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In response to President Donald Trump removal of the exemptions, from additional tariffs on steel and aluminum from EU member countries.
EU had threatened additional tariffs on U.S. products including cotton bedlinen, various fabrics, cotton blankets and traveling rugs, and down or feather-filled bedding.
Canada has also issued a list of threatened retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports to go into effect on July 1. That list includes home textiles items such as tablecloths and serviettes/napkins, sleeping bags, other bedding and similar articles.
On the other hand, the U.S. government is scheduled to publish its list of Chinese imports that will be subject to tariffs on June 15.
Mexico will also issue a list that includes several agricultural, steel and aluminum products, although there has been no mention of textile or home fashion products. Canada is also proposing to impose tariffs on U.S. mattresses sent to Canada.
The global textile dyes market is expected to have a CAGR of six per cent from 2017 to 2022.
With the increased demand for design alteration on clothing, demand for printing will increase significantly in the coming days. Hence demand for dyes usable in digital printing heads and printing paste will increase. Demand for printing inks will also increase significantly.
Manufacturers are trying to choose more efficient and environment-friendly dyes to reduce the cost of manufacturing and to reduce the impact on the environment.
Demand for regenerated fibers like viscose, lyocel will increase very fast. And polyester as a fiber will continue to grow as well.
Textile dyehouses are looking for cleaner dyestuffs and processes. And so they are working hard to reduce waste. Demand for high-performance dyes, pigments and inks will be on the rise. On the contrary low efficient dyes will face big market challenges.
Consumption of dyestuffs may go down in coming days, mainly because of growing demand for efficient dyes and an increase of printing as a method of coloring. However another trend, washing and vintage worn-out looked fashion, will offset this trend and eventually the demand of dyes in volume is expected to remain almost stable.
Faced with government pressure to reduce pollutants and the need to adhere to corporate social responsibility guidelines, sportswear companies are now focusing on using less plastic while simultaneously recycling old material and using newer technologies to alter the way they manufacture products.
Nike for instance makes 75 per cent of its products from recycled material—including sneakers and premium jerseys. The company also claims to have diverted over 51 million pounds of waste materials globally between May 2016 and 2017.
Similarly, US-based Alternative Apparel Inc., recycles over 100,000 discarded plastic bottles annually and uses organic cotton in place of conventional cotton.
Alcis Sports has been making T-shirts from waste plastic bottles since the past two years. Called Wonder Tee, each T-shirt uses about 8 plastic bottles. Alcis now aims to have 50% of its products manufactured from recycled polyester, made from waste plastic bottles.
Swedish clothing retail company Hennes and Mauritz AB’s H&M Foundation has partnered with The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel to develop newer technologies for recycling by 2020.
Fitness apparel purveyor Expert Brand, a member of SEAMS, offers active sportswear that is lightweight, comfortable and ready-made for today’s man or woman on the go.
The brand has launched its Siro Collection which is designed with durability in mind and offers a premium on high performance - even with daily wear. From muscle tees to short sleeves to even hoodies, the apparel is a fitting staple to any active American wardrobe.
The Tritec Collection, already revered for its unique blend of three performance materials delivering on durability, moisture-management, and comfort, is produced in America and, fittingly, most items are available in red, white and blue.
The OxyMesh Collection is American produced for American athletes. Used for US Army recruits, with an ambitious take on breathability and comfort. Leave it to good old fashioned American ingenuity to add in antimicrobials to combat unpleasant odor as well!
Apparel Textile Sourcing Show was held in Miami, May 21 to 23.
The show presented a wide range of international suppliers from around the globe who showcased textiles, trims and accessories, manufacturing and private label development services, and finished apparel.
Almost 2,000 attendees walked through the door of the three-day trade show. Apparel Textile Sourcing Miami featured 139 exhibitors representing 17 countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, the US.
China was heavily represented on the show floor with a large showing of high-quality textile, apparel and trims suppliers.
Over 20 seminars took place throughout the three days, addressing a comprehensive range of topics including sustainability, global sourcing, supply chain, social compliance, influencer marketing, and branding strategies. Sessions were presented by industry experts, top educators, respected designers, influential bloggers and economists.
Attendees flooded the show floor seeking to expand their business. They were able to get different customers from other countries.
Product categories covered apparel and textiles from fashion to function, from leather to lace. Categories included finished apparel for men, women, and children that range from leisure, formal, denim, active, swim, intimates, and performance. Exhibitors also displayed home ware and linen, hardware, and textiles that included cotton, knits, yarns, leather, synthetics and blends.
