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Knitwear industrialists from Tirupur have been invited to invest in a textile cluster to be formed in UP. As a part of two-day program, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, Secretary to UP chief minister, and Sunil Yadav, Assistant Director, Handloom and Textiles, visited garment manufacturing units at Nethaji apparel park in New Tirupur and other places. Ahead of the UP Investors Summit, to be held on February 21-22, the representatives presented their offers to interested industrialists.
Uttar Pradesh is the seventh state to send its representatives. Earlier, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha have sent their representatives to woo the industrialists.
UP’s offers support in capital and machinery investments and transportation expenditures, tax benefits, employee provident fund and employee state insurance were found to be attractive. The UP government team said they have planned to have special purpose vehicle (SPV) and textile parks to establish needed infrastructure, says Shashi Agarwal, joint secretary of Sihma.
Industrialists have been invited to participate in their state’s investors’ summit. They may even have further visits here, if needed. Since Tirupur has attained saturation point in the knitwear business is facing labour shortage and other issues, the industrialists may look for investment options in states like UP. However, industrialists have admitted there is no significant migration of such investments in any of the states which were trying to attract the textile sector investments from Tamil Nadu.
S Govindappan, VP, Sihma says even if those states provide attractive investment offers, it would not be more difficult to get either skilled labour force or raw materials or processing units there. For instance, the Karnataka government was trying to lure industrialists to set up units in an industrial estate in Chamarajanagar district on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, there were no takers.
Bangladesh’s sweater exports to the western world are rising because of competitive prices and longer winters due to climate change. Exports in fiscal 2016-17 were up 5.64 per cent year-on-year. Three years ago, the window for sweater sales was at the most four months, from November to February. However, now, the window opens in October and continues until March.
The shift of work orders from China to Bangladesh is also another factor for the higher shipment, which exports nearly three million pieces a year. Knitwear is no longer confined to winter and is worn year round.
Given the higher demand, most factories have started automating their production line to boost output and cope with strict lead times. Recently, Vietnam and Cambodia have become major competitors due to their shorter lead times. The lead time from Bangladesh is around 40 days, whereas it is 20 days from the other two Asian nations. Bangladesh has more than 500 sweater factories in operation and nearly 60 per cent of these have switched over to automation to ramp up productivity. Prices of sweaters dropped and customers placed more orders in the jacquard category. An automated jacquard machine is not only able to produce diversified and fashionable products, but can also fabricate critical designs.
Première Vision has launched a new website, whose predominant color is white, and will enable users to search for fabrics using 13 different criteria: their textile components, certification, color, weight etc. The site will be initially limited to the ordering of fabric samples, with the placement of production orders a possibility at a later stage.
There will be an affordable subscription fee to access the site's tools. This is the initial economic model. In the longer term, it will be possible to place orders through the site, which will be able to offer more than just samples. The marketplace will be gradually deployed for fabrics, yarns, leather, accessories and sourcing. It will also include editorial content, akin to PV's trend forums, featuring specific insights on the range of products offered on the website by the show’s exhibitors.
Première Vision Digital, the wholly-owned subsidiary of PV which runs the marketplace, has set itself an initial target of 1,500 companies joining the marketplace, offering a range of about 70,000 products in the textiles, apparel, leather, accessories and textile design categories.
Exhibitors will be able to limit and control access to their products. On the buyers’ side, Première Vision intends to tap its database of 2,50,000 international buyers.
Nandan Denim’s net profit for the third quarter rose 61 per cent. Net sales were higher by 54 per cent over the previous fiscal’s same quarter net sales. The company reported healthy ebitda and pat margins at 16 per cent and 3.83 per cent respectively. Earnings per share for the third quarter stood at Rs 2.86.
For the nine months ended December 2017, the company’s net profit rose 14 per cent. Net sales in the nine months were higher by 43 per cent compared to the same period in the previous fiscal. For the nine months of fiscal year 2017-18, the ebitda margin stood at 15.51 per cent and pat margin at 3.87 per cent.
The company was able to maintain a good balance between revenue growth and profitability while delivering greater efficiency. The benefits of optimising business post expansion are beginning to emerge. It expects to get the full realisation and synergies of the expansion plans in the next few years and expects to see better profit margins going forward. Nandan Denim is India’s largest denim fabric manufacturer. From a year-on-year perspective, Nandan has completed capacity expansions at the denim fabric, shirting fabric, and yarn manufacturing units.
Japanese textile companies have emerged as significant suppliers to the US automotive industry. The success of Japanese automotive textile suppliers reflects dramatic changes in the shape of the US automotive sector itself as the share of US producers has fallen and that of Japanese producers has risen. In general, the dominance of the traditional Big Three automotive manufacturers—namely General Motors Ford and DaimlerChrysler—has waned while Japanese car producers such as Toyota Motor and others have enjoyed rapid and considerable growth in the US market.
There is a growing demand for environmentally-friendly products in the global automotive interiors market. Changes in attitudes towards ecological and environmental concerns are reflected in vehicle designs as well as automotive interiors.
