FW
Despite the Narendra Modi-led NDA government asking Indian companies to focus on manufacturing within the country under the ‘Make in India’ program, many are investing in Ethiopia and Africa to set up units there. Reason: Ethiopian government is offering attractive incentives to woo foreign investors, such as land on decades-long lease, cheap power and duty-free exports to key markets like the US and Europe.
For example, leading fabric and clothing company Raymond has plans to pump in $100 million over the next two-three years for a garmenting unit in Awasa, a lake-side city, which will be one of its largest facilities. According to the company, labour costs in Ethiopia are 50 per cent less against India and power tariffs are almost one-third.
Textile and apparel conglomerate, Arvind, aims to build a six-million-pieces garment plant in Ethiopia because of the long-term lease for factories that the Ethiopian government offers and single-window clearance for industrial projects. Even Kanoria Textiles is setting up a project in the country, again because of the low-costs of labour and power.
With global brands shifting their attention to African countries for their sourcing requirements, and Africa being a major cotton producer is one of the few places in the world, garment makers can establish the entire supply chain from fiber to factory in one location.
Elaborating on the issues faced by the industry, Darlie Koshy, Director General and CEO of Apparel Training and Design Center (ATDC) says, “We have been focusing on only certain aspects of the skill sector. We need a 360 degree understanding of skills such as how the hand-eye coordination takes place, how your movements can be controlled. India should hold more regional and local competitions to prepare herself for the global competition.”
Emphasis on training to face competition
Koshy has just come back from the 43rd ‘World Skill Meet’ in Sao Paolo. It was started in 1949 by a group of European countries like Spain, Germany, Finland, and UK. 50 skills sets under five different sectors are tested during the competition. Fashion and creative industry is one among them. This is where 25 Indian participants competed across 25 segments such as beauty, jewellery, welding and IT solutions.
“In four days, several batches of students were brought in from countries like Brazil. They were given required tools in a systematic manner. By the end of the fourth day almost a lakh of students visited the exhibition. This shows that these countries are training their entire young workforce to understand the nuances of different skills. They are equipping their students. But our students are weak in understanding the skill and its complexities. We need to prepare young children just as these countries are doing to understand the value of skill. The world is going to compete on skill and technology and move ahead. Branding is very tough for us but we can at least master skills and technology,” avers Koshy.
This was the third time Indian participants were part of the competition, while Korea became a member in 1978. “Till 1985, Korea was not considered as a country that produced quality products,” states Koshy, adding, “In the mid-1980’s they started working on designs and a high level of skills. Since 1978, Korea has won 18 international gold medals in different fields. Today, 90 per cent of the population is covered by vocational training.”
In 2017, Abu Dhabi is going to host the ‘World Skills Meet’ and in 2021 it’s going to be Canada. “India should bring the meet here. India will become 75 years old in 2024. We have two stages of development. One is 2015 to 2025. Another is 2025 to 2035. In this decade people who are in high schools and colleges are maturing. We should be able to hold the ‘World Skills Meet’ in 2023 with the current efforts put in by the government. The stage and environment will be set for thousands of students to be the part of this platform. But we need to showcase skills the way the young generation wants to understand them. We need to break taboos,” he exclaims.
Advance training programmes for the youth
Koshy says, young generation doesn’t want to enter the textiles business because of the messy manner it has been handled. “There are a lot of variables in the textile business that the younger generation doesn’t have the patience to manage. One can make good money. There are enough skills to be learnt. There is the thrill of working with a new design. In other trades you are just packing something every day. It’s monotonous. Fashion is never monotonous,” he explains.
Koshy has been a part of the fashion industry for many years. “I learn new things every day. Change is the key motivator to keep you alive. Today’s tech-savvy generation needs to be introduced to new tools or gadgets to make textile or fashion industry exciting,” he asserts.
Apparel Training and Design Center (ATDC) has 200 centres across India and runs one campus of the Institute of Apparel Management (IAM).
www.atdcindia.co.in
The ITMA exhibition for textile and machinery, taking place in November 12-19, 2015, in Milan, will see Swiss Oerlikon Group presenting its Manmade Fibres this year. André Wissenberg, Head, Marketing (Corporate Communications and Public Affairs), Oerlikon has said, though the market is tough and increasingly becoming difficult for business, they will continue with their thrust to introduce new products and innovations. The group is entering into a partnership with Chinese firm Huitong to expand its base in polycondensation business, apart from eyeing consolidation in its offering of manmade fibre spinning systems solutions.
