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Cotton USA has launched a new advertising campaign by which it stresses on the brand’s vision, quality and responsibility. Responsible, transparent fiber sourcing is an integral part of Cotton USA’s marketing and licensing program, which operates globally and offers a wide range of services.
Cotton USA is known for quality US cotton products. The ad campaign will debut at the Heimtextil trade show to be held during January 14 to 17 in Germany. The Cotton USA pavilion will serve as an international meeting point for the entire cotton trade at Heimtextil 2015.
Cotton Council International is the export promotion arm of the US cotton industry. As a non-profit organization, CCI is dedicated to promoting quality US cotton and cotton products to consumers around the world. The Cotton USA mark identifies quality 95 per cent cotton products that contain at least 50 per cent US cotton. CCI supports buyers in sourcing Cotton USA, from raw material to the end product, with a focus on responsible cotton production.
The US cotton industry provides a portfolio of other key services including trend forecasts and technical support. Licensees also benefit from the valuable insight they obtain into consumers, based on the findings of international surveys made available to all global partners.
www.cottonusa.org/
Cambodia has introduced a minimum wage for workers in the garment and footwear industry. So, global brands that source their products from the country have to play a part in helping the industry to absorb the increase in costs. Wage bills will go up by approximately 18.7 per cent. The new minimum wage came into effect on January 1, 2015.
The rise comes in the wake of other adjustments since 2012 that have seen minimum wages increase. At the same time, prices that Cambodian factories receive in their main markets have been stagnating or declining. Caught between these two forces, factories have seen a substantial fall in their operating margins over the past three years.
In principle, factories can respond by increasing efficiency, using measures that range from better work organization to energy conservation. However, these steps will only enable factories to cover a small share of the expected wage increase. The expected wage increase is far higher than what can be generated through efficiency gains.
To cover the shortfall, and assuming other costs remained the same, its estimated global brands would need to pay Cambodian factories between 2.4 and 3 per cent more. Factories can handle the raised wages only if labor productivity goes up sufficiently.
Sri Lanka has acquired a reputation for handloom products. The combination of traditional designs blended with modern processing techniques has created a lot of demand for Sri Lankan handlooms in international markets.
Around 900 private handloom producers, small, medium and large operate, in the country. The handloom textile industry is a highly labor-intensive, export-oriented rural-based. Handloom textiles are produced in Sri Lanka within the confines of a small-scale industry that generates employment for rural women. Among the handloom textiles produced are: household linen such as bed clothes and towels, upholstery materials, furnishing materials such as curtains, cushions covers, saris and sarongs.
Books, notebooks, albums, and even writing pads are now clothed with this handcrafted material of textile. Handloom woven cotton and silk textiles of vibrant colors have been popular among locals as well as tourists. Italy, Germany, France, UK, Norway, Netherlands, Maldives and Thailand are the main markets for Sri Lankan handloom products.
Lankan weavers have succeeded in creating a distinct identity of their own by transforming traditional woven patterns and color schemes into beautiful textile designs. Fabrics manufactured in Sri Lanka are mostly of cotton with relatively small quantities of rayon and polyester cotton. Sri Lanka also produces a range of products by using silk yarn.
Egypt will no longer subsidise cotton farmers. Reason: many Egyptian spinning factories have stopped buying Egyptian cotton. Local and international manufacturers have abandoned Egyptian long staple cotton as new technology enables them to extract large quantities of yarn from short-staple varieties as well.
Farmers who still want to grow cotton, particularly the long staple variety, will be on their own when it comes to finding buyers. Many farmers have turned to more lucrative crops and local textile firms have shifted their focus to creating low quality products with cheap raw cotton imports. Removing subsidies effectively means the end of Egyptian cotton. Market prices of cotton are currently low; without the subsidy, farmers will not be able to sustain the cost of planting cotton.
Cutting cotton subsidies is the latest measure taken by the government to reduce public expenses. Egypt’s long staple cotton, the finest in the world, is used in high quality clothing for its softness and strength. Cotton is cultivated on four per cent of the country’s arable land.
Egypt exported $83.8 million worth of raw cotton in 2013-14, down from $120.3 million the year before. Imports of raw cotton, however, grew to $117.8 million in the same year, up from $51.3 million.
The Vietnam Textile and Garment (VTG) exhibition will be held from October 21 to 24, 2015. Over the last four years, the show has become one of the more influential and comprehensive exhibitions for textiles and garments in Vietnam. During the four-days, latest machinery, equipment and technologies will be displayed by top exhibitors from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, US and Vietnam.
VTG 2015 will set an exclusive business platform for domestic and international quality suppliers of textiles and garments to take their business to the next level. The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry will set up its own special pavilion with 12 top companies, showcasing leading machinery and cutting-edge technologies for the Vietnamese market. Their presence will consolidate the event’s international status.
Foreign investment in Vietnam’s textile and garment sectors is growing rapidly as international firms seek to take advantage of the benefits the country will potentially derive when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement comes into being. There are several companies from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and South Korea that have made large investments in the sector since the beginning of this year.
www.vtgvietnam.com/
After witnessing strong growth in the number of visitors last year, Yarn Expo Spring 2015 is set to continue its momentum at a new venue -- the National Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai from March 18 to 20, 2015. The three-day event will be held over an area of 8,000 sq. mtr. Yarn Expo showcases a wide spectrum of natural and blended yarns including cotton, wool, flax, regenerated flax, and man-made fibres and yarns as well asspecialty products including elastic, and fancy and blended yarns.
