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Italian leader in the production of man-made yarn Fulgar, has been pursuing a wide-ranging green program involving the production process and product offered. The company has developed two sustainable products that are fast becoming best-sellers. These are: Evo, a bio-based yarn made from castor oil; and Q-Nova, a yarn developed exclusively from regenerated raw materials.
Launched five years ago, Q-Nova was the first speciality to be developed by Fulgar. This eco-sustainable yarn makes the company’s production processes more sustainable, leading to lower CO2 emissions and water consumption. Q-Nova is made exclusively from regenerated raw materials through a mechanical process that uses no chemical materials that could compromise the sustainability of the end product. Owing to its environmental sustainability performance, supply chain and zero-kilometre philosophy, Q-Nova has been supported and adopted by many companies, especially in the circular knit, legwear and woven material sector for the clothing, intimate wear and sportswear industry.
These unique features have led Q-Nova to be selected for an extensive range of uses in high-end capsules and collections in the sport-technical field, and as a leading product for many top commercial and research brands in northern Europe, the UK and North America.
Socks manufacturer SNQS, based in Tirupur, plans to expand production capacity. The company has 700 socks making machines, producing 90,000 dozen socks a month. SNQS will add a further 100 machines with an investment of nearly Rs 7 crores. The company uses machines of Italian manufacturer Lonati and is likely to install the same machines in future as well.
The company works with cotton, bamboo, aloe vera yarns and is now trying options in Tencel also. Though these yarns are comparatively expensive, SNQS wants to give something new to the market. Working with prestigious companies like M&S, Max (Landmark Group), Nutmeg etc. the company is also receiving some tag on orders from such exporters that want to give socks along with their core products.
Global socks market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.5 per cent from 2015 to 2023. In a number of developing and less developed countries, such as Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa, the market features a largely unorganized structure with a number of domestic players that tap growth opportunities through their economical products. Athletic socks are presently the most in-demand varieties of socks. The segment accounted for over one-third of overall sales of socks across the globe in 2014.
Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has hailed the increase in country’s exports of 15.28 per cent year-on-year to $21.34 billion in first 11 months of current fiscal year. PTEA has stressed for fast track implementation of long term growth-led export policies in true spirit to get sustainable growth and shrink the huge trade deficit.
PTEA chairman Mian Shaiq Jawed has praised the upsurge in country’s exports. He says value-added textiles are the main driver of growth in the country’s exports which has risen 8.13 per cent to $11.13 billion in July-April period of FY18. In the first 11 months of current fiscal year, total exports crossed $21 billion and if the trend continues, they would cross $23 billion, which will be the highest level since FY14.
He further said textile exports have taken off as a result of cash incentives under the Prime Minister’s export package. He asked for immediate payment of cash incentives under PM export package to further accelerate the growth in value added textile exports.
Pakistan has extended its export package for three years. This is meant to enhance the country’s export receipts, improve competitiveness in textile and non-textile sectors in a bid to increase the pace of growth in exports in the coming financial years.
To incentivise investment in export-oriented production, the drawback of local taxes and levies scheme has been extended on the same terms and conditions for commercial as for non-commercial exporters. The hope is that the three-year extension in export package for value-added and non-traditional products and markets would provide an incentive to local and foreign stakeholders for investment in export-oriented production capacities.
These components of the export package are expected to provide significant competitiveness benefits to the export sector. The package is in addition to other relief measures announced for the export sector. The package has contributed to a U-turn in exports in fiscal year ’18, which had earlier been declining continuously since fiscal year ’14. Textile producers expect a further hike in exports.
In Budget ’19, packaging material has been included in the sales tax zero-rated regime, which was initially designed for five major export industries--textile, leather, sports goods, surgical goods and carpets.
While the retail sector has performed well lately, the best growth is happening at the high end. With the global economy as strong as ever, and millions of people worldwide entering the middle class, especially in India and Asia, that trend is showing no signs of slowing down. And spends on luxury goods are growing.
Movado’s shares have been on the rise, gaining 60 per cent year to date. The group has a range of watches, jewelry and accessories at multiple price points. Its Swiss-made timepieces are sold both from its own branded retail stores and high-end department stores. Movado also manufactures goods under licensing deals with other fashion brands like Coach, Hugo Boss and Lacoste.
Tiffany continues to command premium prices for its jewelry and accessories in a business that has in many other cases become highly commoditized. Tiffany is the brand of choice for high-end jewelry customers. The company reported revenue growth in the Americas, Asia and Europe and improved gross and operating margins. It also announced the opening of four new retail stores, bringing the worldwide total to 314.
