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HKTDC Hong Kong International Home Textiles and Furnishings Fair will be held in Hong Kong from April 20 to 23, 2018. The fair is a dedicated sourcing platform and an information exchange hub for fine home textiles.
Over 290 global exhibitors are expected to present a vibrant selection of textile products. Exhibitors are categorised under seven theme zones to ensure an easy-to-navigate setting and superior sourcing experience.
Hall of Glamour, the premium zone of the fair, will feature high-end, design-led textiles and furnishings. Exhibitors will showcase quality textiles covering bedding, curtains, carpets and towels. Other zones are Baby and Bedroom Textiles, Bathroom and Kitchen Textiles, Carpet and Floor Coverings, Design Solutions and Trade Services, Upholstery and Furnishing Products and Window Fashion and Accessories.
Environmental awareness is on the rise and so is the demand for green products. Consumers particularly in developed markets like Japan, the US and West Europe are enthusiastic about eco-friendly properties of natural fibers. To cater to the surging demand, the fair will highlight environmentally friendly and sustainable products by labelling exhibitors with green products or hotel supplies for effective sourcing.
To facilitate business matching and networking, a series of activities will be held during the fair, including product demo and launch pad sessions, where suppliers can introduce their latest products to buyers in an interactive and relaxing atmosphere
Fespa will be held in Germany from May 15 to 18, 2018. The event showcases solutions for the print industry. It is expected to feature more than 600 exhibitors, and 18,000 visitors who will be able to see latest innovations in digital and screen printing sectors for graphics, signage, décor, packaging, industrial, and textile applications.
Bringing together so many suppliers and innovations under one roof for screen, digital wide-format, and textile printing, as well as signage and non-printed signage, makes Fespa the leading destination event for international print service providers and sign-makers.
Print service providers and sign-makers will also have the opportunity to network with peers from the global specialty print industry. Digital Corrugated Experience will be an experiential area, showcasing the potential of digital print for corrugated packaging and display work. Visitors from converting or box-making backgrounds can learn more about how they can integrate digital print technology into their production setup.
Print Make Wear will offer visitors the chance to find out about the process behind print and fashion. From the initial design stage through to finished garments and accessories, experts from this field will be in attendance to talk with visitors about this creative market.
The main show will once again be complemented by the European Sign Expo, which focuses entirely on the sign-making market.
Big retail chains in the US are struggling with fast fashion. Retailers have spent years cutting costs by moving production to Asia and placing huge orders for merchandise. Currently, they aren't in the best position to make broad changes to their supply chain as consumers are spending less of their income on apparel.
The stakes are high to make fast fashion work. A rapidly changing assortment of trendy clothes helps drive customers into stores, and potentially stave off the encroachment of online retailers. In the last couple of years, people started realizing have to speed up. As consumers jump from one trend (and brand) to the next faster than ever, US retailers are collectively being forced to pivot away from the traditional model, which values low costs above all else. The methods they’ve adopted vary widely.
For now, few US retailers can match the fast-fashion prowess of European competitors such as Inditex and H&M. These companies pioneered the model by taking flexibility to the extreme, via airlifted merchandise, small order sizes and an accelerated design process.
A transition to fast fashion is also complicated by the fact that most US retailers depend on suppliers, while a company like Zara is vertically integrated -- allowing more control from start to finish. That means, for US apparel vendors, the acceleration has to occur across multiple companies.
Bangladesh is looking at revising minimum wages for the readymade garment industry. The last such wage review was done in 2013. The revision will be done by a tripartite wage board comprising the government, representatives of garment factory owners and workers. In reviewing the minimum wage, the board will take into consideration the cost of living of workers, their standard of living, cost of production of factories, productivity, price of products, business capability, economic and social condition of the country and of the localities concerned, as well as other relevant factors.
This time the minimum wage is going to be revised at a time when the country is about to graduate out of the least developed country (LDC) category. As a LDC, Bangladesh now enjoys duty-free access to the EU, where about 60 per cent of Bangladesh apparel is sent. After the graduation, Bangladesh would no longer be able to avail of duty-free access to the EU.
Robots are being programmed with artificial intelligence to improve productivity. If workers are not willing to accept wages based on productivity, garment factories may not remain competitive in the long-run. Owners would have to realise that a productive worker will earn more for them as every cent spent on workers is paid back in return as additional output.
