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Vietnam’s garment and textile revenue increased for the first half of this year but experts say growth has not yet become sustainable. The national garment and textiles export value in the first half of the year grew 11.3 per cent year-on-year to $14.58 billion, higher than the growth rate of 6.1 per cent year-on-year in the same period of 2016.

Le Tien Trưong, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex), says the results were a praiseworthy effort in the context of the unstable global economy. The country earned $6 billion from exports to the US, surging nearly 9 per cent; $2.3 billion to the EU, up 8 per cent; and $1.5 billion to Japan, up 12 per cent. Vietnam outstripped its competitors in garment exports during the period. According to the Trade Map, China experienced a decline of more than 5 per cent year-on-year, while Bangladesh saw a drop of 3.5 per cent, and Indonesia was down 5 per cent.

However, trade protectionism policy of US President Donald Trump’s administration and interest rate adjustment from the US Federal Reserve will threaten sustainable export growth. There is a high possibility that Vietnam’s competitors will further devalue domestic currencies to support exports as they did in 2016, says Truong.

The biggest hurdle for Vietnamese garments is competitors, especially China with large scale production and low costs. Vietnamese enterprises need to join the global supply chain with fastidious requirements of quality, prices and time of good delivery. Moreover, the auxiliary industry for the textile and garment sector has not yet developed. Low capacity in weaving and dyeing has led to local demand for textile fabric being unsatisfied. The domestic garment industry must import 70 per cent of fabric, causing unbalanced development.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese garment enterprises are mostly small- and medium-sized limited ability in accessing domestic and foreign markets. If they do not link with some large enterprises, these firms will find it difficult to survive and never have the ability to compete internationally.

India’s garment exports are expected to register a 15 to 18 per cent growth in fiscal year ’18. Rebate on state levies have been introduced to encourage exports. There is an additional 10 per cent subsidy for the garment and made-up segments, which means the home textile industry will effectively get 25 per cent capital investment subsidy on new machines they bring in, leading to efficiency and modernisation of the sector.

Subsidies have proved be beneficial for the sector and led to an increase in employment and attracted huge investments. The industry is looking at entering into CIS, Africa and Far East markets to increase garment exports, apart from its traditional markets of US and Europe.

The 18 per cent GST is expected to be a major blow to the small manufacturers, most of whom follow the job work basis of manufacturing. India’s readymade garment exports registered a positive growth of just 8.06 per cent in May compared to the corresponding period last year. The decline in growth is attributed to many reasons. One, though exporters are happy with the new rates announced under GST, they need to ensure compliance with GST for input credit for the already existing stock on June 30, which has lead to curtailment in production.

India is facing deficient rainfall in major cotton growing areas. While the middle, northern and eastern parts of India received above normal rainfall, the western and southern parts remained deficient. So, farmers are fearing a decline in yield. They had achieved record productivity and got better prices last year despite lower acreage. Encouraged by last year’s realisation, farmers have slowed down the speed of cotton sowing after over 50 per cent increase in acreage early this season.

The crop is projected to get delayed by at least a month and the yield prospect has got affected due to a delay in sowing. A delay in upcoming crop may prompt immediate bargains. The demand for cotton has been good. Therefore, cotton prices may rise further and may sustain the prevailing range of Rs 42,500 to Rs 44,500 a ton.

Farmers have increased sowing of cotton. During most of last year, cotton prices remained above the minimum support price. Prompted by last year's realization, farmers have increased their cotton sowing area by a staggering 45 per cent so far this season. There may be re-sowing of cotton seeds in the areas where rainfalls remained have deficient so far this season and crops damaged thereupon.

Cherokee the global brand marketing platform with a portfolio of fashion and lifestyle brands, says it has entered into license agreements for its Hi-Tec and 50 Peaks brands in several key growth categories. The new licensing agreements with the Tharanco Group for men's and women's apparel and Interbrand for accessories including socks, gloves, and hats, mark a significant step toward broadening the Hi-Tec and 50 Peaks brands beyond footwear leveraging the brands' existing strong position in the outdoor and active markets.

