FW
Public Eye and Clean Clothes Campaign are criticising Uniqlo for failing to live up to its social responsibility towards the affected women and men by refusing to negotiate with Indonesian trade unions over compensation for former factory workers.
Around 2,000 workers were made redundant when international brands suddenly cut their orders and the factory went into bankruptcy shortly afterwards. In the insolvency proceedings, though their right to salary and compensation were recognised the $5.5 million is still outstanding. Alongside Uniqlo, other companies that the factory produced clothes for and who also have a responsibility, include s.Oliver, Gerry Weber and Jack Wolfskin.
Over the past three years, the workers of Jaba Garmindo have been fighting tirelessly for their rights. The right to severance payments in the event of mass redundancies is recognised in international agreements and Indonesian law. Large multinational companies are thus expected to act pre-emptively to assess and mitigate the possible negative consequences of withdrawal from a factory. In the case of Jaba Garmindo, Uniqlo did not even inform the factory’s official trade unions of the planned withdrawal.
Thailand is pursuing a free trade agreement with the EU. The goal is a comprehensive FTA covering tariffs, non-tariff barriers and other trade-related issues such as services, investment, procurement, intellectual property, regulatory issues, competition and sustainable development.
Thailand and the EU have also discussed how to attain progress in the Doha Round negotiations, especially on fisheries subsidy rules, the role and the participation of small and medium-scale enterprises in world trade and e-commerce. Thailand also has concerns about the EU’s trade measures to phase out food-based biofuels like palm oil by 2030, data privacy laws and a digital services tax, saying such measures may affect the Thai private sector's dealings with the EU.
The EU is Thailand’s third-largest trade partner, with two-way trade in 2017 up 10.4 per cent from 2016. Thai exports to EU increased 7.5 per cent last year. Key exports include computers and parts, automobiles, gems and jewelry, electrical circuits, rubber products, air-conditioners and processed chicken.
Thailand has teamed up with the EU to push the World Trade Organization into greater engagement for handling protectionist and retaliatory issues to curb a possible trade war. Both sides have agreed to ask the WTO to play a more active role in promoting the multilateral trade system.
PromoTex Expo will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany from January 8 to 10, 2019. This is a trade show for promotional apparel, sportswear, work wear, promotional textiles, team wear, corporate fashion, household and home textiles and textile finishing. Textile finishers, textile experts, promotional products distributors, advertising technicians, and other designers and agencies from more than 80 countries are expected to attend.
Nearly half trade visitors will be from outside Germany. They will get to meet the most important international textile manufacturers, importers, textile distributors and finishing services providers.
The focus at the show will be on hot topics like mass customisation and personalisation, smart clothes, sustainability in the textile production chain, and the multifaceted world of textile finishing. Creative special exhibits covering key industry topics and networking formats like a matchmaking event to enable direct business contacts round off the program and provide the industry with the perfect foundation for lead generation, relationship management and continuing education.
Held concurrently with PSI and viscom, together, the three trade shows will draw more than 1,000 exhibiting companies and more than 20,000 trade visitors from around the world since they cover the entire spectrum of visual, textile and haptic advertising and communication on the international level.
Primark’s overall sales have risen six per cent for the year in constant currency terms. Profit at Primark will be higher than expected this year after the chain began buying more garments from Southeast Asia, where tariffs and production costs are lower than in China. The chain -- which sources around three-quarters of its products in dollars -- has also been boosted by the weakening of the US currency.
Primark has nine outlets in the US. Its US business will be worth as much as $6.2 billion if the company is able to successfully translate its fast fashion model. In Europe, brick-and-mortar fashion retailers have fallen from favor with investors amid the rise of e-commerce and a shift in spending from clothes to entertainment.
Value retail giant Primark is going from strength to strength. It has stores in the UK, Spain, Netherlands, the US, Belgium and Italy. The fashion chain is performing particularly well in the UK and is also benefitting from the currency shifts that have seen the pound getting weakening since the EU referendum vote a year ago. Primark has continued to open stores fast and added 1.3 million sq ft of retail space since the beginning of the financial year.
The next edition of global upstream fashion trade show Première Vision Paris (PVP) will feature a new ‘Smart Square’ zone - dedicated for visitors to meet ambassadors of sustainable and responsible fashion initiatives. The PVP ‘Smart Square’ sustainable fashion zone will double in size and expand its platform opportunities for new products, innovations and services by developing an area dedicated to alternative materials, which have been proposed by 25 new companies. Furthermore, the zone will include an enlarged space revolving around five events
The show, to be held from September 19-21, 2018 in Paris Nord Villepinte, will include a series of new initiatives such as digitisation, eco-responsibility, creative innovations, and novel inspirations. Spread across five halls of the Parc des Expositions, the September edition of Première Vision is expected to draw 1,964 exhibitors from 57 countries, 143 of whom will be there to demonstrate their latest strengthened strategic commitments in terms of the sector’s coming challenges for the first time.
