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Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) expo was held in the US, October 1 to 4, 2019. This is North America’s largest specialty, industrial and advanced textile event. The event hosted more than 325 exhibitors and 4,412 participants from 64 countries. The expo provided access to the industry's leading companies, latest innovations in technology and textiles as well as valuable education and insight into current and future trends. Attendees had the opportunity to meet with different exhibitors, hear expert advise at more than 83 educational sessions and gain inspiration. Sessions provided valuable information for the advanced textiles, specialty fabrics and shade and weather protection markets. The expo hosted three days of market specific classroom education with 33 sessions focused on shade and weather protection, graphics, marine, sustainability and business operations, along with a wealth of other specialty fabrics and advanced textiles focused content.
The session on advanced textiles included challenges and applications of soft goods in human spaceflight, a look at trends that affect textile needs within the nation’s defense strategy and how to find opportunities and respond to military bids, regulations and advances with medical textiles, a systems level overview of smart textiles as well as a look at prototyping, innovation and diversification.
Nonactive casual clothing represents more than half of the US fashion industry’s sales. This category includes casual pants, polo shirts and blazers. It does not include active wear, outerwear, tailored apparel and underwear. Casual is becoming more specialized. Casual styles have embraced fabrics that formerly were the sole domain of active wear, such as antimicrobial and wicking fabrics. Other features in demand include stain-resistant and wrinkle-resistant clothes.
Fashion’s future depends on casual clothing. But today’s casual fashion is different from what was once referred to as sportswear in the American fashion industry. Along with casual, comfort is a major concern for consumers. The definition of everyday apparel has no clear boundaries. Specialty stores take up 29 per cent of the American casual wear business. Department stores make up 15 per cent of the market and off-price retailers make up 14 per cent. Growth in casual wear market is expected to come from off-price and manufacturer-owned/direct-to-consumer stores. In the 12 months ending May 2019, total US sales of sweats and active bottoms, including adults’ and children’s products, grew eight per cent and sleepwear sales increased two per cent. Sweats, swimwear, dresses and sleepwear are expected to drive fashion-industry growth.
Lenzing’s new Tencel Sustainable Denim Wardrobe’s new collection, Broadband, represents the wide scope of the many kinds of denim in the market. There are two concepts based on Tencel Lyocell fabrics: Hardwear, a workwear wardrobe inspired by archival garments; and Softwear, a feminine range of fluid denim fashion statements. Together, they represent the ying and yang of denim, underscoring that there’s no singular denim trend driving the category at the moment.
While Tencel has presented several collections in the past that have highlighted denim trends like garment-dyed or chambray garments, nothing has shown its diversity as Broadwear. Nor has a project showed the fiber in a way like Hardwear does. The collection is Tencel’s foot in the door with brands that focus on heritage workwear design.
Like all of Tencel’s collections, the fabrics were narrowed down from approximately 40 to just eight for Hardwear, chosen on their finishing performance and compatibility with laser treatment. Equally complex and inspiring, Softwear showcases Tencel fabrics in a familiar yet elevated and fashionable way. Softwear uses fabrics that are mill wash, meaning, they are ready for cut and sew and require no additional wash. The collection’s water-inspired effects aim at sparking dialogues about water conservation in the apparel industry.
Mimaki USA has launched the TX300P-1800 MkII, dual capability textile printer that offers the ability to switch between transfer paper for dye sublimation printing or direct-to-textile printing on one unit, and also offers additional dual-ink possibilities.
The TX300P-1800 MkII printer can be configured with three different ink combinations including textile pigment/direct sublimation, textile pigment/sublimation transfer, or direct sublimation/sublimation transfer.
TX300P-1800 MkII users can also install a single type of ink and can choose from direct sublimation, textile pigment, disperse dye, reactive dye and acid dye, depending on the application.
All inks are available in two-liter ink packs, and are installed in the Mimaki Bulk Ink System 3 (MBIS3) that reduces ink costs when compared to ink cartridges used in competitive products, and enables unattended printing, freeing staff to work on other projects.
The TX300P-1800 MkII printer is expected to be available in November 2019 from authorised Mimaki dealers in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
Denim trade show Kingpins Amsterdam has launched the One Million Liters of water initiative. To raise awareness, the initiative invites users to select the cause they want to donate the next million liters of water. The campaign’s core mission is to raise awareness by showing how changing one part of the production or manufacturing process can speed up change towards a more sustainable textile industry.
With DryIndigo technology, Tejidos Royo saved more than a million liters of water used in denim dyeing this year. The economic contribution from the first million liters saved has been donated to UNICEF for its water and sanitation programs, which improve the lives of thousands of children around the world. Producing a pair of jeans using the conventional system uses an amount of water equivalent to what one person could drink over seven years. DryIndigo uses no water in the dyeing process. It also reduces energy consumption by 65 per cent during manufacture, uses 89 per cent less chemical products, and completely eliminates waste water discharge.
