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The theme for the Responsible Fashion Summit was Earth Sensitive, with nearly every stakeholder of the fashion supply chain sharing knowledge. It commenced with three key international designers, David Abraham, Sharleen Ernster and Heidi Gosman, who shared important perspectives, including disposal of the garments being considered, as part of the design thought process, which is something that has not been strongly followed by designers, resulting in landfill issues.
Responsible Fashion Summit is part of The Responsible Fashion Movement that focuses on responsibility, accountability and transparency. It has defined eight impact areas as the basis of solutions to issues that the global fashion industry faces.
The Responsible Fashion Movement has modeled itself on the most relevant aspect of solutions and longevity. Fashion currently ranks among the top three most polluting industries in the world. Yet action to reduce negative impact is still slow in gaining momentum. Sustainable fashion products continue to grow at a steady pace. An ever increasing population of aware and discerning consumers in the US, Europe and parts of Asia is beginning to put pressure on global fashion brands to open their doors to clean fashion.
Manufacturers who move in this direction earlier will have an advantage. There also exists a wide gap between the action of designers and manufacturers; hence so far every action is resting with manufacturers. The designers are in a position to lead the corrective action.
Source India 2018 will be held in Surat, September 21 to 23. This is a show for international buyers who are looking to source synthetic and blended textiles from India. It will assemble an array of more than 200 international importers from more than 40 countries who can transact business with more than 200 exporters in this sector.
India currently ranks among the top three suppliers of these textiles worldwide. Source India 2018 will cover the entire value chain in manmade fiber textile products and its blends. Fabrics (that include suiting, shirting, women’s wear), yarn, fiber, made-ups, home textiles and technical textiles will be showcased by leading exporters during the event.
The Global Reverse Buyer Seller Meet will provide a boost to the Make in India campaign in India’s second largest employment generating industry. More than 200 foreign buyers are expected from 40 countries in addition to more than 5000 visitors including domestic buyers, representatives of Indian and international buying houses, procurement managers from large retail brands, sourcing agents, CEOs, industry heads and business leaders.
Source India 2018 is the second edition of India’s largest sourcing show for textiles. The textile products will be spread over 10,000 sq m of air-conditioned space.
Penn Textile Solutions and Penn Italia have introduced Ecoinnovation, a fully sustainable product range. These products are created using Roica, a premium stretch fiber. Making stretch performance a specialty fiber generates new values for contemporary consumers.
Penn Textile Solutions and Penn Italia is a fully integrated company with over 50 years’ expertise in producing innovative warp and weft knit textiles that answer customers’ demands, including fantastic elastomeric knitted textiles.
Ecoinnovation consists of unique articles characterized by reinforced edges and seizing that includes the following recycled items; tulle, tulle galloons with dreamshape reinforced edge, tricot, dreamshape reinforced gripping edge (great for cycling shorts), stretch satin, polyester tulle and polyester double jersey perfect for laser cutting.
Beachwear brands use Roica in their latest collections. Roica is a premium stretch fiber produced by Asahi Kasei. It is the secret premium stretch ingredient used to provide comfort, enhance quality and confidence. Roica’s collection of superior functional fabrics is revolutionizing the premium stretch market, thanks to advanced yarn solutions dedicated to specific needs of the contemporary consumer.
Penn Textile Solutions, based in Germany, manufactures and distributes textile goods. The company markets linen goods, felt goods, padding, and upholstery filling to clothing and furniture manufacturers.
Indian-Dutch partner organisations are working toward the goal of sustainable and inclusive decision making. One example is the Circular Yarn Initiative which sees Indian and Dutch textile companies joining forces to produce circular textiles for the European market. This is achieved by pooling resources and expertise to incorporate innovative techniques in the supply chain to turn textile waste into new high quality materials.
Indus is an entrepreneurial network which aims to improve sustainable and inclusive innovations in both Indian and Dutch businesses and is made possible through the support of MVO Nederland, the Dutch Embassy in India, Center for Responsible Business, Indian Institute for Corporate Affairs, TERI and CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.
India and the Netherlands are collaborating in areas including agribusiness and horticulture, water management and sustainable business. Netherlands is a huge importer of fabrics and also a champion of labor and environment issues. It pursues a successful environmental policy that is resulting in cleaner rivers, reduction in carbon emissions, reduction in waste streams, and the cleanup of contaminated soil.
National environmental policy is directed to contributing to sustainable economic development and to the health and safety of people by maintaining and improving the quality of the environment.
India is likely to outdo China in the textile sector. Contributing factors are cheap labor and modernization. With quality and skilled labor and machinery, India can easily overcome Chinese competition in the textile industry as labor costs in China are very high compared to India’s.
High-tech machines which help deliver quality goods will enable India to reach the set targets at the production level. Tamil Nadu alone accounts for 39 per cent of the total textile production in the country. There are 4.13 lakh handlooms in Tamil Nadu providing employment to 6.08 lakh weavers while the 3.66 lakh power looms and 1,889 spinning mills provided employment to another 2.40 lakh people. Knitwear and woven garment production units provide employment to over five lakh people.
India aims at doubling annual revenue from textiles by 2025. The Indian textile sector contributes 16 per cent to the country's GDP. Foreign direct investment is being encouraged in the textile sector, which has the potential to create millions of jobs. The textile sector is capable of strengthening the rural economy and creating large-scale employment.
