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Apparel Training and Design Centre (ATDC) has signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission (UPSDM). The aim is to advance skill sector in the state by offering 24 courses with the target to uplift 8,000 unemployed youth in the next three years in all UP centers i.e Noida, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Agra, Unnao, Lucknow, Pratapgarh, Barabanki, Barailly, Shahjahanpur, Varanasi, Ajamgarh and Kannauj.
ATDC is in the process of upgrading the Lucknow center to an ATDC hub having the capacity to train 600 candidates per annum in skill development courses in the near future. ATDC will provide youngsters training in apparel design and 80 per cent of the young people will be provided employment.
ATDC is India’s largest vocational training network for the apparel sector with over 200 ATDCs including 65 ATDC vocational institutes and over 135 ATDC- Smart centers and skill camps present in major apparel clusters spread across 23 states including two centers in the northeast. The mission is to upgrade the technical skills of the human resources employed in the garment industry.
ATDC provides training for jobs such as sewing machine operator, pattern engineer, machine technician/ mechanic, surface ornamentation specialist, apparel production supervisor, quality controller, industrial engineer etc.
"After confirming that Prime Minister Theresa will initiate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017, the Brexit impact will come into force by mid-2019. How would it impact the UK fashion industry, analyse fashion police. Everyone involved with the industry is looking at this situation as an opportunity to harness in the most efficient way. There are four key aspects that need everyone’s scrutiny before taking any major step."
After confirming that Prime Minister Theresa will initiate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017, the Brexit impact will come into force by mid-2019. How would it impact the UK fashion industry, analyse fashion police. Everyone involved with the industry is looking at this situation as an opportunity to harness in the most efficient way. There are four key aspects that need everyone’s scrutiny before taking any major step.
Secure favourable trade agreements
In the current scheme of things, UK businesses can trade with other EU countries without restriction (notwithstanding some local charges). When it leaves the EU, UK will re-assume direct responsibility for trade relations and will have to negotiate a new UK trade tariff. This move may result into higher import duties from and exports to EU countries. Many respondents to a survey by Drapers – who source from and sell to EU countries – are anxious about the additional costs.
This situation offers immense opportunities in establishing bilateral relation with countries such as China, the US and Japan. Going by the present economic activities in other parts of the world, it makes perfect sense for UK companies. The earlier the talks are initiated, the better it is for the UK government to get economy back on track.
Ensure free movement of people
After clearing the air on immigration of EU citizens to the UK post-Brexit, people are a sceptical about the future. If the country wants to opt for liberal trade policies, it needs to be flexible about immigration. Some are worried their staff – including difficult-to-replace skilled machinists – could be forced to leave the country. Others pointed out that the UK fashion industry highly banks on attracting talent from across the whole world to live, study and work here, to maintain its position on the global stage. However, not everyone believes free movement of people should continue. A few respondents argued that immigration should be controlled, and that the UK should look at how to up skill its own citizens.
Maintain education funds
Universities, the British Fashion Council, the Centre for Fashion Enterprise and myriad other institutions have access to hundreds of millions of euros in EU funding. Losing this financial support could weaken the UK’s status as the fashion powerhouse. Furthermore, British businesses are eligible to apply for certain EU funds, such as Horizon 2020, a research and innovation program that is making nearly £80bn of funding available over the seven years to 2020. In August, the Treasury pledged to underwrite Horizon 2020 projects beyond Brexit. However, it is still not clear whether the UK government will step in to replace other lost EU funding.
Also intellectual property laws are severely under scanner once Brexit comes in. Till now, UK fashion houses could take advantage of the EU trademarks and EU-wide design protection laws. The government will need crystal clear policy on this aspect to strengthen its position on the global map.
Consumers – the ultimate decision makers
Till now, all trade within the EU single market is free of import duties, while through the EU, Britain has arrangements with other countries offering preferential tariffs on imports. There is no clarity as to how the scenario will be for UK post-Brexit. Import duty may rise significantly, resulting in lower margins for companies.
However, entire situation also offers opportunities to reduce the costs of international trade outside the EU. Some of these may take time to materialise – free trade agreements typically take five or six years to negotiate. But other opportunities to liberalise trade could be materalised quickly. For instance, the UK would be free to adopt its own scheme of trade preferences for developing countries as soon as it leaves the EU, expanding the number of countries that benefit, cutting red tape and reducing the number of exemptions.
The biggest beneficiary and the perhaps the biggest decision makers will be the consumers who may win on the price war and in turn be supportive to the new government on all the decisions taken towards enhancing economic scenarios in the long term. All said, it’s still a wait and watch scenario for the nations till the actual post-Brexit economy goes live.
Le Souk, an online material sourcing network has gone into an exclusive partnership with Kingpins New York. The venture will allow buyers to access denim mills directly through Le Souk’s online portal, creating a virtual trade show or showroom. Buyers will have the opportunity to view high-resolution, optimized images of denim samples from participating mills that show the texture and likeness of the fabrics without having to be present at the show.
