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Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a developer of spider silk-based fibers, has opened a new facility in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. The facility will be used for the company’s Prodigy Textiles subsidiary due to its proximity to mulberry production, building layout, utilities and access to shipping ports. Kraig Biocraft also plans in the future to open a 124-acre campus near the site as part of its strategy to develop affordable spider silk materials.
The company has also been working in collaboration with a local cooperative to expand mulberry production. The project is a major element of Kraig Biocraft’s production expansion plans and marks a significant increase in capacity.
Last month, the company completed the production of its first roll of pure Dragon Silk fabric, marking the first time that its proprietary recombinant spider silk fibers were used to create a 100 per cent pure woven silk fabric. The material will be used to make ballistic shoot packs for the U.S. Army.
The massive drop in unit prices of garments has resulted in a stellar surge in clothing imports of the European Union, according to the data released by Eurostat.
Unit Value Realisation (UVR) in the period was € 17.05 per kg of fabric equivalent as against € 18.65 in the same period last year. The rebound of the euro from a year earlier boosted demand from European buyers and due to a fall of unit prices in euro terms by 8.58 per cent on the yearly note, value of imports plummeted by 1.09 per cent.
The shipments from Bangladesh continued to cover the larger chunk in the European market beating even China which is losing ground in its clothing exports to EU.
Bangladesh clocked € 1.44 billion in the April month while China’s exports could just hit € 1.15 billion in the month indicating Bangladesh is clearly pacing up to match the Chinese shipment values in EU.
Make it British, a campaign set up by Kate Hills to encourage more people to buy British and make in the UK, has announced that Make it British Live will take place next year at the prestigious Business Design Centre in London’s Islington in 2019 from 29-30 May.
Kate Hills, founder of Make it British says that the move to the Business Design Centre presents a great opportunity for UK manufacturers to showcase what they do in a beautiful venue that is filled with natural light and steeped in history.
Make it British began in 2014 and was originally called Meet the Manufacturer. The first trade show took place in a small warehouse at The Old Truman Brewery in East London with just 56 exhibitors. Next year, Make it British Live Expects to welcome well over 200 exhibitors from across the fashion and homeware sectors.
Kate, a former fashion buyer, founded a website called Make it British in 2011 as a platform for promoting UK manufacturers and British-made brands. Make it British now includes events, such as Make it British Live! and regional Make it British forums, along with an extensive Make it British membership and directory and online training.
Earlier this month, the Indian government announced a 28 per cent increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for important crops such as cotton and paddy to help support farmers.
While this support from the farm sector was welcomed by the agriculture and allied sectors, the textile sector did not welcome the move as the MSP increase will likely increase the price of domestic cotton and make the raw material relatively expensive, which will impact the textile sector.
The Indian cotton sector currently needs to focus on increasing its productivity, improving its quality, working on its contamination levels and diversifying its strength. It currently needs economically feasible and suitable projects that can attract both domestic and export markets.
The industry is likely to be benefitted by enhancing its product offerings, strengthening its downstream processing and developing value-added textile sectors such as technical textiles.
Several international clothing brands are planning to increase their retail prices in India due to the depreciation of the Indian rupee.
Amit Gugnani, Senior Vice President, Technopak Advisors stated that many international brands/retailers in India import a large part of their garments, and the depreciation of rupee has increased the import costs by up to 10-15 per cent. Hence, many global brands/retailers are planning to pass on this cost to the consumer.
The rupee has fallen by more than 15 percent in the past few months and it touched a record low of Rs. 69 to the dollar, surpassing its previous low of 56.52.
However, most of the brands do not have sufficient volume to justify local sourcing and also the competence of local vendors may not be up to the mark.
Most brands had increased their prices last year due to levy of excise duty on branded garments. However, this year excise duty impact on brands has been reduced and also cotton prices have declined substantially.
As per a report recently released by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the country’s garment and footwear exports rose to US$ 4 billion in the first six months of 2018, reflecting an increase of 11 per cent and almost doubled the 6.9 per cent rise recorded compared to previous year.
The industry insiders opine that the robust growth could have been sparked by strong sales in the US market. Manufacturers have also attributed the strong growth to favorable global economic conditions, particularly in the US and the European Union (EU), the main destinations for Cambodia’s garment and footwear exports.
