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According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the domestic textile and garment industry is expected to sustain export growth in the coming months as many textile and garment companies had signed contracts to produce export products in the third quarter of this year.
Many Vietnamese garment firms had also sustained high growth in traditional markets such as the United States, the Republic of Korea, the European Union, and member-states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
A series of recently-signed free trade agreements (FTAs) was expected to further boost the sector.
Vietnam, since 2001, had signed bilateral trade agreements with the US, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and India, and joined the World Trade Organisation.
However, global demand for textiles and apparel only grew by 1 to 2 per cent each year, resulting in fierce competition.
In the first four months of 2017, Vietnam’s export value of textiles and garments was up 15.7 per cent year on year. The country’s total exports in the four months were up 23 per cent from a year ago.
Exports of textiles and garments from Vietnam to Japan were 20 per cent higher than the same period last year, accounting for 13.3 per cent of the total export value. Similarly, exports to the Republic of Korea and China increased 15 per cent and 41 per cent respectively against the same period in 2017.
During the same period, exports to the European Union rose by 12 per cent while that to Asean increased 26 per cent.
Vietnam has trade relations with over 200 countries and territories around the world, and is gradually moving import-export markets from Asia to Europe and America. Its foreign trade increased fourfold from 2007 to 2014.
The country is focusing on developing other markets such as Asean, the Eurasian Economic Union, India and Latin American countries.
Enterprises are fully exploiting the working capacity of their workers as well as restructuring their management practices to improve labor productivity.
Vietnam is fast emerging as a major supplier of textiles and garments to the global market and the industry has become the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country.
A trade accord between Pakistan, China, and Vietnam could help claim 50 per cent share of the global textile market.
China’s share in world textile exports is 36 per cent. Vietnam contributes 12.4 per cent and Pakistan seven per cent. So a trilateral products’ specific agreement between the three countries can make a huge difference.
Pakistan’s regional competitors are upping the ante on textile exports to make inroads into more global markets, while Pakistan, which has almost fallen out of the competition, has even regressed in the worst possible ways owing to a number of crippling hurdles.
Bangladesh is eyeing 50 billion dollars worth of textile exports. India is targeting an increase of 30 billion dollars. Pakistan’s total exports have decreased from 25 billion dollars to 20 billion dollars in which the textile sector’s share is 61 per cent.
Pakistan is the only country in the region that has seen its total textile exports decline by ten per cent between 2011 and 2018. Problems faced by the textile sector include the high cost of doing business, multiple taxes and surcharges, low production of cotton bales, limited supply of raw materials, and power and energy shortages.
Pakistan’s textile exports rose 7.2 per cent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
The Source Denim section of Fashion SVP aims to support the growing London denim community by offering both a national and international platform for all denim lovers in its coming edition June 26-27 in London
It will host a number of international denim manufacturers including; Soorty, Siddiqsons, Spy Denim, Marjomotex, Suryalakshimi, Hengfeng Weave, Nassa Denim, Neela Blue, Anubha Industries, GIFF Textile, KG Fabrics, Enkay, Billoomi, etc.
Source Denim will provide solutions and inspiration for raw denim, selvedge, non-selvedge, trend setting styles and craft denim and so many different washes and treatments, to chain-stitched, dyed, organic, ethical, sustainable and all types of designs.
The producers will offer a variety of services including full service and high quality CMT, specialist processes and fabric ranges, design and product development, complex garments, technical services and QC, and in-house services including washing, dyeing and garment testing.
In addition, Fashion SVP will also present Sourcing Briefing seminars, where leading speakers will discuss topics such as Future proofing for sustainable growth, Supporting a trail blazing brand, The new face of Denim – Innovation and future trends and more.
Fashion Station, where industry professionals will be sharing insight and tips on how to finance your business, career progression and legal issues that new and existing businesses might face.
The Ministry of Education and University Grants Commission (UGC) n cooperation with Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ ) are jointly implementing a project to reduce the skill gap of mid-level managers in the country’s textile and Readymade Garments (RMG) sector.
The project, titled “German-Bangladesh Higher Education Network for Sustainable Textiles (HEST), has developed three university partnerships among four German and eight Bangladeshi universities.
The four German universities are Hof University of Applied Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Dresden University of Technology, and University of Stuttgart. The eight Bangladeshi universities include Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh University of Textiles, BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, North South University, Notre Dame University Bangladesh and University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.
The HEST project will play a vital role in reducing the skill gap of the textile industry besides addressing the sustainability challenges of higher education.
Karl Mayer has been operating successfully in the Chinese woven glass fabric market with its sizing and warping machines.
Buyers include existing customers, who are expanding or upgrading their capacity, but also companies that are new to the woven glass fabric sector.