Le Souk works by mills’ signing up and sending samples to the company’s showrooms located around the world from Copenhagen to New York City. Le Souk photographs the samples and holds them in showrooms to send out to potential clients. Buyers can view the samples online, see them in the showroom, or receive them from Le Souk, alleviating some of the responsibility of the mill.
The website is a supplier membership platform where Le Souk provides mills with as many qualified buyers as possible, and the buyers receive prices quoted directly from the mills. Suppliers are vetted by Le Souk in order to gain access.
Kingpins online will allow buyers to connect with mills in a new way, through live chats and other perks like custom sourcing requests, real-time updates for buyers to view, special privacy settings to give special access to specific buyers, as well as transaction tools.
With help from a South Korean company, a Uzbek company is planning to manufacture and export ecological dyes for the textile industry. The South Korean company named Rainbow and Uzbekistan Company named Indikin have come together for this venture. The project involves extracting natural ecological dyes from agricultural plants and their subsequent use in the light industry in Uzbekistan and abroad. Intended for completion in 2017, the project will cost a total of a $1 million.
The company will export over 80 per cent of its production at full capacity. It plans to manufacture a wide range of powder and natural food dyestuffs. The South Korean side has provided advanced laboratory and production equipment. The method of obtaining ecological dyes will not differ from the South Korean technology, thereby guaranteeing their quality and competitiveness in the global market.
Rainbow is currently working on the opening of a specialized research center which will issue certificates of product safety for the textile industry. The first trial plantings for paints were made in 2014 in Samarkand and Tashkent regions. The first dyes of red, yellow, green, indigo and other colors were extracted in October. Test seedlings were also planted on 45 hectares in the spring of 2016.
The United States is increasingly importing less of textiles and apparel as manufacturing remains in a slump and consumer confidence isn’t faring all that much better. In September, US imports of apparel saw a 5.8 per cent fall from the same time last year and a greater decline than October’s 4.3 per cent. Textile imports were down six per cent in the month.
In dollar terms, textile and apparel imports were down 13 per cent this September over last September. Consumer confidence fell to 98.6 in October after a nine-year high of 104.1 in September, as consumers’ outlook about the economy grew a little more tepid. American manufacturing, however, appears to be on an upswing. The Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) for October rose to 51.9 compared to September’s 51.5, and both above 50 readings indicate growth.
However, when it comes to textile and apparel manufacturing, growth may be more tame as textile mills cut jobs in September. Pakistan lost the greatest market share in September, with its textile and apparel exports to the US falling 11.9 per cent. China also lost a 9.7 per cent share in the month after falling 7.5 per cent in August. Vietnam’s share slipped 8.3 per cent, while Bangladesh saw a slight 1.3 per cent uptick in its textile and apparel exports to the US.
UK retailers Primark’s revenues rose five per cent in September 17 while pre-tax profit soared 47 per cent. Primark is owned by the food and retail giant Associated British Foods. The huge jump in earnings was down to a favorable comparison with the year before, when ABF was hit by a number of exceptional costs and other one-off charges. Stripping these out, adjusted profits rose five per cent.
Primark’s sales climbed 11 per cent as it opened 22 stores in the year, although like-for-like sales, which exclude store openings and closures, fell. Fast-selling items last year included bomber jackets, while this autumn denim jackets, colored skinny jeans and striped dresses were fast moving.
The plan is to open a further 25 Primark stores next year in the UK, Europe, and three in the US. The devaluation of the sterling will hit Primark’s UK sales next year because it sources goods in dollars. The retailer will not, however, pass this on to consumers, and will instead take a significant margin hit, which will affect profits. The company’s food supply chains are short and do not involve crossing euro-sterling boundaries.
The devaluation of the pound should help ABF’s manufacturing business, such as sugar and muesli, allowing it to replace cheap imported goods with its own products and to build export markets.
Bangladesh needs investment to go into the high-end denim segment. It is doing well in basic items but is gearing up to cater to the needs of high-end and branded fashion segments. For this, manufacturers need to put emphasis on research and development and forward linkages. Focus needs to be put on a skilled workforce, especially on the mid- and upper-level management.
The country is the second largest readymade garment exporter in the world. The EU and the US are two main export destinations of Bangladesh’s denim. In the EU market, Bangladesh has a 25 per cent share and in the US market it has a 11 per cent share. Bangladesh is exploring non-traditional markets like Brazil, Chile, China, Russia, Australia, South Africa and Japan. But a high tariff rate in some non-traditional markets is a major bar to increasing denim exports to those countries. These tariff and non-tariff barriers have to be removed through diplomacy.
Investment can happen in Bangladesh’s denim fabric mills only if sufficient electricity and gas can be ensured. Right now lack of infrastructure is hampering investment. Bangladesh presently has 30 denim producing factories which can meet about 60 per cent of the domestic demand for fabrics.
