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The basic blue jean may become entangled in a trade war between the US and its allies.
Following the start of US duties on imported metals from EU, Mexico and Canada, denim brands expressed their concern that tariffs will be placed on goods like jeans and consequently could raise prices for consumers worldwide.
The US has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and a ten per cent tariff on aluminum imports from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico, ending a two-month exemption.
The EU says it would respond in a firm and united manner to the tariffs.
Levi Strauss & Co. will work with industry peers to raise awareness of how the tariffs will affect their business, consumers and the people across their supply chains. Levi’s has called for open markets and free trade where everyone plays by the rules.
Abercrombie & Fitch has been taking steps to reduce its dependence on China and increase the agility of its supply chain. The turnaround appears to be taking effect. Net sales for the first quarter were up 11 per cent with comparable sales ahead five per cent.
Unilateral tariff impositions risk retaliation and destabilizing the global economy, in which case American brands, workers and consumers will ultimately suffer.
Grassroots coding in the wool industry is the winning idea for Australian Wool Innovation’s 2018 Tech eChallenge.
Fending off a number of innovative business ideas that addressed areas of the wool industry such as race-line double handling and on-farm disease testing, Grassroots Coding identifies an opportunity for connecting children to the wool industry through coding. Grassroots Coding is a collaboration between Trent Bowden and Daniel Ng. Their app aims to encourage literacy in coding among young people who have in interest in the wool industry and technology.
Tech eChallenge brings young minds to everyday issues faced by woolgrowers. Teams comprising students, staff and the wider community undertook an intensive workshop course over the past three months to give them the skills to develop practical, low-cost digital tools to help wool producers improve animal health, welfare and productivity.
Participants came up with ideas and developed products they then pitched to a panel of expert judges in the Grand Final held at the University of Adelaide.
The Tech eChallenge teaches concepts to help foster innovation in a fun and open environment, with opportunities to discuss ideas with industry professionals one-on-one and to also openly brainstorm with the class, both helping to refine and cultivate the final product.
Subsidiary of Indorama Ventures, FiberVisions Corporation, has expanded its bicomponent fibre capacity in Covington, Georgia, US. This new project will be the company’s major line for producing bicomponentfibre, with 24,000 tons per year capacity, and will have state-of-the-art technology to create a new generation of bicomponent fibres.
The ground-breaking design and performance characteristics of these novel fibres will be shared with the strategic partners closer to the start-up date.
The new line will create a site with four bicomponent lines servicing the Americas and Europe and represents one piece of an expansion plan promoting its bicomponent fibre growth worldwide.
Indorama Ventures and ES FiberVisions (ESFV), a joint venture between FiberVisions LLC (a subsidiary of Thailand’s Indorama Ventures PCL) and Japan’s JNC Corporation, have been successfully expanding bicomponent fibre growth on a global scale.
ES FiberVisions opened a new production facility in Rayong, Thailand in 2017; FiberVisions Corporation will be completing a debottleneck of its existing Bicomponent fiber lines in Covington in the summer of 2018; and the previously announced investment to double the capacity of ES FiberVisions Suzhou plant to over 28,000 tons per year capacity in Jiangsu Province, China, will be completed in the summer of 2019.
Vardhman Textiles has gone into printed fabrics. The printed fabric facility with an annual capacity of nine million meters in Himachal Pradesh has state-of-the-art technology suitable for woven, knitted and non-woven fabrics.
The company has incurred a capital expenditure of around Rs 2,000 crores in the last five years. Currently it operates at near 100 per cent utilisation levels in the yarn business, catering to diverse customer requirements. It manufactures a wide range of textile products across yarn, fabrics and fiber and has the operational flexibility to strengthen it further.
Besides cotton yarn and blends, it is looking at more synthetic and blended yarns and is also taking steps to expand its existing fabric processing capabilities.
Vardhman has improved its technology platform, so that its process automation, product quality and monitoring processes can be upgraded to deliver higher and better output. The company’s technological capabilities have accelerated data-driven analytics and decision-making, enabling it to capitalise on opportunities at a faster rate.
The company is one of the largest textile companies in India manufacturing cotton yarns and fabrics, constituting about two per cent of the country’s yarn production. The fabric processing capacity is 110 million meters a year. The product basket is diversified. It is now not only in cotton but creates blends like cotton tencel stretch, cotton modal super stretch and difficult products like bi-stretch.
Textile production in Germany increased by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter, whereas clothing production volume decreased by three per cent.
Indicators for order intake worsened compared to former months. Order intake for textiles was declining in March and also markedly for clothing in the first quarter.
Production prices increased slightly, for textiles by 1.4 per cent and for clothing by 0.6 per cent.
Proceeds of clothing retailers increased 2.8 per cent in the first quarter.
Textile exports rose 0.2 per cent. Clothing exports rose six percent. The total increase was 3.8 per cent. By contrast, imports decreased by 2.7 per cent. Thus the trade surplus diminished by 16.6 per cent.
Raw material imports decreased by 9.3 per cent.
The occupational rate of the clothing and textile sectors rose slightly by 0.2 per cent.
