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Denimsandjeans show is on in Bangalore from August 1 to 2. The annual event enables supply chain companies including top mills, garment manufacturers, accessory and chemical suppliers to come together.
More than 18 companies from across the globe, Italy, Turkey, Korea, Singapore, Bangladesh, China and Switzerland, with different product profiles for the denim industry are participating.
Apart from latest denim fabrics, yarn, dyes, chemicals, washing technology, software and trims manufacturers are also participating in the event. Leading Indian denim mills like Arvind, Raymond, Oswal Denim, L&J, Mafatlal, and companies like Reliance Industries are also displaying their latest offerings at the show.
The first day of the show witnessed visits from top retailers like M&S, VF Sourcing India, Levi’s, Landmark Group, Monte Carlo, Being Human and export houses like Gokaldas Images and many more. Most of them were happy to see sustainable fabrics as sustainability is the prime focus for them.
India is currently a hot favorite for international retailers who are seeking to strengthen their foothold in the booming apparel retail market. The country is now looking forward to sustained growth in apparel retail and with the increase in organized retail, the value of the market is expected to grow substantially and this is expected to impact the denim industry very positively.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisation, Southern region has stated that the RBI's recent repo rate hike was expected given the inflation outlook. Knitwear exporters in Tirupur, on the other hand, have expressed concern that the increase in cost of credit would impact the sector. The RBI recently raised its interest rate by 25 basis points on inflationary concerns for the second time in two months.
The FIEO's southern region Chairman A Sakthivel, however, pointed out to the tight liquidity conditions faced by the export sector especially, by MSME, and requested the RBI governor to bring export credit under priority lending category immediately. The Tirupur Exporters’ Association however stated that the increase in cost of credit would make exports uncompetitive and impact knitwear garment exports.
Demand is growing around the world for Orta Anadolu’s sustainable cotton fabrics. The company has been increasing its use of Better Cotton, which now accounts for five per cent of its total cotton consumption. Orta Anadolu is a Turkish denim fabric manufacturer.
If a fabric from Orta Anadolu is labeled as Better Cotton, this means that 100 per cent of the fiber composition is Better Cotton. The company also uses organic cotton, which accounts for three per cent of its overall cotton use.
Demand is growing around the world for Orta’s sustainable cotton fabrics. Its main markets are the US and Europe and now Chinese brands are also interested in recycled fabrics and Better Cotton.
Another key focus for Orta is the dyeing of its denim fabric. Its Indigo Flow process reduces water use by up to 70 per cent compared with standard dyeing processes, resulting in cleaner, better dye penetration and less oxygen-stress in the wastewater. Indigo Flow is unique to Orta and is a more sustainable method of indigo dyeing, resulting in cleaner waste water, no salt formation and less chemical use. The process has 60 per cent less biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand than other processes.
Repreve fro Unifi is one of the most trusted and certified earth-friendly fibers in the world. Unifi is a textile solutions provider and a leading innovator in manufacturing synthetic and recycled performance fibers. The company is committed to the development of innovative and sustainable performance fibers backed by a flexible, global supply chain.
Unifi’s proprietary Tru-technologies are designed to offer a wide range of performance properties such as wicking, thermal comfort, full coverage, bounce, stretch, sun protection and water resistance. Unifi has repositioned its performance technologies to be benefit focused, making it easier for customers to select the properties that are most important to their consumers.
By offering a wide range of products focused on benefits, Unifi helps customers create innovative fabrics that solve everyday problems and meet and exceed their consumers’ expectations. Outdoor brands and retailers can combine a wide range of Unifi Tru-technologies with Profiber virgin and Repreve recycled yarns that offer multiple performance benefits. The goal is to help inspire those who design and develop new products to innovate at the fiber level to achieve differentiated performance, comfort and style.
Unifi’s new Profiber brand provides options to integrate multiple performance Tru-technologies into polyester and nylon yarns that deliver increased fabric comfort, performance and functionality.
Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) welcomed the new government. It hoped that the new government will form a competent team to address the economic issues due to lower exports and higher imports. It urged the government to take measures to enhance exports and make strong policies for industrialisation in the country.
PRGMEA also stressed the need for early clearance of outstanding refund cases. It urged the new government to clear outstanding refund cases to protect the industry from total collapse. Terming the renewal of GSP Plus as a golden opportunity, which Pakistan exporters could exploit; it also recommended export emergency be declared in the country to control the decline in export sector.
PTGMEA has said high cost of doing business, issues of market access and exchange rate are hindering the exports growth and the government will have to work on it in consultation with the stakeholders to resolve the problems.
The European Union has called a meeting on trade and climate change on October 18-19, 2018 that will be represented by 51 European and Asian countries. The meeting coincides with an EU summit on Oct. 18, which too will tackle the future trade policy and the role of the EU in the multilateral trade system.
Originally planned as a two-day event and marked as key date to agree the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU next year, the European summit has now been downgraded to a one-day event.
The important negotiations on Brexit will now happen at an informal meeting in Salzburg, Austria, on September. 20. A third official said the EU is concerned that the UK isn’t bringing sufficient urgency to the negotiating effort and preparations for a no-deal Brexit will accelerate if there is no breakthrough in September.
A coalition of stakeholders is urging the Bangladesh government to ensure continuance of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh operations until the incoming Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is deemed ready to takeover industry oversight. Without Accord’s extension, sourcing in Bangladesh could suffer. According to Accord, Bangladesh has made some progress on safety compliance, there’s a general acknowledgement among different stakeholders and representatives that the RCC is still in its earliest stages of development and will first need to bridge the gap until it’s fully ready to be implemented.
Also, it is in the crucial interest of Accord signatories to complete the work of remediation which started in May 2013 and a sustainable and adequate national regulatory structure is implemented by the to regulate workplace safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry.
The Accord came about after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April 2013. Its aim was to police the conditions in the sector and help factories with remediation efforts to get them on par. In the last five years since its inception, the Accord has delivered a robust, high quality, transparent, inclusive system, and it has made substantial progress to achieve the safety of workers in Bangladesh’s most important export industry.
Online luxury fashion store Pernia's Pop Up Shop aims to expand across all modes of retail channels. The store has partnered Purple Style Labs (PSL) to form a joint venture. The JV will invest Rs 20 crore in PSL sourced from high networth investors including Flipkart’s Binny Bansal, PayU India’s Jitendra Gupta and Astarc Ventures. Existing investors including Calcutta Angels, Operator VC also participated in the round.
The capital will be used for building an omni channel sales network for Pernia’s Pop Up Shop and also expand its home grown brand. The JV also plans to scale Indian designer brands growth, both in the domestic and international markets.
Through this partnership, PSL will build a giant Luxury Fashion House based out of India, in the form of a strong multi-brand retailing platform, with international focus.
PSL and PPUS also plan to organise 10 editions of Pernia's Pop-Up Show in the next season including six international events, starting July 2018. In addition, the companies have planned 10 multi-designer stores in major cities this year including Mumbai, Delhi and 3 international locations.
"Apparel exports accounted for 16 per cent of Vietnam’s total outbound trade. This made the country the world’s third-largest exporter of garments, with clothing accounting for 70 per cent of the output of the overall textile sector. With booming exports the prospects of Vietnam’s domestic market is also promising. With a population of 90 million and a disproportionately large younger generation, recent increases in disposable-income levels have resulted in retail growth of about 20 per cent per annum. The country’s apparel and textiles sector employs more than 2.5 million people in about 6,000 companies, with the industry forecast to grow by up to 14 per cent a year, taking it to a total value of $50 billion by 2020."
