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The International Sourcing Expo will be held from November 16 to 18, 2015, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australia. The event has attracted more than 450 exhibitors from India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries, who according to the organisers can gain a foothold in the Australian market.
With a major participation from the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Indian exhibitors will benefit from a strong support network during the expo. It provides a chance to showcase the latest range from India across apparel, accessories, footwear, fabrics, trims and accessories and home textiles categories to Australian trade buyers who visit the event eyeing sourcing opportunities.
“We have had an outstanding response from exhibitors for this year’s event,” said Julie Holt, Exhibition Director, International Sourcing Expo, adding, “It clearly demonstrates an interest in the Australian market for a professional and established event platform.”
The event includes a comprehensive seminar series which will feature a mix of local industry and international speakers addressing key business issues for local companies to both establish and enhance their sourcing partnerships.
www.internationalsourcingexpo
Sutlej Textiles and Industries (STIL), a leading manufacturer of value-added dyed yarns and home textiles reported revenue of Rs 463.31 crores and profit of Rs 29.78 crores for the first quarter of 2015/16. With the company’s new capacities for producing value-added cotton mélange and cotton blended dyed yarn added last year, functioning in full swing and the work on expanding its capacities at the Bhawani Mandi commencing along with acquisition of Birla Textile Mills (BTM) in progress, Sutlej expects capacity expansion efforts to help its growth in future.
STIL is also expanding operations in the home textiles division at one of the company’s units in Damanganga Home Textiles. On completion, the annual capacity will increase to 9.6 million metres from 2.5 million metres. Sutlej also invested around Rs 17 crores in the first quarter of FY16 towards technology upgradation and debottlenecking, which is further expected to improve efficiencies and plant utilization. The company plans to invest an additional Rs 79 crores for the purpose during the year.
An ISO 9001: 2008 certified company, STIL is one of India’s largest spun-dyed yarn manufacturers and produces value-added yarns such as cotton mélange yarn, modal yarn, tencel yarn, bamboo yarn and linen blended yarn, among others. STIL exports to over 60 countries including emerging economies like Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Cuba, Egypt, France and Germany.
www.sutlejtextiles.com
The Yarn Fabric and Accessories trade show will take place in New Delhi, from December 14 to 17, 2015. The aim is to meet the needs of rapidly evolving and expanding yarn and fabric market in the Asian sub continent. The event will enable stakeholders in the textile and apparel industry to converge on a single platform for networking, exchange of ideas, sharing of current experiences, showcasing the latest innovations and products and developing a vision for the future.
The show is the only one of its kind in South Asia, conceived to cover the entire textile value chain. Among the exhibits are natural and manmade fibers, yarns, fabrics, fine yarn-dyed shirting, polyester-wool and polyester-viscose, linen, dress materials, denim, cotton twills and drills, trimmings and embellishments, buttons, buckles, studs, eyelets, lining and interlining, labels, tags, barcodes, badges.
Visitors will comprise apparel manufacturers, exporters, buying houses, retail chains, apparel brands, wholesalers, importers, fashion designers and merchandisers, design studios and institutes, and trade body representatives. More than 250 companies are expected to participate, including some from abroad, from various supply chain segments like fiber, yarn, fabric, dye-stuff and chemicals, trims and embellishments, packaging and display.
The show is planned by Vision Communications, the monthly magazine Attire World and Accessories Guide.
www.yfatradeshow.com/
Elaborating on their plans, K B Prasad, VP-Textile Engineering, Garment & Home Textile Machinery, ATE Enterprises says, “We started supplying technological support to the sewing industry players. Lingerie is the next category we are moving to since it has a lot of scope for automation. For now, they buy machines from China and other countries but face problems with after sales support. We will address this issue.
Offering automation solutions to garment makers
Mumbai-based ATE has been focused on garment industry offering technological solutions by partnering with international machinery makers. Today, it has become a trusted machinery supplier to big manufacturers in the country. “We think big. People trust us when they buy machines. We take care of their spare part needs and after sales,” explains Prasad. At the recent Galleria Intima fair in Delhi, ATE represented several machinery groups such as Juki, Morgan providing cut to pat machines for intimate wear. “We have big customers like Rupa and Amul. One challenge is that unlike other garment segments this segment is yet to accept automation in a big way and we need to break this resistance. Undergarments are still considered a matter of a few overlocks but there are a variety of fabrics to be handled like spandex, elastic material, where simple sew won’t work,” explains Prasad.