Tharanco specializes in providing fashionable clothing that utilizes the latest trends and fabric technologies. The company is a name in the apparel and retail industry through its broad distribution of men’s and women’s brands in all retail tiers throughout North America and internationally.

Interbrand is a global accessories company with specific expertise in socks, headwear, gloves, scarves, and leather goods. Interbrand designs, markets and distributes products in over 35 countries through department stores, regional specialty, national athletic, big box outdoor, mass retailers and wholesale clubs in over 8,000 doors nationally. Hi-Tec is a sports and outdoor footwear brand.

Cherokee is partnering with industry-leading footwear, apparel and accessories specialists to ensure that the full potential of its Hi-Tec portfolio is realized. Partners like Carolina Footwear, Tharanco and Interbrand will allow Cherokee to quickly scale its newest outdoor and active lifestyle brands across multiple channels and categories.

The new collections will be available in national department stores and specialty and outdoor retailers throughout North America beginning early 2018. Cherokee, founded in 1973, is an American family brand offering classic and California casual comfort.

The sudden closure of a garment factory linked to UK and Canadian brands has left 208 workers in Cambodia without jobs, salaries or compensation. A year later these workers, largely women, are still fighting for justice and are in a desperate situation. Since they worked for UK brands Marks & Spencer and Bonmarche and Canadian brand Nygard, the workers are demanding these companies take responsibility and make due payments as their supplier failed compensate them.

One year ago, on July 1, 2016, 208 workers of Chung Fai Knitwear Factory suddenly found themselves unemployed, without notice, without severance pay and without receiving their salaries for the previous month. Well over half of these workers, 126, had been employed at the factory for 10+ years. The workers claim $$550,000 is needed to cover their final month’s salaries and lawful severance pay.

After their sudden dismissal, the workers –majority of them women – were left to fend for themselves and in retaliation they prevented the owners from selling the remaining assets of the factory and further took legal measures which resulted in a local court issuing an injunction order which temporarily froze the factory’s assets. The workers continued to urge the brands sourcing from their factory to intervene.

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) clearly stipulates the responsibility of companies to ‘avoid causing or contributing to’ as well as ‘seek to prevent, or mitigate adverse human rights impacts’ linked to their business relations. That covers all workers in their supply chain

Bangladesh can meet only three per cent of its garment industry’s demand for cotton. The rest needs to be imported that makes Bangladesh one of the largest cotton importers in the world. To meet the growing demand of the garment industry, currently the country has to spend some $4.5 billion a year on import of cotton.

Now, the country has taken an initiative to increase raw cotton production specifically Genetically Modified Organism cotton or BT cotton. As the harmful pest bollworm is the main impediment in raising cotton production in the conventional method, Bangladesh has initiated biotechnology based BT cultivation to boost cotton production. But this has to be done in such a way that food production is not hampered.

Training has been provided to 60,000 farmers on modern cotton cultivation and 3,050 demonstration plots have been set up under a project for increasing cotton production in the country. Bangladesh hopes to produce a million bales of cotton on 2,00,000 hectares of land and save on some 15 per cent of import costs.

Cotton is the main raw material for textile industries. The country has 5000 garment factories and 450 spinning mills. Bangladesh produced 0.16 million bales of cotton in 2016-17 fiscal.

European garment buyers feel Bangladesh should focus more on value added, high-end apparel items rather than basic, traditional products to make business sustainable amidst fierce competition in global garment trade. The European fashion market is rebounding as retail sales of garment items have been increasing by 3-4 per cent year-on-year over the last few years.

Sale of denim products is especially on the rise. Bangladesh's performance with denim has been strong having already overtaken China and capturing 21.8 per cent of the market share, so this is a new opportunity. Bangladesh exports over $1 billion-worth denim products to European markets in a year and one out of every three jeans being worn is from Bangladesh.

The cost of production in Bangladesh has been increasing and the price of basic garment items is not so high. So, value added items can make the business more sustainable for Bangladesh. Bangladesh's opportunity has been increasing in European markets as China, the world's largest apparel supplier, is losing its global market share due to a dearth of skilled manpower and higher cost of production.

