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In a carefully-planned and phased handover, Uster Technologies is to have a new Chief Executive by April 2016.
The current CEO Geoffrey Scott will take early retirement at his own request and Thomas Nasiou, who is presently the company’s Head of Textile Technology, will take over from Scott. USTER’s foresight in formulating a succession plan for the leadership of the company into the future is highlighted by this announcement.
Scott said about his early retirement that since the formation of Uster Technologies in 2003 following the first Management Buyout, they had been through some exciting and challenging times, including being publicly listed on the Swiss SIX Exchange, managing through the financial crisis, the investment and subsequent takeover by Toyota Industries and most recently the successful acquisition of Jossi Systems.
The CEO for the past 16 years added that they had developed a profound focus on the needs of their customers and were committed to providing the best solutions to help them. He said that the work was enjoyable but demanding and now it was time to slow down a bit. He also felt that it was the right time to step back from the CEO role and hand over the leadership role to a ‘new set of hands’, and believed that that now is an optimal time from the viewpoint of both, the company and the customers.
Scott will continue to provide support to the company and to the USTER management in future as a member of the Board of Directors, and the new CEO will take over from April 1, 2016, next year.
www.uster.com
Activists globally and Turkish workers for the British luxury handbag brand Mulberry, are celebrating after winning a campaign to uphold human rights in their factory.
A nine-month union busting dispute between factory management and workers ended recently, where discussions led to an agreement that full compensation would be paid to all workers involved and court cases against the union would be dropped.
After management at SF Leather, a Turkish supplier of handbags and purses for Mulberry, fired workers who had joined the fledgling union ‘Deriteks Sendika’ workers had been asking for their human rights to be respected. In turn, the management attempted to sue them on trumped up charges, and offered to rehire them only if they gave up union membership.
In partnership with the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Union League, the nine-month campaign ended in actions held outside stores and factories across the globe including Istanbul, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Bristol, New York, Bangalore and others. an international petition was signed by more than 11,000 people to Mulberry.
Abdulhalim Demir from Clean Clothes Campaign, Turkey said that the real victors were the fourteen workers who held a round-the-clock protest to get their jobs back and their human right to organise a union. saEngin Çelik from Deriteks said that as per the agreement, SF Leather is now obligated to act in accordance with ILO convention no. 87 and 98. They too will follow this agreement and it is most important that SF Leather respects workers' right to organise a union, Çelik further stated.
SF Leather, employs 190 workers and 90 per cent of the factory's production is for Mulberry.
www.mulberry.com
Pakistan may have a trade policy by November. Over the last two years the country has faced a downward trend in exports.
The policy will offer incentives to the business community to improve its exports in terms of value addition and quantity. There will be a speedy export refund mechanism on value addition and incentives on import of machinery that improves value addition. The institutional framework for promotion of exports will be strengthened. New markets like African countries will be targeted.
Afghanistan has emerged as a major trading partner and has become Pakistan’s third largest export market. Pakistan used to export naphtha, a petroleum product, to the UAE. But then the UAE established its own plants and stopped importing naphtha from Pakistan altogether. This caused a big dent in the country’s exports.
The duty on the import of jewelry for export purposes caused the export of consequent value-added jewelry to cease. This duty will be looked at afresh and revised.
In addition the slowdown in China has hurt Pakistan’s export performance. Energy deficit, the law and order situation and devastating floods have added to the problems faced by the industry. Pakistan wants to take its exports from $24 billion now to $35 billion by 2018.
The 31st IAF World Fashion Convention held in Istanbul held on October 14, 2015, saw over 700 participants from North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Christophe Auhagen, CBO, Hugo Boss and Gordon Richardson, Creative Director, Topman’s were some keynote speaker among others.
‘Making it Better’, the theme of the convention reflected in all sessions. Following the theme, the 3D digital product development by Hugo Boss was displayed, which drastically reduced the average number of physical samples they need.
Innovative forms of horizontal collaboration to make things better, including shared ‘platforms’ for complex products and shared technological knowledge through informal networks was presented by Ahler’s Jan Hilger. The use of innovative financial instruments can free working capital caught in inventory, creating money for investments improving the supply chain further was showcased by GT Nexus’s Kurt Cavano.
The ability of Turkey to play a major role in fulfilling the industry’s needs for fast response and also by coordinating production outside of Turkey, in neighbouring countries was shown by Achim Berg of McKinsey in a session led by Roland Shuler of Peek & Cloppenburg.
