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GOTS recently introduced a consumer driven label that proves that its product is organic and sustainable. Sumit Gupta, Deputy Director-Standard Development and Quality Assurance, elaborates on this label and its benefits .
“Textile is the second most polluting industry in the world,” which is highly contested and disputed tag associated with this space says Sumit Gupta, Deputy Director, Standard Development and Quality Assurance, Global Organic Textile Standard. “Most of this pollution happens during the processing of textiles due to the lack of effluent treatment systems,” he adds. His organisation GOTS is committed to controlling this pollution by recycling waste.
Currently, production is moving out of China to countries that do not have strong compliance or waste disposal norms or pollution treatment systems. Buyers should ask for a credible third party certification or GOTS certified products. “This will ensure responsible production. Currently, plant based dyes are trending. Also, there is an emerging trend of zero waste. Certified suppliers now want to sell products in India. Airports are selling GOTS labeled T-shirts. Zodiac recently received a GOTS certification for their production activities in India. The brand sells organic certified shirts under its brand Z3. To ensure sustainability, consumers have to drive brands toward sustainable decisions. They need to question their retailers, raise issues on social media. This will impel brands to provide the right products,” adds Gupta.
Bangladesh has made huge improvements in factory and worker safety. The country has also set up many effluent treatment plants. In 2018, Bangladesh reached second position (after India) in terms of GOTS certified facilities in the country. This growth trend showcases the commitment of the Bangladeshi textile industry to not only use organic fibres, but also to environmental and social compliances. Fire and Building Safety are included in GOTS criteria and the country has made significant progress in all these areas. “Though there has been an improvement in compliance in India too, the momentum is weaker. There has to be more improvement needed given the size of our industry. More initiatives are needed and judiciary has to also step in once the PILs are filed. Only then is action taken,” views Gupta.
According to Gupta, it is possible for brands to be more sustainable and affordable. “The investments you make will eventually pay off in the long run. In addition you need to position the product and adjust the supply chain. Buyers ask for compliances only up to the yarn or fabric level,” he says. Garmenting units are exempted from compliance and it is a mechanical process and the product need not be tested. Gupta believes this argument is not valid from the point of traceability. “Unless we have traceability and volume reconciliation at the garment level we can’t ensure that the garments use sustainable raw materials,” he says. GOTS has a consumer driven label which proves that its product is organic and sustainable. “This helps our consumer to make a buying decision at a retail store". In India this label is used on many products. It is used on t-shirts sold at the airports. Children wear brand Pranava also uses this GOTS label.
However, some brands sell certified products without the label. “We are trying to convince these brands to use this label on their products. It can be used a sewn-in or as a hangtag. So the consumer can see this is a genuine, verified third party claim. Several retailers are using this label. “We enable them to provide information to consumers,” adds Gupta.
To sustain this growth, it is important that the industry is strongly connected with other stakeholders in the organic textile value chain. While connections within the country are important; active engagement with international stakeholders including suppliers and buyers are vital to the success of the industry.
Denim Premiere Vision will be held in the UK, December 3 to 4, 2019. This show’s edition is broadening its offer as it will host 97 exhibitors, nine per cent more than the ones who participated in the December 2018 edition. The overall production of all these exhibitors counts for a billion meters a year, about one-third of the world’s entire denim production and about 90 per cent of the premium denim market.
Among novelties, the immersive, experimental and experiential space Habitat 21 will highlight a selection of about 30 new exclusive eco-responsible fabric developments created and produced as a collaboration between Denim Premiere Vision, Italian designer Kristian Guerra, installation designer Filippo Maria Bianchi and a few selected exhibitors identified by the PV Smart Creation team. Together they developed a selection of new eco-friendly fabrics debuting at the show. A special session will focus on the importance of denim in youth subcultures. Other workshops, trend seminars focused on spring/summer 2021 and fall /winter 2021-22 will take place during the show along with The Denim PV Smart Talks presenting eco-responsibility game changers.
There are some clouds on the horizon as the denim market is facing some difficulties. There are political and economic problems generally.
Ghana is providing training for skilled jobs in the textile industry. Participants will take part in various courses including digital pattern making and grading, industrial engineering, quality assurance, and monitoring skills. They will learn on modern training equipment. The courses will not only provide training and qualifications for staff at the companies, they will also improve job prospects for young Ghanaians. Higher productivity and better training for skilled workers give the companies more scope to increase their employees’ wages. The incomes of staff at local firms are thus set to rise by around 20 per cent. The aim is to create 1200 new jobs within three years.
Low wages make African countries attractive business locations compared with their Asian competitors. Although Ghana has experience in textile and clothing production for the regional market, it lacks export expertise. The textile industry in Ghana has been struggling to meet the demands of the market due to the smuggling in of unregistered and cheap textiles from other countries. The high operational cost has also led to the shutdown of some of the textile companies, which has robbed many Ghanaians of their jobs. The textile sector which had a workforce of nearly 30,000 barely has 3,000 now.
Indian cotton production is expected to rise 13.6 per cent. Cotton prices are down eight per cent since September and 16 per cent lower from the high touched in April. The new cotton season from October 2019 to September 2020 ushers in a hope of lower raw material costs for yarn mills. This could give a leg-up to profitability in the coming quarters amid weak exports.
