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Leading exporters of readymade garments in Bangladesh are now eying the domestic market as local consumption of global-class wear holds a great potential. According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) more than 60 local exporters are now making dresses to cater to domestic market. Data available with the apex trade body in the clothing sector show the domestic market size for apparel products stands at around Tk 200 billion and local brands have less than 10 per cent share. Locally manufactured apparels with no brand value now occupy the most part of the domestic market.
Local makes of clothing are gaining popularity in the domestic fashion industry as the youth is now attracted largely to homespun global-quality products. According to Md Atiqul Islam, President, BGMEA, the domestic market has huge opportunity as there are more than 160 million people living in the country. He further stressed that for local customers’ interest entrepreneurs are expanding their business on the local market.
Local customers used to demand foreign brand clothes some years ago but now they are turning to local brands as the stuffs is better than foreign ones.
With a view to help humane treatment of animals from hatching to end product, Textile Exchange, a global nonprofit dedicated to sustainability in the apparel and textile industry, announced the latest version of its Responsible Down Standard (RDS) – a third-party certification standard that can be applied to any waterfowl-based supply chain.
This is being done for accurate labeling and help consumers to make informed choices as the goal of the RDS is to recognise and encourage best practices in animal welfare and to enable traceability. An international working group comprised of brands, animal welfare groups, and supply chain members have worked to revise the original standard over the past year.
The RDS is the most comprehensive, global, third-party certified animal welfare and traceability standard for down and feathers available for use by any company since January 2014. Down, which comes from geese and ducks that are grown primarily for the food industry, remains one of the highest-quality, best performing materials for use in apparel, bedding and home goods. Due to the attention given by animal welfare groups to issues such as live-plucking and force-feeding, in late 2012 The North Face combined forces with Textile Exchange and Control Union Certifications, an accredited third-party certification body, to design and implement the RDS across primary sourcing regions in Europe, Asia, and the United States. This included working closely with leading suppliers Allied Feather & Down and Downlite to analyze and certify every step of the down supply chain.
Upon completion of the standard, The North Face gifted it to Textile Exchange to administer and evolve the standard as needed with the hope of engaging more brands and down suppliers to begin to implement the RDS. In the following months, TE created the International Working Group tasked with revising the standard.
Textile Exchange (TE) is a global non-profit organisation that works closely with all sectors of the textile supply chain to find the best ways to minimise and even reverse the negative impacts on water, soil, air, and the human population created by this $1.7 trillion industry.
The escalating political crisis in Bangladesh poses a severe threat to international clothing retailers who source their apparel goods from the country, with billions of dollars in potential orders already lost this year.
Transport blockades have brought Bangladesh’s export supply chain to a halt. So far this year shipments through Chittagong port have declined by 40 per cent and readymade garment production is down by 20 to 30 per cent. Chittagong port handles up to 92 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports and imports. There is little prospect that the situation will improve this year. The average ship-turnaround time in Chittagong has now reached 4.9 days, compared with less than four days in India and just 10 hours in Hong Kong.
The infrastructure connecting the garment manufacturing centers with Chittagong continues to pose significant supply chain challenges. The country’s export sector is undermined by one of the least efficient and most expensive export processes in south Asia. Despite advances in simplifying and automating customs procedures, compliance still entails considerable logistical and operational costs for investors.
Other continuing risks for investors and western high street garment buyers include the endemic corruption at all levels, but particularly at the trade’s export point.
The board of directors of Century Textiles has allotted 8.47 million shares to promoter companies thus increasing the stake of Kumar Mangalam Birla family by around 8 per cent in the company. As of now, total 40 per cent stake in the company are owned by the promoters and the promoter companies were allotted warrants on preferential basis in June 2014. They and had paid 25 per cent of the subscription money. The promoter companies paid balance 75 per cent of the warrant price and have requested conversion of warrants into equity shares.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is now leading the company which was earlier managed by his grandfather B K Birla. Century Textiles is looking at a proposal to demerge its cement division in lieu of shares of Aditya Birla group’s Ultratech. The 13 mtpa cement capacity has been valued at Rs 10,500 crores.
A textile processing cluster worth over Rs 250 crores is coming up near Kariyapatti in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. The project being facilitated by MADITSSIA, will be the biggest cluster in Tamil Nadu. As many as 36 state-of-the-art bleaching and dyeing units with around 400 family-run textile manufacturers of Madurai, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar will be a part of Southern Districts Textile Processing Cluster Private Limited.
As per K R Gnanasambandan, MADITSSIA panel chairman, these scattered units are now facing closure as Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has been issuing notices to them for polluting groundwater in the process of bleaching and dyeing. So, they need to move out and adopt better technologies to run the show.
The special purpose vehicle (SPV), formed for setting up the private industrial park, has bought 100 acres of land. The state and the Centre have given in-principle consent for the park under the Integrated Processing Development Scheme of the Union Ministry of Textiles.
Myanmar's textile and garment industry is set to benefit from the country’s new export strategy. This is a five-year roadmap aimed at strengthening smaller companies and fuelling exports and trade diversification.
The country’s first-ever National Export Strategy (NES), designed to fuel Myanmar's sustainable development through export promotion was launched on March 25. Mynmar’s export structure has changed dramatically in recent decades. Exports have become concentrated on a handful of products, mostly unprocessed natural resources, and export destinations remain limited.
The NES seeks to shift Myanmar’s trade patterns and translate gains from trade into greater prosperity for the people of Myanmar. To extend trade to new products and markets, the NES will serve as a roadmap to increase production and value addition in priority sectors that include textiles and garments.
