FW
The India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (India ITME) will be held in Mumbai, December to 8, 2016. It will showcase the whole range of textile machinery, accessories, components, innovative textile technology with participation from over 95 countries, 1,500 exhibitors, 3,00,000 visitors from across the globe on 1,50,000 sq mt. of exhibition area, making it one of the largest and most anticipated events for the textile sector.
This prestigious textile engineering and textile event is supported by the Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India. ITME covers all segments of textile engineering including accessories and related services such as weaving, spinning, texturing, twisting and related auxiliary machinery, embroidery, knitting, digital printing, non-woven and technical machinery, fiber and yarn, chemicals and dyes, jute machinery etc.
Opportunity for companies to explore joint ventures, business collaborations, technology transfers and investments is huge, especially for foreign companies and research institutes who have new technology for commercialisation. The Indian textile market is the second largest in the world. It is expected that the textile and apparel industry will grow 11 per cent, home textile market nine per cent and technical textile industry 11 per cent in the coming years. India’s demand for spinning machines, textile finishing machinery, embroidery and garment machinery is growing.
itme2016.india-itme.com/
The spinning industry in Tamil Nadu is set to make compact yarn thereby entering the global market. As per reports, the states’ mills are not new to compact yarn manufacturing, with about 38 lakh spindles with compact attachment. A majority of compact retrofits in the state are supposed to be of German make, which is soon going to change as members of Indian Texpreneurs Forum (ITF) would be signing a trial order with H-Fang, a Chinese manufacturer. This is going to be a cost effective compact technology. In the first phase, Forum members have palced and order of 50,000 spindles in 37 mills with H-Fang. Later, they would increase it to 10 lakh spindles, after the trial run.
Gao Yong, General Manager, H-Fang mentioned that China was eager to import yarn of 60 counts and below from India. Yet, the domestic sector, at present, does not seem to forthcoming as the rates here at present are supposedly better than the export rates.
In spite of this, S Vaidyanathan, Director, Dogetech Group feels that the Indian textile industry will have to look at compact yarn in the near future as it is perceived that it will be the one in demand in three years form now.
Myanmar's garment manufacturers oppose a proposed national minimum wage of a little over $3 per day. They claim that this increase may compel some factories in some important economic sectors to close down. This totals to $90 a month. The minimum wage for a garment worker in Bangladesh is Tk 5,300.
Meanwhile local labour groups and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), reprimanded this resistance by the apparel industry towards the proposed daily minimum wage ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow stated that even with the new minimum wage, the workers and those who depend on them, who are just above the global severe property line, will barely mange to make ends meet. The global severe poverty line is $1.25 per person.
At the end of June, Myanmar's National Minimum Wage Committee proposed the minimum wage be set at 3,600 kyats ($3.24), or 450 kyat per hour, for an eight-hour day. This committee comprises of government officials, business people and those who represent the workers.
Post this announcement, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA), which represents 280 factories employing approximately 200 million workers held a meeting.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has taken a strong stand to safeguard the Yamuna from pollutants. The Board has made it compulsory for all textile industries to treat and recycle discharged water to stop any pollutants from flowing into the river. It has also directed the industries to turn into a ‘zero discharge unit’. A ‘zero discharge unit’ is one, which does not discharge any amount of liquid effluent; this includes the treated effluent.
The textile units have been given 16 months, until December 2016 to put the infrastructure in place. These units, release over 25KLD (kilo litres of water per day). Now, the Board has directed them to install an ETP (effluents treatment plant), as well as a reverse osmosis (RO) plant to reuse the discharged water.
A lot of water is used by textile industries for washing and dyeing, which is one of the main contributors of pollution in Yamuna, as per the Board. The amount of water used by each unit depends on its size and scale. Yet, a medium to large-scale textile unit discharges 1 to 1.5 lakh litres of water each day, on an average. This water flows into the Yamuna River through the Najafgarh drain. It also affects the quality of groundwater in the region.
But, as president of the Udyog Vihar Industrial Association, Animesh Saxena, says ‘zero discharge’ was not possible as there is no technology available in India to put in place a zero discharge from textile manufacturing units in India.
Greenshowroom and Ethical Fashion Show, two trade fairs were held during Berlin Fashion Week, July 8 to 10. They showcased environment-friendly and fairly produced fashion. This year the fairs had larger stands and more extensive collections. A number of well-known purchasing teams were spotted at the two trade fairs.
Eco fashion represents a profit and genuine add-on element for the retail industry. This year the organizers approached conventional retailers in a targeted way and also addressed the future-oriented topic of green fashion. The overarching theme of the two fairs was vegan fashion. In cooperation with Noveaux, a magazine for vegan fashion and green lifestyle, designers presented looks from their new collections, revealing the high fashion standards of vegan clothing.
Cool cuts, wide silhouettes and strong contrasts were part of the catwalk show. International designers conjured up a touch of retro on the catwalk and brought the seventies to life. The show on the second day presented a varied selection of contemporary eco fashion. Another show revealed the latest trends in the street and casual wear segments. The urban classics were particularly popular, including hoodies, casual shirts and trainers.