Nike has appointed Noel Kinder as its new VP-chief sustainability officer (CSO). Employed with the company for the past 19 years, Kinder was most recently Vice President, Sustainable Manufacturing and Sourcing. Prior to this, he was General Manager, Nike Vietnam, LLC where he was responsible for all manufacturing operations. He has held a wide range of leadership positions in the company’s footwear and apparel divisions, as well as roles in strategic planning and finance. Prior to his roles at Nike, Kinder also served in the Peace Corps, spending two years in Honduras.
Kinder will report to Eric Sprunk, Nike’s Chief Operating Officer and Tom Clarke, President of Advanced Innovation, with oversight from the Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability & Governance Committee of the Nike Inc. board of directors. He will succeed Hannah Jones, a 20-year Nike veteran as CSO, who after 14 years in the role will become President of Nike Valiant Labs, the company’s in-house new business model incubator.
Amsterdam-based fair Modefabriek’s summer edition will be restructured to cater to its outdoors theme. Topics such as “The Future of Retail,” transparency or Instagram social selling, this season’s MFTalk’s will also focus on the ongoing blending of the outdoor world with fashion.
The B2B exhibition will be held at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre in Amsterdam, from July 8-9, 2018. Visitors will experience brand presentations, expos, stores, fashion shows, attend workshops and receive professional advice from experts in the fields of e-commerce, online marketing or social media within the four halls.
Besides Modefabriek’s curated store by HTNK, the future experience store Screenshop will run under the theme “Oversized.” Divided into the thematic areas Funk Forest, Modern Romantics, Tech and Neo Art, the store will showcase brands like Iris van Herpen, Donkey Land and Liesbeth Sterke. Amongst the participating labels at the West Hall’s fashion district Colourshopping will be Le Cafe Noir Studio and Bloomon.
This summer’s menswear platform ‘Dress Like a Man’ will focus on skirts for men and offer live customising by man-skirt minded tailors. In addition, fair participants can watch new ways of 3D presentation and shop window solutions at an expo designed by fashion consultant Carlo Wijnands.
India’s textile industry, which had been languishing for the last few years following demonetization, GST, rupee appreciation and high cotton prices, is finally showing signs of revival. The gross NPA ratio rose from 19.4 per cent to 22.8 per cent during September 2017 to March 2018 whereas the stressed advances ratio increased from 23.9 per cent to 24.8 per cent.
The support extended to the textile sector including the Rs 1,300 crore Samarth scheme for skilling, the Rs 6000 crore package for apparel and made-ups along with various state incentives, is expected to create a strong turnaround in the textile sector and put the industry back on the growth path.
However, excess imports remain a problem. In fiscal 2018, imports of textiles and apparel were 16 per cent higher than the previous year’s value. All categories across the value chain have seen a drastic rise in imports. Fabrics and apparel imports have seen a rise of 27 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. Also, embedded duties, which are in the range of four per cent to six per cent across the value chain are not getting refunded.
The biggest game changer that could transform the industry and put it at par with its competitors such as Vietnam and Bangladesh is free trade agreements with the EU, Australia, Canada and Britain for made-ups and garments.
As per Eastern India Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Federation, GST is leading to mergers and acquisition in the organised sector, while there is a distinct move towards consolidation and transparent trade practices in the unorganised sector. Introduction of the tax has brought about structural changes in the sector. Many smaller units that were previously unorganised or semi-organised in nature are becoming organised players. Some unorganised players are also becoming suppliers or third party manufacturers for the organised units.
India has around 4,000,000-odd garment manufacturing units; of which 300,000 are located in West Bengal and the eastern region. Apart from West Bengal, the other major garment manufacturing clusters are located in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, Punjab, and Gujarat among others.
The federation expects garment exports from West Bengal to double, from the present Rs 1,500 crore, over the next five years. A host of policy measures like improvement in infrastructure, integrated manufacturing facilities and modern training centres are some of the reasons leading to this rise.
Egypt’s cotton exports are expected to increase nearly 37 per cent from last year. Next year exports are expected to rise by 40 per cent to 45 per cent. Output fell drastically in 2011, when political upheaval meant regulations to maintain quality were not enforced. But demand for Egyptian product, known locally as white gold, has picked up as rules to ensure quality have been strictly imposed since 2016.
Egypt is the world’s second largest exporter of long-staple cotton, used mainly to make luxury linens, behind the United States. Sunny skies and superior seed produce a cotton with unusually long fibers used to make light and durable fabrics with a sheen and soft touch. Egypt planted 141,120 hectares of long-staple cotton in 2018, up from 92400 hectares in 2017.
The cultivation area has widened. Cotton cultivation could expand further as farmers are encouraged to avoid water intensive crops, such as rice, to prevent shortages as Ethiopia prepares to start filling a huge dam on the Nile, considered Egypt’s lifeline.
Egyptian cotton has received a further boost with the 2016 devaluation of the pound, which lost roughly half its value against the dollar, making exports more competitive globally.