The NES also recommends targeted investments for each export sector, in addition to tackling constraints in the business environment such as access to finance, trade information and promotion, trade facilitation and logistics, as well as quality management. It also seeks to enhance innovation capabilities by businesses and trade support institutions.
Action points in the strategy include interventions to boost the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises to longer-term policy and legislative changes.
Two giant fashion companies came together to honour fashion students and professionals from Canada. The 10th edition of annual Canada’s ‘Breakthrough Designers Competition’ saw a tie up of Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions, with TELIO. TELIO is a leading importer/exporter and distributor of high-end textiles.
The annual event showcases Canada’s young and upcoming designers and provides them exposure to the Canadian fashion industry. This year, more than 400 students entered the competition under the theme Lux(e), using noble materials and shimmering colors to celebrate 2015 as the ‘International Year of Light’. Total 25 student finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished juries.
The finalists highlighted their collections at a fashion show on March 17, with five receiving scholarships. Lectra awarded the grand prize winner Emma Litvack with Kaledo, Lectra’s textile and fashion design suite. According to Andre Telio, President of Telio, the partnership his firm has developed through this project with Lectra has allowed them to significantly upgrade prizes, and improve their contribution to promoting the future of the Canadian fashion industry.
H&M, Adidas and G-Star are among a number of businesses who have begun to publicly disclose details of their supplier factories in recent years. Adidas has been publicly disclosing its supplier list since 2007.
Transparency also brings to light factories that are authorised or not authorised to produce clothes for a particular brand. Brands’ suppliers sometimes sub-contract their work to other factories that subject workers to dangerous or abusive conditions without authorisation and without the brands’ knowledge. Supply chain transparency helps monitoring groups alert brands to these situations so they can be addressed.
By disclosing their supplier lists, brands enable public scrutiny of their supply chains, which in turn will help alert brands to poor working conditions and other human rights problems in their supplier factories. Under the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights, companies have a responsibility to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.
Clothing brands have been urged to promote respect for worker rights and safety by making their global supply chains transparent. However, some apparel retailers say they cannot reveal details of their suppliers due to competitive reasons.
Pakistan hosted Textile Asia, the international textile and garment machinery show from March 28 to 30. The exhibition presented textile and garment machinery, accessories, raw material supplies, chemicals and allied services from local and international markets. It attracted businessmen looking for new solutions to bring more efficiency in their production systems.
The exhibition was aimed at upgrading and equipping the local textile sector with latest technologies being used internationally. Nearly 386 business delegates from 39 countries visited the exhibition. Around 515 international and 35 local companies showcased their brands. Of the 415 exhibitors in the show, China’s participation was almost 50 per cent.
Pakistan was eyeing business deals worth $700 million during the exhibition. The mega event had business to business meetings with local traders and foreign delegates. The participation of both local and foreign traders in the exhibition this year was unprecedented. Despite all odds and challenges Pakistan is working on a war footing to attract foreign investment.
www.textileasia.com.pk/
Cotton Council International (CCI) is organising an invitation only seminar on April 10, 2015 at the Trident Oberoi, Mumbai. The seminar to be held in the evening, will offer useful insights on global cotton scenario and cotton textile industry. Industry experts and key decision makers are expected to discuss how India can take the lead in driving cotton consumption and how cotton would continue to steer the growth of Indian textile industry.
At the COTTON USA ‘seminar evening’, CCI and Supima will provide information about global cotton market and sourcing along with unique promotional and marketing services that US cotton industry offers. Sean Callanan, Manager, Global Operations, CCI, would present his views on economic outlook for global cotton production and consumption with update on US cotton and key cotton consuming nations.
‘Supima’ often referred to as ‘Cashmere of Cottons’ is acknowledged as a premium fibre with exceptional attributes like: softness, strength and brilliance of color to produce luxury products. In 2014, American Image Awards honoured Supima as the premium fibre brand of the year. Marc Lewkowitz, Executive VP, Supima, would share his thoughts on how Supima has successfully collaborated with the global premium brands and retailers.
In 2015-16, Indian mills are projected to consume 5.4 million metric tons of cotton fibre, this is 22 per cent of global cotton fibre consumption. Cotton consumption of Indian textile mills have grown at a CAGR of five per cent in the last five years. This also happens to be one of the most challenging periods for the cotton industry. Cotton textiles have contributed significantly to India’s exports, this is also supported by international trade theories. According to Ricardo’s principle of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) which is amongst one of the most important concepts among international trade economics, the RCA of Indian cotton textiles increased from 1.97 to 3.12 in the last five years. This highlights India’s competitiveness in cotton textiles. In 2014, Indian textile industry surpassed the $100 billion benchmark, to add another $100 billion, India needs to gear up its cotton textile exports and the domestic retail consumption.
At COTTON USA’s panel discussion in Mumbai eminent members from various sectors of cotton textiles value chain would share their thoughts on: ‘How India can take a leadership position in cotton consumption in the near future’. CCI is also organizing a fibre and yarn exposition to promote a revitalised brand vision emphasising US cotton’s purity, quality and responsibility. COTTON USA works with quality manufacturers from across the world to ensure the consumer gets the best quality along with the brand. COTTON USA works closely with more than 12 licensees in India across all major product groups this includes yarns, apparel fabrics and home textiles.
Responsible and transparent fibre sourcing is an integral part of the COTTON USA marketing and licensing program, which operates globally and offers a wide range of services. CCI’s sourcing program supports buyers in sourcing COTTON USA, from raw material to the end product, with a focus on responsible cotton production and sourcing through participation in the Cotton LEADSTM program.