The end customers do not want to see these kinds of explosions, collapse of buildings and death of workers. The customers want to know about the environmental impact of industrial production in Bangladesh.

India emerges a hotspot for global retail giants

 

India is one of the fastest-growing economies and is expected to surpass Germany and Japan to become the third-largest economy by 2025. India represents a $1 trillion retail market and has quickly become the Mecca for Western retailers setting up base to stake claim. With the government relaxing FDI norms, it became easier for MNCs to grab a major share. The Gap Inc, Aéropostale Inc, Desigual, Levi Strauss, Rider, Ipanema and Adidas AG, are some of the companies who have aggressively forayed into Indian territory.

Growth triggers for retail

India emerges a hotspot for global

 

Around 86 per cent of Indian respondents in a recent study said they were likely to make online transactions with their phones. This is good news for retailers both local and foreign as India’s consumers place a priority on fashion and apparel when it comes to online spending. Many of India’s consumers are technologically savvy, and mobile has become the leading Internet-enabled device for both urban (73 per cent) and rural (87 per cent) users in India. With a steadily growing middle class, and the vast majority of their population below the age of 35 (65 per cent), India is sitting on a mountain of unrealised growth potential for the mobile market.

Growing western influence

According to CLSA, India’s fashion market is a $17 billion industry and is growing 25 per cent year over year. There is a growing trend among India’s population in embracing Western culture and style. Indo-Western wear, a fashion trend that fuses influences from both cultures, is on the rise among pre-teens. And in a recent survey of workforce populations in top cities in India, 64 per cent said they prefer to wear jeans or denim every day. Levi Strauss, one of the original denim brands in the US was the first to explore India as an emerging market and now boasts 185 retail points country-wide. Brands like Aéropostale, Lee and Wrangler have taken measures to regain their share of market by entering India. Zara opened its first flagship in New Delhi in 2010, followed by Mango and H&M.

Due diligence is needed

However, before a company decides to stake a claim of your own in India, one needs to consider the following aspects: Conduct research to better understand how India’s regulatory environment works; familiarise with Make in India; the secret to securing customer loyalty will be in conquering the language barrier, etc.

Textile traders in Ahmedabad have gone on an indefinite strike from Monday to mount pressure on the government to roll back 5 per cent GST on cloth. The decision was taken by Maskati Cloth Market Association, New Cloth Market and Panchkuva Cloth Market. As per the statement 5 per cent GST on cloth is not acceptable to anyone who is in the textile business. To raise the voice against this tax, from tomorrow all the textile markets in the city will go on indefinite strike, as traders will refrain from any kind of transaction.

Textile traders in Surat are already on an indefinite strike for last one week. On Saturday, thousands of traders took part in a massive rally to protest against the 5 per cent GST rate. Union minister Parshottam Rupala on Sunday asked traders to engage in talks with the Centre to resolve the issue instead of staging protests. Rupala says that the reporters that the intention behind rolling out GST was to give a boost to trade and business, not to harass people.

Ethical Fashion Show and Greenshowroom were held in Germany from July 4 to 6, 2017. This time the location was changed. The new space with its open hall with raw walls and huge ceilings and innumerable skylights, provided pleasant brightness, and offered a great backdrop to exhibitors. Compared to the former location, the new one had a clearer layout and structure.

In addition, the lounge-like furniture allowed visitors to rest and relax. Ethical Fashion Show is an international fair for sustainable fashion. Here exhibitors show clothing for men, women and children from different areas such as sportswear, street wear and much more. Also, jewelry, shoes, bags and accessories are on display at the fair. In addition to the exhibition conferences and fashion shows take place.

Ethical Fashion Show presents international casual wear and street wear brands-- supplemented by an extensive program with a knowledge lounge, lectures, catwalk show and get- together events. The focus is on fashion and sustainability in the apparel, clothing, lifestyle and fashion industries.

Greenshowroom stands for elegant designs and sustainable high-grade materials. Exclusive ambience, personal atmosphere and that certain extra something distinguish the extraordinary profile of the fair. Visitors can look forward to fashion, beauty and lifestyle products of the highest standard.

 

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