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Fabstract Clothing, a Noida-based manufacturer of ladies knitwear since 1991 has recently added woven garments to its range. Fabstract Clothing, under the leadership of Nitin Batra has created a niche in the knitwear segment and is working with well-known labels in the US like Billabong, Urban Outfitters, Rip Curl, Quiksilver (Roxy), etc. and is also associated with buyers in Sweden, France, Canada and Italy.
The company with all in-house manufacturing facilities at its two factories in Noida, which have the facility for knitting, cutting, stitching, embroidery and finishing of garments, Fabstract is now geared to enter the woven business. Batra says, they added woven fabrics to their range and that is 5 per cent of their production capacity. Knitted garments takes 95 per cent of their business share as they specialize in knits and offer garments in all kinds of knitted fabrics including jersey, fancy fabrics, interlocks, prints etc.
Fabstract’s production capacity is around 80,000 to 90,000 pieces per month. However, it varies from style to style. The company’s major export destination is the US which accounts for 70 per cent of its exports and the rest 30 per cent goes to European markets. The product range includes women’s wear like dresses, tops, skirts, nightwear, etc. With a turnover of $4 million, the company is looking to grow at least by 10 per cent in financial year 2015-16.
With the rising prices of silk, many traditional weavers from Somasar village of Surendranagar, Gujarat are shifting from silk to cotton yarns. The traditional art of patola weaving has got a new life with the support of researchers at Vadodara’s M S University's Department of Clothing and Textile.
Silk is costly with each kilo costing anywhere between Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,000 - making it unaffordable to traditional weavers. Moreover, they have to procure resham from Bangalore. In contrast, cotton which costs nearly Rs 300 per kilo is not only cheap but also easily available and has good demand.
The problem arises when weavers started dyeing on cotton, the colours did not remain on the fabric for long and that's why they needed scientific help, according to traditional weavers from Somasar where the weaving community has a population of 3,000 of which 1,500 households are from Vaghela community. Presently about 30 households in Somasar are actively into weaving or allied trades.
The weavers got help from teachers and students of MSU and started preparing dupattas and dresses from cotton yarns. They will soon make shirts, cushion covers, curtains among others. This new technique has helped open new markets and attracted the attention of youth.
MSU’s objective was to train artisans in design development and value-addition. They applied a tool ‘Human Center Design’ developed by professor Wendy Weiss, a textile design expert from United States' and a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Scholar, MSU researchers developed a training program for Somassar artisans.
One of the biggest spinning mills in Bangladesh, Delta Spinners is setting up a new plant for export market to increase its aggregate production to nearly 15,000 tonnes per year, an increase of around 67 per cent. Adjacent to the existing mills, the Tk 540 million new unit is being constructed on an area of 117,000 sq. ft. Expected to start operations in mid 2016, the new plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art machines with nearly 27,000 spindles.
The company is expanding its operations to cope with growing demand for both high-end and traditional yarns. Mostafa Jamal Haider, Managing Director, Delta Spinners said the company's profitability and other indexes will increase sharply when the export project starts operations.
Meanwhile Delta has opened letter of credit for procuring equipment and some of it will arrive in Chittagong Port by April 2016. Machines are being procured from the world's best manufacturers from Switzerland, Japan, Spain and Taiwan to get optimum output. The aim is to install the latest machines to produce both conventional and non-conventional yarns.
Demand for non-conventional yarns is rising in Bangladesh, which usually have high-value addition than traditional ones. Bangladesh mainly exports basic clothing but it is now gradually leaping up to another upper segment of clothing market. Demand for jersey, sportswear, suits and other luxury clothing is on the rise in recent years and for this reason, demand for high-end yarns is also growing. As per industry estimates indicate the internal rate of return or IRR might increase by 20 per cent after implementation of the project. The company's EPS (earnings per share) is expected to increase from the existing Tk 0.58 to Tk 2.0 according to sources.
Delta Spinners started its journey with financial support from erstwhile Shilpa Bank. The mill was established in early 1994 at Kaltapara in Gouripur of Mymensingh, about 140 kilometres from Dhaka. It was listed with the bourses in 1995.
Bangladesh plans to focus more on production of high end readymade garments and building a positive brand image both in the local and global markets. Manufacturers want to have their own designers, set up fashion houses and promote branding. The industry has long been producing readymade garments designed by others.
Apparel makers will have brand outlets across the globe to attract retail customers. Over the last few years some local brands have emerged in Bangladesh with high quality products. These brands have successfully introduced fashion, style as well as fads in the domestic market.
Meanwhile Bangladesh’s garment makers feel the target to hit $50 billion in exports by 2021 is achievable if political stability, infrastructure and policy support are in place. Right now Bangladesh’s share in the global garment business is 5.80 per cent.
Vietnam is one of the major competitors of Bangladesh in the global apparel business. China is the largest apparel exporter globally but is losing market share as entrepreneurs are becoming involved in other sectors due to high production cost and a shortage of skilled workers in the apparel industry. Bangladesh is getting more export orders, which are being shifted to the country from China.
The Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC) conducted a training program on ‘Skill Knowledge and Enhancement in Teaching’ on key areas of pedagogy, textiles and work study for a handful of industry participants and ATDC own resources. The workshop also threw light on each one’s role in the apparel industry and the critical importance of team building skills and work attitudes. The workshop also focused on explaining the work measurement and operation break down in a ‘Methods Study’ format. The training was particularly beneficial to employees fabric making companies that impact the production.