Woven glass fabrics are mainly used as the carrier material in the production of copper clad laminates.
Karl Mayer owes its success in the glass market to its sophisticated warp preparation process. This process uses the principle of single-end sizing: the yarns are taken off from bobbins, fed through the sizing bath, dried, and wound onto beams. These are then assembled to produce warp beams for weaving. The company can supply the right machine technology for every processing stage.
The warp preparation sequence for processing glass can be adapted flexibly to suit the intended end-use, especially in terms of the tension regulation and the arrangement of the drying zone. For example, the number of drying cylinders can be varied as a function of the yarn count.
A machine for processing extremely fine glass yarns was successfully installed in February 2018. Experience with processing these fine yarns was also gained during a project that involved the upgrading and modification of older machines.
Karl Mayer is a warp knitting machinery manufacturer.
M.i.h. is launching its most sustainable jeans yet.
The capsule collection is made in partnership with ISKO, the only denim mill in the world that’s been awarded the EU Ecolabel and Nordic Swan Ecolabel environmental certifications. The fabric that has been developed is a special 10-ounce, two-by-one selvedge denim made from organic cotton in a raw indigo wash, which reduces water waste. It is available in an inky, deep-blue rinse cut in fresh silhouettes, like a wide-leg crop, a button-through skirt, and an apron top.
M.i.h. is also introducing a new upcycling initiative where customers can send their jeans to the factory to be responsibly upcycled.
It’s part of a greater movement of brands taking responsibility for the full life-cycle of their garments.
The team will be transforming the old denim pieces into new products, or will break down the fibers to create recycled yarn.
The basic blue jean may become entangled in a trade war between the US and its allies.
Following the start of US duties on imported metals from EU, Mexico and Canada, denim brands expressed their concern that tariffs will be placed on goods like jeans and consequently could raise prices for consumers worldwide.
The US has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports and a ten per cent tariff on aluminum imports from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico, ending a two-month exemption.
The EU says it would respond in a firm and united manner to the tariffs.
Levi Strauss & Co. will work with industry peers to raise awareness of how the tariffs will affect their business, consumers and the people across their supply chains. Levi’s has called for open markets and free trade where everyone plays by the rules.
Abercrombie & Fitch has been taking steps to reduce its dependence on China and increase the agility of its supply chain. The turnaround appears to be taking effect. Net sales for the first quarter were up 11 per cent with comparable sales ahead five per cent.
Unilateral tariff impositions risk retaliation and destabilizing the global economy, in which case American brands, workers and consumers will ultimately suffer.
Grassroots coding in the wool industry is the winning idea for Australian Wool Innovation’s 2018 Tech eChallenge.
Fending off a number of innovative business ideas that addressed areas of the wool industry such as race-line double handling and on-farm disease testing, Grassroots Coding identifies an opportunity for connecting children to the wool industry through coding. Grassroots Coding is a collaboration between Trent Bowden and Daniel Ng. Their app aims to encourage literacy in coding among young people who have in interest in the wool industry and technology.
Tech eChallenge brings young minds to everyday issues faced by woolgrowers. Teams comprising students, staff and the wider community undertook an intensive workshop course over the past three months to give them the skills to develop practical, low-cost digital tools to help wool producers improve animal health, welfare and productivity.
Participants came up with ideas and developed products they then pitched to a panel of expert judges in the Grand Final held at the University of Adelaide.
The Tech eChallenge teaches concepts to help foster innovation in a fun and open environment, with opportunities to discuss ideas with industry professionals one-on-one and to also openly brainstorm with the class, both helping to refine and cultivate the final product.
Subsidiary of Indorama Ventures, FiberVisions Corporation, has expanded its bicomponent fibre capacity in Covington, Georgia, US. This new project will be the company’s major line for producing bicomponentfibre, with 24,000 tons per year capacity, and will have state-of-the-art technology to create a new generation of bicomponent fibres.
The ground-breaking design and performance characteristics of these novel fibres will be shared with the strategic partners closer to the start-up date.
The new line will create a site with four bicomponent lines servicing the Americas and Europe and represents one piece of an expansion plan promoting its bicomponent fibre growth worldwide.
Indorama Ventures and ES FiberVisions (ESFV), a joint venture between FiberVisions LLC (a subsidiary of Thailand’s Indorama Ventures PCL) and Japan’s JNC Corporation, have been successfully expanding bicomponent fibre growth on a global scale.
ES FiberVisions opened a new production facility in Rayong, Thailand in 2017; FiberVisions Corporation will be completing a debottleneck of its existing Bicomponent fiber lines in Covington in the summer of 2018; and the previously announced investment to double the capacity of ES FiberVisions Suzhou plant to over 28,000 tons per year capacity in Jiangsu Province, China, will be completed in the summer of 2019.
