FW
The US government has rejected Pakistan’s demand for preferential treatment to its textile products in the US market. By doing so, the US administration has clearly told Islamabad they have to rely on the existing General System of Preference (GSP). The message was conveyed by the visiting top aide of US President on trade, Michael Froman at a meeting with the commerce minister of Pakistan Khurram Dastgir Khan.
The minister asked the visiting USTR to revise travel advisory, ensure preferential access to its textile market and ease visa regime for exporters of IT related services to further strengthen trade ties between the two countries. The US delegation led by Ambassador Michael Froman, United States Trade Representative (USTR) also included Ambassador David Hale, Matthew Vogel, Deputy Ustr Michael Delaney, among others. The Pakistani delegation included secretary commerce Azmat Ranjha, Secretary Board of Investment (BoI) Azhar Ali Chaudhary, etal. The US had initially invited the commerce minister to visit Washington and attend TIFA meeting. However, commerce minister made it clear that only if the US was ready to give serious access to Pakistani textiles would he be ready to visit the country failing which the USTR should visit Pakistan.
"Canopy recently released the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Report, a ranking of 11 viscose and rayon producers that represent 70 per cent of global viscose production. The Hot Button Report is the first tool of its kind that enables fashion brands and retailers to assess producers’ impact on the world’s forests, as well as their leadership in forging solutions to eliminate endangered forest fibre from the rayon and viscose supply chain."
Canopy recently released the updated and expanded edition of the Hot Button Report, a ranking of 11 viscose and rayon producers that represent 70 per cent of global viscose production. The Hot Button Report is the first tool of its kind that enables fashion brands and retailers to assess producers’ impact on the world’s forests, as well as their leadership in forging solutions to eliminate endangered forest fibre from the rayon and viscose supply chain.
Highlights 2017
Two major producers, Birla Cellulose and Lenzing who make up 25 per cent of global supply, now have ‘light green shirt’ ranking. Three Chinese producers, Sateri, Sanyou and Fulida, are undergoing CanopyStyle Audits, and reports are anticipated to be made public in late Fall 2017. Two producers still sit with ‘’red shirts’’ and continue to be unresponsive. One new viscose producer, Enka, has recently joined the CanopyStyle initiative with the adoption and initiation of the audit. Three producers are starting to make progress on transparency by listing their pulp suppliers publicly on their website.
The ranking features five new criteria to incentivise continuous improvements and progress, aligned with CanopyStyle priorities on alternative fibres, conservation solutions and transparency. Completing the CanopyStyle Audit is a priority next step expected from all producers that have not yet started this independent verification process.
Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director and Founder, Canopy says, “We have seen remarkable progress with CanopyStyle over the past four years as a result of the collective action of our brands partners.” In upcoming year, CanopyStyle brands and designers are looking for additional leadership from their rayon and viscose suppliers. Initiating the CanopyStyle Audits, advocating for conservation, and advancing the development and production of next generation solutions are all key performance areas for producers striving to meet their customers’ expectations.
Outlook ahead
The 2017 edition of the Hot Button Report will be followed by the public release of several more CanopyStyle Audits of viscose producers as well as additional implementation tools for CanopyStyle brands. Canopy and our over 750 brand partners across all forest product sectors are committed to catalysing commercial scale production of next generation papers, packaging and fabrics and the kind of supply chain transformation that will see meaningful protection for the world’s ancient and endangered forests to the benefit of our global climate.
The Taipei Innovative Textile Application which began on October 17 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center put the spotlight on latest trends in smart and green fabric applications as well as underscored Taiwan’s leading position in the global textile industry. Organized by Taiwan Textile Federation and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the three-day event featured more than 760 booths operated by 400 exhibitors from Taiwan and countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and Switzerland. An array of accessories, apparel, fabrics, fibers, filaments, trimmings and textile-related technologies and services is expected to help the show, themed functional, recyclable and fashionable.