The governor of Punjab, Muhammad Rajwana has assured All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) members that he will take up all issues related to the Punjab-based textile industry with the Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi. "I fully understand your problems and would join you to get them resolved from the federal government," he noted. He was addressing the textile association during his visit to APTMAs Punjab office on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Power Loom Owners Association and the Pakistan Sweater Exporters Association were also present on the occasion. The governor expressed his displeasure over the increasing number of mills that were closed in Punjab. He disclosed the textile mills in Punjab were facing issues right from cotton to value added exports. He noted that the trust deficit between industry and policymakers is alarming.
Discussing the damage caused to the cotton acreage due to sugar industry issues, he expressed his view that no industry should succeed at the cost of another. He further said that the textile industry should be permitted to import cotton from all sources including Afghanistan to meet the current shortage.
He was aware that APTMA was agitated over their demands not being considered since the last four years and said that the time has now come to make textile industry competitive in the region by removing disparities in the energy cost.
Discussing the issue of sales tax refund, he said that some of the departments were also misusing their authority. Earlier, Chairman APTMA Aamir Fayyaz made a detailed presentation on the existing state of affairs in the Punjab-based textile industry. The presentation also noted the huge difference in cost of production in Pakistan as against regional countries. He said the government should immediately address the energy cost issues by ensuring uniformity in prices, ie, electricity at Rs 7 per kWh and LNG at Rs 600 per MMBTU. He also sought an immediate release of sales tax refunds of the industry.
ITM 2018 International Textile Machinery Exhibition, will be held from April 14 to 17, 2018 organised by Tüyap and Teknik Fairs in cooperation with Textile Machinery and Accessories Industrialists’ Association (TEMSAD). The 15th International Istanbul Yarn Exhibition, HIGHTEX 2018 International Technical Textiles & Nonwoven Exhibition and the 8th International Textile Conference will be held at the same location.
At the ITM 2018 Exhibition, many textile machinery leaders will announce their world launches. This is the most important textile technology show in the region. The Istanbul Yarn Exhibition will showcase high performance products from the yarn sector along with latest technological innovations and state-of-the-art products of the leading yarn manufacturers in the world and Turkey. The Yarn Exhibition, will host sector representatives and display high-performance and quality products of the major producers of the yarn sector.
The exhibition, which focuses on international marketing activities to open the yarn sector to new markets, will offer significant commercial opportunities to all participants. Another exhibition to be held simultaneously with ITM 2018 is HIGHTEX International Technical Textiles and Nonwoven Exhibition organised by Tüyap and Teknik Fairs Ltd Co. In addition, HIGHTEX 2018 Exhibition is the first and only exhibition in its field in Turkey.
Nonwoven, technical textiles and smart textiles are among the most crucial markets of the textile sector, which quickly adapts to technological developments. The latest textile products related to these markets will be advertised at the 7th HIGHTEX Exhibition held in 2018.
The HIGHTEX Exhibition will display technical textiles and nonwoven raw materials, intermediate and final products and production technologies.
The 8th International Istanbul Textile Conference (ETT 2018) organised by Marmara University will be held between April 14-16 at TÜYAP Fair and Congress Centre. The conference, which will be have presentations by academicians and sector experts, will be held simultaneously with ITM 2018, Istanbul Yarn Exhibition and HIGHTEX 2018.
The theme of the ETT 2018 Conference is "Current and Future Developments in Innovations and Enterprises in Traditional Textile, Technical Textile and Ready-Made Clothing Areas".
The aim of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), which was launch recently, is to create a single market for goods and services, free movement of people and enhance intra-African trade. The CFTA also has the capacity to promote regional value chains. Current inter-linkages between African economies are not sufficient to speed up economic growth within regional economic communities including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Extra-regional trade has outpaced intra-regional trade, often up to 90 per cent. Africa struggles behind much of the world in intra-regional integration. It’s share of trade with countries within regional economic communities in Africa are much below that of regional economic communities in Europe or Asia.
The European Competitiveness Report records the EU12 (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia) are more vertically integrated than the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK).
European governments have responded to decreased employment with a wave of labour market reforms and investment toward returning estranged workers to the labour force. While some of the regulations implemented by European governments are noteworthy such as unemployment insurance, other reforms have been criticised as being protectionist such as subsidies, quotas and non-tariff barriers. While social safety nets were not implemented to work as a panacea for the loss of jobs created by increased international value chain integration, they have been able to mitigate the negative effect of outsourcing employment.
Policymakers need to look at broader issues such as: Would the CFTA lead to “headquarter” and “factory” economies? Who would be the likely winners and losers? How would distributional impacts of trade and integration be addressed? And what social safety nets and skills policies need to be implemented to manage the winners and losers situation?
Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office disclosed that post Brexit the UK would continue to provide tariff-free market access for Bangladeshi goods. This was announced during the UK-Bangladesh second Strategic Dialogue in London.
