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A coalition of stakeholders is urging the Bangladesh government to ensure continuance of Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh operations until the incoming Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is deemed ready to takeover industry oversight. Without Accord’s extension, sourcing in Bangladesh could suffer. According to Accord, Bangladesh has made some progress on safety compliance, there’s a general acknowledgement among different stakeholders and representatives that the RCC is still in its earliest stages of development and will first need to bridge the gap until it’s fully ready to be implemented.
Also, it is in the crucial interest of Accord signatories to complete the work of remediation which started in May 2013 and a sustainable and adequate national regulatory structure is implemented by the to regulate workplace safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry.
The Accord came about after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April 2013. Its aim was to police the conditions in the sector and help factories with remediation efforts to get them on par. In the last five years since its inception, the Accord has delivered a robust, high quality, transparent, inclusive system, and it has made substantial progress to achieve the safety of workers in Bangladesh’s most important export industry.
Online luxury fashion store Pernia's Pop Up Shop aims to expand across all modes of retail channels. The store has partnered Purple Style Labs (PSL) to form a joint venture. The JV will invest Rs 20 crore in PSL sourced from high networth investors including Flipkart’s Binny Bansal, PayU India’s Jitendra Gupta and Astarc Ventures. Existing investors including Calcutta Angels, Operator VC also participated in the round.
The capital will be used for building an omni channel sales network for Pernia’s Pop Up Shop and also expand its home grown brand. The JV also plans to scale Indian designer brands growth, both in the domestic and international markets.
Through this partnership, PSL will build a giant Luxury Fashion House based out of India, in the form of a strong multi-brand retailing platform, with international focus.
PSL and PPUS also plan to organise 10 editions of Pernia's Pop-Up Show in the next season including six international events, starting July 2018. In addition, the companies have planned 10 multi-designer stores in major cities this year including Mumbai, Delhi and 3 international locations.
"Apparel exports accounted for 16 per cent of Vietnam’s total outbound trade. This made the country the world’s third-largest exporter of garments, with clothing accounting for 70 per cent of the output of the overall textile sector. With booming exports the prospects of Vietnam’s domestic market is also promising. With a population of 90 million and a disproportionately large younger generation, recent increases in disposable-income levels have resulted in retail growth of about 20 per cent per annum. The country’s apparel and textiles sector employs more than 2.5 million people in about 6,000 companies, with the industry forecast to grow by up to 14 per cent a year, taking it to a total value of $50 billion by 2020."
Apparel exports accounted for 16 per cent of Vietnam’s total outbound trade. This made the country the world’s third-largest exporter of garments, with clothing accounting for 70 per cent of the output of the overall textile sector. With booming exports the prospects of Vietnam’s domestic market is also promising. With a population of 90 million and a disproportionately large younger generation, recent increases in disposable-income levels have resulted in retail growth of about 20 per cent per annum. The country’s apparel and textiles sector employs more than 2.5 million people in about 6,000 companies, with the industry forecast to grow by up to 14 per cent a year, taking it to a total value of $50 billion by 2020.
The recently held SaigonTex show, Vietnam's premier event for the textile industries, hosted about 1,000 exhibitors this season. Among those attending the show was Christoph Peters, General Director of German-based machinery manufacturing firm Illies Engineering. He said in terms of visitor numbers, it feels a bit quieter than 2017, but business is still good. There was a lot of over-optimistic hype about the market at last year’s show, largely based on the anticipated TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade deal. This year, people seem more focussed and more ready to do deals, rather than just waiting to engage in idle speculation.
For many exhibitors, Vietnam is now a major player in the Asian textiles market. Roy Chandra, Account Manager, Artrend, a manufacturer of specialist
printing machines for garment factories, remarked Vietnam makes up between 30-40 per cent of their Asian market, with business particularly good at the moment. Big players in the garment industry are increasingly opting for Vietnam. In many respects, Vietnam is now where China was 10 years ago, although most of the growth is coming from private-sector initiatives. While the Vietnamese Government is not being particularly proactive in supporting the textile industry, critically, it is not getting in the way of private enterprise.
