Vietnam and China are collaborating in the textile and garment sector. China and Vietnam hold a pivotal position in the global textile market. Industries in the two countries are highly complementary. China is the world’s biggest exporter and Vietnam is the second biggest. Vietnam is taking a path similar to China’s, both having communist leaders who turned toward export-led market capitalism in recent decades, and in terms of selling ever more footwear, clothes and bags to the world. Their industries compete for customers but they are also complementary in that Chinese factories supply much of the fabrics and other inputs needed in the business, while Vietnamese factory hands are increasingly supplying the labor as costs rise in China. Textile firms on both sides of the border are working together to turn a profit.

Amid the trade war with the United States, China has lost some of its business to Vietnam. On the other hand, it is not just foreign third parties moving factories from China to Vietnam. Chinese investors themselves deem it beneficial to relocate some of their supply chain to Vietnam. However Vietnam does not have as large and complex a network of textile suppliers and processors as China does. That is one reason the smaller country relies on the larger one as its biggest source of imported goods overall.

Pitti Bimbo will be held in Italy, June 20 to 22, 2019. This children’s wear show will host 560 exhibitors, of which 337 will be from outside Italy. A new section will present the latest experimental approaches in children’s wear, with exhibitors divided in among five sub-sections: Kidzfizz, for experimental brands; #Activelab, for athleisure/urban brands; an incubator area, The Nest, for up-and-coming brands; EcoEthic, for sustainable brands; and a series of mini capsule collections. The show’s section for experimental children’s fashion will also include communal areas dedicated to exhibitions, editorial projects and events.

Pitti Bimbo’s other main sections are Apartment, featuring labels with a couture inspiration; Sport Generation, for sportswear labels; Superstreet, dedicated to streetwear labels; and the Fancy Room and Editorials sections, showcasing the increasingly large contingent of lifestyle brands, exploring a variety of different children’s wear trends. The show’s last summer session was attended by 5,350 buyers (2,450 of them from outside Italy) and 10,000 visitors in total. The organisers hope to boost attendance in June thanks to an intense program featuring many novelties.

In terms of digital tools, the e-Pitti.com site will yet again put at the buyers’ disposal, once the physical show is over, its B2B platform featuring more than 370 brands and 2,000 products.

Primark expects to add 950,000 sq ft of new selling space during the next financial year. This will include six new stores. These plans are driven by higher margins and strong sales in the UK and European markets the brand’s profits increased by 25 per cent during its half year. Its adjusted operating profits for the 24 weeks to March 2, 2019 increased by 25 per cent up to £426m, while total revenue increased by 4 per cent to over £3.6billion.

Global sales at the value retailer increased by 4.4 per cent year on year, driven by increased retailing space, which helped partially, offset a 1.5 per cent decline in like-for-like sales. The value fashion retailer reported a 2.3 per cent increase in its year on year UK sales, while like-for-like sales in the region grew by 0.6 per cent. It also reported encouraging customer reactions to its new spring/summer range.

European sales of the brand grew by 5.3 per cent year on year, but like-for-like sales declined by 3.2 per cent, which Primark attributed to a decline in the German market and low footfall across the region in November. However, the brand reported strong sales growth in its Spain, France, Italy and Belgium market.

Primark also reported strong business performance in the US, driven by excellent trading at its recently opened store in Brooklyn, New York. Operating margins in this market increased by two percentage points to 11.7 per cent.

India Trend Fair will be held in Japan from July 24 to 26, 2019. The event will feature fashion and home ware in categories such as denim, finished garments, accessories, footwear, cushions, bed linens, and carpets. It is aimed at promoting trade links between Japan and India in the fashion industry. It will bring together Indian readymade garment and accessory manufacturers and Japanese suppliers. This is an exclusive business matching event, which gives exporters an opportunity to showcase their products and supply value added products with a special emphasis on products designed to suit Japanese fashion trends and requirements. Buyers would include manufacturers, wholesalers, trading companies, importers, select and specialist shops, department stores, volume and online retailers etc.

Japan is a sophisticated market, leaning towards small-lot and short cycle delivery of supply. Consumption is diversified and quality expectations are very high. High quality and expensive Indian garments are gaining popularity in Japan. Customers like selecting garments that have a different character when compared with dresses and kimono worn at such occasions as weddings and parties.

The event is being hosted by the Japan India Industry Promotion Association (JIPA), a non-profit that works to promote trade between India and Japan. It collects and analyses information on Japanese and Indian industrial markets.

US-based American & Efird (A&E), a portfolio company of Elevate Textiles and the world’s foremost manufacturer and distributor of industrial and consumer sewing thread, embroidery thread and technical textiles, released its 9th annual, Corporate Sustainability Report, ‘A Focus on the Future’ on April 22, 2019.

The report notes that A&E recently implemented a global energy efficiency best practice program to assist in enhancing the energy efficiency and conversation practice already in place and accomplish reduction goals. Its operations in this year will complete the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (SAC) facility Socila Labour Module (Higg FSLM). It’s results will be available for A&E’ clients as well as suppliers through the Higg Index System.

