"The world is being plagued by environmental abuse from all kind of industries. Traditional economies, dominated by the use and throw policy, did not consider the material’s end use. It only sourced the inputs from the environment, manufactured them, and channeled them into the industrial process to make end products. These products were then sold to consumers, who dumped them into landfills or incinerators after a while. This is particularly true of the fashion industry, where a new concept of fast fashion, has taken root. "

The world is being plagued by environmental abuse from all kind of industries. Traditional economies, dominated by the use and throw policy, did not consider the material’s end use. It only sourced the inputs from the environment, manufactured them, and channeled them into the industrial process to make end products. These products were then sold to consumers, who dumped them into landfills or incinerators after a while. This is particularly true of the fashion industry, where a new concept of fast fashion, has taken root. This concept involves the high speed and cost-effective catwalk-to-store delivery of high-fashion trends. The disposable nature of new fashion along with a growing disposable income, have been driving production in the last 15 years. Around the world, the $1.3 trillion clothing industry employs over 300 million people across the value chain.

New ways of reducing pollution

The emergence of new fashion styles every day is driving pollution in the industry. A study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation titled ‘A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future’ estimates that over half of the fast fashion garments are disposed off in under a year. Utilisation of clothes, over the last 15 years, or the average number of times they are worn has decreased by 36 per cent. This is particularly seen in the United States, where clothes are only used for a quarter of the global average, and in China, where utilisation has decreased by 70 per cent.

Now, various movements to counter fashion are emerging across the world. Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group, in its study on sustainability of fashion, demonstrates the progress made by the industry globally to improve the environmental and social performance, especially from small and medium companies in the mid-price segment. The study, which used a performance scoring mechanism called the ‘Pulse Score’ reveals that around 75 per cent of fashion companies surveyed improved their sustainability score compared to last year.

Cambodian company leads sustainability drive

The textile and clothing industry, which employs around 800,000 people in Cambodia, continues to be the backbone of the country’s export-driven economy. It contributes around 40 per cent to the nation’s GDP. The country is also home to Sustainability Champion, Tonlé, a frontrunner in processing pre-consumer waste.

Tonlé’s sustainability strategy forms the core of its operations. It reroutes and reuses waste materials that is usually dumped in landfills or burned. Through this strategy, the company not only reduces its massive CO2 emissions, but also the consumption of water, pesticide used in agriculture and chemicals used to dye fabrics. The fashion company has diverted more than 16,000 kg of materials from landfills, reduced 495,000 kg of CO2, reduced consumption of almost 200 million liters of water, and reduced pesticide consumption by almost 12 kg.

The commitment and action by companies like Tonlé not only affects real contributions, but also drives awareness on sustainable fashion further. To keep this drive alive, the rest of the industry needs to follow its lead. The industry should focus on the long-term effects of its products on the environment and communities where it operates.

"Tiruppur’s garment industry, which has around 3,500 small, medium and large garment manufacturers, generates around Rs 45,000 crore ( US$ 6.16 bn) every year until last year, it had been growing at a rate of 20 per cent year-on-year. After GST was implemented, the 5.5 per cent excise rebate was included in GST. After the exporters made strong representations to the government, the commerce ministry increased MEIS from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, but also reduced ROSL from 3.6 to 1.7 per cent. So, after all the adjustments, exporters were enjoying only a 7.7 per cent of drawbacks, which meant they lost more than 5 per cent of what they earlier received as rebates."

Tiruppur, which recently witnessed various disruptions, is struggling to survive. Growth in India’s largest knitwear and readymade garments cluster was pushed to negative by a year of disruptions starting with demonetisation followed by the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) system which sucked out liquidity from the market.

GST negatively impacts industry

Tiruppur’s garment industry, which has around 3,500 small, medium and large garment manufacturers, generates around Rs 45,000 crore ( US$ 6.16 bn) every year until last year, it had been growing at a rate of 20 per cent year-on-year. After GST was implemented, the 5.5 per cent excise rebate was included in GST. After the exporters made strong representations to the government, the commerce ministry increased MEIS from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, but also reduced ROSL from 3.6 to 1.7 per cent. So, after all the adjustments, exporters were enjoying only a 7.7 per cent of drawbacks, which meant they lost more than 5 per cent of what they earlier received as rebates.

Thanks to the hasty implementation of GST, the refund process has become a slow and delayed one. While VAT refund came in three months earlier, GST refund is taking anywhere between 3-6 months. As the government is trying to hasten the refund process, GST offices continue to be understaffed. In Tiruppur, which has 1100 registered companies, there are only 10 officers processing refunds.

