FW
During the last decade, the number of people working in California’s apparel and textile manufacturing industry has shrunk by 43 per cent as production of clothing and textiles has moved overseas. However, the industry is still a major contributor to California’s manufacturing economy. Nearly 80,000 people were employed in this sector in 2012, with 90 per cent of them working in Southern California.
The loss of durable manufacturing jobs in the early 1990s was largely a result of reductions in national defense spending. But the largest declines were in non-durable manufacturing, such as apparel, because of California’s high labor costs and proximity to Asian factories.
The state’s manufacturing sector accounts for only about 11 per cent of the goods and services produced in California. The service industry is the overwhelming winner, making up 70 per cent of all the state’s goods and services. There is aerospace, biochemical goods, semi-conductors and electronic components. Manufacturing output continued to climb while employment continues to fall. Te apparel industry can grow by producing more clothing that incorporates high-tech elements used in sportswear and athletic wear to monitor physical behavior, such as heart rate or blood pressure. The Los Angeles area continues to have the highest concentration of apparel workers in the United States.
Bangladesh's textile chemicals market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of around 7 per cent during 2014-19 period. Bangladesh continues to be a major textile exporting country after China and India. The textile chemicals market in Bangladesh benefits from large-scale exports of knitted and woven garments globally. Growing demand for knits and wovens in the US and EU has pushed up the overall consumption of textile chemicals in Bangladesh. The country is also exploring various other export markets, which is expected to further boost the demand for textile chemicals in Bangladesh over the forecast period.
Major factors that would boost textile chemicals market in Bangladesh include the country's growing textile industry, rising readymade garment exports to global markets, and growing demand for multi-functionality and specialty chemicals in the country. Leading textile brands manufacture their readymade garments in Bangladesh, which continues to benefit the market for high performance textile chemicals.
Textile chemicals are used for coloring textiles and fabrics, improving the quality of textiles, and providing desired properties to the textile during processing. These chemicals find widespread application during the processing of cotton, wool and synthetic fibers.
Nicaragua fears the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will bring huge losses to its apparel sector, which accounts for 10 per cent of its GDP. This is because Vietnam, already the US' biggest garment supplier and a formidable competitor, could enter the 12-nation free-trade bloc without a yarn forward rule of origin. If this happens as part of negotiations to strike a landmark agreement, Chinese yarn and fabric suppliers could flood Vietnam and the US. Without this yarn-forward rule, Nicaragua fears the market will be flooded with Vietnamese clothing made from Chinese yarns and fabrics.
The prospect of a yarn forward rule is actually helping to increase textile investment in Vietnam, which would further shore up the country's competitiveness in the trade pact. Nicaragua benefits from a tariff preference level program that matches apparel exports made from fabrics and yarns from any country on a one-for-one basis with those that use certain US fabrics and yarns.
Even if the US, which is leading the TPP talks, orchestrates a favorable deal, Nicaragua must rush to bolster foreign investment to raise output and move into higher-price export niches. The garment sector in the country employs 50 per cent of Nicaragua’s industrial workforce.
Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), a state-funded trade and investment promotion organization operated by the Government of South Korea is planning to introduce a fashion fund to boost Korea-China apparel market. The aim is to encourage Korean companies set up manufacturing in Korea itself. While apparels bearing the ‘Made in Korea’ tag perform well in the global market, the number of textile and garment companies operating from Korea is declining since they are relocating manufacturing plants to China and Vietnam.
The planned funds would help small and mid-sized companies in both the countries by amalgamating the expertise of Korean designers and Chinese garment manufacturers under the slogan ‘Made in Korea, Made with China’. KOTRA was established in 1962 as a national trade promotion organization. Since then, it has successfully facilitated Korea's rapid export-led economic development through various trade promotion activities such as overseas market surveys and business matchmaking.
English.kotra.or.kr
Lorenzo Minelli is the new research and innovation director of Itema Lab. He replaces Giuseppe Casarotto, who started working in Itema in 1983 and has been leading advanced research and development projects for the weaving machinery manufacturer ever since.
A mechanical engineer Minelli joins Itema after having an established and successful career in a number of other innovation-minded multinational companies. He is a senior professional with a broad and diversified experience of managing projects in the area of complex industrial product development.
Itema is gearing up towards ITMA 2015, the biggest textile machinery exhibition which will be held in Milan next year. Itema Lab is one of the two R&D departments of the global weaving machine producer. It is tasked with developing the revolutionary breakthroughs that could lead to the loom of the future.
Itema also has another advanced research arm at the corporate headquarters working on continuously improving the existing weaving machines. The Italian privately-held multinational invests every year 5 to 6 per cent of its profits in R&D projects, more than any company in the industry. The company has just launched a brand new portfolio of air jet weaving machines at ITMA ASIA 2014 in Shanghai.
www.itemagroup.com/
WWF and the IKEA have launched a new progress report on their involvement with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). This includes details of reduced use of chemical pesticides, chemical fertilisers and water along with improved earnings and social benefits for workers during 2013.
