FW
Italy is a major apparels importer globally but India holds a miniscule share in these imports. Apparel is the largest category with a share of 46 per cent in India’s textile and apparel exports to Italy. This is followed by cotton textiles and manmade textiles having a share of 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
Apparel is the largest imported category by Italy, making up 61 per cent of total textile and apparel imports. This is followed by manmade textiles with a share of 17 per cent. The top 10 suppliers account for 71 per cent of textile and apparel imports by Italy. China and Hong Kong are the largest suppliers accounting for 21 per cent share, followed by Germany with eight per cent and Spain and France seven per cent each.
In recent years, China, the largest supplier for Italy, has seen a sustained rise in its wages, opening up opportunities for India to increase its share in Italy’s apparel imports. Apart from this, manmade textiles category offers huge potential for India to increase its market share in Italy. It can increase its export competitiveness by investing in manmade fiber-based textile manufacturing processes, thereby increasing its market base.
Bangladesh is yet to sign a free trade agreement. Possibly, the country is feeling some sort of complacency because of its considerable achievement in global trade over the years. But the truth is many countries at a similar level of economic development are now much ahead of it in global trade. The way economies across the world are realigning themselves may make things difficult for Bangladesh in coming days.
Asean is an example. The 10-nation Asean countries signed free trade agreement among themselves long ago but they did not stop there. Asean countries, which include most of the South Asian countries, except Korea and Japan, decided to sign the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) agreement with China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. The RCEP, if signed, will represent half of the world's population and one-third of global gross domestic product.
Vietnam, starting much later than Bangladesh, has signed dozens of FTAs with its trade partners. In trade volume, it has caught up Bangladesh long ago and is now moving far ahead. Thailand is an example. Its economy is booming because it is globally linked with other economies. From tourism alone, Thailand earned 58 billion dollars in 2017, which is almost twice the size of Bangladesh's total exports.
With the rupee plummeting to new lows every day, Indian exporters have something to cheer about. Especially for auto component players, the going has been good, with marquee vendors expressing happiness on the back of the shining dollar bringing cheer to exporters.
Businesses that are transacted in dollars (the IT, apparel, leather or textile sectors) would have made a substantial gain of seven to eight per cent. Those raising funds from the Indian market can rest assured as investments typically pour in with a one-year timeline.
Venture funds are doled out keeping in mind the longer haul. The rupee is not an exception considering that almost every currency has been hit by global macroeconomic conditions. Those who have just raised funds, especially in dollars or about to close a fund, are in the positive sphere. Venture capital money is drawn over time and the exchange rate matters only at the time of withdrawal. Those who have drawn down their tranche of capital in the last two to three months would be gaining six to seven per cent only due to exchange rate fluctuations. The current slide augurs well for those intending to raise money from the domestic market. However, despite gains, the moot point is having a stable currency should be the way forward.
Chinese factories are moving assembly lines abroad to skirt higher customs taxes on their exports to the United States and elsewhere.
They are shifting production to countries such as Vietnam, Serbia and Mexico. This is true particularly of China's bike industry.
Supply chains have already begun relocating out of China in recent years as its rising labor and environmental protection costs have made the country less attractive.
Tariffs are adding fuel to the fire.
China-US trade frictions are accelerating the trend of the global value chain changing shape. The shifting abroad of labor-intensive assembly could bring unemployment problems.
Moves abroad spurred on by tariff risks include a garment maker going to Myanmar, a mattress company opening a plant in Thailand and an electronic motor producer acquiring a Mexico-based factory.
Building a factory abroad allows indirect growth by evading international trade barriers. A country like Vietnam has no anti-dumping tax and labor costs are lower there as well.
It is not only Chinese factories that are shifting out. Foreign firms are moving supply chains away from China - toy company Hasbro, camera maker Olympus, shoe brands Deckers and Steve Madden, among many others.
China's growing e-bike industry faces duties not only from the US but also the European Union.
The textile and apparel sector is one of Ethiopia’s key industrial sectors. Foreign currency earnings are given priority as a way of offsetting the current shortage in hard currency. Foreign currency will be released for transactions in the textile and apparel sector in the current fiscal year.
