates remain near current levels earnings will be significantly pressured in 2016. As a result, growth may drop to 4 to 6 per cent next year. In contrast, if the US dollar weakens, the outlook will likely remain positive for some time.
The positive outlook for the US apparel and footwear industry is based on the belief that companies have hedged a meaningful portion of their 2015 inventory purchases against foreign currency translation risk, alleviating margin pressure in the near term. Pressures are likely to emerge next year, however, as the currency hedges companies took out at more favourable foreign exchange rates expire.
Mergers and acquisitions are set to remain part of the industry landscape over the next 12 to 18 months as large, global clothing makers continue their push into lifestyle brands. This year Germany sportswear group Adidas Group announced the sale of its Rockport brand while Coach has agreed to acquire luxury footwear retailer Stuart Weitzman.