The company recycled and reused over 2 billion litres of wastewater through its global operations since 2013 and there was 41 per cent reduction in global water consumption (litres per kg of thread) since 2006. It claims 100 per cent zero-waste-to-landfill status at 16 of its global manufacturing operations and support facilities in 2018, with five other operations recycling more than 90 per cent of by-products and created waste.

There was 13 per cent reduction of global carbon footprint (measured in CO2e in kg per kg of thread) since 2006 and 11 per cent reduction was noticed in global power consumption (KwH per kg of thread) since 2006. The company’s global incident rate improved to 0.55 in 2018. Though it is well below the US industry’s average, but the company’s target is to reach at zero accidents.

A conclave on technical textiles was held in Coimbatore, April 24, 2019. The aim was to create awareness of the potential for technical textiles and attract more entrepreneurs to this growing sector. Entrepreneurs got first hand info about the industry and its potential. About 140 entrepreneurs from across the country took part in the event. The conclave provided the necessary inputs to plan for value addition or diversification. Eminent speakers from abroad, leading consultants, experts from DRDO, centers of excellence and TRAs and technical textile machinery manufacturers made presentations and interacted with delegates during the event.

The ability to add high value to products, create new, niche products and cater to the demands of sophisticated consumers makes players in this sector future champions of the textile industry. The growth of the technical textile industry in India has been rather slow, both in terms of manufacturing capabilities as well as the per capita domestic consumption of technical textiles. The Indian supply base has to grow tenfold to make some meaningful impact in the international arena.

The event was organised for the first time in Coimbatore to create awareness on the potential for technical textiles by the Indian Technical Textiles Association in association with the Indian Texpreneurs Association and the South India Mills Association.

Fashion companies constantly pressure Bangladesh’s garment suppliers to keep prices low and make clothing faster. This results in cost-cutting on safety and wages and mistreatment of workers. Fashion brands also fail to compensate factories for safety improvements. While factories have had to invest in safety measures, the prices they get have not gone up. As competing garment factories are pushed lower on price by global clothing brands, profit margins are squeezed and this leads to workers’ wages being cut or paid late, restricted break times, and rising production targets. This also leaves factories that had made safety improvements unable to compete or forced to push costs onto their workers by cutting wages.

Factories struggle to pay higher wages as they do not get a fair price from brands. In fact prices paid by brands have fallen despite big investments by factories to improve conditions after the Rana Plaza collapse. The collapse of the factory in April 2013 killed more than 1100 workers, placing scrutiny on major brands and sparking demands for better safety in the world’s second-largest exporter of readymade garments.

One way out is for factory owners to work together in order to push back against brands that make unreasonable demands and request ever-lower prices.

As per OTEXA’s recent import data, denim apparel exports from Bangladesh to the US declined by 5.81 per cent during the Jan-Feb’19 period. The country exported denim apparels worth $ 64.78 million as against $ 68.77, in the corresponding period last year.

Bangladesh’s export in skirts and jackets went up. The major revenue earning categories, men & boys (MB) jeans and women & girls (WG) jeans, noted a downfall. Exports of MB jeans declined by 2.57 per cent to $ 35 million, while those of WG jeans tumbled by 13.46 per cent to $26.40 million.

Thes drop in denim apparel export can impact Bangladesh as its competitor Vietnam grew significantly by 35.85 per cent during the same period to touch $ 50.13 million.

The gap between Bangladesh and Vietnam, particularly in denim exports, is shrinking. Last year the difference between export of both the countries hovered around $32 million, while, in first two months of 2019, it compressed to just $12.56 million which is not at all a good sign for Bangladesh denim industry.

Bangladesh denim expo will be held from May 2 to 3, 2019 and will host 63 exhibitors. Bangladesh Denim Expo celebrates the country’s role in shaping the denim scene today. The expo’s objective is to showcase Bangladesh’s growth potential in the denim industry. Bangladesh is well-known for denim and jeans production, for both niche and mass markets. Buyers respect Bangladesh’s ability to offer great margins and high-quality goods.

The theme of the show is circularity, a concept on which both the future of the planet and the textile industry depend. The garment industry is among the leading contributors to the rapid deterioration of the environment. A circular business model can only be achieved by instigating change in the whole process of the supply chain.

The Bangladesh fashionology summit will focus on digitalization and highlight how digital and technological advances are impacting the apparel industry and how the entire business must act to respond to this changing landscape. In a scenario constantly looking for sustainable solutions, technology and digitalization are an important part of how circularity can be further developed. During the event, a digital tech runway show will showcase fashion and tech outfits created by designers from all over the world.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expects to conclude negotiations for Asia-wide trade deal involving 16 countries by November 2019 although it does not expect the deal to be signed by then. The targets for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, being negotiated among the 10-member ASEAN, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, were discussed in two days of talks among ASEAN economic ministers on the Thailand’s Phuket.

The ministers of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam agreed to finalise the protracted RCEP negotiations by the time. When the 16 RCEP nations' leaders met last November, they resolved to reach a final agreement within 2019, after missing a year-end deadline amid disagreements over tariffs and other politically sensitive issues. RCEP talks began in 2013 and the initial goal was to wrap them up in 2015.

Covering a third of the global economy, RCEP will be one of the world's largest free trade zones. It will help boost the economic growth of the region and support the plan of ASEAN to double intra-ASEAN trade in 2025 from 2017's figure of about $590 billion.