The discussions centred on political and bilateral issues, economic and development cooperation, security and defence cooperation, amongst other issues. McDonald elaborated, “The Strategic Dialogue was held at an important juncture for both countries as the UK prepares to leave the EU and Bangladesh advances to middle-income country status. I repeated the UKs commitment to continue tariff-free market access for Bangladeshi goods entering the UK market after the UK leaves the EU.”
Bangladesh’s Md. Shahidul Haque said, “The second Strategic Dialogue provided us an important opportunity to discuss how both sides can encourage the transition to a broader relationship between the UK and Bangladesh in the post-Brexit and post-LDC context. We agreed to plan now for a future development partnership focussed on innovation, knowledge, skills development and employment while continuing to ensure that no-one is left behind, especially women, girls, and people with disabilities. We appreciated the UK Government’s firm commitment to continue to provide duty-free, quota-free market access to Bangladeshi goods to the UK market after it left the EU. We highlighted the valuable contribution that the British-Bangladeshi community continues to contribute to British society and prosperity,” he added.
The UK welcomed Bangladesh’s efforts and commitment to improving performance against the World Bank’s “Doing Business Index”. Both sides agreed that trade was an important tool in tackling poverty and that increasing bilateral trade could bring significant benefits to both countries.
Pakistan is considering the option of reducing the customs and regulatory duties on import of over 500 raw materials used by export-oriented industries in the upcoming budget in an effort to enhance exports. As per a commerce ministry statement, “While a comprehensive tariff policy for industrial expansion including the medium and long-term measures is being developed, in the short term the immediate rationalisation of tariff is being considered on 515 tariff lines.” It also asked for feedback on the proposed tariff structure from all concerned stakeholders by March 28.
The commerce ministry is working on the formulation of a five-year strategic trade policy framework 2018-23 in consultation with all stakeholders. “One of the key enablers identified for increasing the competitiveness of the export sector is the rationalisation of tariffs on critical inputs of the export-oriented industry,” the statement added.
Mohammad Ashraf, DG, Ministry of Commerce said the government reduced duties on some imported raw materials used by export-oriented industry in the budget for the current fiscal, but the proposal to rationalise tariffs was made for almost all the critical inputs. It took three months for us to devise a list of the critical inputs.
The commerce ministry and the National Tariff Commission attempted to identify inputs/raw materials of the export-oriented products and the tariff structure. “The objective is to rationalise the tariffs in order to make exports more competitive and facilitate participation of local manufacturers, including SMEs, in global and regional value chains,” the statement noted. “The proposed tariff rationalisation will improve the competitiveness of the leading export sectors including textiles, apparel, leather, spices, chemical products, plastics and articles thereof, iron and steel,” the statement further added.
Jawed Bilwani, Chairman of the Pakistan Apparel Forum, representing four textile trade associations said the commerce ministry is expected to hold a meeting by the end of the current month to discuss trade issues and proposed tariffs with businessmen. Textile exports, which accounted for over 60 per cent of the country’s total exports, went up by 7.2 per cent to $8.79 billion in the July-February period
Featuring 104 exhibitors, including 23 new entries, with seven different industry specialisations Made in France Premiere Vision, show will promote French textile/apparel manufacturers from March 28 to 29 at the Carreau du Temple venue in Paris.
The crafts and trades represented are accessory manufacturing, components, garment and knitwear manufacturing, fabric enhancement and raw materials. In addition, service providers, professional associations and training organisations will also be represented. Vocational training will be this edition's central theme, notably via the presentation of studio work by the Trans-faire workshops, the Atelier du Haut-Anjou and the flexible materials section (shoe and leather accessory makers, upholsterers and trunk-makers) of the Compagnons du Devoir and Tour de France craft associations, as well as via a showcase by nine international designers.
The Rencontres du Made in France conferences will focus on the perennial issue of recruitment and training, at a time when the French government intends to review apprenticeship rules.
IFM's Dominique Jacomet will host the conferences, with panellists Delphine de Canecaude (Twenty Magazin), Jean-Luc François (Groupement de la Fabrication Française) and Olivier Toussaint (of the Le Club des CHO think-tank). Four other conferences are scheduled, ranging from the redirection of sourcing towards France, to the challenges of company acquisitions, the role that a digital approach can play for French craftsmanship, and how French manufacturing is regarded by foreign buyers.
Last year, France apparel exports were worth €9.5 billion, up 27 per cent over a period of 10 years. In 2015, French textile manufacturers' revenues were worth €7.2 billion, providing 5,700 jobs, while the French apparel industry was worth nearly €8 billion, with 39,826 jobs.