Pakistan’s cotton production in 2015-16 declined by 28 per cent. Reasons include: climate change, competition with other crops, lower market prices and the outbreak of pink bollworm. In Pakistan, economic losses from contamination cost the cotton value chain, from raw cotton to garments, $1.4 billion per year.
Pakistan’s future cotton policy envisages a number of strategies which include germ-plasm improvements, development of hybrid cotton, improved farm and crop management, bringing additional area under cultivation, minimising post-harvest losses, increasing cotton production, improving yields per hectare, evolving disease resistant varieties, promoting Bt cotton cultivation and improving the overall quality of cotton.
Cotton in Pakistan is grown by 1.3 million farmers on over 3.1 million hectares of land, which is 15 per cent of the cultivable area of the country, with the average production hovering around 12.7 million bales to 14 million bales. This is consumed largely by the country’s 521 textile mills, although a significant quantity (up to a million bales) is also exported. However, to meet the demand for extra-long staple cotton, about two million bales are imported annually.
The country is also encouraging multinational and national technology providers to introduce the latest and most effective insect protection technology.
China’s October exports fell 7.3 per cent from a year earlier while imports shrank 1.4 per cent. Weak domestic and global demand are adding to doubts that a pick-up in economic activity in the world's largest trading nation can be sustained. China's imports of iron ore, crude oil, coal and copper all fell in October, after its robust demand drove global prices of many major commodities higher this year.
Imports fell for the second month in a row in October after rising for the first time in nearly two years in August. China will face relatively large downward pressure on foreign trade in the fourth quarter, with uncertainties continuing into 2017. Weak exports knocked 7.8 per cent off the country's GDP growth in the first three quarters of this year.
A property boom which generated a significant share of the growth may be peaking, dampening demand for building materials from cement to steel. Steel mills have been cutting output and even starting maintenance work earlier than usual as soaring costs for raw materials such as iron ore and coal squeeze profits.
But although both exports and imports have fallen short of expectations, they have improved on a year-on-year basis. The rate of decline in October moderated from September.
The 5th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo opened at the city convention center in Dhaka yesterday. The two day exhibition has a total of 54 exhibitors from 15 countries in attendance. Indeed, the number is higher than the previous edition where 49 exhibitors from 13 countries joined in writes Mushfique Wadud.
The 5th edition of Bangladesh Denim Expo opened at the city convention center in Dhaka yesterday. The two day exhibition has a total of 54 exhibitors from 15 countries in attendance. Indeed, the number is higher than the previous edition where 49 exhibitors from 13 countries joined in writes Mushfique Wadud.
Denim takes centrestage
This year, the theme of the exhibition is ‘Natural Denim’. The organizers have given a natural flavor at the exhibition by using locally sourced environmental friendly material bamboo to make stalls at the expo. Handloom machines for salvage denim and hand scrapping are also showcased at the exhibition. Mostafiz Uddin, Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo, told Fashionating World that 5,000 registered visitors are attending the exhibition. “Buyers have expressed satisfaction in getting exhibitors of entire denim value chain- from fabrics to washes-under one roof,” Mostafiz explains.
The 55 exhibitors are from across the globe, 12 from Bangladesh, 10 from China, one each from Brazil and Germany, two from India, three from Italy, three from Japan, six from Pakistan, one Singapore, one from Spain, one from Thailand, seven from Turkey and one from Vietnam. Visitors are getting a flavor of all the exhibits under one roof. And as Argiris Simos, Project Manager of BlueConnection, a Singapore-based company says they are happy to take part in the exhibition. “Bangladeshi market is important to us and we are getting a good response here,” he said. Peter from Joinin Textile points out visitors have shown enthusiasm about their products.“This type of exhibition will help us understand Bangladesh market,” he said.
Sharman Hou, Export Manager Assistant of Forshan GLK Textile says they are getting a good response from visitors. “We have got business deals at the exhibition,” says Hou. Similarly, Istanbul-based company Kasive Leather Label, got a good response from visitors.
The first day saw a panel discussion on ‘$50 billion by 2021: Innovation the strategic business driver’. Among others, German ambassador to Bangladesh, Thomas Prinz, Swidish ambassador to Bangladesh, Johan Frisell and BGMEA vice president Mohammad Nasir took part in the discussion. A knowledge session and a technical workshop was also held where Manasij Ganguli, Founder and CEO of ThreadSol gave a presentation on ‘Improving the unit economics of RMG Manufacturing industry’. He said with the help of modern technology, it is possible to reduce fabric wastage. In the technical workshop, Karthik ND, Country MD of Intertek Bangladesh said companies should have a quality management strategy.
The Expo is seeing a number of workshops and seminars with the aim to develop skills of local denim designers, denim developers and denim enthusiasts and to promote the Bangladeshi denim industry. Both workshops and seminars are covering a variety of topics including denim style and trend direction and denim fabric trends. According to Uddin, the purpose of organizing these workshops and seminars is to achieve this objective. He also said that one of the long term objectives of Bangladesh Denim Expo has always been to nurture local talents and help educate them.