Juki machines supplied by ATE are equipped with pullers to handle elasticity and synchronise the sewing part. This eliminates puckering and unevenness. ATE also displayed machines from H&H, Hong Kong that allows an operator to handle two tasks at a time. Talking about its USP, Prasad says, “This can increase the operator’s efficiency and productivity, while he could get more wages. Buyers are ready to invest in such machineries but are hesitant about hiring more workers. So these machines can solve this issue.”
ATE added hot air technology or thermo bonding technology. “We are giving stitchless technology. It’s bonding with a tape where no hemming is needed. It’s applicable to inner wear and outer wear. China has been using this technology for years. It has just come to India. Players like Gokuldas and Arvind are using these machines. Arvind’s stitchless shirts were made on our machines. We can make swim wear, sportswear on these machines and they are ideal for waterproof material,” Prasad adds.
Another brand under its fold is Turkey’s Inmac owned by the Intex group. Intex sells machines all over the world. In India, Intex has carried out around five successful projects with Inmac. “Sports Garments, White House, Ori Jeans, Wonder Blues have bought Inmac machines from us. Ori manufactures for Diesel brand. Another name is Zodiac. They repeatedly buy our machines for garment dyeing, their shirts are dyed on our machines. Now we are moving ahead in terms of knits dyeing. We see a big market in east India for this. Next we will move into Ludhiana and Tirupur,” informs Prasad.
www.ateindia.com
Cotton output in India is likely to drop by up to 15 per cent this year due to insufficient rain and pest attacks. Farmers are worried as rainfall over the last one month has been scanty, putting the crop under stress. In Gujarat, a major cotton producing state, rainfall has been patchy and 28 per cent below normal. The yield could decline by 10 per cent to 15 per cent due to lower acreage and poor rains in Gujarat. The situation is also worrisome in Maharashtra. In Punjab and Haryana, the crop is at risk of damage from whitefly attack. The region has faced pest attacks but not so serious as it is now. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana may lose up to 30 per cent of the crop. They are forced to follow agents of pesticide companies and spend a fortune to save their crops.
Prices would be supported by low global output, rising local demand and the rupee’s depreciation. Globally yield could decline as the area under cotton has come down in major cotton-producing countries like China, the US and Pakistan. In the US, heavy rains due to El Nino are affecting cotton crop. Damage due to pest attack is reported from Pakistan.
The much awaited, Texworld Paris, will be held at Paris Le Bourget from September 14-17, 2015. The event is a meeting ground for textile and fashion professionals, a place to witness latest innovations and trends, in the harmonious name of ‘Prelude’, this season. Autumn/Winter 2016-17 collections will revolve around this theme and tones and textures. Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud, the fair’s two artistic directors, and a group of designers, reflect on the influence of fashion on the future of society. Their vision of future synergies, in which the artist is at the centre of design is documented in their Trend Book.
There are six themes: Simple Tessitura, Imitation Fugue, Sacrilegious Harmonies and Rhapsodic Transgression. Denim will be the focus and is christened, ‘Graphic Percussion’, while accessories is entitled ‘Chiselled Score’. The concept will be interpreted on the Trends Forum, by most astounding materials, daring embroidery, new textures and the most creative developments of the season.
Two seminars are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday, wherein artistic developers will develop the link between materials and colours and share their inspiration and the new aesthetic directions taken by textiles and fashion in winter 2016/17.
Besides, young alumni of the Esmod Fashion School are being invited to Texworld Paris to showcase their graduation collections on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Michael Scherpe, CEO of Messe Frankfurt France said that they encourage designers and industry to come together so that young graduates can enter the professional world and understand its demands.