Apparel exports accounted for 16 per cent of Vietnam’s total outbound trade. This made the country the world’s third-largest exporter of garments, with clothing accounting for 70 per cent of the output of the overall textile sector. With booming exports the prospects of Vietnam’s domestic market is also promising. With a population of 90 million and a disproportionately large younger generation, recent increases in disposable-income levels have resulted in retail growth of about 20 per cent per annum. The country’s apparel and textiles sector employs more than 2.5 million people in about 6,000 companies, with the industry forecast to grow by up to 14 per cent a year, taking it to a total value of $50 billion by 2020.
The recently held SaigonTex show, Vietnam's premier event for the textile industries, hosted about 1,000 exhibitors this season. Among those attending the show was Christoph Peters, General Director of German-based machinery manufacturing firm Illies Engineering. He said in terms of visitor numbers, it feels a bit quieter than 2017, but business is still good. There was a lot of over-optimistic hype about the market at last year’s show, largely based on the anticipated TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade deal. This year, people seem more focussed and more ready to do deals, rather than just waiting to engage in idle speculation.
For many exhibitors, Vietnam is now a major player in the Asian textiles market. Roy Chandra, Account Manager, Artrend, a manufacturer of specialist
printing machines for garment factories, remarked Vietnam makes up between 30-40 per cent of their Asian market, with business particularly good at the moment. Big players in the garment industry are increasingly opting for Vietnam. In many respects, Vietnam is now where China was 10 years ago, although most of the growth is coming from private-sector initiatives. While the Vietnamese Government is not being particularly proactive in supporting the textile industry, critically, it is not getting in the way of private enterprise.
Foreign Investment
The first 11 months of 2017 saw foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing sector soar 11.9 per cent, with the lion's share going to the apparel/textiles sector. In terms of FDI sources, much of the investment has actually come from within the Asian bloc, with Japan and South Korea taking point. One key investor is Union Industry, a Hyogo prefecture-based market leader in socks, stockings and pantyhose sector, as well as a manufacturer of clothing production equipment. Bullish about the opportunities, Giovanni Lamberti, international sales co-ordinator, Union Industry, said Vietnam is emerging as a leading producer of socks and there is a lucrative potential for a $50 billion market here. Tran Thi Tuyet Dung, software support representative, CSP, a manufacturer of garment-cutting machines operating out of both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, said that the show has been great in terms of meeting contacts and providing leads.
Focus on TPP
For some exhibitors, the collapse of TPP deal may have dented attendance at the show, at the same time; they were convinced it had done little to stop Vietnam emerging as one of the world’s leading garment exporters. In fact, some welcomed the failure of the TPP, seeing it as likely to thin out the more marginal players in the sector, while leaving it clear for the more serious players to secure market share and consolidate. Peters said that the collapse of the TPP has reduced the number of hangers-on in the sector. If you are looking to get into the market now, you are going to find that that boat has well and truly sailed.
Van Heusen has entered into a partnership with UFC. UFC is a mixed martial arts organization. Van Heusen, a brand belonging to PVH, is UFC’s official men’s dress furnishings provider. UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson are starring in a new commercial highlighting the Van Heusen Flex collection of men’s shirts and pants.
The collection incorporates stretch features to give men a corporate business-like look without sacrificing the range of motion or comfort found in casual clothing. The commercial features Dillashaw and Thompson kicking, punching and grappling their way through an office-spat-turned-MMA-match while dressed in shirts and pants from the Van Heusen Flex collection.
The collection includes dress shirts, pants, suit separates and sport shirts. The collection is designed for the next generation of ambitious Van Heusen men who are seeking solutions-oriented work apparel. The collection is available at major retailers including Kohl’s, JC Penney, Macy’s.
With power-packed details and fine fabrics, Van Heusen has successfully defined the way women and men dress for the corporate world. The collections range from formal wear, party wear, casual wear and ceremonial wear with ranges that spread across shirts to suits for men, and dresses to blazers for women. Modern, minimalist, and timeless, the brand’s clothing is noted for being relevant to its time.
