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Aquafil collaborates with Speedo USA for a take-back program that will allow Speedo USA’s post-manufacturing swimwear scraps to be upcycled into Aquafil’s 100 per cent regenerated ECONYL nylon. Leftover fabric scraps get a new life with this program, which allows them to be turned back into raw nylon fibre and finally, new swimsuits. The new Speedo PowerFLEX Eco swimwear fabric is made from ECONYL and is endlessly recyclable. This limitless recyclability creates a closed-loop manufacturing partnership between the two companies.
Giulio Bonazzi, Chairman and CEO, Aquafil said that they were challenging apparel manufacturers to be more sustainable and restructure their supply chain to divert waste from landfill. Aquafil’s partnership with Speedo shows the company’s commitment to the environment and their ingenuity in creating products from materials that can be recycled an infinite number of times is another feature of the programme, Bonazzi added.
Post-production fabric waste, in the swimwear industry, was not suitable for traditional recycling due to its complex technical composition. However, with Aquafil’s new technology this is now possible. The new technology can turn swimwear fabric and other blended waste materials into new raw nylon. The cutting-edge ECONYL Regeneration System takes manufacturing byproduct waste and nylon materials that have reached the end of their product life, such as abandoned fishing nets and old carpets, and re-engineers them into high-quality ECONYL Nylon 6 for the production of new carpets, sportswear and swimwear.
Both Aquafil and Speedo USA, with this take-back program, will use the regeneration process to separate usable nylon from Speedo’s blended post-production fabric scraps. The used nylon will then be upcycled into raw nylon fibre, which can be made into new PowerFLEX Eco swimwear.
B’desh commerce minister Tofail Ahmed has announced that they are going to build a garment village in Chittagong, with an aim to increase apparel exports which is expected to touch $50 billion by 2021. Ahmed said the garment village in Chittagong would be on the lines of the hub currently being built at Bausia in Munshiganj. He was speaking at the inauguration of the three-day Bangladesh Apparel and Safety Expo in Chittagong. However, there was no mention of when the garment hub will begin operations.
The Bausia garment village, is being developed by a Chinese firm at a cost of $2.3 billion. It has more than 200 factories from where Bangladesh expects to export goods worth $3 billion to $5 billion each year once the factories begin production. Ahmed urged retailers to pay better prices for apparel items sourced from Bangladesh as they receive some of the lowest price offers from them. He added as the industry’s future is bright, the $50 billion export target will not only be met, but will also exceed by 2021.
Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, former VP of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said by excluding development of the port city of Chittagong, it would not be possible to achieve the $50 billion export target. Chittagong is considered a gateway for Bangladeshi exports as more than 90 per cent of the country’s international trade is handled through this port.
Los Angeles knitting mill SG Knits and Texworld USA in New York are two companies that have collaborated for business after meeting two years ago. Lauren Greenberg, SG Knits creative director and husband Steve Greenberg, SG Knits’ CEO and President were back at Texworld USA during the show’s recent July 21-23 run at the Javits Center. The Greenbergs, along with their USA partner, Norberto Menendez, who runs United Pacific Group (UPG), a full-package garment production facility in the Dominican Republic, met larger retailers and brands such as Macy’s and Nordstrom and California labels such as Splendid/Ella Moss, at the show.
Sun Dragon Import, a Los Angeles-based supplier of specialty yarns participated for the first time in Texworld and Ching Duncan, Sun Dragon President said that they were exploring the New York market and were likely to get some South America and Canada exposure too.
50-year-old producers of textiles and hand-worked scarves for large European brands, Mumbai-based Panna Textile Industries, were first time participants at Texworld USA. Akash Poddar, the company representative interacted with attendees, showing them the workmanship on a hand-painted, embroidered scarf Panna created for the Spanish brand, Desigual. Poddar said that the company was looking at entering the US market.
Speaking about Texworld USA, marketing manager for Los Angeles knitting mill Design Knit, Pat Tabassi said that she sees a rising interest in domestic production from those who attend Texworld. However, she observed that building infrastructure could take time.
The US will help Bangladesh reach its goal of exporting readymade garments worth $50 billion by 2021. The readymade garment sector has been the engine behind the remarkable story of Bangladesh’s economic growth. The United States is the largest single buyer of Bangladeshi garments. It works closely with the Bangladesh government, brands, factory owners, and unions to strengthen workers’ safety and labor rights and to foster a stronger industry.
The US will work with two Bangladeshi banks to fund a $22 million credit guarantee to facilitate loans for safety improvements in the country’s readymade garment factories. It has been working to improve labor conditions and support the freedom of association in Bangladesh.
Through grants to the Solidarity Center, USAID provided training to approximately 11,000 readymade garment workers on collective bargaining, union leadership, industrial dispute resolution, media and organisational democracy.
The US can use tariff revenues generated from Bangladeshi garment exports as aid to improve the labor standards of garment factories in Bangladesh. The readymade garment sector accounts for 81 per cent of Bangladesh’s overall exports. About 5,000 factories employ about 3.6 million workers (of a total workforce of 74 million). The country has an aim of reaching $50 billion in exports by 2021.