Kingpins Amsterdam was held October 23 to 24, 2019. More than fifty exhibitors participated, most of them Asian, from countries like Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Bangladesh, Japan and Singapore.
The current-quarter revenues of eBay’s fell below the estimates of the Wall Street as the company faces fierce competition from bigger rivals Amazon.com and Walmart in the run-up to the crucial holiday shopping season. Shares of the company declined 2.73 per cent to $38.13 in extended trading as the holiday quarter typically generates a majority of its annual sales and profit. It forecasted its fourth-quarter adjusted profit from continuing operations in the range of 73 cents to 76 cents per share and net revenue of $2.77 billion and $2.82 billion.
Active buyers of the company grew by 4 per cent to 183 million in the reported quarter. However, its gross merchandise volume, which is the value of goods sold on its websites within a certain time frame, declined by 4 percent to $21.72 billion.
The company’s net income fell to $310 million, or 37 cents per share, in the third-quarter ended Sept. 30, from $721 million, or 73 cents per share, a year earlier.
Even with a bumper crop India’s cotton imports may be as high as last years. For one, rains have hit the quality of the crop. Also, paucity of quality cotton may force textile mills to turn to overseas markets. Mills that make an assessment of quality early on and opt for import will be saving themselves the trouble of finding quality cotton later in the season. In addition to specific grades not produced in India, Indian mills may have to import a lot of varieties produced locally, where quality is an issue due to adverse weather.
India’s export prospects will largely depend on the difference between Indian prices and the benchmark Cotlook price. But exports will be of lower grade cotton, like the US did last year, due to identical weather conditions in that country. Last year, 70 per cent of US cotton exports were of lower grade. India is looking at a similar situation amid continued rains damaging open cotton bolls, which are in the process of drying.
Heavy rains continue to lash many cotton-growing areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka. India may be forced to import good grade cotton in 2019-20. Rains now could be devastating for the crop.
Atika Riffat, Joint Secretary Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development says international buyers are increasingly getting sensitive about ethical sourcing and international compliances.
To cater to this demand, the Pakistan government recently carried out various interventions to improve working conditions in the country. It also launched the Better Work Programme (BWP) to improve Pakistan’s compliance and exhibit its commitment to improve labor welfare. The program was launched in collaboration with the International Labor Organisation and aims to improve working conditions in textile industry and make the sector more competitive by enabling collaboration between government, global brands, factory owners and workers.
The program includes a comprehensive framework on improving industrial relations through training and compliance with International labor standards including occupational safety and health, nature of employment, discrimination and other forms of labor practices as well as strengthening employers and workers organisations in textile industry.
According to the CEO World Magazine, Louis Vuitton is one of the most expensive and sought after brands for menswear. With a net worth of $28.8 billion, the luxury brand manufactures clothing, leather goods, footwear, and stylish sunglasses as well. It is followed by Parisian beauty brand Hermes and Italian clothing brand Gucci on the second and third position respectively.
The third position in this list is occupied by the brand Prada which offers the impressive styles and colors. The fabrics used by this brand are also very comfortable and bring all-day long bliss for the wearer. Occupying the fourth position in the list British brand Burberry loves to experiment on earthy colors and interesting prints that are beautiful and extremely classy to look at.
On the sixth position is brand which was founded in the year 1946 by Christian Dior. The brand has a strong elite presence and prestigious reputation. Its range of apparel is spectacularly stylish. The last position in this list is occupied by the Spanish fast fashion brand Zara. The brand produces nearly 450 million items per year globally, with basic to layered designs. Their line of men’s trousers and tailored fit suits deserve special attention.
Bangladesh Denim Expo will be held November 5 to 6, 2019. Around 100 exhibitors from 11 countries, including host Bangladesh, will participate in this year’s denim expo. Other participating countries are China, Japan, Italy, India, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, and Germany. Responsibility will be the theme at product displays, presentations, seminar sessions and panel discussions. Presentations will be on human resources, transparency in business, water conservation, purchasing practices, sustainable chemical management, waste management, circular economy in textiles and climate change. The focus of this year’s show is on practical, pragmatic actions the textile industry can adopt to improve its environmental footprint. This is the first year the expo has set supply chain standards for its exhibitors. The show has adopted corporate social responsibility, environmental and chemical use standards that will require exhibitors to provide proof of compliance with industry standards. Kingpins initiated the protocol and encouraged other trade show organizers to implement the same standards.
Bangladesh is now the world’s largest producer of denim and leads the way in terms of addressing some of the sustainability challenges related to denim production, including excessive use of water and chemicals. Each expo marks continued and gradual progress being made by the more progressive players in the industry.