Wissenberg maintained they are holding superiority in the global market in the area of fibre spinning system for polyester, nylon and polypropylene when it comes to expertise and capability to manufacture and introduce them. The maxim they follow is ‘From melt to yarn, fibres and nonwovens is our maxim.
’ Besides, the group is expected to display experiments and improvements made in filament spinning and texturing, monofilaments and FDY sections also. The head of marketing said that innovations are in line with the group’s philosophy aimed at increasing the element of sustainability in products. Oerlikon, with its two brands Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Neumag will also review the success of past developments in the exhibition.
Following representation from industry association, the 5 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on narrow fabrics manufactured in Gujarat, may soon go. This would most likely be in the man-made fabric (MMF) hub of Surat.
During a meeting at Gandhinagar with Saurabh Patel, Minister of State for Finance, the decision was conveyed to the industry through Jitu Vakharia, President, South Gujarat Textile Processors Association (SGTPA). During the State Budget in February, 2015 the Gujarat government had imposed 5 per cent VAT on narrow fabrics.
There are about 300 small and big manufacturers of narrow fabrics in Surat itself. Surat and Ahmedabad are the two big centres for arrow fabrics in the state. Around Rs 150 crores worth of narrow fabrics is supplied to various garment manufacturing hubs across the country per year, according to estimates.
The fabrics are used in orthopedical industries, car industries, apparel industries, orthopedical industries, electronic industries, and several others. Vakharia stated that these fabrics in other states had not VAT and it was applicable to fabrics manufactured in Gujarat. He added that the industry as concerned that Gujarat manufacturers would lose their business because of the tax and the SGTPA had made representation to the state government to abolish it, he added.
C.L.A.S.S. - the Milan based eco-smart resource platform has commenced the third edition of ‘World C.L.A.S.S. Tour’ presenting the latest trends and promoting partners’ smart textiles to selected brands and retailers .With support from Italian Trade Commission, the event is traveling to New York, Madrid, Paris and London, while for Copenhagen it has partnered with Danish Fashion Institute (DAFI).
This year the tour visited Milan from September 8 to10, 2015, Madrid from September 23 and 24, 2015, Copenhagen on September 28 and 29, 2015, London on September 30 and October 1, 2015, New York on October 6 and 7, 2015, Paris on October 9, 2015 and Dubai November 1 to 4, 2015.
In 2015, Giusy Bettoni was appointed, Ecological Textile Advisor to the Board of the Arab Fashion Council, one of the world’s biggest non-profit organizations that represents 22 Arab countries whose aim is to promote and disseminate creatively about the fashion industry of the Arab world . “We look forward to the C.L.A.S.S. team presenting their Eco-Smart collection during Arab Fashion Week. The Arab Fashion Council’s main objective is to nurture and develop the talents of young Arab designers through its strong business alliances and position the Arab World on the international fashion map”, says Jacob Abrian, Founder and Ambassador of the Arab Fashion Council.
In addition, C.L.A.S.S. has also announced the launch of C.L.A.S.S. Education, a new division of the platform. The role is to share knowledge, introduce ideas, and present smart eco-solutions to empower like-minded fashion professionals and motivate them to transform their current business model to set forth positive change. Innovative Textile Solutions: Eco-Fashion Workshop is a program offered by C.L.A.S.S. Education, which is scheduled for January 18 to 20, 2016 in Milan .
India's textile industry has witnessed major breakthroughs in cellulosic and synthetic fibres backed by advanced technology and innovations. Viscose fibres is a viable solution to cater to the clothing needs of the evolved customer. Global fibre consumption, as per reports, has grown at a CAGR of 2.7 per cent during 2007-’13. Whereas, viscose alone has grown at 8.4 per cent, this shows that viscose is becoming the preferred choice.
Birla Cellulose, a leader in viscose fibre, is also leading the viscose revolution. It has decided to meet the growing consumer demand for better quality and new applications development. In doing so, the Birla Cellulose Textile Research And Development Centre (TRADC) has constantly innovated and advanced its offerings.
