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World yarn production rose in the second quarter of 2015 quarter-on-quarter. All regions experienced an increase but the strongest growth was in Asia and North America. On an annual basis, global yarn production increased moderately due to positive developments in Asia and North America. Worldwide yarn stocks rose.
Yarn stocks in Asia and South America were up, while European stocks were reduced. Year-on-year, global yarn stocks increased. Yarn orders in Europe rose in the second quarter of 2015 quarter-on-quarter as well as year-on-year.
Global fabric production rose in the second quarter of 2015. World fabric stocks increased quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year, they also rose with increases in nearly all regions except for North America. Fabric orders in the second quarter decreased moderately in Europe quarter-on-quarter and rose in South America. On an annual basis, European orders rose, while they fell in South America.
Worldwide fabric stocks rose by 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2015 versus the first quarter of 2015. Stocks in Asia and South America were increased by 0.3 per cent and 15.7 per cent respectively. Global fabric inventories in the second quarter climbed by 3.7 per cent year-on-year. While fabric stocks were increased by 0.4 per cent in Asia, by four per cent in Europe and by 14 per cent in South America, they were reduced by 0.7 per cent in North America.
For the second quarter Sangam India’s total revenue increased by 8.15 per cent. Sangam India is a leading integrated textile conglomerate in India. Though commodity prices have continued to soften globally over the last couple of months the company has managed to contain its impact on revenues.
Earnings before interest, depreciation and taxation increased by 14.97 per cent. Net profit surged by 56 per cent. Increased integration and a focus on exports helped the company in maintaining realisations, despite falling input prices.
Overall exports saw a sharp jump of 46 per cent year on year and 49 per cent quarter on quarter. Growth was witnessed in all three categories with yarn exports registered a growth of 18 per cent year on year (72 per cent quarter on quarter), denim exports reporting a growth of 1250 per cent year on year (40 per cent quarter on quarter) and PV fabric exports reporting a growth of 15 per cent year on year (29 per cent quarter on quarter).
Sangam’s strategy is to increase the exports of value added products in lieu of lower margin yarn exports. Going forward its focus will be on increased integration and higher exports, enabling further margin improvement.
www.sangamgroup.com/
Geratex Machinery from India will be launching a first-of-its-kind, innovative and sustainable fabric processing machine to process all kinds of fabrics, whether mercerising, bleaching, desizing or washing at ITMA 2015.
Using ultrasonic technology on industrial size washing machines, the Geratex fabric washer offers higher efficiency in terms of space, energy usage and also chemicals and water consumption. The ultrasonic technology can even be fitted into existing fabric processing machines to achieve comprehensive savings.
As per actual production trials, the machine helps save around 20-30 per cent of chemicals, delivers 25-35 per cent water savings and 30-35 per cent in energy savings with the biggest advantage accruing from its compact size that occupies low space. The ultrasonic waves accelerate the water molecules, which move at a very high speed, almost several thousand times in a second, thereby creating a turbulent effect in the machine and achieving the whole process in half the time taken by existing technologies.
While desising, the ultrasonic washing technology completely does away with wetting agents and the amount of chemicals used is reduced by 30 per cent, due to which volume of water consumed is also lessened considerably. On the Tegewa scale of 1-10, a measurement tool to calculate the efficiency of washing, the conventional technology scores between 4 and 6 points after desise washing, while the Ultra Sonic technology achieves between 7 and 8 points. For the bleaching process to, this innovative technology consumes 30 per cent less chemicals and delivers the desired bleaching effect in 50 per cent of time as against conventional machines. Results are equally good for post-dyeing washing too.
In case of mercerising of fabrics, while conventional technologies consume 300-320 gms per litres of caustic soda, the Ultra Sonic technology uses just 200-220 grams per litres, while delivering equivalent results.
Despite, being a new technology, cost of installing the technology is lower compared with conventional fabric washers as the cost of the new technology is 40 per cent less.
http://www.geratex-india.com/index.html
Intex South Asia will be held in Sri Lanka on November 16 and 17. A networking platform, Intex brings together suppliers and buyers from across South Asia and other parts of the world to Sri Lanka. This is positioned as the only international sourcing show in south Asia. It aims to ensure that genuine buyers from around the world meet with quality suppliers.