Foreign Investment
The first 11 months of 2017 saw foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing sector soar 11.9 per cent, with the lion's share going to the apparel/textiles sector. In terms of FDI sources, much of the investment has actually come from within the Asian bloc, with Japan and South Korea taking point. One key investor is Union Industry, a Hyogo prefecture-based market leader in socks, stockings and pantyhose sector, as well as a manufacturer of clothing production equipment. Bullish about the opportunities, Giovanni Lamberti, international sales co-ordinator, Union Industry, said Vietnam is emerging as a leading producer of socks and there is a lucrative potential for a $50 billion market here. Tran Thi Tuyet Dung, software support representative, CSP, a manufacturer of garment-cutting machines operating out of both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, said that the show has been great in terms of meeting contacts and providing leads.
Focus on TPP
For some exhibitors, the collapse of TPP deal may have dented attendance at the show, at the same time; they were convinced it had done little to stop Vietnam emerging as one of the world’s leading garment exporters. In fact, some welcomed the failure of the TPP, seeing it as likely to thin out the more marginal players in the sector, while leaving it clear for the more serious players to secure market share and consolidate. Peters said that the collapse of the TPP has reduced the number of hangers-on in the sector. If you are looking to get into the market now, you are going to find that that boat has well and truly sailed.
Van Heusen has entered into a partnership with UFC. UFC is a mixed martial arts organization. Van Heusen, a brand belonging to PVH, is UFC’s official men’s dress furnishings provider. UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson are starring in a new commercial highlighting the Van Heusen Flex collection of men’s shirts and pants.
The collection incorporates stretch features to give men a corporate business-like look without sacrificing the range of motion or comfort found in casual clothing. The commercial features Dillashaw and Thompson kicking, punching and grappling their way through an office-spat-turned-MMA-match while dressed in shirts and pants from the Van Heusen Flex collection.
The collection includes dress shirts, pants, suit separates and sport shirts. The collection is designed for the next generation of ambitious Van Heusen men who are seeking solutions-oriented work apparel. The collection is available at major retailers including Kohl’s, JC Penney, Macy’s.
With power-packed details and fine fabrics, Van Heusen has successfully defined the way women and men dress for the corporate world. The collections range from formal wear, party wear, casual wear and ceremonial wear with ranges that spread across shirts to suits for men, and dresses to blazers for women. Modern, minimalist, and timeless, the brand’s clothing is noted for being relevant to its time.
Luxury houses, retailers and brands don’t seem to be bothered about viscose’s impact on the environment. Viscose is currently the third most commonly used textile fiber in the world. Like all cellulosic fibers, it starts off life as wood, which can hail from ancient and endangered forests. With demand for dissolving pulp projected to increase by 122 per cent in the next 40 years, the viscose industry is a growing threat to vulnerable habitats around the world.
The production of viscose employs chemicals to break down the cellulose. Factories supplying viscose to the international market have been found to be dumping untreated wastewater in lakes and rivers, ruining lives and livelihoods by destroying subsistence agriculture and exposing local populations to cancer-causing substances.
After many years of complacency from fashion brands and producers with regard to environmental impacts of viscose manufacturing, the tide is finally beginning to turn towards more responsible production methods. Lenzing and Aditya Birla, two of the world’s largest viscose producers, have committed all their sites to meeting EU Ecolabel requirements for viscose production by 2022.
Even so, more needs to be done. Manufacturers need to translate initial commitments into detailed implementation plans, concrete investments and the transparent reporting of their performance, including of complaints and grievances.
President Donald Trump has suspended Rwanda’s right to export duty-free clothing to the United States as Kigali increased the tariffs on imports of used clothing and footwear. The move was seen by many in Washington and Africa as foreshadowing how the Trump administration planned to apply its ‘America First’ trade ideology on the continent. Despite the suspension, Rwanda will maintain its other duty-free benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), America’s flagship trade legislation for Africa.
