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End2End fashion software provider, Visual 2000 International has announced the launch of Next is Now 2017, a fashion-forward tech conference for professionals of the Apparel, Footwear and Fashion Accessories industry. This initiative is in line with Visual 2000’s mission of providing best-of-breed business technology solutions to the global AFA industry.
Due to take place in Montreal, Canada from March 29 to 30 2017, this two-day event will explore challenges facing today and tomorrow’s fashion industry, tech innovations and trends. Top brand executives, industry experts and influencers will present topics such as the omni-channel revolution, the future of e-commerce, how to quantify success with business intelligence and the foundations of product innovation.
Open to all professionals, day one will focus on the software innovations shaping the future of fashion with industry talks, a surprise announcement and networking. The second day, open exclusively to Visual users, will focus on exploring Visual’s new generation of solutions with product discovery and training sessions.
Charles Benoualid, VP of Research and Development, says the conference will bring together many industry professionals and influencers to bring their heads together and discuss the future of fashion. The goal of Next is Now is to empower industry professionals to make better business decisions faster and drive sustainable competitive advantage.
20 years in the making, Visual 2000 provides end to end software for apparel, footwear and fashion accessory companies. More than 600 companies around the world take advantage of Visual 2000′s End2End advanced ERP, PLM, supply chain management, warehouse optimization and business intelligence software.
Ukrainian fashion designers and clothing brands are catching the attention of global buyers. Blood & Honey that makes mink fur clutch bags and is sold in multi-brand boutiques across the United States. Apart from its outlets in New York, Chicago and Miami, the brand is actively progressing in the UAE and Europe. Its use of real fur makes Blood & Honey high-end but this hasn’t stopped the brand from selling well. Prices for its goods in the US are 30 per cent higher than in Ukraine.
Similarly leather shoes brand Kachorovska is seeing some success abroad. Around 10 per cent of its orders are currently sent abroad. Its products are selling well internationally via the internet and distributors in the US, UAE and Japan. Kachorovska’s shoes are sold via foreign websites, social media and at festive markets in the United States, the UAE and Japan. The brand has also had requests to open shops in Canada, the Netherlands and the UK.
Coat brand Mirella Moda opened in 2014. Other than Ukraine, it has shops in Toronto, Almaty and Moscow. Competitive pricing helps Ukrainian clothing brands maintain growth and appeal to foreign customers. High quality also helps promote the brands, maintaining their success and keeping up demand. Ukraine’s proximity to the huge EU market, and the fact that the country can make good products at good prices, is expected to boost sales further.
From January, all textile units in India, except handloom, khadi and jute, will have to register online and provide data on production. The objective is to gather business intelligence that will be needed to come up with strategies for the development of the textile industry. Details such as the size of the unit, the number of workers, production, product type, fiber used and the standards adopted will be collected. This will be mandatory for all units. Knowing how many units are in the medium and small scale sector, how many are mills or the kinds of products they make will furnish information on which segment is strong, those that need support, and the quality standards adopted.
While the registration will be one-time, production details should be shared by the units every month. Units can do this online from their premises or make use of the infrastructure available at the regional offices of the Textile Commissioner or power loom service centers.
Thrust is being given on opening bank accounts for textile workers. The estimate is that there are 60 lakh workers in the textile industry. In the last ten days, accounts have been opened for two lakh workers. Master trainers will guide workers on payment transfer applications.
The Sri Lankan budget has been announced. Among many things, it primarily focuses on strengthening the country's economy. Following the route listed by the budget, it becomes quite evident that there are multiple benefits for the apparel and textile sector.
Presenting the budget, FM Ravi Karunanayake said his government has proposed the formation of a textile cluster that would include sizing, dyeing and finishing units by the private sector. The government will support the formation of a textile cluster by providing investment relief to businesses that will invest in this venture and will also provide adequate space to save close to $2,000 million per annum.
The budget also enlists that garment exporters will also be granted permission to import branded products by enterprises for reworking, operating under the commercial hub regulation. These garments will then be exported to countries where there is no preferential treatment.
The textile and handloom industry of Sri Lanka has a significant domestic market and will generate employment for many. The Industrial Development Board (IDB) will provide the necessary infrastructure and training. The board has also been requested to increase engagement with the industrialists who require knowledge transfer and upgrade the industrial estates to support the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. The government has proposed to allocate Rs 500 million towards this sector.
The government will also allow apparel companies based in the country to invest in overseas entities involved in apparel design and manufacture up to 5 percent of their average export turnover of the preceding three years in any given year. Profits and income of such enterprises established overseas should be received by the investing company in Sri Lanka.
The government has also proposed a significant shift in the policy framework by keeping a special room for vocational training, which will thus mean providing scholarships to anyone who wishes to follow a vocational training programme at a state operated institution. This will enable vocational training in Sri Lanka for all at no cost.
The global market for organic cotton has grown by 67 per cent. There’s also greater global awareness of the need to have good quality organic cotton seeds. Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers.
In addition to being one of the most widely grown crops in the world, growing conventional cotton is also one of the most chemical-¬intensive. These chemicals have tremendous impact on the earth’s air, water, soil, and the health of people in cotton-growing areas.
Apparel companies are developing programs that either use 100 per cent organically grown cotton or blend small percentages of organic cotton with conventional cotton in their products. There are a number of companies driving the expanded use of domestic and international organic cotton.
Organic cotton now equals 0.7 per cent of global cotton production. India is a significant organic cotton producer. Among others are the United States, China, Syria, Turkey. The specialty of Indian organic cotton is that all the cotton is hand-picked. Organic cotton is promoted as being skin-friendly and soothing and as being ideal for baby clothing.