Burberry manufactures luxury clothing and accessories. It’s known for its checked plaid pattern. After a difficult year in 2015, Burberry is back on track and shares have nearly doubled in the past two years.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has completed more than 2,500 microinjections using the new spider silk DNA synthesis methodology. This new method allows for faster creation of larger and more complex spider silk proteins. Larger and more complex proteins are believed to produce improved silk strength, toughness, and elasticity. These improved recombinant spider silk fibers will allow the company to target an expanded set of end market applications.
US-based Kraig Biocraft is a developer of spider silk based fibers. The company is looking forward to creating new transgenics with an abridged development cycle and enhanced materials performance. The transgenics created using the new protocols are expected to be transitioned into prodigy textiles.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories is a biotechnology company focused on the commercialization of new textiles and high performance fibers including spider silks. As the leading developer of genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies, Kraig Biocraft has been able to achieve a series of scientific breakthroughs in the area of spider silk technology.
Inditex gross profit margin in the first quarter was 58.9 per cent compared to 58.2 per cent a year earlier. However, same store sales growth slowed slightly in the quarter. Sales in stores that have been open for at least one year rose around five per cent in the three months ending April 30 compared with a year earlier. That is a slight slowdown from the company’s previous fiscal quarter, when like-for-like sales rose around six per cent year-over-year.
Inditex closed its fiscal first quarter with 7,448 stores in 96 markets, a slight decline from the 7,475 stores the company had in the previous quarter. Spain-based Inditex, owns Zara and seven other brands including Massimo Dutti and Bershka.
Competitors have been unable to fully replicate Inditex's business model, which takes clothes from design to rack in weeks. The company’s gross profit margin is expected to bottom out this year as currency headwinds ease. The crucial profitability metric has fallen somewhat in recent years.
Zara's growth is flagging because of heightened competition, which is forcing the company to lower the price of clothes and footwear and to put more apparel on sale. Growth in online sales is also chipping away at profitability, because it is more expensive to ship internet orders.
The Commonwealth Fashion Exchange has partnered with Google Arts & Culture to create an interactive platform to showcase fashion design talent from across The Commonwealth. The project in partnership with Swarovski, The Woolmark Company and MATCHESFASHION.COM showcases fashion talent from across 53 countries of the Commonwealth, where designers and artisans collaborate to create personalised women’s wear to illustrate the power and potential in partnerships and global co-design.
The Google Arts & Culture platform features over 1,000 artefacts and videos about these beautiful collaborations online, as well as stories from designers and artisans who participated in the unique project. The selected design labels include names such as Karen Walker representing New Zealand, Behno representing India, and Burberry and Stella McCartney representing the UK.
Bangladesh has received an order worth $1 billion to supply fan jerseys to the FIFA World Cup, which will be begin from July 14, 2018 in Russia. According to latest figures from Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau, the country earned a net worth of $ 2.6 billion from the export of jerseys, pullovers and similar items made of cotton and man-made fibres. Around 100 factories were involved in the manufacturing of these jerseys.
This was also one of the main reasons behind a surge in export of knitwear items and apparel items in overall during the last month. In July-May period, knitwear exports rose 11.48 per cent to $13.94 billion and woven garments 8.15 per cent to $14.18 billion.
Mohammad Hatem, former VP, Exporters Association of Bangladesh, who is also a former Vice President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and owns MB Knit Fashion exported 25,000 pieces of Spain’s fan jerseys, made of man-made fibre, at US $ 2.55 per item.
Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has called on brands to join collaborative initiatives to help them get started on eliminating hazardous chemicals. GFA is a sustainability initiative run by the Danish Fashion Institute. It encourages brands to invest in research and new technologies to scale existing solutions up and to uncover new possibilities for current challenges.
Many fashion brands have not extended their sustainability efforts to include the processing stage where chemicals are used. Many are still in the beginning phase of eliminating hazardous chemicals. And they are searching for programs and tools that enable sustainably.
Since the processing stage within the value chain is a complex and fragmented one, many brands face difficulties in getting started. Hence, Global Fashion Agenda advises brands to join collaborative initiatives to profit from existing knowledge and experiences as taking action alone might be an overwhelming task. GFA collaborates with a group of strategic partners on setting a common agenda for industry efforts on sustainability in fashion.
Similarly the Greenpeace detox campaign aims at eliminating groups of chemicals of concern used in the fashion industry by 2020. Last year, Greenpeace warned about the industry's use of large quantities of polyester and its contribution to pollution of the oceans with microplastic fibers.