TRADC offers an exceptional combination of textile skills, tools and high-tech equipment as a shared innovation platform. The best is offered in textile innovation for redesigning the existing products or for inventing new ones to value chain partners at the centre. That’s not all, the centre also aims to offer companies a variety of research, prototyping and industrial pre-production solutions for turning ideas into products, enabling them to focus on market research.
Vijay Ramakrishnan, Head, TRADC, speaking about the innovations says this is the only platform in India and thus provides and pools skills and cutting-edge equipment that enable their customers to move forward from R&D to the prototype stage and to pre-production in a short time. Besides, the research centre also provides high-performing resources to meet individual requirements and bring their ideas to fruition, he added.
Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to Japan have gone up 14 per cent in the last financial year. Earnings from exports to Japan grew six per cent in financial year 2014-15. Japan is of Bangladesh big development partner and wants to invest in special economic zones. There are already 230 Japanese companies doing business in Chittagong SEZ. Especially, Bangladesh is looking for investments in the composite textile industry or value-added products such as suits, tents and school bags, where local investment had been negligible.
There is a huge demand for Bangladeshi apparel products, leather and leather products in the Japanese markets, which is expected to keep rising. Currently, Bangladesh exports apparel products, shrimp, leather and leather products, jute and jute goods. Exports to Japan will exceed $2 dollars within the next three years as the country allows duty-free access of everything except ammunition and hand gloves.
Bangladesh wants Japan to import more clothing items from Bangladesh and take Bangladesh’s share in the country’s total imports to be atleast 10 per cent. It favors such a step by Japan as that would also help in minimising the huge trade gap that currently exists in favor of Japan.
Tirupur feels the continued depreciation of the rupee will have a cascading effect on logistic costs. The apprehension is that unless steps are taken to arrest the free fall, oil companies might think of increasing domestic fuel prices once the under-recoveries (the difference between the retail selling price and the import price) go up.
Any fuel price hike can be catastrophic for a cluster such as Tirupur as the entire production cost goes up as trucks and other cargo operators will increase transportation charges. Since orders are taken months in advance, manufacturers cannot pass on the increase to buyers as they may lose orders. The production chain is scattered in Tirupur, movement of goods from one processing point to another becomes costlier which, in turn, shrinks profit margins at the cluster level itself. Adding to that, moving finished goods from the cluster to sea ports as well as to points within the country will increase costs multi-fold.
The depreciating rupee is worrying exporters too even though they get a better unit value for their products in export markets. This is because much of the machinery and embellishments used to give value addition to apparels are imported.
Bangladesh’s denim manufacturers have launched eco-friendly technology to produce sustainable denim. They are using less chemicals, avoiding wasting water and reducing carbon emission and using recyclable raw materials. This is helping cut the use of water by 92 per cent, reducing energy use by 30 per cent and cotton waste by 87 per cent. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated through the burning of cotton get drastically cut down.
These initiatives are expected to reduce environmental hazards in every stage of the production process and also cut production costs. Traditional production methods require a 60 degree heat. But a sustainable method can make do with 40 degrees. Manufacturers are using chemicals and technology which consume less water and electricity to generate steams. Sustainability and environmental issues have become major concerns across the world. Buyers seem ready to pay more for products manufactured in an eco-friendly way.
Green denim products are more popular among consumers than traditional ones. Technically sound professionals are being engaged in the production process of sustainable denim. The sustainable method ensures optimum use of resources, helping manufacturers reduce production costs. Manufacturers have urged the government to take steps to raise awareness among denim manufacturers and provide policy support along with incentives to producers who have adopted green technology.
A Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) report suggests, world export trade in textile and clothing declined by 7.32 per cent from $316.06 billion during January to May 2014 to $292.93 billion during Jan-May 2015.
Amongst the top 10 markets, Vietnam reported the highest growth of 10.04 per cent followed by Bangladesh reporting second highest growth rate of 2.17 per cent during the period under review. Indian exports declined 7.58 per cent with exports falling from $17.39 billion in January to May 2014 to $16.07 billion in January to May 2015 China being the largest exporter with $99.76 billion showed a decline of 3.91 per cent followed by Italy with 17.44 per cent.
Textiles and clothing import trade reported a decline of 7.37 per cent from $274.42 billion during January to May 2014 to $254.19 billion during January to May 2015. During the period January to May 2015, USA was the largest importer and recorded a growth of 3.99 per cent. In Europe - Germany, UK, France and Italy reported negative growth.
www.texprocil.org