Mimaki has moved into industrial textile printing with the Tiger-1800B printer. It is a direct-to-textile machine printer and is an eight-color device suitable for high-volume digital production of applications such as furnishings, flags, sports apparel and interior fabrics that could only be cost-effectively achieved in the past using traditional textile printing technologies.
Optional units can be added to expand the printer’s capabilities, including feeding units for jumbo rolls or folded fabrics, heating units and a folding arm unit for storing fabric in the box after printing. The fashion industry is currently the main target for this machine, which uses reactive inks. Mimaki will add other ink settings in future. The company is also currently in the final process of making a Tiger that will be suitable for the bedspread market.
Mimaki, based in Japan and founded in 1975, is a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the signs and graphics, textiles and apparel and industrial markets, and also provides a comprehensive range of supporting products like hardware, software and associated consumable items such as inks and cutting blades.
Mimaki cut and print devices deliver an array of applications. Eco-solvent inks in a variety of colors and advanced printing technologies enables production of anything from fine art reproductions to outdoor signage.
Euratex hosted five project partners in Brussels, to launch the newly Erasmus+ KA2 project Art Cherie (Achieving and Retrieving Creativity through European Fashion Cultural Heritage Inspiration). The project, coordinated by Euratex addresses the issue of apprenticeships delivery in the fashion sector dominated by SME’s and micro enterprises. The objective of the Art Cherie project is to contribute to the protection and exploitation of the fashion cultural heritage; organize and structure it in vocational training courses for the improvement of EU fashion designers working in textiles and clothing industries and young fashion designers.
Pitti Bimbo, the fair dedicated to junior fashion, will take place from January 19 to 21, 2017 at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence. The new winter edition of the event, whose theme is ‘Pitti dance off’ will be an international showcase for 503 collections, 280 of which come from abroad. They will be presented in stands or with ad hoc events and fashion shows. The event confirms its dual focus on the best-known brands N°21 Kids, Little Marc Jacobs, Twin-Set, Blumarine, Petit Bateau will be among the exhibitors and on the niche brands and those that are the result of the creativity of small companies that need visibility.
At the moment, junior fashion is experiencing a delicate moment. When there is uncertainty, there is a tendency to purchase fewer products and to chose, especially for younger children, less expensive clothing and accessories, said Pitti Immagine CEO Raffaello Napoleone. As per National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), exports of children’s clothing reached €101.8 million in the period of January to August recording a growth of 5.4 per cent compared to that of the same period last year, disclosed Sistema Moda Italia.
Driving sales across the border were European countries that absorbed almost 67 per cent of the exports and registered a +7.6 per cent. This, despite a drop in purchase by Spain, the most important client for ‘Made in Italy’ children’s fashion. Standing out among the most dynamic markets are the United Kingdom (+19.1 per cent), Switzerland (+17.6 per cent), France (+8.3 per cent) and the US (+24.1 per cent), while Saudi Arabia (+57.3 per cent) and Poland (174.1 per cent), both in list of the top 15 destination countries, have registered a veritable boom.
In the coming year, the fashion industry is expected to pick up speed, albeit not in double digits, posting an improvement compared to 2016, says a recent survey ‘The State of Fashion 2017’ by McKinsey and The Business of Fashion. The principle is fascinating: if we calculate the value generated by the global fashion industry, we come up with a figure of $2.4 trillion, equal to the GDP of a hypothetical seventh-biggest economy in the world after the US, China, the EU, Japan, India and the United Kingdom, because a trillion is equal to one million of billions.
According to the survey, in 2017 revenue in the fashion industry will grow on an average 2.5-3.5 per cent at a slightly faster pace than 2-2.5 per cent in 2016. The figure is however, still far from the historical annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent in the industry from 2005 to 2015. In the decade, the industry’s growth rate exceeded by several percentage points that of world GDP.
Year 2016 was a particularly difficult for the global fashion industry and more so for the medium-high and high-end segments of the market: luxury brands and medium-sized fashion companies posted a lower growth rate (0.5-1 per cent lower) than the overall average.The figure is in line with the data elaborated by Bain & Company for Altagamma Foundation. According to Worldwide Market Monitor, in 2016 sales of personal luxury goods fell by 1 per cent to € 249 billion, but a 3 per cent increase at constant rates is expected in 2017.
Spinning mills in Thailand are expected to recover from the economic downturn of the past few years. Therefore, cotton imports 2016-17 are expected to increase to around 1.4 million bales, up approximately 6 per cent from2015-16.
Imports of US cotton in 2016-17 are expected to increase to 450,000 bales, up 6 per cent from 2015-16. Large-scale spinning mills which account for approximately 60 per cent of total cotton yarn production still maintain their competitive edge in domestic and export markets as they have invested in new machinery and improved their production efficiency. However, competition from cheaper yarn imports from Vietnam and India will likely remain a challenge to domestic yarn producers, particularly for small-scale spinning mills.
Cotton imports in 2015-16 were lower than expected at around 1.3 million bales, down 13 percent from 14-15. This reflected a reduction in cotton and cotton-blended yarn production which declined approximately 5 percent as spinning mills were forced to hold large inventories of yarn. Imports of cotton yarn increased 44 per cent from 2014-15 with cotton yarn imports from Vietnam and India doubling. Additionally, exports of cotton yarn declined 28 per cent, particularly to China and Japan due to an economic slowdown and competition from Vietnam.
Imports of US cotton in 2015-16 declined to 424,113 bales, down 15 per cent from 2014-15. However, US cotton still maintained its market share accounting for approximately one third of total cotton import demand. Meanwhile, medium-scale spinners who limited their purchases to cheap cotton to maintain their operations imported more Brazilian cotton.