It will showcase cutting edge contemporary yarns, apparel fabrics, denim fabrics and clothing accessories from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Korea. Intex South Asia has created dedicated zones and special group pavilions. These include pavilions of yarns and fabrics from India, an accessories zone, a zone for denim fabrics and a trends zone showcasing designs and forecasts for spring-summer 2016.
A wide range of exhibitors are expected at Intex from across the apparel supply chain from yarn, fabrics to accessories and services. Intex South Asia 2015 will create the ideal setting to make Sri Lanka the central location in South Asia and surrounding regions for buyers and suppliers to connect, source, trade and expand.
While western economies are slowing down, economies of South Asia are among the fastest growing in the world. Industry and business is coming to this region.
www.intexfair.com/
The fourth edition of trade fair for micro, small and medium enterprises will be held in Orissa, January 8 to 14, 2016. This will focus on sectors like tourism, textiles, handloom, handicraft agro-industries, food processing, marine products and renewable energy as the state has potential and strength in these sectors.
There will be a separate hall for start-ups, innovators and incubation centers. Companies producing pre-fabricated building and construction materials will also be provided stalls at the exhibition. Apart from proving a platform for micro, small and medium producers, the exhibition will invite business delegations from other countries through their embassies in India and introduce them to Orissa’s products.
Attempts will also be made to attract overseas entrepreneurs to invest in Orissa in sectors like engineering, chemicals, metallurgical processing, marine processing, agriculture, tourism and textiles.
The popularity of the trade fair has increased over the years. In 2013 the total footfall in the fair was around 1.40 lakhs which increased to 2.67 lakhs in 2014 and further to 2.50 lakhs in 2015. The business in terms of value generated has also constantly increased, from Rs 20 crores in 2013 to Rs 30 crores in 2014 and Rs 80 crores in 2015.
Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is sourcing over 35 per cent of its cotton requirement from Indian farmers. Cotton is an important raw material for the world’s largest furniture maker, which uses about one per cent of the global production of cotton every year. In 2014-15, it sourced 50,000 tons of cotton from India. Ikea is working with over 50,000 farmers across Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telengana and is expected to increase procurement over the next few years.
The company plans to bring industry players to start working with farmers to produce cotton. It wants to bring the entire textile industry together — from ginning, weaving to spinning. Ikea is trying to provide better working conditions for cotton farm owners and workers, improve soil quality, and make industry start working with farmers. Since 2005, when it started working in Andhra Pradesh, it has been trying to empower farmers by providing them technical knowhow.
The target is to work with over two million farmers and induce them to use less pesticides, less chemical fertilizers and less water. Farmers working with Ikea have recorded 26 per cent higher gross margins than conventional farmers.
The company plans to open several stores in Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
www.ikea.com/
The events’ focus is on apparel, accessories and textiles and includes major representation from China and India among an overall exhibiting group of more than 450 companies from 12 countries. Countries represented at the expo include India, China, Indonesia, Fiji, USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, South Africa and France.
India is leading its participation through the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, and the Handloom Export Promotion Council. Over 80 companies under the two combined associations will be showcasing. Both organisations have brought substantial exhibiting delegations to Australia over the past several years. Major partners at the expo include the FIEO, Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia, and Alibaba.com.
The Indian pavilion will be inaugurated by Manika Jain, Consul General and attended by senior representatives from the FIEO, AEPC and HEPC and the Australian industry.
Seminars on industry-related issues
The expo provides an extensive free seminar program presented by industry professionals, designed to attract and inspire trade visitors, as well as networking and business matching opportunities.
First day will witness seminars on topics such as ‘Industry Support for Australian Business’ by Kiri Delly, CEO, Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), ‘Starting Out: Sourcing Basics’ by Mike Bellamy, Director, China Sourcing Information Center, ‘Hot Topics in Sourcing 2015-201 moderated by Mike Bellamy, Director, China Sourcing Information Center. Kirri-Mae Sampson, Project Manager, Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), Elizabeth Formosa, Founder, Fashion Equipped, Rajni Sharma, Merchandise Planner, David Jones, and Founder, A&F Sourcing Solutions will be part of the discussion. ‘Learn how your business can succeed with online trading’ by Trevor Beuth, Managing Director, Kelly and Windsor Australia will be the last session on day one.