The availability of Better Cotton is increasing rapidly. It is hoped that production can be large enough to make it a mainstream global commodity before 2020. BCI has the ambitious aim of having Better Cotton make up 30 per cent of global cotton production by 2020. Only two per cent or 6,70,000 metric tons of the cotton lint produced globally in 2012 was Better Cotton.
BCI aims to transform cotton production worldwide by developing Better Cotton as a sustainable mainstream commodity. It works with a diverse range of stakeholders across the cotton supply chain to promote measurable and continuing improvements for the environment and farming communities.
WWF and IKEA are both founding members of BCI. In the cotton growing regions of India and Pakistan they are helping about 40,000 farmers to produce BCI cotton. By using this method, farmers’ earnings in India jumped 45 per cent compared to earnings from conventional cotton cultivation methods. And there are environmental benefits also like the use of lesser pesticides, less water and fewer fertilisers.
bettercotton.org/
Many readymade garment factories in Bangladesh may shut down over compliance issues. In the last one year, more than 80,000 workers have become jobless following the closure of about 220 non-compliant garment factories in the country.
This is an unwelcome development for the country's once-buzzing apparel industry that was acclaimed the world over. Most of the factories now out of production are small and medium scale ones. They face challenges due to compliance issues, wage hikes and a fall in work orders. The compliance conditions were prescribed by western nations for preventing tragedies such as the Rana Plaza collapse and the Tazreen Fashions factory fire.
Dismal working conditions in the country’s $20 billion apparel industry have been under global scrutiny. Overloaded ceilings, exposed cables, too few fire alarms and sprinklers, and locked emergency exits are just a few of the hazards that inspections have revealed. Some factories have not been upgraded in as long as a decade, some even three decades.
Factory owners have been hit in recent months by worker protests and flash strikes demanding better pay and safer working conditions. The garment and textile industry is crucial to Bangladesh. It provides the much-needed jobs and export earnings. Without textiles, Bangladesh, already burdened by immense poverty, would see its economy collapse.
The textile sector in Pakistan accounts for 6.5 per cent of the global trade. The country is almost non-existent in the global trade map on 93 per cent of the trading sectors. Structural imbalances are severe. The domestic spinning industry has 25 per cent more yarn-producing capacity than can be woven in the country. So the country exports 25 per cent lowest value-added textile production as yarn.
To get higher exports orders Pakistan will have to address the structural imbalances. The ratio of cotton use in Pakistani textile products is 75 per cent while the industry consumes only 25 per cent of manmade fibers by blending them with cotton. The global average is 75 per cent manmade fibers blended with 25 per cent cotton.
This means Pakistan is catering to 25 per cent of the global textile market. The local industry has the machinery and state-of-the-art equipment to produce a complete textile range. However, its wings were clipped when the government of Pakistan guaranteed 10 years’ high duty protection to a multinational investor for establishing a polyester plant in Pakistan. The protection made it impossible for the textile industry to compete globally in blended textiles.
The local market accounts for only 20 per cent of the textile consumed in the country. Local entrepreneurs are denied the domestic market because of under-invoicing, smuggling and massive imports of used clothing.
Manipur has been organizing several skill development programs for handloom artisans. Fashion shows are also held regularly to promote the handloom sector. The Power Loom and Allied Service Centre in Imphal, gives artisans skill development training and aims to equip them with modern technology. The center also plans to provide loom sets, incentives and marketing assistance to those who undergo the training.
Manipur currently occupies the third position in the country in terms of handloom productivity. It hopes to reach the top through such skill development programs and by providing other incentives including high-quality fabric and weaving tools and machinery to the artisans.
Recently, a fashion extravaganza was held in Imphal with an aim to promote handloom products. Models walked the ramp, displaying traditional attires of different tribes. Ethnic garments like a wraparound and saris were also showcased. A special fashion show for children was also organized.
The event provided a great opportunity to local weavers and designers to present their handloom products before the public. A large number of people in rural Manipur and other northeastern states are engaged in weaving and craftwork. Promotion of the sector through fashion shows will help to provide exposure to their intricate work.
Interfiliere Paris took place from July 5 to 7 along with various other fashion and lingerie trade shows. This fair focused on intimates and beachwear fabrics. This time attendance declined by 5 per cent and the number of exhibitors dropped from 300 to 280 compared to July 2013. The trend was particularly evident during the first day of the event, which was quieter than usual. While the show shared a common entrance with Mode City, visitors encouraged to sign up for both shows did not seem to stem the decline. The fair is open to producers of knitted and woven fabrics, lace, embroidery, braid, trimmings, ribbon, elastic, supplies and accessories, as well as designers, producers of fibers or machines and manufacturers offering local production capacities.
French professionals obviously showed up in the greater numbers. However, this year Italy rose to second place, relegating Britain to the third. These were followed by Germany, the United States and China, which overtook Hong Kong and Spain. Russia, occupied ninth place, while the Netherlands entered the Top 10 at the expense of Switzerland.
The next edition of Interfilière will be held in New York on September 23. The Chinese edition will be held October 20 to 21.
www.interfiliere.com/