However, the Indian textile industry is over-dependent on the European Union and the US for exports. But when the season goes away in those markets, there aren’t enough orders.
Guwahati-based Fabric Plus has received best handloom exporter award from North Eastern India at the 28th National Handloom Award function. Textile minister Smriti Irani felicitated handloom weavers and exporters from across the country in Chennai for their fineness in separate categories of the handloom sector. The award function was organised by Handloom Export Promotion Council under Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India.
Fabric Plus is a manufacturer of yarn, fabric and apparel using exclusive Eri and Muga silk from Assam and has brought livelihood to hundreds of families in the North Eastern India.
Dilip Barooah, Managing Director of the company stated the company feels proud to get recognised as Best Handloom Exporter from North Eastern region. At the same time, North Eastern India in spite of having highest handloom density in the country no other company could manage to get any award.
Fabric Plus started off as a merchant exporter in Mumbai in 2003 with Assam silk as the flagship products. It was founded by the present Dilip Barooah.
The textile industry has demanded the government put in place a distribution mechanism for the industry, winding below the pressure due to various reasons, for getting the raw material at reasonable rates. While welcoming the 28 per cent hike in minimum support price (MSP) of cotton to safeguard farmers get at least 50 per cent profit of their actual cost of production, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) cited that at one level the move would increase farmers’ income, leading to an increase in domestic consumption that would eventually support the overall Indian economy.
However, there is a need to examine the event from different perspectives and understand that lakhs of farmers gain should not impact the $120 billion industry which employs more than 10 crore people directly and indirectly. MSP was increased by Rs 1,320/quintal in 2009-10 to 2017-18, and in 2018-19, it has been increased by Rs 1,130/quintal. The impact is huge and possibly unprecedented.
Sanjay K Jain, chairman, CITI stated textile and clothing being an integrated industry, the proposed hike in MSP based on 1.5 times the A2+FL costs would impact each segment along the supply chain raising the final price of the product. Jain pointed out that higher MSP would further compel huge cotton procurement by the state-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).
Previously the Centre raised cotton MSP (medium staple) by a record 39 per cent in 2008-09, driving up CCI’s procurement to an all-time-high of 8.9 million bales. Industry hopes that a clear CCI policy is spelt out, so that in case it needs to make a massive procurement, the industry gets regular offering from them throughout the season at international parity prices.
British Fashion Council (BFC) has been working with Arts Council England (ACE), in partnership with the Home Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to expand and promote the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa to fashion industry applicants. BFC will work as an independent assessor for Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa applications in the fashion industry, to secure a new route for talented designers and fashion sector individuals to work in the UK. The number of Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visas was increased in November 2017 from 1000 to 2000, and half of these will be allocated on a demand-led basis. This creates a significant opportunity for the fashion industry in the UK to attract and retain key designers, talent and creatives.
The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa is available to individuals from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland who have been endorsed in their field in arts, humanities, engineering or science as a recognised (exceptional talent) or emerging leader (exceptional promise).
Applicants may be of exceptional talent who have established themselves as world class, are internationally recognised and have won awards across their peer group. Successful applicants will be granted five years in the UK, which is open to extension if the applicant can continue to prove their exceptional talent.
Bangladesh’s export earnings grew 5.81 per cent in fiscal year 2017-18.
This was mainly because of the performance of apparels, jute and leather.
However total export receipts were 2.22 per cent less than the strategic target.
Exports of the readymade garment sector posted a 8.76 per cent growth.
Earnings of knitwear products recorded a 10.40 per cent growth over the previous fiscal.
Export receipts from woven garments until June of the last fiscal rose by 7.18 per cent compared to the previous fiscal. Export earnings from home textile products until June of the last fiscal were up by 9.95 per cent.
Export earnings from jute and jute goods were up by nearly 6.56 per cent from that of a year ago. Jute yarn and twine recorded a growth of 6.55 per cent while raw jute recorded a fall of 7.24 per cent.
Earnings from the shipment of leather and leather products fell by 12.03 per cent. Only leather footwear grew by 5.33 per cent.
Export receipts from frozen and live fish amounted to 508.43 million dollars and that of agricultural products reached 673.70 million dollars.
The country’s export earnings touched the 30 billion dollar benchmark for the first time.
The expansion is seen as satisfactory compared with the previous year’s 0.20 per cent.
Technotex was held in Mumbai, June 28 to 29, 2018.
This provides a common platform for interaction among stakeholders from across the global technical textile value chain. The two-day conference and exhibition was attended by 350 delegates and over 7000 visitors.
Each year, Technotex attracts participants, visitors and other key decision makers from a diverse section of the technical textile industry, with the aim to provide innovative solutions, identifying new business opportunities and create a congenial environment for growth.
The event showcased products from various sub-sectors of technical textiles such as agrotech, buildtech, clothtech, geotech, hometech, indutech, medtech, mobiltech, oekotech, packtech, protech, sporttech, technical textiles equipment and machinery, raw materials and textile manufacturing services.
With participation from 39 countries, the event had a total of 168 exhibitors. The event also had participation from various states including Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh while Maharashtra was the host state.
The event provides a gateway to the technical textile arena and bridges the gap between buyers and sellers by facilitating B2B (Business-to-Business) and G2B (Government-to-Business) meetings. This year, a total of 1160 B2B meetings and 51 G2B took place and 230 international buyers took part in reverse buyer-seller meets.
This year the theme was Technical Textiles: Transforming India, Building infrastructure for a New India.