Greenpeace, the international environmental group has accused outdoor clothing makers including The North Face, Columbia and Patagonia for failing to eliminate toxic chemicals in their products. The accusation by Greenpeace comes after its scientists found traces of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the waters of high-altitude lakes around the world, including the Lago di Pilato in the Apennine mountain range of central Italy.
Greenpeace said in its recent study how slowly the environment breaks down these chemicals, which outdoor clothing makers routinely use in their waterproof gear. The company said that brands like Puma and Adidas have already adopted ‘ambitious elimination targets’ for PFCs and some companies also offer collections of PFC-free waterproof clothing. But The North Face, Columbia, Patagonia, Salewa and Mammut, according to Greenpeace are showing “little sense of responsibility when it comes to eliminating hazardous chemicals such as PFCs”.
Greenpeace criticism comes at a time when apparel companies are trying to portray their apparel manufacturing processes as eco-friendly. Patagonia in particular, for instance, has been touting that it uses recycled and ethically-sourced materials and it is also involved in creating a national park in Chile. The company is a B corporation, meaning it includes social and environmental performance alongside its financial goals. Two years ago it started a venture fund, ‘$20 Million and Change’, to invest in socially and environmentally responsible start-ups.
www.greenpeace.org
Pakistan's textile, clothing and footwear will benefit with a reduction in duty by the Australian Government. Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan and Commerce Minister, Pakistan revealed this after a meeting with the Australian High Commissioner. Due to the consistent efforts by incumbent government, especially the Commerce Ministry, Australia has slashed duty on Pakistani products, mainly textile products by 50 per cent—from 10 per cent to five per cent.
Duty is slashed on 226 tariff lines. Of these, only eight are non-textile items and the remaining 218 are related to the textile sector, of which 63 are home textile. Australia has slashed duty on items of Pakistan's interests and expertise.
Khan added that the Commerce Ministry would chalk out a plan, aimed at facilitating Pakistani textile sector entrepreneurs with Australian buyers. Besides, an Australian trade mission would visit Pakistan in October 2015 to review the current state of bilateral trade relationship. He further mentioned that Pakistan has requested Australia to include Iran in regional connectivity agenda, and they were quite positive about it. Textile, leather, cotton, etc, is exported by Pakistan and at present, the country’s hopes for Australia’s support in agriculture, and to facilitate access of Pakistani dates and Kinnows to the Australian market.
In 2013-14, trade between the two countries was about $550 million and trade balance is almost same for the two countries.
Vietnam's garment businesses have ramped up investments in upgradation of their units and improving product and design quality in the light of the benefits launched by the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) recently. Though there are many other sectors expected to benefit from TPP, the garment and textile industry is supposed to be the biggest beneficiary of this partnership. In fact, the growth results of six garments and textile companies listed on the stock exchange reveals all six clocked a promising growth rate in terms of revenue and profits in the second quarter of this year.
These companies with a year-on-year growth of 20.74, generated around $79.9 million revenue in Q2. With a net revenue of nearly $32.4 million,Thanh Cong Trade Investment and Garment Joint Stock Company topped the list of companies generating high revenues. The firm is infusing about $30 million during the next four years in its weaving and dying garment segment. The firm was followed by TNG Trade and Investment Joint Stock Company, which clocked a net revenue of $22.2 million.
Almost 36,000 jobs are at risk in Indonesia as more than 100 textiles and garment manufacturers are on the brink of collapse due to declining domestic demand. As Ade Sudrajat, Chairman, Indonesia Textile Association (API) points out, products manufactured two-three months ago still remain in warehouses. Small scale industries are the ones that are majorly affected as these hire about 360 workers on an average and sell their goods solely in the local market. Factories could not produce because of a lack of demand.
In April-June 2015, the Indonesian economy expanded at 4.67 per cent. This is the slowest in five years as people’s purchasing power dipped from lower commodity prices in the global market, and sluggish government and private investment. As per Central Statistics Agency data, as of February, about 7.45 million of Indonesia's working age adults are out of work, which is up by 300,000 people from the same period a year ago.
Sudrajat hopes that there will be a 40 per cent cut in electricity tariffs by the government, which would help the local manufacturers compete with imported textiles. He further urged the government to erect trade barriers for some textile imports to protect the local market.