Uncertainties in the economy and in the foreign policy are growing. However the indicators for proceeds and occupation are easing. It has to be seen if the economy after a sedate start in 2018 will swing forward.
The overall economic situation has been one of stagnation. And textiles and clothing were no exception to the trend.
Three new reports by a coalition including the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) have documented gender based violence (GBV) in the supply chains of a number of fashion brands including Gap and H&M.
These reports include accounts of widespread physical violence, forced overtime, and sexual harassment against women across Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
The report focuses on gender based violence in the H&M garment supply chain. It includes reports of women working in factories in the brand’s supply chain, including in Indian factories, who have experienced both GBV and sexual harassment.
Report clearly shows the need of continuously addressing these issues.
Nine garment factories that supply clothing to Gap and H&M were investigated by the coalition between January and May this year. Each factory investigated was found to be problematic.
This year’s Make it British Live!, May 23 to 24, hosted around 200 exhibitors.
Formerly known as Meet the Manufacturer, for its fifth edition, the show was curated by the UK Fashion & Textile Association and focused specifically on bringing the fragmented supply chain back together after years of decline through connecting brands with manufacturers and providing the needed support to the young talents in the industry.
Among visitors, who were mostly from the UK, but also representing countries like Malaysia, USA, Japan and Russia, were businesses which look to the UK for luxury products. There was also a good turnout of buyers from UK high street.
There were more mills this year. For the first time, a dyer was exhibiting at the show. The event covered the whole supply chain, so anyone developing a product in the UK would find spinners, weavers, knitters, dyers as well as suppliers of trims, labels, buttons, etc.
UK manufacturing is enjoying a great renaissance, helped by the growth in the cost benefits of re-shoring and the sustainability agenda. Manufacturing employment in the UK is rising.
Across the UK, fashion manufacturing employs over 43,000 people with nearly 3,900 companies. Textile manufacturing in the UK is also constantly developing.
International Textile Machinery will be held in Turkey, June 2 to 6, 2020, starting on June 2, as additional day, instead of June 3.
This is a textile machinery show. The event displays textile equipments and products, textile related software and solutions and other products and services. It gathers together some of the most important manufacturers of textile machinery from Turkey and around the world.
ITM is a showcase for weaving, printing, digital printing, flat and circular knitting, weft and warp knitting, spinning, winding, twisting, texturing, hosiery, quilting, dyeing and finishing machinery, textile chemicals, lab equipments, compressors and generators. The show held in April 2018 achieved great global success. There were foreign visitors from 94 countries, a high number of domestic visitors, an increase in the number of machines exhibited and a rise in the dimensions of exhibitor booths. Both national and international companies made sales of millions of euros. Hundreds of various business connections were established. Over 1150 textile technology manufacturers and company representatives from 64 countries participated at the exhibition and exhibited their products and technologies.
Most textile machinery manufacturers in Turkey range from small to medium sized companies. The line of textile machinery products manufactured by Turkish companies varies substantially from highly automated equipment to basic models. They have competence in most machinery categories such as atmospheric jet dyeing or blow dyeing.
Pakistan’s exports grew by 13 per cent during ten months of the ongoing fiscal year compared to the same period last year.Currency devaluation after four and a half years helped in increasing exports.
However exports declined to 20 billion dollars the last fiscal year from 25 billion dollars of a few years before. Exports were adversely affected due to high energy costs, exchange rate appreciation and high import tariffs on inputs and delayed sales tax refunds.
The export package has been extended up to June 30, 2021. The package aims at improving the competitiveness of the textile and non-textile export sectors to continue export growth in the coming financial years.
Pakistan’s exports are expected to remain at 23 billion dollars to 24 billion dollars during the ongoing fiscal year.
The target was set at 35 billion dollars.
Textile exports make up around 60 per cent of the country’s total exports. The textile sector has the largest share in Pakistan’s exports.
Pakistan’s competitors are upping the ante on textile exports to make inroads into more global markets. While China’s share in global textile exports is 36 per cent, Vietnam contributes 12.4 per cent, and Pakistan seven per cent.
Various problems are being faced by the country’s textile sector including the high cost of doing business, multiple taxes and surcharges.
Sri Lanka plans to have a different approach to the apparel sector and to implement a new model of business to reach five billion dollars in exports this year.
With this in view, Sri Lanka is restructuring its production infrastructure and planning a new raft of trade agreements. With the anti dumping laws in place, entering into trade agreements is expected to have far reaching benefits. The skills development aspect is given careful consideration. Since there is a labor shortage in the sector, youngsters will be encouraged to join the industry. The supply chain will be integrated while meeting the needs of international buyers. To ensure products are competitive a structural adjustment program will be put in place.
The country earns 43 per cent of its foreign exchange through apparel and textile exports.
As most competing countries including Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, China and Ethiopia are producing for international markets, Lanka will work accordingly.
Since India’s burgeoning middle class is increasingly keen on branded apparel, Sri Lankan knitwear producers are confident that they can cater to a segment that is increasingly looking at quality purchases.
The country recorded 4.88 billion dollars for apparel exports in 2017. Sri Lanka enjoys the benefits of GSP Plus.
