FW
Textile workers in Haiti took the streets of the capital a second time in two weeks, demanding wage increases. Workers at sweatshop, trousers and other garment factories also protested the dismissal of some 40 trade unionists in an Industrial park in Port-au-Prince. They have now entered their third week on strike, promising to continue fighting for better working conditions. Their core demands include a minimum wage increase from roughly US$5.50 to US$12.60 per day, protections against quota increases and access to social services for all workers. They also noted that production quotas are set high, that factory owners and management mistreat workers, and that workers' salaries often amount to less than the current minimum wage. Dozens of textile factories in Port Au Prince has been closed because of this strike.
The strike, has spread to the country's four main cities: Port Au Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe and Caracol. These malfeasances, union organizers, cognizant that their co-workers receive the lowest wage in the Western Hemisphere, are frequently pestered by management and arbitrarily fired simply for demanding their legal rights. Working hours of the workers are between 12-16 hours per day, which has led the garment workers, to live in debt, hungry and on the brink of homelessness in working.
The Association of Haitian Industries claimed that “militants and syndicatists” were responsible for beating workers, forcing them to join the picket lines in favor of improved work conditions.
Jeans and a white T-shirt are the blank canvas for Gap’s new film Bridging the Gap. Gap describes the film as a celebration of American optimism. The diverse cast, which includes model Christie Brinkley, actress Priyanka Chopra, musician Wiz Khalifa and more, sings Sunny by Boney M., which conveys a message of optimism, while each dances to their own rhythm.
The film is directed and styled by Edward Enninful, who will take over as editor-in-chief for British Vogue in August. Edward Enninful is the perfect partner in this project as he and Gap share an optimistic view of the world.
Gap is a quintessentially American brand. ‘Bridging the Gap is about showing the many faces of what it means to be an American and bringing all of those sides together. The brand has mastered the art of bringing together big names for film campaigns. In February, Gap marked the release of the ‘90s archive re-issue collection with a film starring Naomi Campbell and a roll call of emerging talent, including model Lizzy Jagger and artist Coco Gordon.
Gap’s comparable sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 were up two per cent versus a five per cent decrease last year.
Bangladesh’s merchandise exports to the United Kingdom dropped by 5.60 per cent during the eleven months of the current fiscal year. The country’s exports to the UK stood at 3.25 billion dollars in the July to May period of this fiscal. The amount was 3.44 billion dollars in the same period of financial year ’16.
Such export decline could be attributed to Brexit or Britain’s exit from the European Union. After Brexit, Bangladesh has to pay 400 million dollars as additional import duty, which is around eleven per cent of its annual export to the UK, and it will also require renegotiating a bilateral trade policy. Total annual exports to the UK were 3.81 billion dollars in the past fiscal year.
The UK is the third single largest destination for Bangladesh’s exports where all products enjoy duty-free market access following the EU’s everything but arms regime. Bangladesh historically maintains a positive trade balance with the UK. The UK is one of the largest development partners of Bangladesh. It also has substantial business interests in Bangladesh and remains the second biggest foreign investor.
Brexit is expected to bring trade and investment opportunities for Bangladesh. Bangladesh would be among the most affected developing countries of the Commonwealth in terms of tariff.
As per the reports the UK textiles sector needs a more imaginative industrial policy to help it build the capabilities needed for a sustainable future. The project that produced the report was funded by the British Cotton Growers’ Association Work People’s Collection Fund.
The findings of the research ‘Coming Back? Capability and Precarity in UK Textiles and Apparel’ are directly relevant to the current UK Government consultation on industrial strategy and to debates about restoring manufacturing as the Textile and Apparel sector remains important but is now dominated by small and micro-firms with, on average, low investment, productivity and wages. While it is possible to make high quality products in the UK, many producers struggle with low returns. The report argued that the industry policy needs to have a more explicit focus on the textile sectors by addressing some of the specific challenges.
The report points out thatat present, more than 80 per cent of clothing and textile products is manufactured abroad. The UK T&A sector has been considered largely a part of the UK’s industrial past, not its future and the sector has been in long-term decline since the 1970s.
The report further explained about the Ecological conditions and on how the business environment acts as an ecology that offers both opportunities and challenges to producers. Therefore shape the way in which firms develop the productive, marketing and finance capabilities that they needed to be sustainable.
In contrast, many small clothing manufacturers have little power in their relationships with major retailers, resulting in low and uncertain profit margins. These conditions make it more difficult to achieve prices necessary to pay UK wages, manage risk, secure a modest return for business owners and invest for the future.
In the apparel sub-sectors researchers making sure management succession and securing patient capital that can withstand the cyclicality of the industry are relevant to sustaining capabilities. The report does not only focus on number of jobs but explore the sustainability for industrial policy in textiles and apparel manufacturers.
In the first four months of 2017, Vietnam’s exports to Russia grew by 78.2 per cent. The two-way trade value in 2016 was up 25 per cent over 2015. In the first four months of 2017, it climbed 30 per cent year on year.
Garment and textile exports from Vietnam to Russia were up 146.47 per cent year on year followed by coffee. However coffee exports to Russia fell 18.14 per cent on year.
In addition, Vietnam’s exports of electronic devices were up 16.6 per cent and exports of footwear to Russia were up 10.82 per cent. Vietnamese companies are investing in Russia. To date, Vietnam has about 20 investment projects with a total registered capital of nearly three billion dollars in Russia.