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda have increased duties on used clothing and shoes in 2016 to nurture their local textile industries. But in March 2017, the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), a trade group representing US used clothing exporters, filed a petition, arguing that the increase violated AGOA. Though they contested SMART’s assertions, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda rolled back the duty increases. But Rwanda refused joining the ranks of Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China, all of which have been the targets of Trump’s aggressive trade tactics.
Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs on US cotton will accelerate offshoring of cotton spinning and lower-end textile and apparel manufacturing to South and Southeast Asia as Chinese businesses are bracing up for possible US tariffs on their finished goods.
The Trump administration’s tentative 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion Chinese merchandise has so far not touched the vast majority of China-made textiles and garments, except for fur and leather apparel and accessories like hats, gloves and handbags. Before the recently added 25 per cent duty, most US cotton sent to China was exempt from import tariffs, which range from 1 to 40 per cent, depending on volume and prices.
Ad per China Cotton Association, normal imports that did not fall under the processing trade, bonded supervision areas and other special customs categories – which are tariff-exempt provided no imported cotton is consumed in China – accounted for only 21 per cent of total imports last year.
For the half year Salvatore Ferragamo’s revenues were down 6.2 per cent at current exchange rates. Asia Pacific area is confirmed as the group’s top market in terms of revenues. The group has a total of 677 point of sales, including 407 directly operated stores and 270 third party operated stores in the wholesale and travel retail channel as well as a presence in department stores and high-level multi-brand specialty stores.
Gross profit decreased by 7.7 per cent. Its incidence on revenues was down 110 basis points, moving to 64.1 per cent from 65.2 per cent, mainly due to the negative impact of currencies. Operating costs decreased, at current exchange rates, by 4.6 per cent.
Ebitda fell by 14.5 per cent over the period, with an incidence on revenues of 17.3 per cent from 19 per cent. Ebit was down 18.5 per cent, with an incidence on revenues of 12.7 per cent from 14.6 per cent.
Italy-based Salvatore Ferragamo, is one of the world’s leaders in the luxury industry. The group is active in the creation, production and sale of shoes, leather goods, apparel, silk products and other accessories, along with women’s and men’s fragrances. The group's product offer also includes eyewear and watches.
A Focus Incubation Center has opened at Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), Uttar Pradesh. This is a move to promote innovation and startups in the textile arena by providing the right facilities and support to budding entrepreneurs of the industry. The Focus Incubation Center will provide the necessary facilities and technical guidance to encourage technical textile entrepreneurs for testing new ideas and technologies and thereby leap forward to more innovations in the products that they make.
NITRA is India’s premier textile research association. Its long research and development experience covers almost every aspect of the textile and apparel industry. NITRA has been designated as a center of excellence for protective textiles and automotive textiles which will provide the infrastructure for developing the expertise and technical capability for quality evaluation, product development and knowledge dissemination in the field of protective textiles.
Innovation is the key to success, sustenance, and growth in today’s highly competitive customer driven market place. R&D, in particular, helps entrepreneurs in optimizing the cost of production, improving quality, and leading production to new innovative and value added items so that the individual company and the industry, as a whole, can sustain fierce competition in the market.
Levi’s plans to reduce 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain by 2025. The denim giant has been applauded for setting a new standard on climate commitments in the apparel industry. The announcement will allow Levi’s to quickly reduce its carbon footprint in its entire supply chain, including its overseas factories, with adequate commitments that will help the company meet or beat the reduction standards laid out in the UN Paris Agreement on climate change. By reducing air pollution around its factories and helping slow climate change, this move from Levi’s will also literally save lives.
Levi's had previously pledged to reduce emissions by 25 per cent and use 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020 — but those goals were for its direct operations only. Levi’s direct operations account for a mere one per cent of its total climate pollution, with the remaining 99 per cent of its climate pollution in its supply chain.