Also, the power of collaboration to improve company’s individual efforts to improve CSR and sustainability was displayed by Han Bekke of Modint, Leyla Ertur of H&M and Murat of Attun of Inditex.
www.iafconventionistanbul.com
Challenges faced by the denims players
Credit-fueled spending, according to Antoshak has given way to tight budgets as consumers continue to pay off their debts from the years leading up to the recession. As a result, sales of jeans in the United States, for example, have declined over the past several years, while the popularity of low-cost knitted athletic wear has gained considerable market share. And smartphones along with other such gadgets are grabbing the attention of today’s consumers. He says that while the extreme high end of the jeans market remains robust, but the mass market for denim around the world has stalled.
Another factor has also affected the denim market is synthetic fibers. He observes that in an effort to lower the cost of mass-market jeans production, many manufacturers have replaced cotton with some polyester. Stretch fibers have, of course, been a force in denim for many years but since cotton prices soared to over $2/pound in 2011, both mills and apparel companies have scrambled to find more economically priced fibers for use in their denim. Of course, cotton prices have since moderated, but so has the price of polyester solidifying gains by synthetics, he avers.
What all these factors have led to is an oversupply of denim worldwide and while the jeans business is cyclical, skepticism has plagued the market. Antoshak says that due to anemic demand, and an increasing switch to blends, global denim prices are relatively weak and the overcapacity situation has further dampened price levels. He cautions that the demand is likely to further fall over the next few years.
Denim’s survival depends on tapping opportunities
However, on a positive note Antoshak states that over that time, as excess capacity will be shed around the globe, some countries will actually step up construction of new mills. So along with a continuing decline in aggregate denim capacity is likely over the next few years as inefficient mills in Europe, North America and Asia are dismantled, at the same time new capacity comes on-line in China, India, Turkey and Brazil. The growth in these countries and a smaller number of other producers, such as Vietnam, will in time grow to offset declines in less efficient capacity elsewhere, he says.Looking out to the end of the decade, he points out that there will be increased demand for more elaborate variations of denim than had been the case previously and that the stretch qualities of elastomeric products will help maintain denim sales for some producers globally.
Antoshak further says that from the mill perspective, countries/regions such as North America, Europe, selected Asian suppliers like Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan will see consolidation and countries like China, Turkey, Brazil, Vietnam, India and Pakistan will witness growth. He says that there will be great changes in Asia, with China taking on a greater and greater role in the world market for denim, since the country is learning how to make quality cloth at much lower prices than other suppliers.
On the other hand, North America, according to him will be subject to greater imports of denim cloth and apparel containing denim. This in turn will drive more domestic mills out of the market, which means that Mexico, in particular, will become less of a force as the decade progresses, he says.
Questioning the rise of athleisure trend, Antoshak asks what will happen as young consumers age? Will they still want to wear the sweats ever day? Not likely. As a consumer product, jeanswear has survived fashion changes and economic challenges many times before. In part this success is due to the versatility of the product itself, he argues.
www.olah.com
Geotechnical Frontiers 2017, a popular trade show for geotechnical, civil and geo-professional communities will be held from March 12-15, 2017. Held every six years, the industry unites to share developments in geotechnical engineering and technologies at this speciality conference.
The theme ofthe conference is ‘Innovation and Collaboration in Technology and Practice’. Spread over four days, the conference will feature over 250 exhibits, technical programming, besides a comprehensive programme of short courses, panel discussions, training lectures, workshops, and paper presentations presented by top industry experts.
Practical, targeted training opportunities for those who attend the conference is one of the goals of the event. So those who are who are not interested in the technical paper programme can be a part of this training. The event offers several opportunities to connect with others form the industry on the trade show floor, at receptions, luncheons and other networking events.
Organised by the Industrial Fabrics Association International's Geosynthetic Materials Association and the American Society of Civil Engineer's Geotechnical Institute, the Geotechnical Frontiers 2017 is supported by the North American Geosynthetics Society under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society. The largest geotechnical trade event in North America, this event brings together many qualified buyers and decision-makers from geotechnical companies, government agencies and contracting organisations.
India’s share in the global apparel trade is unlikely to increase significantly over the long term. Structural challenges which constrain the industry need to be addressed.
