FW
British footwear company Clarks has announced a new restructuring plan for next year. According to this plan, the company plans to lay off 170 of its employees in the New Year. It currently has a labor force of 13,000 employees.
Clarks is led by Giorgio Presca, former Levi’s, Diesel and Geox executive who replaced Mike Shearwood, after his departure last March. In November of this year, the company appointed Philip de Klerk, former chief executive officer of Low & Bonar, as the new chief financial officer to face its restructuring.
These cuts come after the company reached losses of 82.9 million pounds at the end of 2018. Its group sales, on the other hand, fell by 4.6 per cent, to 1.5 billion pounds compared to 1.5 billion pounds, year-on-year.
The company, founded in 1825 by brothers James and Cyrus Clarks, has 750 stores worldwide. Currently, the Clark family continues to be the majority shareholder of the company with 84 percent of the shares.
The Union government has announced a ‘Scheme for Assistance to Strengthen Specific Sectors in the Textile Value Chain’ effective from September 4, 2018, to December 31, 2023. As against the policy that attracted fresh investments in ginning, spinning and garmenting, the assistance scheme covers segments such as weaving, knitting, dyeing/printing, machine carpeting, technical textile, composite units and other activities in the such as embroidery, winding, sizing, twisting and crimping.
The scheme provides financial assistance through credit-linked interest subsidy of six per cent for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and 4-6 per cent for large enterprises, with an upper ceiling of Rs 20 crore per annum. Further, the scheme offers subsidy in power tariff of up to Rs 3 per unit for weaving, and Rs 2 per unit for other eligible segments with a validity of five years.
The assistance scheme is meant for new units being set up. These newer units would be more cost-effective, and compete with us on price difference. Already, the existing textile industry in Gujarat is struggling due to multiple reasons. Around 30 textile processing units have been shut in recent months, with the remaining 320 odd units functioning at only 70 per cent of the original capacity. Surat, the biggest textile market in the state, alone has seen daily production fall from 40 million metre per day to 25 million metre per day.
Based on the subsidy under the new scheme, newer units could carry a 15-20 per cent production cost advantage over the existing ones. Apparently, the scheme also offers assistance covering all existing units which are compliant with the government’s energy, water and environment conservation norms, and have been in operation for more than three years.
The scheme provides 20 per cent assistance on the cost of with a ceiling of Rs 30 lakh, and 50 per cent assistance for audit fees with a limit of Rs 1 lakh. The benefits can be availed once in two years during the operative period of the scheme. A one-time financial assistance of up to 50 per cent of cost, with a limit of Rs 25 lakh, is provided for and modernization. The scheme provides assistance of up to 25 per cent of capital expenditure on common facilities and infrastructure, with a limit of Rs 15 crore for setting up textile parks.
H&M sales rose nine per cent in the fourth quarter. The fashion retailer is on course to increase annual profits for the first time in four years following heavy investment in online and other services to adapt to a changing market. Over the past few years the Swedish-based retailer has invested in online services, new store concepts and independent brands to broaden its customer base and turn itself around. Germany is H&M's biggest market. The group has embarked on a road to recovery after slowing footfall at its core H&M-branded stores caused years of sliding group profits, mounting inventories and shrinking market value. Shares in the world's second-biggest apparel group have climbed 53 per cent this year.
Full-year profits are expected to grow for the first time since 2015, despite still-high inventory and investment levels. H&M has partnered with a startup Unspun on a project that recreates a 3D body scan into a pattern that can be used to customize jeans. H&M will begin implementing the project in its stores next year. Since last September, H&M’s innovation hub, The Laboratory, has been making the first software tests with one hundred clients of the Weekday chain. Customers are given the opportunity to customize Weekday jeans styles changing its trim, stitching and pockets and then using their body scan to fit the jeans.
The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has approved three investment projects in the bags and garments sector with a total capital investment of $8.8 million. These projects including setting up a bag factory for Quan Ming Handbag (Cambodia) Industrial, a bag and belt factory for Gd New Sky Leather Products Co, and a garment factory for Tao And Kiven Garment.
These factories will generate 3,448 jobs. They will be located in Phnom Penh, and Kandal and Kampong Speu provinces.
As Cambodia may be at risk of losing duty-free export opportunities to the European Union (EU) if the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement is withdrawn, the country is diversifying its export portfolio to reduce any potential impact. The country is expanding its export portfolio to combat any potential effect. It is also trying to reinforce its productivity and competitiveness in the export sector, which will help its products compete with those of other countries.
Stäubli presented its latest textile machines for weaving and knitting at ITMACH India 2019. The company showcased its new TIEPRO warp tying machine, S1692 cam motion and the S3260 electronic rotary dobby along with Stäubli TF weaving systems.
Weavers attending the exhibition also learned about Stäubli’s broad range of Jacquard weaving machinery. Covering virtually any application, this range includes machine formats with up to 25,600 hooks (or up to 51,200 by combining two machines) as well as Jacquard weaving harnesses for perfect coordination between the Jacquard and the weaving machine.
Locally active in the Indian market since 1947, Stäubli is a renowned player in the Indian textile industry. The company also offers in-house training for machine operators and support for customers’ production teams as part of change management. Maintenance and spare parts schemes are also locally available and highly appreciated.
Pure London is delighted to announce British designer Dame Zandra Rhodes to the AW20/21 show for a keynote address on day one. Zandra will take to the newly created Nomad stage in the National Hall of Olympia London to discuss her ‘50 Years of Fabulous’ at 3.30 pm on Sunday 9th February 2020.