The next editions of Greenshowroom and Ethical Fashion Show Berlin will take place January 19 to 21, 2016.
greenshowroom.com/
Bangladesh is monitoring the activities of Accord and Alliance. Garment makers say, Accord in particular has got involved in labor-management issues in some factories and is engaged in activities that are supposed to be beyond its purview. Accord is trying to induce workers of some factories to communicate with labor leaders and participate in trade unions.
The government will monitor all activities of the two global groups. There are allegations that Accord and Alliance are exercising extra sovereign power and their activities have now become a noose for the apparel industry. Accord and Alliance have clearly defined areas of jurisdiction that do not overlap.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was founded by a group of North American apparel companies and retailers and brands who have joined together to develop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative, a binding five-year undertaking. Collectively, these Alliance members represent the overwhelming majority of North American importers of readymade garments from Bangladesh, produced in more than 580 factories.
Accord, led mostly by European buyers, was signed on May 15, 2013. It is a five-year independent, legally binding agreement between global brands and retailers and trade unions to build a safe and healthy Bangladeshi readymade garment industry.
A few international fashion brands sourcing from Pakistan, such as H&M, Li & Fung, Gap India and C&A are set to improve labour and environmental practices in the country’s textile and clothing sector. The Buyers’ Forum for Textile sector, was set up at the end of 2014 by the Netherlands Government, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Representatives from 19 international brands took part in its third meeting last month and now they are sharing good practices on labour, environmental and social compliance with Pakistan. This will help Pakistan’s textile and clothing sector to remain competitive and attractive to international buyers.
Apart from this, participants discussed the findings of a project by the Dutch NGO, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to map compliance and existing good practices in the textile sector. They discovered that the smaller local manufacturers in the textile industry, had no compliance monitoring mechanisms in place.
But now, buyers have agreed to set up a committee that will have an action plan in place to handle key issues in the sector and also strengthen the labour inspection regime and issues of contractual employment. Moreover, they will support smaller manufacturers to improve compliance on par with international standards.
On an immediate basis, a scheme was put in place to reinvigorate labour inspection system in Pakistan. This scheme will have the Dutch government and the ILO, who will train labour inspectors and introduce mechanisms to improve worker welfare.
Employment levels in the clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) sectors in South Africa have increased. Following a few years of job losses, the CTFL industry in South Africa had started to witness stability in the last year. The textile industry is making a comeback after languishing for a few years.
There has been a year on year increase of 1.5 per cent in the number of employees across the CTFL industry from December 2014 to March 2015. The highest quarterly increase was in the leather sector, which went up 3.9 per cent. Next was the textile sector, which rose by 2.9 per cent, followed by the clothing sector which increased by 1.5 per cent. The footwear sector registered a decline in number of employed by 3.8 per cent over the last quarter.
In the 12-month period, the highest increase in the number of employees was in the leather sector, which saw employees increase by 4.5 per cent. In second place was the footwear sector where employment rose by 3.3 per cent, followed by the textile sector which has 1.5 per cent more employees. The clothing sector followed last with an increase of 0.8 per cent in its employees.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, for the first time has collaborated with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to aid suppliers with costs for factory repairs. Almost $50 million will be provided by IFC as per the new deal. This will be evenly distributed across five banks in the country through affordable loans, which will help garment factory owners who wish to make safety improvements. It can be challenging at times to procure finance and it can be cost-prohibitive. High interest rates and unfeasible repayment periods also prove to be a hazard.
the Bangladesh RMG SEF Safety Remediation Financing Program, which is named thus by the Alliance-IFC credit facility, will offer affordable interest rates, which can be repaid over a three to five year period. The Alliance represents 26 global brands and retailers is to donate $250,000 to fund the facility’s operation.
The Alliance will also offer on-the-ground resources and a team of qualified inspectors to the factories. This will ensure that the factory owners complete their corrective action plans, which include specific fire, structural and electrical repairs. These corrective measures will make the facilities on par with international standards as timely progress on them is necessary to maintain favourable loan terms.
The Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) has urged the minister for textile Santhosh Kumar Gangwar to review the e-auction policy of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI). SIMA suggests that CCI should offer about 50,000 bales, in flexible lot sizes and in multiple of 100 bales, in each centre and each variety of cotton, to support the small industry. SIMA has also suggested government give priority to SMEs and reduce the difference in the cost of cotton procured by SMEs and large industry players.
The spinning mills in South India, especially, Tamil Nadu were facing a crisis due to several factors such as glut in the domestic market, continuous fall in yarn exports since the past 13 months, etc. Other states have announced attractive industrial polices by various states enabling industries to have cost advantage to the tune of Rs 20 per kg of yarn, etc., which is not the case in Tamil Nadu. Besides, there has been undue delay in disbursing TUF subsidies.
The association stated that investments worth Rs 70,000 crore were under severe stress so, all textile mills, particularly spinning mills were maintaining a stock inventory of up to 30 days. In this situation, CCI’s e-auction policy was affecting the small and medium spinning mills seriously. Also, the association has been receiving complaints from small and medium size mills and they were finding it difficult to procure cotton from CCI.
T Rajkumar, Chairman, SIMA, has urged the minister to instruct CCI to maintain adequate stocks till the onset of new season. This would help maintain stability in cotton prices and also enable the SMEs to get continuous supply of cotton. Also, these SMEs have no access to imported cotton, further putting them at a disadvantage.