The fragmented nature of the industry, low levels of modernisation, high costs of production and a limited presence in man-made fiber apparels are the main factors which have constrained the growth in India’s apparel exports.
The share of India in the global apparel trade is just four per cent despite the fact that India is one of the world’s largest cotton producers with the world’s second largest spinning and weaving capacity. Countries with benefits of economies of scale and abundant availability of cheap labor, such as China, Bangladesh and Vietnam, have been able to garner a larger share in global apparel exports over the last decade.
India is the world’s sixth largest apparel exporter after China, Bangladesh, Italy, Germany and Vietnam. Downstream sectors in the textile industry like weaving, processing and garmenting have not been able to derive benefits from the government’s Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.
When it comes to yarn, most spinning mills are facing a working capital crunch since they have yet to get subsidies and incentives under the focus market scheme have been withdrawn.
Pakistan may have a trade policy by November. Over the last two years the country has faced a downward trend in exports.
The policy will offer incentives to the business community to improve its exports in terms of value addition and quantity. There will be a speedy export refund mechanism on value addition and incentives on import of machinery that improves value addition. The institutional framework for promotion of exports will be strengthened. New markets like African countries will be targeted.
Afghanistan has emerged as a major trading partner and has become Pakistan’s third largest export market. Pakistan used to export naphtha, a petroleum product, to the UAE. But then the UAE established its own plants and stopped importing naphtha from Pakistan altogether. This caused a big dent in the country’s exports.
The duty on the import of jewelry for export purposes caused the export of consequent value-added jewelry to cease. This duty will be looked at afresh and revised.
In addition the slowdown in China has hurt Pakistan’s export performance. Energy deficit, the law and order situation and devastating floods have added to the problems faced by the industry. Pakistan wants to take its exports from $24 billion now to $35 billion by 2018.
The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association’s second Annual Factory Awards Dinner is to be held on October 24, 2015 at the Summit Parkview Hotel Grand Ballroom. The awards are to honour the achievements of MGMA’s member factories in manufacturing excellence.
This year, there are several corporate sponsors—TÜV SÜD, OV Logistics, Fine 9 Consulting, BLX Labels, Maersk Line, Luther Law and SMART Myanmar. SMART Myanmar would be to sponsoring and coordinating the ‘SMART Award’—a trophy and recognition to be given out to the applying factory with the most noteworthy progress in social compliance improvement. Member companies too will receive several certificates for accomplishments such as ‘excellence in factory set-up’ and ‘recognition of best workplace facilities’ as well as several other mentions.
Professor Aung Tun Thet, presidential economic adviser will be giving the evening’s keynote remarks. During the evening, two factories will be recognised for excellence in social compliance practices.
A great opportunity to meet people from across Myanmar's garment industry, the event welcomes 200 guests, including several dozen garment manufacturers in attendance and many industry service providers and associations.
Many manufacturers with industry service provides, brand representatives and related companies and organisations had come together at last year’s Factory Awards Dinner for a an evening of business networking and celebration.
www.myanmargarments.org
Orizio, the Italian knitting machine manufacturer will be showcasing its latest innovations in knitting technology at ITMA 2015, which is to be held in November this year.
A press release by Orizio stated that high performance single and double jersey machines up to electronic models and a new special machine for high pile and special fabrics for outwear would be displayed.
The company’s efforts in sustainability have helped the company reduce energy consumption and wastes in its high-level engineering products at affordable prices, according to the manufacturer.
The sinkerless technology from 20 to 80 gauge with 90 feeds on 30” diameteris something that can knit impressive top quality fabrics perfectly, which is being showcased by Orizio. The JFP model, which is introduced this year, produces high quality jersey and jersey with lycra for sinkerless stitch structure fabrics.
JFP is equipped with the performing Orizio LC open frame with electric cutter, pneumatic roll expulsion and a brand new control system with touch screen.
Also, wear and tear of needles is saved and there’s a decrease in energy consumption due to new mechanical developments in the company's machines. Orizio further stated that impalpable and wafer-thin or voluminous, faux fur has always featured in the collections of fashion labels. However, it has never been as fresh as today, because of unexpected level of innovation.
The new Orizio PLE machine version is an electronic single jersey machine for the production of top quality high pile fabrics, with multiple colours high dimension patterns. PLE machine is capable of up to six colour reversible jacquards, with one side incorporating the jacquard as pile fabric, stated the release.
www.orizio.com