As one of the most enduring and iconic designers of the generation, this year Zandra celebrates her own Jubilee in the fashion industry. Visitors will experience her speak about the ups and downs of continuing to thrive in the fashion world, offering fascinating insights and no doubt a few interesting stories over the years. Over the past 50 years, Zandra has dressed figureheads of the fashion industry in her signature creations, which combine vibrant patterns and finishes with superior-quality fabrics. Her seasonal collections are a fine display of her textile expertise and experience, captured in the colourful and timeless dresses printed and beaded by hand at her London atelier.
Zandra marked her 50 years in fashion in September 2019 with a retrospective exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum, a book published by Yale and a collection for SS20 entitled 'The Jubilee Collection.' The fashion icon shows no signs of slowing down - announcing future collaborations with the likes of IKEA and working on her AW20 collection to be shown in February 2020 at LFW.
The new Nomad Stage offers a dedicated platform for industry leaders, change-makers and personalities to discuss the most pertinent and significant global topics in the industry, share their stories and offer practical business advice.
The Premium Textile Japan (PTJ) 2020 Autumn/Winter and JFW JAPAN CREATION (JFW-JC) 2020 textile shows took placeamid an unprecedented downturn in the apparel market. Although the fairs started initially with relatively visitors (85%compared with the previous year) on the first day, things recovered by day two, with numerous visitors gracing both showvenues and a total of 16,800 visitors recorded over both days.
The PTJ fair was particularly successful awash with buyers who were constantly sourcing new fabrics. Equally prominentwere numerous buyers from leading apparel companies, despite recent trends suggesting a decline in this area. The stand-out feature on the occasion was the increased number of overseas buyers, following on from the previous record breaking PTJ show held in May (with over 150 buyers from 19 countries/regions).
Although no detailed breakdown has yet beenannounced, with multiple registrations from Chinese group buyers alongside other visitors from Asian countries Korea, Taiwan and Singapore as well as the States and Turkey, reflecting significant interest in Japan fabrics.The highlight of this edition was the increased no. of new exhibitors. The Turkey Pavilion made its debut as an overseasparticipation by group, while many domestic companies also joined the fair, seeking to acquire new customers to offset adecline in orders from existing clients via limited routine sales.
Nike has overcome rising costs and new competition in both the online and offline sales channels to post market-thumping sales and profit growth. The footwear and sports apparel giant’s financial resources are a major asset. It intends to press that advantage to keep rivals in catch-up mode. Evidence of that strategy is the company's recent acquisition of the data analytics company Celect and with Nike's aggressive spending on marketing, research and development, and the direct-to-consumer sales channel. At the same time, the growth stock is cutting in places that aren’t delivering healthy returns, including by developing fewer products and discontinuing models when they don't quickly resonate with consumers. These initiatives impact selling expenses, which ticked slightly higher to more than 31 per cent of sales last quarter.
Nike expects sales growth to accelerate in fiscal 2020. This may be possible by efforts at raising gross profit margin through more direct-to-consumer sales. On the other hand, if Nike stumbled in the weeks gross profit margin should also expand, leading to earnings growth in the mid-single digits. China accounted for nearly a quarter of Nike’s global growth last year. At home, its success in standing out against rivals like Under Armour will depend on Nike's continued ability to launch popular new products.
Singapore-based fashion startup Zilingo has acquired nCinga in a cash and stock deal. The acquisition will enable Zilingo to help customers in the United States, Europe and Australia, where brands traditionally lack transparency over supply chain and manufacturing processes. Zilingo will also help to expand the reach of nCinga’s software to core fashion manufacturing markets such as Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey.
Zilingo, has built several pieces of the supply chain — manufacturing, logistics, payments, etc, for retailers and brands. nCinga is a startup from Sri Lanka founded in 2014 and offers an IoT platform to enable real-time production monitoring on factory floors and data analytics tools. Zilingo will deploy the Sri Lankan startup’s Manufacturing Execution System software across its network of 6,000 factories and 75,000 businesses. In fact Zilingo has long been a client of nCinga and nCinga’s product has helped the startup drastically improve efficiency and drive insights by digitizing the shop floor. The Sri Lankan startup’s work has been crucial to Zilingo’s mission of creating a transparent, sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible apparel supply chain.
Retailers continue to struggle with meeting consumer demands for fast, responsibly produced products due to inefficiencies and information asymmetry.
Oonana, based in the US, is an online retail marketplace started by manufacturers to provide clothing brands a low cost and low risk platform to sell direct to consumer. With Oonana, US fashion brands can simply upload their existing product images on the site and defer the costly marketing and time-consuming customer service to the platform. As a marketplace, Oonana is also able to attract and keep more customers by offering a wider selection of vendors and styles. But unlike other marketplaces, Oonana can offer one central shipment of multi-vendor orders which eliminates multiple packages and higher shipping costs for consumers. The direct access gives shoppers first availability on the newest styles and the lowest retail prices by bypassing retailers. Oonana’s full retail proceeds go directly back to the fashion brands (Oonana only takes a small commission).
Fashion brands have had a rough run the past years with record levels of retailer closings that have dwindled their customer base. Continuing downward industry trends and ever-increasing cost pressures from the explosion of fast fashion have left clothing brands to deal with razor-thin margins and cut-throat practices from retailers. It’s clear that the traditional supply chain in fashion is broken and many clothing manufacturers are turning to a new direct-to-consumer model.