Other future trends include the substitution of polyurethane foam in upholstery composites by three-dimensional polyester nonwovens, multi-knits and spacer fabrics which can be recycled; the increased use of efficient, longer life nonwoven filters to meet requirements for longer maintenance periods; the use of optical fibers in textile linings to illuminate certain parts of the car interior—such as the floor, door handles, and other areas; and the use of conductive textiles for heating and electromagnetic shielding, and for the collection or transmission of signals.
Kering is enjoying its most profitable year on record, as Gucci closed 2017 with another quarter of runaway growth. The Italian fashion label saw comparable sales rising 45 per cent in the fourth quarter, says owner Kering. That’s helped drive the Paris-based company to its most profitable year on record.
Millennial shoppers have been at the forefront of rebounding sales in the luxury industry, with customers under the age of 35 making up 85 per cent of growth last year. Recurring operating profit rose 56 per cent last year to €2.95 billion as Kering brands including Saint Laurentand street wear label Balenciaga joined Gucci in reaping the fruit of youth-focused reboots.
Overall revenues at Kering rose to €4.26 billion euros ($5.25 billion) in the fourth quarter, up 27.4 per cent year-on-year on a comparable basis, which strips out acquisitions and currency swings. That marked a slight slowdown from the 28.4 per cent growth notched up in the previous three months but beat forecasts.
Kering posted a 56.3 per cent rise in adjusted operating income to €2.95 billion for 2017 as a whole, also beating forecasts, while full year revenues rose 27.2 per cent on a comparable basis to €15.48 billion.
For the third quarter Grasim reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 786.87 crores, mainly on account of higher expenses and loss from subsidiaries. Total income during stood at Rs 15,523.75 crores. It was Rs 9,743.51 crores in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.
Grasim is an Aditya Birla company. The consolidated profit after tax for the quarter is lower compared to the previous period mainly on account of the share of the company in the net loss of Idea Cellular, an associate firm.
Grasim’s viscose staple fiber business will continue to focus on expanding the market in India by partnering with the textile value chain. The domestic viscose staple fiber market demand remained buoyant with sales volume up by nine per cent year on year. The uptrend in domestic caustic soda prices continued in the current quarter, driven by supply related issues in China and Europe and robust demand from major consuming segments (alumina and textile).
Grasim has a strong presence in polyester viscose and polyester wool fabric. The domestic over the counter division operates in the formal menswear fabric market by offering ready-to-stitch suiting and shirting.
Yarn Expo will be held in China from March 14 to 16, 2018. It will feature suppliers of eco-friendly synthetic and specialty yarns. Buyers will get numerous sourcing options that match current industry trends: the rise of innovative synthetic and specialty yarns and increasing demand for eco-friendly products.
The fair will host around 430 exhibitors from more than 10 countries and regions including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, providing around 22,000 trade buyers expected at the fair with a diverse range of yarns and fibers. The Birla Planet pavilion will include six exhibitors showcasing Birla Viscose, a heavy-metal-free fiber well suited to blending with other fibers. Chinese brand Sateri specialises in viscose rayon and is the largest producer of viscose fiber in the country. It will showcase skin-friendly hygiene products made from viscose fiber.
Yibin Grace’s Gracell fiber is made from 100 per cent pure wood pulp. With high fiber strength and softness, it can be used in knitted products, woven wool fabrics, home textiles, nonwoven facial masks, and high-grade woven fabrics for jeans, trousers and shirts. Jiangsu Guowang will showcase new products this edition including low-temperature dyed fibers and heavy-metal-free fibers.
Cambodia has banned trucks longer than 16 meters from serving the garment industry. The industry wants the ban revoked or at least modified to exclude trucks slightly longer than the specified limit. Garment manufacturers say the enforcement push poses a new threat to the garment, footwear, and traveling goods sectors, which are facing an increasingly competitive global market and shorter orders from buyers. They acknowledge that any problems are the fault of the private sector for not complying with legal requirements regarding truck length, but say the crackdown would have negative effects for the garment sector if it isn’t modified soon.
As of now more than half of the vehicles serving the garment industry have been forced off the roads. Transport companies don’t dare to drive and have not accepted orders for their services from factories because their trucks do not comply with the law. Most trucks are used trucks imported from the US and EU and they meet proper safety standards but fail only in meeting the 16 meter length standard.
In the past month, industry leaders have warned persistently high logistics costs, rising wages and lax customs enforcement are threatening foreign investment levels in the country.
C&A Foundation has halted grants for philanthropic work in Myanmar. The country’s handling of the Rohingya crisis has been cited as the primary reason for this decision. While withdrawing new grants, the foundation will ramp up efforts to support those suffering from gender-related discrimination and human trafficking in the region. It is also increasing support to humanitarian relief and the prevention of gender-based violence and human trafficking among the growing refugee population in Bangladesh.
Myanmar has been the subject of much derision over recent months and years with the ongoing Rohingya crisis and subsequent human rights violations having direct implications on the textile and fashion industries of the nation. In 2016, C&A began its support for initiatives in Myanmar in an attempt to ensure the safety of garment workers through engaging industry stakeholders and the Myanmar government.
C&A was founded in Switzerland in 1841. It is one of the most longest lasting and pioneering retailers in the global fashion business. One of the main focus areas of the foundation is eradicating forced and child labor. C&A Foundation aspires to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions of the cotton and apparel supply chain and as such sees social purpose organisations as key to achieving this mission.