Lower export earnings are attributed to lower exports, shortage of cotton, lack of trained manpower, instability in some parts of the country. A 15-year National Cotton Development Strategy has been prepared to tackle the cotton shortage. Ethiopia is going to harvest a huge amount of cotton for export and to satisfy the demands of the local textile industry.
To effect proper market linkages with reliable buyers, market opportunities are being explored to obtain potential buyers in the global market. Several major foreign companies have invested in the textile and clothing industry in Ethiopia and a number of high profile brand names have started sourcing apparel from the country.
Such interest is believed to stem from rising wages in China, labor unrest and violence in Cambodia, and ineffective compliance with rules and regulations in various countries in South Asia. Also, Ethiopia has been making efforts to create favorable conditions in order to attract investors.
MarediModa will be held in France from November 6 to 8. This is a beachwear, intimates, athleisure fabrics and accessories show. It will be run on design themes. Paradise Found is about the longing for sensory stimulation. Colors are dominated by acid brights that flash against deep and dense nocturnal backgrounds. Silhouettes explore new frontiers for garment engineering, high-tech details and finishing for 1980s disco-inspired opulent, glamorous looks.
Activism is about people hoping to make a difference using fashion to communicate. Patterns represent a mishmash of streetwear inspired looks spanning comics, folk motifs and popular brands’ logos. Pink reigns supreme. Silhouettes are basic with rebellious disruptions.
Bloom is dedicated to flowers that trigger emotions. Fabrics are tender and soft with drape in fine and featherweight qualities. Patterns are about all things botanical. A romantic palette celebrates the poetic qualities of flowers, from freshly bloomed to beautifully aged. Silhouettes are feminine, frilly and detailed with ruffles, drape effects, ruches, trims and buttons, laces and bows.
Athleisure bridged the gap between active wear and leisurewear – and now fashion goes beyond it. Intimate apparel and swimwear have entered the melting pot to form a powerful and versatile fusion. Performance fibers and fabrics have transitioned into leisurewear, giving designers a far wider and deeper portfolio with which to work.
Bangladesh has brought down source tax for export to 0.60 per cent. But this will not be applicable for jute and jute-made products. Also, corporate tax for readymade garment industry has been lowered to 12 per cent. In terms of corporate tax structure, the 2018-19 budget proposed a hike for garment factories. It proposed a flat 15 per cent tax for all factories and 12 per cent for those certified as green factories – up from 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Now the previous structure has been brought back.
Last fiscal, the apparel industry of Bangladesh earned $30.61 billion, which is 83.5 per cent of total export receipts for the year. The source tax collected from export proceeds of garments is roughly the revenue collected as income tax from the apparel sector. The garment industry is the country's main export earner. It is looking to touch $50 billion in shipments by 2021.
Some garment exporters are said to import fabrics duty-free and sell them in the domestic market. Producers who make cloth for the domestic market say this hurts them. Leather goods and footwear manufacturers and exporters of Bangladesh have called for duty-free benefits for importing equipment to ensure fire safety at factories.
"As Industry 4.0 is slowly making its place in manufacturing, retail diaspora too needs to catch up as it’s not an advantage, it’s a dire necessity. Today, digital transformation is not about speed and reduced time to market, it’s about efficiency, earlier validation, creating better products and, more importantly, the ability to focus on creativity and innovation. In short, there is a need for digital solution that will disrupt the entire supply chain. With shoppers turning towards online channels, brands and retailers are in the process of stepping-up their game in order to provide the goods. Added to that, ‘see now, buy now’ concept is forcing brands and retailers around the globe to not only adapt to a new digital reality, but also push towards an even more innovative environment that will allow them to compete in their market without wasting valuable resources."
