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India’s shipments of textiles and garments shrank 6.4 per cent in April to January, aiding a decline in overall exports that have contracted for a sixth straight month through January. The sector’s share in overall merchandise exports has been sliding consistently in recent years, having dropped from as much as 13.7 per cent in fiscal ’16 to just 10.6 per cent this fiscal, the lowest in around a decade.
The indirect tax structure in India’s manmade textile segment needs to be corrected. There is no parity in the goods and services tax rates between cotton-based and man-made textiles. The historical imbalance in favor of the natural fiber-dominated value chain has hurt the country’s export prospects. While GST on cotton and textiles made from it stands at a uniform five per cent across the value chain, the rate for synthetic fiber is 18 per cent. Manmade filament/spun yarn are taxed at 12 per cent and fabrics five per cent. This is despite the fact that manmade textiles make up as much as 65 per cent to 70 per cent of global demand and consequently hold immense export potential. In India, however, cotton textiles account for around 70 per cent of the market. Coupled with rigid labor laws and elevated logistics costs, this distortion — caused by policy interventions for decades — has stunted the country’s ability to raise garment exports exponentially.
Raf Simons is joining Prada as creative director. Simons has been creative director roles at Dior and Calvin Klein. He will work alongside Miuccia Prada with equal responsibilities for creative input and decision-making. The first collection designed by the creative powerhouse duo will be for the spring/summer 2021 women’s wear show. This partnership, encompassing all creative facets of the Prada label, is expected to open a new dialogue, between designers widely acknowledged as two of the most important and influential today. Conceptually, it is also a new approach to the very definition of creative direction for a fashion brand — a strong challenge to the idea of singularity of creative authorship, while also a bold reinforcement of the importance and power of creativity in a shifting cultural landscape. It is also seen as the first step towards broader scopes of interaction — an initiation of free exchange and collaboration, a questioning of creative conventions.
Prada, founded in 1913, is an Italian luxury fashion house specializing in leather goods such as handbags, shoes, and small fashion accessories which include wallets, pouches and belts, with a range of ready-to-wear items like shirts, jackets and knits. With this move Prada hopes to bring together each designer’s individual history of reinvention, provocation, brave exploration and the power of ideas.
Philippine trade department’s export marketing bureau (EMB) plans to request the European Union (EU) to allow garment exports under its preferential trade scheme. Under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), up to 6,274 Philippine products can enjoy zero-tariff entry to the EU as long as the product originates from the Philippines.
A recent GSP+ monitoring report showed that the Philippines slowly increased its use of GSP+ preferences to 26 per cent of its total exports to the EU in 2018. In comparison, Bangladesh led GSP+ beneficiaries by placing 96.4 percent of its exports to the EU under GSP+, followed by Cambodia at 94.9 per cent.
The Philippines’ use of GSP+ compared with all eligible exports was 73.1 per cent. While this move will not make up for the remaining 26.9 per cent utilisation, the “principle” will bode well for other exports.
EMB, in partnership with the Bureau of Customs, will also conduct roadshows to Region 3, Region 4A, Cebu, Davao, and General Santos City throughout 2020 to promote self-certification of origin among exporters.
Indian government will help top textile companies achieve sufficient size and scale to cater to worldwide demand. The aim is to create a few global champions especially in the areas of manmade fiber, technical textiles, apparel, fabrics and made-ups because of the substantial value addition in these sectors. They will be provided fiscal benefits and adequate infrastructure support. A policy is being finalised to address the lacunae under existing textile-related schemes. This includes significantly raising the cap on investment under the existing scheme that will prompt companies to set up mega manufacturing units in one place and undertake technology upgradation.
Currently, different subsidies are capped at lower investment levels, prompting companies to remain small and scattered. Textile parks will be set up with all forward and backward linkages available in the same place to make India cost competitive. The plan is to set up 1000-acre mega textile parks by providing land, electricity and water at reasonable cost. Preference will be given to coastal states and states with abundant water availability for such mega units.