During her address at the opening ceremony, President Tsai Ing-wen praised Taiwan’s textile firms for employing an innovative approach to revitalizing what was once seen as a sunset industry. According to Tsai, the government strongly supports Taiwan’s textile industry and is working to boost its global competitiveness through a variety of measures. These include: assisting in the development of functional textiles, building local brands, establishing tie-ups with international outfits and fostering further cooperation with the country’s information technology companies. Government efforts also extend to securing greater access for local textile companies to regional markets through negotiating free trade agreements, ensuring Taiwan takes part in regional economic integration initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and achieving favorable treatment under the New Southbound Policy, the president added.
The Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) program has four new members -- the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Unione Nazionale Industria Conciara (UNIC), Seri.co of Centro Tessile Serico (CTS), and Covestro.
SAC is the apparel, footwear and home textile industry’s foremost alliance for sustainable production. The coalition’s main focus is building the Higg Index, a standardised supply chain measurement tool for all industry participants to understand the environmental and social and labor impacts of making and selling products and services. SAC and ZDHC share a large number of overlapping brands. UNIC is the representative of the Italian tanning industry, which employs 18,000 workers in approximately 1,300 companies and is a fundamental component of Italian manufacturing. CTS is a testing laboratory and product certification system. The company offers support services for production activities. Covestro is a world-leading supplier of high-tech polymer materials, including waterborne raw materials for textiles and synthetic leather. It provides technology and R&D support that enables the production of coated textiles and polyurethane synthetics without solvents.
The ZDHC program is a collaboration of leading brands, value chain affiliates and associate contributors working for sustainable chemical management. By joining ZDHC these organisations commit to supporting the goal of widespread implementation of sustainable chemistry in the textile and footwear industries.
When one talks about the thriving of Bangladeshi denim, the fact that comes into the fore is that there is lot of technical innovation and an increased focus on social responsibility in the country. The production of denim in Bangladesh has slowly come of age over the last few years. As a matter of fact, denim manufacturing in Bangladesh is on the rise. In the last five years, an equal number of new denim factories have come on the horizon while five more are set to open soon. In 2014, the country’s denim industry grew 15.5 per cent year-on-year and 8 per cent in 2015, a data compiled by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) shows.
Western brands, such as H&M, Levi’s, Zara, River Island and Wrangler, source denim from Bangladesh. On the other hand, Marks & Spencer describes the country as a key market for denim production. And, as the number of technologically advanced factories rises, the industry looks set to grow even further. For some time, the sourcing landscape in Bangladesh has been plagued by uncertainties like issues of sustainability political upheaval and the treatment of workers have left the industry with a damaged reputation. However, advances in technology along with a new focus on social responsibility and continuing low costs are making the denim sourcing scene in Bangladesh increasingly appealing to brands of all sizes.
In drought-prone Gujarat, the conventional wisdom is that more water means more crops. And to grow more crops, one has to give up the age-old methods and learn new techniques, keep knowledge of the same and adopt new methods of farming. This is what Cotton Connect has been providing to famers of village Ranmalpur in Gujarat. It is financed by Irish clothing retailer, Primark that operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and India among others.
Primark's involvement in the village program is part of its efforts to improve ethical standards in the retail brand's £19 billion business which sources most of its garments from developing countries. Already 1,251 women have participated in the retailer's schemes which include yield-increasing programmes and healthcare drives. The company hopes to increase that figure to 10,000 in the next six years.
Although Primark does not have a figure of how much cotton it buys, it is the most common fabric that is used in its clothes. And though the company buys no cotton directly from farmers, its long-term strategy is to ensure all the cotton in its supply chain is sourced sustainably. After China, India is the world's second largest producer of cotton. The majority of the world's 100 million cotton farmers are smallholders in developing countries. Far away from the city, the industry can be brutal to farmers who face competition from unfair world prices and unscrupulous middle men. Many farmers find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of debt and poverty.
For farmers, the challenges range from the impact of climate change, poor prices for seed cotton, by way of competition from highly subsidised producers in rich countries.
Amsterdam-based Kingpins has ended its first ever China city tour. Happy with its first visit that the company is making plans to return to the country. Starting with a show in Guangzhou on September 19, the Kingpins tour traveled to Hangzhou on September 21 and finished in Zhengzhou on September 23. More than 224 companies and 607 buyers attended and shopped at the shows. Based on the success of the tour, Kingpins announced it will return to China next September with bigger shows and more segments in Guangzhou, Xiamen and Hangzhou. It will tour the country from September 18 to 22, 2017.