The Spring edition saw over 200 per cent rise in visitors coming to source from 233 exhibitors. Last year, over 20,212 buyers from 72 countries and regions visited the fair, while 46 per cent of them were manufacturers. In order to capture the ever-growing Chinese market, Indian and Pakistani exhibitors have already confirmed their participation at the upcoming Spring edition.
Other than cotton yarn products from India and Pakistan, next year’s spring fair will once again feature the Chinese Fibre Hall to showcase innovative man-made products from the country, such as nylon, viscose filament, and renewable and recycled fibres. Moreover, the fair is increasingly known for providing the latest technologies in the innovative yarn section as visitors can gain inspiration and market guidance in the Trend Area and through a series of seminars.
Held concurrently with Yarn Expo Spring 2015 are another four textile trade events, namely Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Spring Edition 2015, PH Value 2015, China International Fashion Fair 2015 (CHIC) and the Planet Textile Conference. Together these five events will bring apparel fabrics, yarn and fibres, knitwear and other fashion garments under one roof, presenting a one-stop sourcing platform to the whole textile industry.
yarn-expo-spring.hk.messefrankfurt.com
Bangladesh has a plan to promote jute-based handloom industries in rural areas.
The idea is that these will be run mainly by women and contribute to their empowerment, one result of which would be enhanced exports to international markets. Also promoting jute-based handloom industries is seen as vital for enhancing exports of quality jute products and earning more foreign exchange.
Women would be trained in setting up jute-based cottage and handloom ventures. These entrepreneurs would be provided a package of services like marketing facilities and the necessary capital, support and the latest technologies for producing high valued, quality and diversified jute products.
Jute growing is particularly suited to the poor. Women figure particularly prominently across all levels of the jute industry – as farm laborers and mill workers, and as small businesswomen and employees making and selling jute products.
Known as the golden fiber jute has been traditionally cultivated in the Bengal delta for many years. Around 33 per cent of all jute comes from Bangladesh, making it the world’s second largest jute producer.
Bangladesh is the largest producer of raw jute or jute fiber in the world. Production of jute is highly labor-intensive, creating seasonal employment for 48,000 women on the land.
Innovations for Sustainable Textile Production ... Connecting the Dots will be held in Mumbai, February 20, 2015.It will discuss cleaner and greener processing solutions from both machinery and chemicals and dyestuffs.
The theme highlights the need to improve production practices for sustainable working and growth of the textile industry.
The international conference aims to address the problems faced by the textile industry, with regards to effective use of fast depleting natural resources and curtail its adverse environmental impacts. It will provide an insight to the possible solutions to the textile processing industry for cleaner and greener chemicals and dyestuffs, sustainable processing techniques, better processing machinery and effective effluent treatment methods.
The event includes sessions on various topics like sustainable fibers for the 21st century, resource management, innovations in machinery, innovations in processes, effluent management, and denim for tomorrow.
Speakers of global repute will be sharing their knowledge. Representatives of various brands, chemical companies, garment manufacturing firms, machinery manufacturers, laboratories and textile processors will be participating.
Up to 500 delegates are expected to attend the conference, which will see the participation of the complete textile supply and value chain and international brands, along with presentations from well-known international speakers on contemporary technical topics.
Vidarbha has expressed the need for a textile manufacturing hub in Nandgaonpeth, Amravati, so that cotton is processed and goes out of Vidarbha as fabric, in short, fiber to fabric.
Road shows will be held in Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu to market Nandgaonpeth as a textile hub.
However, certain parameters have to be made conducive for the establishment of a textile industry in Nandgaonpeth. Water rates have to be made competitive and common effluent treatment plants should be made affordable.
Textile centers are being planned for Vidarbha. At least three textile parks have been planned to facilitate cotton cultivators to sell their cash crop within the region and reap the benefits.
The region has received proposals for 14 spinning mills with a likely investment of Rs 666 crores and three composite spinning and weaving units which could pump in investment of Rs 700 crores. Together these units could offer over 7,000 new jobs. Investors are scouting for land and other infrastructure.
A 10 per cent subsidy is being offered to units coming up in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh areas. Another major reform on the agenda is addressing the power crisis which has been dissuading industries in the cotton growing belt of Vidarbha.
The review committee on garment factory inspection in Bangladesh is waiting for the government’s direction to take action against factories which have failed to conduct detailed engineering assessment of their factory buildings within the stipulated time. Of 49 factories, 14 units are yet to conduct the assessments. The 14 factories are on the inspection lists of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety and Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.
The review committee was formed last year to decide on shutdown of any garment factory due to safety concerns. If the three initiatives find serious faults in any factory, they can suggest the review committee to look into the matter and only the review committee can announce closer of a factory if it finds any safety risk.
In the process, the review committee received recommendation for reviewing 41 buildings where 84 garment factories were located.After review the committee announced closer of 32 factories, while 21 units were partially closed, and 49 were asked to conduct the assessments.
The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments has already sent a list of the factories to the labor ministry seeking necessary direction in this connection.
Jeans Care was the first factory where Accord inspection teams found structural faults and sent their report to the review committee for further decision.In the first week of April the review committee asked the authorities of the factory to conduct the DAE within six weeks but the company is yet to do it.