Nahar Spinning Mills has reported a net profit of Rs 26.38 crores for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, due to lower raw material costs. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 11.47 crores in the year-ago quarter. Net sales in the quarter under review, however, dropped by 2.8 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Raw material cost declined by 18.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
Ludhiana-based Nahar was incorporated in 1980 and is known for hosiery and knitwear garments like T-shirts. In 1992, as a measure of backward integration, the company diversified into the spinning industry. The company has five lakh spindles and 1,080 rotors. Nahar has put up a mercerising cum dyeing plant. The superfine quality yarn produced by the unit is being used by manufacturers of fine quality garments for exports. The unit caters to the domestic hosiery garment market as well as export markets. It is one of the largest integrated textile players in and the second largest cotton yarn manufacturer in India. Products go to reputed international brands. About 60 per cent of the company’s products are exported.
www.owmnahar.com/
Prompted by demand for booth space, the popular Kingpins show is expanding. Andres Olah, Founder of Kingpins says that they had a huge amount of requests to participate in the show and thus the expansion. The dates as well as location for the show have been changed. This time it is fixed for November 3-4 at Pier 36 NYC (Basketball City) in Manhattan. The change in date was because of the requests of mills and Olah said that they had singed a two-show lease, which is a gamble.
Denim buyers from large retailers and brands and smaller denim designers, are a part of Kingpins. More than 300 companies had already stopped by the Kingpins show on the second day of the recent show. Leslie Novick, OST sales representative, applauded the expansion and said that the show’s exclusive invitation-only policy may be keeping some companies away.
Levi Strauss & Co representatives were seen at the Global Denim SA de C.V. booth and Michelle Branch, Global Denim’s Director of Sales said that it was going to be a big playground.
Panipat will have a common training facility center for textile machinery. This will help manufacturers in the area known for textile products and textile machinery to get training, about manufacturing of textile machinery and would help them upgrade skills with advanced technologies.
The center would be set up at a cost of around Rs 19 crores. The union government would provide Rs 12 crores while the state government would contribute Rs 6 crores and rest of the amount would be paid by manufacturers of textile machinery. Manufacturers of textile machinery and parts would so be able to export their products to Middle East. At present, its exported to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and some other countries. There are around 200 manufacturers of textile machinery and parts besides thousands of textile units in Panipat.
Panipat is about 100 km from Delhi and is at the junction between Punjab and Gangetic plains. It is known for its cottage and handloom industries. Panipat is famous for its durries, produced by a number of weaving units within the city. It also makes large sized handloom durries, rugs and carpets, blankets and a vast variety of furnishing fabrics.
Invista's Cordura brand has announced its second designer collaboration with Struktur Studio’s Michelle Rose to showcase the softer side of Cordura lifestyle apparel fabrics. The collaboration will also highlight the new Sewfree bonding technologies from Bemis Associates and garment production innovations from Youngone.
The Cordura-Struktur studio collection will include an outdoor anorak jacket, top and pants. The collection not only highlights Invista’s soft comfort Cordura apparel fabrics but also allows Invista to work with companies to support the growing demand for stylish yet performance inspired apparel for women.
Sewfree’s bonding products and design expertise provided advanced construction techniques, helping to make the collection aesthetically modern. The first Cordura collaborative collection featured a lifestyle and urban fashion capsule with Alex Valdman and his multi-purpose jacket and pant that showcased the brand’s debut of Cordura Combat Wool.
Known for its resistance to abrasions, tears and scuffs, Cordura is used in many of the world’s leading high-performance gear and apparel products. These include luggage, upholstery and backpacks to footwear, military equipment, tactical wear, work wear and performance apparel. Michelle Rose felt it was meaningful to partner with a brand that is as dedicated to being a part of the design community as Cordura fabric.
www.cordura.com/
India is again headed for a bumper cotton crop on the back of record sowing operations completed on around 110 hectares so far this year. So there is a possibility of weakening of cotton prices in the coming season owing to a huge carry over stock of around 138 lakh bales. The highest ever cotton crop was in 2007, when the country produced some 567 lakh bales. In 2013-14, cotton production touched some 401 lakh bales.
Cotton sowing still continues in Andhra Pradesh and the southern parts of the country and there has been rapid progress in southern Telangana. Among the 84-odd cotton growing nations, Indian productivity is at 32nd rank. This has been the case for the last 10 years. But India is still the world’s highest cotton producer. China comes second, having reduced its cotton acreage to some 38 lakh hectares from 54 lakh hectares last year, and US ranks third in cotton acreage with 33 lakh hectares under cotton.
This year, after China stopped imports, there has been a glut of cotton in the Indian market with a carry forward stock of some 138 to 148 lakh bales. In the last four to five years, this has been the best sowing India has ever had.
About half of the fibre procured in the crop year 2014-15 under the minimum support price (MSP) operation was sold off, by government-based Cotton Corporation of India (CCI). Since October last year, the CCI has acquired 8.6 million bales (a bale is 170 kg), totally. This it started offloading in the domestic and international markets through daily and weekly tenders. This included export of 80,000-100,000 bales to Bangladesh.
The price of cotton at Rs 33,000 a candy (356 kg) is at a four-year low. Domestic textile mills complain that CCI has not been releasing enough, though, the quantity of sale is quite considerable, which has resulted in a rise in prices. B K Mishra, Chairman and Managing Director states they had kept more than 100,000 bales on a daily basis for sale and the daily average they estimated from mills was at 80,000-90,000 bales. He added for August and September, they have kept 1.5 to two million bales to sell to the domestic textile mills.
The CCI entered into MSP operations after many years of regular purchases on behalf of customers, only on direction from the government and acquired 8.6 million bales out of its target of nine million. The problem of liquidation started with slow pick-up from China, due to slowing in the country's economy, China is one of the world's largest consumers.
In the crop year 2014-15 (October-September), the Cotton Advisory Board estimates output at 40 million bales, against 39.8 million of the previous season. The US department of agriculture estimates output at 37.5 millon bales in the harvesting season 2015-16, starting this October. Besides, CCI is looking at sales opportunities in other Asian markets such as Thailand.