New avenues to explore

The bleak outlook at Tiruppur’s garment exports market has forced many to look for other avenues of growth such as Ethiopia. The country offers several incentives to garment exporters in a bid to become the next Bangladesh. The biggest advantage Ethiopia offers is duty-free entry into both the European Union and India. Apart from that, labor too is cheap and abundant. The country currently produces garments for French company Decathlon from this facility.

However, the efficiency levels in Ethiopia are low, given the raw and untrained labor. And this takes away most of the benefit of lower costs, at least for now. The labor too, he says, isn’t reliable. Also, production in Ethiopia can now only cater to basic styles. Any new style will require at least a few months of training. Connectivity in terms of mobile networks is very poor, workers are very raw.

Another revenue stream that several garment exporters in Tiruppur have been turning to is the domestic market. The apparel market in India is growing at nearly 10 per cent every year. Fall in exports led to a huge number of exporters, especially smaller ones, shifting to the domestic market to cater to companies such as Reliance, Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Arvind Mills.

Falling rupee offers better value

For exporters, a falling rupee is advantageous as it gives them a better value for their goods against the euro and dollar. If the rupee had not depreciated, exports from Tiruppur would have been nearly nil. However, importers have also been watching the Indian rupee lose value. Knowing exporters have an advantage, importers too want them to pass on at least 10 per cent of the advantage to them. Given the competitive scenario globally, Tiruppur exporters are being forced to pass on the advantage to their customers. Exporters now expect the rupee to fall further. They hope that the upcoming general elections next year and strong policies by the government will improve the situation in the country.

Top retailers in the UK like John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next have agreed to support moves to stop modern slavery in textile trade. Some companies use slavery to supply retailers with goods and services. That means some of these products have been produced by someone exploited into forced labor. Criminal groups operate in the shadows of supply chains to exploit people for commercial gain.

The retailers have pledged to raise awareness to prevent slavery, protect vulnerable workers and help bring more criminals to justice. Businesses in the UK with a turnover of more than £36 million have to publish annual statements setting out what they are doing to stop modern slavery. But fewer than two in three have complied. Anti-slavery operations are at an all-time high in the country. More than 920 live investigations were conducted by the police in September, in excess of 2,000 victims.

In October thousands of businesses were warned they could face action if they failed to meet legal obligations. The UK has pledged £40 million to aid more than 5,00,000 people around the world who have either survived modern slavery or are at risk of becoming victims. The support will address slavery and trafficking in countries with a high prevalence of these crimes in South Asia.

The US Cotton Trust Protocol – an integrated data collection, measurement and verification procedure that will document US cotton production practices and their environmental impact – will help the cotton industry to meet its 2025 sustainability goals. Introduced by Cotton Council International at the Cotton Sourcing USA Summit in Scottsdale, AZ, data generated by the Protocol will benchmark farmers’ gains towards the industry goals and will provide the global textile supply chain additional assurances that US cotton is produced in a responsible manner.

Details of the Protocol are being fine-tuned, and a pilot program will be launched in 2019 and fully implemented with the 2020 cotton crop year. Participating growers will have to adopt a data tool that allows for the quantitative measurement of key sustainability metrics, such as the FieldPrint Platform. Growers will also have to complete a self-assessment checklist of best management practices, with a sampling of participating producers subjected to independent verification.

The online interface and associated databases are currently being developed by The Seam, a leading provider of trading and technology solutions for commodities trading, particularly in cotton.

The global textile industry waste management market is expected to grow nearly 11 per cent by 2021. One driver is improvements in membrane technology. Membrane technology plays a vital role in wastewater treatment. Some technologies like wastewater treatment using membrane reactors and desalination are already being implemented in the industry on a large scale.

Besides addressing the issue of water scarcity, membrane technologies meet sustainability criteria like the environmental impact, ease of use, land use, adaptability, and flexibility. However, there is still scope for improvement in terms of affordability and cost, energy consumption, and expertise.

One trend in the market is rising patent filings. The global textile industry waste management market is witnessing increased expenditure by vendors on R&D activities, leading to product innovation and increased safety. In addition, vendors in the market are working to reduce the cost of upgrades and maintenance.

In terms of geography, the Asia Pacific region led the global textile industry waste management market during 2016 and is anticipated to continue the dominion during the forecast period. Manufacturers are coming up with marketing strategies based on the durability of the product, and the competitive environment in the market will grow further with a rise in product or service extensions and technological innovations.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports to India grew 167 per cent in October 2018. For Q1 the country’s apparel exports to India were $187 million. During this period woven garment exports to India were up 300 per cent from the same period last year. Knitwear exports doubled.