The Apparel Training and Design Centre is India’s largest specialised vocational training provider in the apparel sector. The workshop also dealt with topics like natural fibers including cotton, silk, and wool, manufactured fibers including synthetic and regenerated fibers like polyester, viscose, rayon, modal and tencel.
The key objective of ATDC is to bring about an overall systematic change in the apparel industry by providing cutting-edge skill-set training. The institute for long has been setting benchmarks and overall quality parameters for those in the apparel sector.
www.atdcindia.co.in/
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will boost Indian textile exports to a great extent easing prices and making this industry internationally competitive. Hence, integrated companies should see this as an opportunity as the advent of GST will spur the textile sector with major capital investments bringing the cost of capital goods down.
An input credit will lead to lowered input costs and reduced prices of finished synthetic textiles at the consumer level. For natural fibers which are tax-exempt, GST will be an extra cost to companies and consumers. In case of natural fibers, like cotton and wool they are not taxed because they are naturally produced goods, any tax imposed now under the GST regime will be an extra cost to the ultimate consumer.
The export market will open up, the product will become cheaper, it will be internationally competitive and therefore, India can actually increase its share of the export market as far as textiles are concerned. Taxes paid on any capital goods being bought for modernisation of the plant or expansion of textile units will be available as a creditor gain. So the capital cost will come down for these industries and those who want to plan modernisation and expansion will benefit when GST is introduced.
A report by Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishment (DIFE) of Ministry of Labor and Employment, Bangladesh, finds remediation financing for the readymade garment industry, computerised registration, accurate lists and data of factories and establishments and strong coordination among inspection authorities are key challenges to ensure workplace safety.
DIFE disclosed the challenges in its report titled ‘Labour Inspection System in Bangladesh’. The report said, it has made a total of 24,107 inspection visits in RMG factories, shops and other organisations in 2014, where it found 44,347 cases of violation of rules in safety, occupational health, maternity protection, terms and conditions. Most of the violations were found in the non-RMG factories.
The minister said, to ensure occupational health safety and providing treatment, the government has taken initiative to establish twp hospitals in Gazipur and Narayanganj with capacity of 300 bed facilities each.
The minister said the RMG owners won’t be able to escape workers’ rights after the labour act had been amended. He urged the buyers to increase prices of products as the manufacturers had to spend a lot to improve safety standards.
Sign and Graphic Imaging (SGI) was held in Dubai from January 10 to 12, 2016. A variety of equipment and software solutions for all kinds of work related to signage, retail, digital printing and finishing: print fabrication, finishing, textile, screen as well as digital printing, digital signage and retail were showcased.
The brought new state-of-the-art machinery to the region while underlining its importance for the printing industry. In bringing the newest and most sophisticated machines and software solutions, the event made it possible for print service providers to stay up to date thus enabling them to realise new applications and increase business.
There were more than 400 exhibitors and more than 13,000 visitors from all around the world. A hot topic was digital textile printing that not only caters to soft signage but now also puts its mark on interior design - be it personalised and individualised solutions or short run.
Latex, solvent-UV and UV-LED printers and recyclable, environmentally friendly consumables were presented at the show. A multitude of different signage applications and creativity surrounds today's business environment.
The next edition of the show will also be in Dubai, January 15 to 17, 2017.
www.signmiddleeast.com/
India is likely achieve just over 90 per cent of its garment export target in the current fiscal, despite the sector putting up a better show than textiles and many other merchandise segments. Apparel exports may just about cross $17 billion in 2015-16, compared with the target of $18.73 billion for the fiscal, as outbound shipments to key markets like the US and Europe remained lower than expected due to an economic slowdown, they added.
The garment segment still witnessed a 5 per cent rise in exports in December from a year before and a 2.8 per cent increase during the April-December period to $12.47 billion, far outpacing an 18 per cent contraction in the country’s overall exports, points out Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) chairman Ashok G Rajani.
Last fiscal, the country’s overall textile and garment exports grew roughly by 5 per cent to $41.4 billion from a year before, but still lower than the official target of $45 billion for 2014-15. The government has set the target for the textile and clothing exports at $47.5 billion for 2015-16.
The percentage of women in Bangladesh’s apparel sector has reached 65 per cent. Men make up 35 per cent. Earlier the engagement of women workers was estimated to be 80 per cent. This means men have ramped up their share. Women workers in the woven sector have a 71 per cent share. It’s 54 per cent in sweater factories, 58 per cent in knitwear factories.
Nearly 1.4 million male and 2.6 million female workers are currently working in the country’s garment industry. The average experience of workers in the industry varies between grades. The youngest ones (in grade 7) have been working for about three years on an average, while workers in grade 1 have been working for about 12 years. About 86 per cent of the factories are direct exporters, 8.6 per cent are engaged in both direct exports as well as sub-contracting from others while 5.5 per cent are only sub-contractors.
Nearly 60 per cent of workers earn their living from the garment industry alone. In terms of asset ownership, 86 per cent have mobile phones, 68 per cent have television, 84 per cent have electric fans, 75 per cent have own home and 28 per cent have gold ornaments.