An unpublished study of Dhaka University and The Centre of Excellence of BGMEA estimates that the 34,340 expatriates holding top positions in RMG factories in Bangladesh are remitting around $2.36 billion they receive in salary and allowances.
The total figure is likely to be much higher as the study did not take foreigners working in buying houses and other garment-related organisations into account.
The amount the foreigners in RMG sector are remitting is almost one-eleventh of the total export earning of RMG sector in a year. Besides, the remittance flowing out of the country is about one-eighth of what Bangladeshi expatriates remit to the country.
The study estimates total of 34,340 expatriate employees to be working in the RMG sector in different positions such as CEO, CFO, general manager, senior manager, head of dyeing, head of washing, and head of quality assurance.
It is also estimated that total salary paid to foreign employees is $2,359,983,090 per year. Owners employed 1 to 100 foreigners at the factories.
India plans to request the United States to quickly renew the generalised system of preferences (GSP) scheme, which allows market access at zero or low duties for about 3,500 Indian products, including textiles and chemicals.
The US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office did not renew the scheme for India in April, saying it wanted to hold an eligibility review.
GSP is the largest and oldest U.S. trade preference program. Established by the Trade Act of 1974, GSP promotes economic development by eliminating duties on thousands of products when imported from one of 120 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
Though the US Congress had voted to extend the GSP scheme through 2020, it was not done so for India, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.
Petitions were filed by the US dairy and medical device industries highlighting trade barriers in India and requesting a review of India’s GSP benefits.
The United States is reportedly unhappy with recent caps imposed by India on medical products such as stents.
World cotton consumption is projected to increase to 26.7 m tons in 2018-19 while world cotton production is estimated at 25.7 m tons.
Production in China is projected to decrease to 5.6 m tons based on reduced planting area, while consumption is forecasted to increase to 8.4 m tons.
US production, meanwhile, is projected to decrease to 4.2 m tons with exports projected to increase three per cent.
Reduced yields in 2017-18 in India are contributing to lowered planted area for 2018-19 with exports projected at 8,40,000 tons representing a 24 per cent decrease from the previous season. Production in Brazil for the 2017-18 season is forecast to be 1.9 m tons, a 26 per cent increase from 2016-17, with 9,00,000 tons projected for export. Production for the West Africa region in 2017-18 is estimated at 1.2 m tons, representing a 13 per cent growth from the previous season, with exports for the region expected at 1.04 m tons.
A third consecutive season of growth in demand for cotton, coupled with a decline in world cotton production and poor weather conditions in both China and the US – the world’s leading exporter of the fiber – is adding another layer of uncertainty to the cotton market.
Denny Gandasoebrata, alumnus of Cinematography Institute, Jakarta Arts Institute has pursued the art of textile craft or the art of cloth as it is popularly known.
The word ‘art of cloth’ means the ‘art of textile craft.’ Denny Gandasoebrata himself, since five years, later focused on choosing patterns of tie n dye or shibori. Shibori is an art from Japan, where a pattern on fabric is created by dyeing process in dye.
The basis for making Shibori is similar to batik, where some parts of fabric are 'protected' so as not to get dyed.
The end result gives the pattern according to the colored part and is 'protected' by using techniques such as folding, twisting and tying the fabric and dipping it on the dye, usually indigo.
The material used to tie the fabric will hold the dye, so the fabric area underneath will not change color.
According to EU ambassador in Bangladesh, the development made in enhancing safety in garment factories in the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse is indeed commendable and impressive.
Sustainability Contact which is an ILO-brokered agreement between Bangladesh and EU is responsible for the business behaviour. Later, the US and Canada joined the compact to supervise the safety progress in the country's garment sector. There are some problems, however, that still remain to be addressed in the Sustainability Compact.
The Accord, the Alliance and the government's engineers have been inspecting and remediating the garment factory buildings after the Rana Plaza building collapse. According to e Accord and the Alliance, less than 2 percent of the garment factories in Bangladesh are vulnerable. So far approximately 90 percent of the remediation works in the associate factories of the Accord and the Alliance has been completed.
The government has even appointed a good number of labour examiners and have lessened the percentage of required workers to form trade unions to 30 per cent.
Bangladesh is eligible for trade privilege to the EU, accounting for the highest rate of utilizationlast year 65.7 percentit is a good player among the 49 least-developed countries. In the meantime, the EU will remain its duty-free profit to Bangladesh under the GSP plus arrangement even after completion to the developing country bracket.
According to data from the Export Promotion Bureau the country exported goods worth $18.68 billion to the EU last fiscal year, which was 54.57 percent of the total exports.