Particular attention will be given to manmade fiber. In India, the share of cotton textiles is 60 per cent and the rest is synthetic or manmade fiber while the trend is the opposite elsewhere.
H&M has launched a sporty series in collaboration with Australian- active wear brand PE Nation. The collection features clothes, swimwear, undergarments and accessories and will focus on sustainable materials such as organic cotton and recycled polyester, and will span everything from leggings and T-shirts to bicycle shorts to sports socks, all with a retro aesthetic and street wear edge. Color blocking and tie-dye patterns make for a bold, dynamic series built on a color palette of neutrals peppered with jolts of mint green, neon pink and bright orange. The collection can be worn all day, every day, while being flexible, functional and style-led. All the pieces can be mixed and matched. The target audience is women who want to live a more confident, vibrant, fashionable life while juggling their fast-paced urban existence.
Be it a comfortable supportive crop for the gym, the perfect pair of compression leggings for yoga, or an effortless sports luxe top for a night out, PE Nation is a brand that is designed to suit any active lifestyle providing a range of well-constructed, functional designs. H&M has had similar collaborations with singer Billie Eilish, supermodel Helena Christensen and costume designer Ruth Carter.
The AEPC says, though India’s readymade garment exports showed a marginal increase during the April 2019-January 2020 period, apparel exporters are confident of capturing a larger market share due with renewed and the enthusiastic support of the government. The apparel sector is the largest employment provider after agriculture in India and employs 12.90 million workers, of which 65-70 per cent are women.
The government has prepared the ground for growth of man-made fibre production in the country with its removal of anti-dumping duty on PTA. AEPC plans to participate in mega exhibitions across the world to showcase Indian apparel. It will participate in various international fairs this year including ''India Tex Trend Fair'' in Tokyo and ''Pure London'' in July, ''Magic Fair'' in Las Vegas and ''Apparel Textile Sourcing'' in Canada in August, ''Who's Next'' in Paris in September, and ''Australia International Sourcing Fair'' in Melbourne in November.
Authentic Brands hopes to relaunch Forever 21 in the UK. There is no current Forever 21 business in the UK but at one time the UK had as many as eight stores. It expanded too quickly in the UK and had too many large format stores in shopping centers with poor footfalls. Forever 21 had a strong brand image and had a dedicated customer base but over-bought and ended up with stock issues.
Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy toward the end of 2019. It was shut down and then bought by Authentic Brands. The new ownership gives Forever 21 the opportunity to try to start again with a clean slate in the UK since there is a recognisable brand and brand equity. Forever 21 will have an opportunity and advantage over other brands, which don’t have that strength to be able to negotiate on favorable terms with lower rents, shortage leases with break clauses. But the apparel market in the UK is having difficult times at the moment. There is serious competition from online retailers apart from rivals. If Forever 21 decides to relaunch in the UK, it will need to begin with pop-up stores to get a feel for what customers want.
The European market imports over 45 per cent garments produced in Myanmar. The European Union accounts for more than 30 per cent of Myanmar’s total exports.
Myanmar currently enjoys tariff-free access to the EU bloc for all exports except weapons and ammunition under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The garment industry has emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of these trade privileges. The EU’s special trade status to Myanmar is critical to attracting more manufacturers setting up factories in the country as manufacturers move their supply chains from China to Southeast Asia. The recent US-China trade tension along with Coronavirus outbreak is speeding up the process of major industries shifting manufacturing bases to southeast Asia from China. With Vietnam and Indonesia seeing a looming shortage of workers for low skilled jobs, more manufacturers are looking to Myanmar as a production base as part of risk diversification measures.
A compliance assessment has been launched in Myanmar, starting with two pilot factories. The checklist helps manufacturers conduct self-assessments on whether working conditions satisfy international legal and labor rights standards, including those from the EU and the US. Last year, a law was passed addressing concerns on child rights.
Agfa and TFL have jointly developed an inkjet printing solution to decorate high-quality genuine leathers used by the fashion, upholstery, automotive, aviation and nautical industries. The solution named Alussa enables decoration of leather in such a way that it retains high flexibility and scratch resistance.