As Industry 4.0 is slowly making its place in manufacturing, retail diaspora too needs to catch up as it’s not an advantage, it’s a dire necessity. Today, digital transformation is not about speed and reduced time to market, it’s about efficiency, earlier validation, creating better products and, more importantly, the ability to focus on creativity and innovation. In short, there is a need for digital solution that will disrupt the entire supply chain. With shoppers turning towards online channels, brands and retailers are in the process of stepping-up their game in order to provide the goods. Added to that, ‘see now, buy now’ concept is forcing brands and retailers around the globe to not only adapt to a new digital reality, but also push towards an even more innovative environment that will allow them to compete in their market without wasting valuable resources.
3D technology at the back of everything
The real digital disruption started with the 3D technology as it has a 95 per cent accuracy rate and can enable the production of a digital sample that is
similar in appearance to what a physical sample would look like. Photorealistic rendering, advanced fabric and texture properties, along with the ability to easily embed rigid parts such as buttons and trims, can allow decision makers to see how a garment will act and look without needing to create a physical sample. A recent study revealed apparel industry spends approximately $7 billion per year on samples alone. An extremely high financial cost in addition to the aspect of pure waste, which could easily be reduced by 75 per cent using 3D technology. The ability to finalize prototypes within hours instead of weeks, review collections within weeks instead of months, and change colours and graphics at a push of a button is revolutionising the way garments are being produced. Moreover, the way the entire supply chain functions.
3D technology was integrated through advanced plug-ins into existing tools such as in the case of Adobe Illustrator, whose 3D plug-in allows designers the freedom to validate and customize garments in 3D without abandoning the reliable graphics editor. Today, designers can visualize 3D garments with accurate proportion and scaling, customise the garment’s fabric, texture, print patterns and graphic placement without waiting for a printed sample, all by using a 3D plug-in that runs in the native design environment on a PC or a Mac. The use of technology led to reduced waste both of time and fabric as 3D technology enables brands to cut development time in half and reduce the use of physical samples by nearly 50 per cent, which further resulted in the massive reduction in ecological damages.
Newer dimensions of growth
Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality are fast dominating the online sphere and personalise content for every single user. The fashion playing field is now more global than ever before. The only way to fully optimize the supply chain and focus on creativity, is by going digital.
Morocco Style will be held from March 28 to 31, 2019. This is an opportunity for fashion, textile, accessories, ready-to-wear professionals like importers, exporters, manufacturers and distributors to weave B2B relationships in this sector which is in constant evolution.
Exhibits will include textiles, leather clothing, nightwear, shoes, bags, cosmetics, yarn, wool, knitted fabric, women’s and men’s clothing, denim, lingerie, sportswear, children’s clothing, accessories and more.
The four day fair will be attended by over 350 exhibitors from Morocco, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Taiwan, Portugal and Germany. It is also expected to have 15,000 trade visitors from Morocco and 32 other countries. These include: West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf and Europe.
This platform enables national and international companies from different industrial sectors to show and promote their skills, to meet partners and to discover the new trends and techniques of the sector.
Morocco Style also contributes to the development of Moroccan expertise in the textile sector by consolidating Morocco's competitiveness and making Morocco an international reference point and an African regional hub of the sector. The 2017 edition was attended by over 300 exhibitors who presented the latest trends in fashion and textiles. Moroccan fabric imports are exempt from tax. This accelerates the export of ready-to-wear.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was India’s second largest apparel market after the US in 2017. However, imports from India dipped drastically by 59.26 per cent during the first half of 2018. India’s shared dwindled both in knits and woven categories significantly. Knitted apparels export witnessed a massive fall of 60.73 per cent. Woven garments declined by 57.36 per cent.
The declining trend is certainly a worry for India, since the UAE contributes 20.14 per cent to Indian’s apparel export in value terms. It’s pertinent that for the first four months of fiscal ’18, there was a 17.8 per cent growth in garment exports to the UAE. The otherwise top destination, United States, saw only a 1.5 per cent growth in Indian shipments.
Falling exports can be attributed to many reasons. The UAE’s overall textile and apparel imports have been declining for three years. The five per cent VAT as well as an increase in fuel and electricity prices following the crash of oil prices in the international market has hit the country negatively. The ongoing recession in the UAE is hurting consumer spending badly. Changing consumer shopping pattern is impacting retail business, pushing buyers to cut import orders.