The second day will commence with ‘Thinking global? Growing e-commerce opportunities for Australian businesses moderated by Michael Mang, Head of International Marketing and Business Development, APAC & MENA, Alibaba.com. Benjamin Sun, Director, Think China, John de Bree, Managing Director, Capify will participate in the discussion. Seminar on ‘Sourcing Quality for Competitive Advantage’ by Adam Lloyd, General Manager Product, Jeanswest will follow. The next session would be on ‘Contracts & Purchase Orders: How to make them work for you!’ by Mike Bellamy, Director, China Sourcing Information Center followed by ‘Importing Fundamentals’ by Tim Wallis, Program Manager – Marketing, International Trade & Logistics, RMIT University. ‘7 Practical Tips for Starting your Sourcing Journey Online’ by Michael Mang, Head of International Marketing and Business Development, APAC &MENA, Alibaba.com will bring the curtains down on the second day program.
The last day will see two discussions on ‘Starting Out: Sourcing Basics (Repeat) and ‘Top 10 Tips for Sourcing Success’ by Mike Bellamy, Director, China Sourcing Information Center.
www.internationalsourcingexpo.com
Clothing retailer American Apparel has filed for bankruptcy. The company has lost roughly 75 per cent of its value since its peak before the 2008 financial crash, and has struggled to keep up with its debts over the past year.
The company employed about 10,000 workers at the end of the first quarter of 2015, but only 9,000 employees six months later, which means it has laid-off 10 per cent of its employees during that time. Dov Charney was ousted as CEO during the protracted financial decline of the company by the large hedge funds that were the company’s main creditors and that controlled the board of directors.
The board, in mid 2014, was largely dissatisfied with Charney’s performance and blamed him for the company’s financial woes. The bankruptcy deal that was recently filed includes a debt-equity swap that would essentially turn debt that American Apparel is having difficulty paying into stock that would give creditors much more direct control over the company.
Last July, American Apparel had announced that it would be eliminating $30 million in operating expenses over the subsequent 18 months. There was an investor takeover in December 2014. Workers have received pay cuts of up to 50 per cent since the takeover.
store.americanapparel.net/
At the Kingpins Denim Show in Amsterdam recently, Invista, owners of the Lycra brand, launched what it calls a transformative patent pending technology for knitted denim fabrics. The fabrics are said to combine the best of both worlds—the comfort and flexibility of a knit with the authentic aesthetics and performance of a woven, under the platform of Lycra HYBRID technology.
Jean Hegedus, Invista’s global director for denim said that the Lycra HYBRID fabrics integrate a true denim look and feel with low growth, low shrinkage and multi-directional stretch, which is what distinguishes this technology from existing knit denim. Besides, the fabrics can be engineered for use in a range of different garment types, each serving different consumer needs, he said.
The Lycra HYBRID fabrics have been segmented into three different categories, each with unique performance levels, based on extensive trials with fit models and Invista’s proprietary wear force testing protocols. Everyday denim fabrics that meet Invista’s standards can carry the Lycra brand, which is offered in Level 1, while fabrics that meet Invista’s shaping technology standards can qualify for the Lycra BEAUTY brand in Level 2. Level 3 is about fabrics that meet Invista’s athleisure standards that can qualify for Lycra SPORT branding.
Malaysia Fashion Week is being hosted from November 4 to 7 in Kuala Lumpur. This is Malaysia’s leading trade fashion and lifestyle event. The event features established and emerging designers with varied collections from Islamic fashion, office and casual wear to high fashion. The fashion week gives visitors a chance to get first-hand inside knowledge and style advice from Malaysia’s designers in a unique fashion experience. It features 290 booths with 68 per cent Malaysian and 32 per cent international businesses from 14 countries.
The event is expected to generate 10 per cent higher sales this year compared with the sales recorded last year. Malaysia’s fashion and textile industry offers huge potential for trade, given the many talented local designers, especially global fashion icon Jimmy Choo. Malaysia’s continued trade surplus in the past 216 consecutive months, despite current economic challenges, has showcased the country’s healthy and strong fundamentals. Malaysia has never experienced a trade deficit since the financial crisis in 1997.
The fashion week has been assigned to form a committee to look into technical and vocational training for youths who are not academically inclined but are talented in technical and vocational aspects. This committee will help these gifted young people to explore their talent in fashion and design.
www.malaysiafashionweek.my/