In a related development, in the first six months of 2018 Cambodia’s exports of travel goods to the US increased from US$ 50 million annually to US$ 160 million. Formerly, the US had reinstated its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program for Cambodian travel goods. However, the growth rate of travel goods to the EU have remained flat.
The EU has criticised the Cambodian government’s human rights record, and have stated that it is reconsidering Everything but Arms (EBA) program for Cambodia. An EU fact finding mission that had recently visited Cambodia is expected to submit its report in the coming days. Cambodian trade officials have discounted fears of possible repercussions for the country’s garment and footwear industry in the event that the EU scales back the preferential trade scheme for Cambodia.
Instead, soon the government officials have stressed on increasing exports to other markets such as Canada, Japan and China to cushion any adverse impact from a potential roll back of the EBA program.
Charisma and confidence are some of the qualities Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is vying to portray in its revamped identity and new advertising campaign.
Recently the company unveiled the new look as an effort to show a new version of itself, while staying true to its 125-year history as an American sportswear brand. The campaign includes a completely redesigned website and all-new digital advertising across platforms including social media. It is even integrating the apparel brand with select properties through a series of bespoke co-branded events and pop-up shops. Through the partnership, both companies aim to create unique experiences for customers and provide opportunities for members and guests to deepen their connection and loyalty through exclusive events.
Guests at Sbe hotels will have select access to A&F pop-up shops and exclusive offers, while members of the A&F Club, the brand’s loyalty program, can enter to win VIP access to grand openings and other cultural events at Sbe properties. Additionally, A&F Club members will be rewarded with special benefits at Sbe hotels and restaurants.
The partnership kicked off this month with a “Do it in denim” event at the Mondrian Los Angeles, where attendees had the opportunity to see and try A&F’s new denim collection. The retailer plans to launch more events in the coming months.
American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) President and CEO Rick Helfenbein has opposed President Trump’s decision to impose new punitive tariffs on all $500 billion of U.S. imports from China.
According to him, the tariffs would make American companies and farms less competitive threatening the very livelihoods of millions of American workers and farmers.
Calling it a short sighted approach Trump labeled the tariffs as taxes that will hit the low-income Americans the hardest, imposing new hidden taxes on everything that they need to buy for themselves and their families.
He also expressed his association’s desire to participate in a trading system that creates more jobs in America and respects its intellectual property, but stated that tariffs will not enable this. They will only create inflation, hurt the consumer, and damage the economy.
Experts have hinted that Kenya is likely to be a beneficiary of another US export window that is being considered to replace the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) after seven years.
AGOA, which grants the country and 40 other African states quota and duty-free access to the US market of more than 6,000 product lines expires in 2025.
The US hosted the 17th AGOA Forum where discussions also focused on options for a “post-AGOA” model from 2025 onwards, including the possibility of crafting free trade deals. Currently countries eligible for AGOA benefits are subject to various requirements covering topics beyond purely economic concerns, such as ensuring rule of law, labour rights protections, and political pluralism.
The AGOA plan has been dominated by export of textile and apparel, which accounts for 65 per cent of the total exports. Kenya ranks among the top supplier of apparel to the US, having exported $340 million worth of such goods to the US last year.
The National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO) has praised the Trump administration’s tariff announcement and suggested that any future list made for tariff purpose for China, under Section 301 should include finished textile and apparel products.
This is completely in contrast to the earlier situation, when the American Apparel and Footwear Association was pleased that no textile and apparel products were subject to punitive tariffs proposed by the USTR in the initial list published under Section 301.
The June 15 USTR list also removes the majority of the textile machinery initially on the retaliation product-list back in April 2018. Even the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) opposed adding apparel and other fashion products to the retaliation list against China, arguing that imposing tariffs on imports of fashion products would do nothing to solve the concerns about China’s IP policies and practices outlined in USTR’s Section 301 report.
However, the NCTO is firm on including textile and apparel products in the future list. If properly targeted, Section 301 tariffs would not only address the underlying illegal activity on the part of China, but also help re-shore American jobs and boost U.S. exports to the NAFTA and CAFTA regions.