Vietnam-Russia economic cooperation has been strengthened in the areas of trade, investment, oil and gas, and electricity. The two-way trade has been on the rise and forms of cooperation and investment have also been increasingly diversified.
More opportunities for bilateral cooperation are expected especially when the two countries adopt bilateral payment in domestic currencies.
Brands are in a race to evolve their supply chains and manufacturing technologies in order to get new products to the market faster.Brands like Nike and Adidas have made moves to increase speed to market. They have shed the old model in which new shoe styles could take up to 18 months to crawl from conception to store shelves.
These efforts have led to a huge cut in supply chain lead times, reducing the chance of having excessive, slow-moving inventory and increasing sportswear makers' odds of keeping up with the latest trends. That could add an additional 15 per cent to top line growth.
So almost 20 per cent of Nike’s and Adidas' production may be automated by fiscal 2023. Innovations like digitized design, automated production, 3D printing could also increase their share gains.
After the supply chain changes take hold, almost no small brand or private label footwear maker for the foreseeable future will be able to offer comparable quality products to what Nike and Adidas have at similar prices.
So major athletic wear brands are poised to offer better products.
Sales in the athletic wear industry may have a seven per cent annual global growth by 2021.
Cotton futures are to retreat into 2018 more significantly than investors are factoring in, sapped by rising world production – although reviving economic growth stands to raise demand further ahead.
For now, cotton prices look poised for more of the sharp moves which saw futures soar 14 per cent in three sessions in mid-May to a near-three-year high, only to give back nearly all that found over the following week.
Most of the additional production - besides that in China, and an amount equivalent to some four million bales, the size of Australia's harvest - will be available to world markets.
This will weigh on the price of cotton futures. However, further ahead, a positive backdrop for demand is expected, boosted by world economic growth pegged at 3.65 per cent for 2018 and 3.68 per cent for 2019.
Cotton demand is expected to grow 1.5 per cent next year and two per cent in 2019. Expansion would be highly concentrated in developing Asian markets, bar China. Consumption growth in the spinning sectors of Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia may drive global demand growth.
Area in India is expected to increase eight per cent year on year in 2017-18. A hike in US cotton sowings is possible this year, thanks to the better returns offered to growers by the fiber compared with the likes of corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.
Tonrose is introducing the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) mark to its products. It’s the first time a member who supplies end products to businesses in the service industry has introduced BCI-specific on-product marking and the company is hoping it will help influence other UK and international trade linen brands to also join BCI.
The Tonrose Group is one of Europe’s longest established trade linen companies. Tonrose was the first UK trade linen company to become a member of the Better Cotton Initiative and, as a leading provider to the hospitality sector, it is driving the sector’s agenda on Better Cotton and ethical luxury.
The group owns a growing portfolio of brands including Tonrose (hotel and leisure linen supply), Tradelinens (luxury linen division), Tielle Love Luxury (retail), and Sirona (specialist spa trade business).
Tonrose feels a strong responsibility to ensure it works closely with its supply partners to ensure that ten per cent of its cotton procurement becomes Better Cotton by the end of 2017. As more mills around the world get involved, the company hopes to make this a feature across its entire linen range.
Better Cotton Initiative was established in 2009 to address the most pressing sustainability issues in global cotton cultivation, with an equal focus on environmental, social and economic impact.
The UK male clothing market grew at twice the rate of the women's equivalent last year.The men’s wear market is estimated to have grown by 2.8 per cent in 2016 compared with the 1.3 per cent rise seen in the women’s market.
However the men’s wear sector still only accounts for 27 per cent of the total clothing market, trailing behind women’s wear sales.Young men are more likely than young women to have bought footwear in the last quarter, with the rising popularity of trainers driving men’s footwear sales.
Meanwhile, men aged 25 to 44 have overtaken women of the same age when it comes to buying clothes in the three months to December 2016, at 47 per cent compared to 43 per cent. A 12.3 per cent increase in men’s wear sales has been forecast between 2016 and 2021.
More retailers and brands have been tapping into the growing men’s wear market by expanding their men’s clothing offer as well as launching stores and separate websites dedicated to men's fashion.
Millennial men are also becoming more demanding, wanting higher quality pieces, frequently updated collections and unique designs and they will choose to buy clothes from those retailers and brands that step up to the plate.
Aarvee Denims & Exports reported net loss of Rs 1.30 crore in Q4 March 2017 as against net profit of Rs 3.35 crore in Q4 March 2016. One of its manufacturing units in Ahmedabad has been shut. A closure notice was issued by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board for safety and health concerns. The company plans to re-open the unit after taking remedial measures as directed by the pollution control board. However, Aarvee Denims and Exports’ net sales rose 16.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of March 2017 over the fourth quarter of March 2016.
Aarvee, which opened in 1988, is a leading global player in the textile industry. It is engaged in the manufacturing and selling of denim and non-denim fabrics and garments. It offers denim and non-denim fabrics in various colors such as regular indigo blue, dark indigo blue and sulfur bottom indigo top and in various types of structures, such as 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, broken twills and herringbone. It mainly produces and offers bottom wear jeans, casual trousers and jackets for men, women and children. Products include T-shirts, casual shirts, jeans and winter wear products.
The company has three manufacturing plants located in Ahmedabad. Its offerings include fabrics, garment and retail. Aarvee has a cotton spinning capacity of 34,000 tons per annum, texturizing capacity of 11,200 tons per annum, and fabric capacity of 85 million meters per annum.