Kingpins’ concept for the inaugural tour combined global perspective with intimate and beautiful settings which the show reported went off well with the Chinese brands, designers and manufacturers. Attendees include: Able Jeans, Adwin, C&A, Wrangler, Zara, Trendy Group, Bossini, Lilanz, Essay and Etam.
Global trend expert Amy Leverton was in tow with Kingpins’ team during the China City Tour to present her denim trend overview of the Chinese market. Leverton’s presentation was the first time such high-level denim research was created exclusively to meet the needs of the Chinese market.
In order to maintain competitiveness of the country’s textile and textile products in the global market, the Indonesian Textile Association (API) has urged local players to regularly upgrade their production facilities. Most textile makers in the country rely on old machineries and are reluctant to invest more in the backdrop of weakening global demand, says API chairman, Ade Sudrajat.
Sudrajat has also asked the government to facilitate collaboration between local businesses and textile machinery manufacturers in India, deemed as one of leading nations in the industry, to deal with the issue. Indonesia and India can deepen their cooperation by providing credit facilities for the purchase of textile machinery. Indonesian textile exports have failed to make significant progress over the last five years partly due to declining orders from the country’s main trading partners, including Japan and the US. Data shows textile exports have remained stagnant at around $13 billion since 2011. Another reason to choose India as a trading partner, was because the price of textile machinery was as cheap as China-made ones.
In a trademark infringement case relating to one of its products, Century Textiles and Industries has gone to court against e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, its founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl and Modicare, the K K Modi Group company in the Bombay High Court. Despite several notices to the e-commerce company, the BK Birla Group company has alleged that Modicare was selling ‘dhoti’, a garment worn by Hindu men, under the brand name of ‘Paramsukh’ which is a registered trademark of the Birla’s since 1942. The ‘dhoti’ is being sold under the same name on Snapdeal.com, the textile major alleged. The case was filed on October 4 and was listed for October 14, Court filings show.
In its petition, the Mumbai-based company said the trademark Paramsukh is widely recognised and that the impugned mark as sought to be used by Modicare is deceptively similar to its registered trademark. This is likely to result in confusion, it remarked and also accused the K K Modi group company of passing off its products as that of Century Textiles.
As per intellectual property rights laws, passing off refers to making a false representation that is likely to induce consumers to believe that the goods or services are those of another. The plea also said that Snapdeal, operated by Jasper Infotech, was not ready and willing to provide the details of the seller trading on its website for which they receive commission.
At a meeting of the GST Council, the Centre has proposed four slabs for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in addition to a cess on sin and luxury goods. This will help the government raise close to Rs 50,000 crores to compensate states for any possible revenue loss under the new tax regime. The proposed slabs are of 6 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 26 per cent along with a 4 per cent levy on gold. For environmentally sensitive items such as coal and sin goods (A sin good is that that is deemed harmful to society) such as aerated drinks, tobacco and pan masala and luxury cars and watches, a higher cess has been suggested, it is learnt.
The cess will make sure that the levy on these items is not changed and the money raised will flow into a special fund to meet compensation requirements. While the cess on coal would fetch Rs 26,000 crores annually, the tax on sin and luxury goods is expected to help the Centre mop up another Rs 24,000 crores. Although goods- or services-wise classification will only be done once the states agree to the slabs, consumer durables and a large number of FMCG products are expected to be in the 26 per cent bracket. It is said that the intent was to work out slabs in a way that the overall burden on the consumer came down.
Currently, the total levy on consumer durables added up to around 27 per cent along with another 4 per cent burden due to central sales tax (CST). Under the proposed regime, the burden will reduce to 26 per cent. It is said that nearly a quarter of the burden due to CST and octroi would be abolished while the Krishi Kalyan cess would be included in the overall GST levy. Last year, the states collected Rs 4.4 lakh crore of which CST and octroi added up to around Rs 1 lakh crore.