The remarkable surge in exports to India is attributed to foreign brands’ and retailers’ opening up a number of outlets and stores in India – which, in turn, have been sourcing heavily from Bangladesh. Foreign retailers buy a lot of garment items from Bangladesh for Indian customers, especially for the rising middle class. Last fiscal, apparel exports to the country from Bangladesh witnessed a 100 per cent gain – a trend which is still continuing.

India’s imports of readymade garments from Bangladesh during July-November 2017 rose 56 per cent compared with the same period last year. Knitted apparel imports grew 69 per cent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Woven apparel imports grew 51 per cent compared to the same period of 2016.

GST has led to a flood of textile imports from Bangladesh to India. The main reason is the exemption of basic customs duty on imports of garments from Bangladesh.

Cotton production in Tanzania has increased by 67 per cent this harvest season compared to the previous one. Care has been taken to regulate the quality of agricultural inputs. The plan is to create good environments that could increase farmers’ efficiency, productivity and eventually profit. Cotton is Tanzania’s largest export crop after coffee. It contributes 24 per cent to total agricultural exports and four per cent to total exports.

Simiyu, Shinyanga, Mwanza, and Singida regions have been cited as Tanzania’s cotton growing giants out of seven chief cotton producing Lake Zone regions. The area under cotton has seen an increase from 66 to 77 per cent depending on the region.

Cotton is one of Tanzania's key crops. Around 99 per cent of the country’s cotton is grown in the western region. Around two million of the country’s 42 million people depend on it for their livelihood. It provides around 13 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange – second only to coffee in agricultural exports. Through contract farming, cotton buyers agree to provide inputs, finance and advice on credit to primary producers of the product in return for having exclusive rights to purchase the crop at harvest time. Contract farming areas have already doubled the levels of pesticide distribution.

Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the leading association for the apparel, footwear, and textile industry, recently released the 2018 Higg Facility Modules on Higg.org. The Higg Facility Modules are a part of the Higg Index, a suite of sustainability assessment tools to address value chain inefficiencies, resolve damaging practices, and achieve the environmental and social transparency consumers are demanding.

Factories can use the updated Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) and the Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM), which is accessible online for the first time, to evaluate value chain sustainability performance.

The Higg FEM assessment measures factories’ environmental management systems, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, water use, wastewater, emissions to air, waste management, and chemical use and management. The new web-based Higg FSLM introduces the industry’s first standardized self-assessment for measuring factories’ social and labor performance.

Informed by the Social and Labor Convergence Project, the SAC developed the Higg FSLM to evaluate recruitment and hiring practices, working hours, wages and benefits, employee health and safety, and community engagement, among other areas. The SAC is working towards accreditation as a host of the converged assessment and will release a scored version of Higg FSLM at the end of 2019.

The 4th annual Performance Textile Fair, to be held from January 23 to 25, 2019 in Orlando, will launch a new racquet industry event co-located with the PGA Merchandise Show. The PGA Show, which has already been a main feeder for the Performance Textile Fair, will welcome the Racquet & Paddle Racquet Sports Conference this year. The addition of this new event promises to draw even more buyers interested in learning about and purchasing goods designed for the activewear crowd.

The show this year will feature 20 more exhibitors for a total of 60 from all around the world. Suppliers will include companies such as Brrr and Polartec from the US; Everest, Erictex and Fortune from the Taiwan; and Carvico of Italy. The Performance Textile Fair will present the Material Science Center, a designated space with illuminated displays showcasing the newest fabric technologies. The interactive area allows attendees to touch, feel and learn about each product.

Chinese investors expressed their deep desire to enter into joint ventures with Pakistan for importing high quality fabric that would help them improve bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries. A Chinese delegation from China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC) visited Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT). The objective was their keen interest in developing business in Pakistan specifically in the textile sector for changing the economic landscape of the country.

They showed immense interest in investing in Pakistan as it is amongst the largest cotton producers in the world and their high quality fabric can be exported to China thus enhancing the productivity and boosting trade relations between the two countries. They requested that Chinese investors should be provided with specific promotion incentives to deepen trade relations. They invited PBIT and potential investors from Punjab for showcasing their products in the biggest textile expos conducted in Shanghai.

Burana, CEO, PBIT told them that Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment, Punjab is interested in visiting China with delegates from the textile sector for further economic cooperation. He proposed that a joint working group should be constituted between PBIT and CNTAC to explore possibilities of promotion & cooperation between Punjab and China specifically in textiles.