Agfa develops inkjet printers and dedicated inkjet inks as well as the software to manage and monitor the printing process. TFL provides custom-developed coating chemistry. The Alussa leather printing solution incorporates both Agfa’s vast expertise in the field of inkjet technology, graphic workflow and color management, and TFL’s in-depth knowledge of coating chemistry and coating application techniques.
Alussa is the sum of a number of perfectly matched components. Alussa enables the leather industry to decorate high-quality leather in such a way that it exhibits the excellent performance required in terms of flexibility and scratch resistance. It is the first industrial inkjet printing solution outputting decorated leather that can handle up to 1,00,000 flexes. Alussa can print both white and full-color designs with photographic quality on diverse types of leather. As it is a digital printing solution, it is ideal for customising and personalising leather products, thus catering to a global trend. Also, it just as easily allows for the creation of one-offs eg samples as of large volumes.
"A result of the overlap of Academy Awards with the New York Fashion calendar, the global fashion tour of Autumn/Winter 2020 fashion collection began in Los Angeles this season despite it being a part of the New York Fashion Week. At one of such events, designer Tom Ford launched his collection with an Oscars-after party like catwalk rather than a fashion show. Ford grabbed massive media attention with his sheer number of stories which proved to be valuable return on his investment."
A result of the overlap of Academy Awards with the New York Fashion calendar, the global fashion tour of Autumn/Winter 2020 fashion collection began in Los Angeles this season despite it being a part of the New York Fashion Week. At one of such events, designer Tom Ford launched his collection with an Oscars-after party like catwalk rather than a fashion show. Ford grabbed massive media attention with his sheer number of stories which proved to be valuable return on his investment.
Prior to Ford, designer M Missoni had held a dance-a-thon presentation at the famous Pink’s Hot Dogs on La Brea Avenue to showcase his Spring 2020 collection. Dozens of beautiful people lounged about in M Missoni’s vivid knitwear at the event. It looked as though they were staged for the Italian brand’s next advertising campaign, and images were immediately released on social media.
Baja East showcases A/W collection at Hollywood inspired hotel
Three days later, New York based brand Baja East showcased its Autumn/Winter collection at the Edition hotel
in West Hollywood, which had a ceiling full of disco balls and, for the show, a floor strewn with colorful woven rugs. That was a fitting location for this hipster-ease label, which exudes a stoned-on-the-beach-after-all-night-partying sensibility. The brand’s collection taps into a wider tale of two cities locked in a rivalry to lead America in cultural relevance.
Generating $6.1 million of media value
A few hours after Baja East, the fashion-going crowd moved several miles east to central Hollywood, where Tom Ford revealed his AW2020 collection. This created a wholly different front row where Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos was seated in the place of honor beside Anna Wintour. Super agent and Creative Artists Agency partner and managing director Bryan Lourd chatted with producer Brian Grazer. Guests included Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Jon Hamm, Jason Momoa and so many more that it’s easy to see why Ford chose LA over New York. He owned the city and the fashion internet that night.
The event generated $6.1million of media value after the show. This was a 36 per cent increase on $4.5 million Launchmetrics estimated Ford’s show to have generated in September 2019. To hold an event in LA was a daring move by Ford, who has been newly appointed as the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Many in the industry felt he should remain loyal to New York’s Fashion Week to be more supportive of other designers. However, it’s hard to argue with his results.
Media influence remains strong
Designers who lack Ford’s might, need to learn new ways to generate returns from a fashion show. This is rarely studied by brands that often lack the finances or know-how. Diving deeper into numbers suggests that breaking away from the fashion week pack can be highly beneficial to a brand. According to Launchmetrics, the stories that came out of Ford’s Hollywood runway focused exclusively on Ford, rather than counting him amongst other New York designers. In fact, the analysts calculate that, despite the benefits offered by celebrities and influencers, the influence of media accounts for a stunning $9.7million rather than the $6.1million measured within the fashion context.