Mills can benefit from a drop in prices. Most of them are saddled with high-price cotton inventory, which eroded profitability in the last two or three quarters. The spinning industry saw disruptions in production in the second quarter of the fiscal owing to reduced demand and volatility in cotton prices. Larger mills such as Ambika Cotton, KPR and Vardhman maintained operating margins at about 16 per cent to 18 per cent but many small units faced high cotton prices. Shares of Vardhman and Ambika Cotton have fallen 17 per cent and 28 per cent in a year, while KPR Mill’s share price was buoyed by a recent buyback offer.
The US-China trade war halved yarn exports to China due to weak demand. This was further aggravated by duty-free access allowed to Pakistan and Bangladesh by China.
The cotton textile industry in China experienced a tough year in 2019. In early November, pushed up by cotton prices, cotton yarn mills saw a higher cost pressure. In terms of actual transactions, conventional carded cotton yarn saw smooth sales, good demand and even tight supply and the price tended to be stable. Sales of combed cotton yarn were not as good as those of carded.
There were inadequate orders for cotton yarn due to weakening downstream demand. However, cotton yarn trading performed better in late November than it did in the same period of last year and has not shown signs of weakness. Orders for cotton grey fabric from the local market and overseas markets were inadequate and the inventory increased slightly. Orders for weavers were mainly from regular customers. Differential products performed well. With the year coming to an end, many weavers were burdened by repayment and wages of workers.
Many cotton yarn mills are starting to replenish cotton at a small amount for next year’s production. Currently, the cotton in medium yarn mills can be scheduled for about a month. Sales of open-end cotton yarn weakened but the price was stable due to low inventory. Some discounts were seen.
Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT, the Association of Italian textile machinery manufacturers, will organise Punto Italia, a service centre at the next Irantex, the main Iranian textiles and textile machinery trade show, to be held in Tehran, from December 9 to12, 2019.
Punto Italia will be used for meetings between Italian textile machinery builders and their Iranian customers. In the service centre, local companies will be able to get for information on the Italian technological offer. In the first half of 2019 the value of the Italian direct export to Iran was equal to EUR 2 million, compared to EUR 15 million in the same period 2018. The two sides are interested in developing bilateral relations. Italian firms are keen to be active in the Iranian market and are present at most of the exhibitions held at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground.
An Italian trade delegation travelled to Iran recently to negotiate with some Iranian companies which demonstrate Italy's interest in maintaining and developing relations with Iran, he noted. The embassy tries to help Italian and Iranian companies gain a better and deeper understanding of the two countries' markets and find areas of cooperation, he mentioned.
ACIMIT represents an industrial sector that comprises roughly 300 manufacturers, which produce machinery for an overall worth of around EUR 2.5 billion, of which 84 per cent are exported.
Karl Mayer’s new RSJ 4/1 ON raschel machine reduces the time-to-market and brings a touch of individuality to the mass market. The machine exploits all the advantages of integrated software solutions and electronic guide bar control when producing patterns.
It makes use of the high-tech connectivity of the k.ey and k.innovation systems in Karl Mayer’s KM.ON digital brand. The RSJ 4/1 ON is the first machine to integrate the extensive k.innovation systems to optimise the virtual development of textiles. Thanks to its collaborative features, k.innovation is designed to deliver more than just patterning software and focuses on a new type of product development.
The RSJ 4/1 ON is also designed to deliver maximum productivity. With a 50% wider working width, this new machine is said to offer a 37% better cost:benefit ratio than its predecessor for the same speed. Like other state-of-the-art products produced by the Karl Mayer Group, the machine can be networked to other intelligent KM.ON systems via k.ey to increase production efficiency. The machine is available with a working width of 195" and a gauge of E 28. The first machines will be available at the beginning of 2020.
The k.innovation systems include a web-based design tool, so that customers can produce the jacquard patterns themselves or else modify them according to their own ideas. Global collaboration with creative internal and external partners is, therefore, efficient and secure.
For the three month period Guess’ net revenues were up 1.7 per cent. By region, America’s retail revenue decreased 4.9 per cent in dollars and 4.5 per cent in constant currency, while retail comp sales including e-commerce decreased three per cent in dollars. Domestic wholesale revenues increased seven per cent in dollars and 8.1 per cent in constant currency. Europe revenues increased 9.1 per cent in dollars (13.2 per cent in constant currency) while Asia revenues decreased eight per cent in dollars (4.6 per cent in constant currency). Licensing revenues decreased 0.3 per cent in dollars.
Overall, the strength of the company’s businesses in Europe, Americas wholesale and licensing, combined with a disciplined and effective approach to manage costs, has enabled it to more than offset softness in its Americas retail and Asia businesses in the quarter.
For the full year, Guess is maintaining the high-end of its guidance and raising low-end. This speaks to the strength of its global brand and the power of its diversified business model which provides it with multiple levers to continue to increase revenues and improve profitability. Guess expects net revenues to increase between 2.7 per cent and three per cent for the full-year.
Synthetic fabrics and performance garments are going to be the two most promising segments in the Indian textile industry. The industry accounts for five per cent of India’s GDP and 13 per cent of the country’s export earnings and employs about 50 million people. It proved to be highly productive and globally competitive across the value chain – from farm to fiber. Its future however depends on sustainable manufacturing practices, transparency, and its readiness to transform itself into a circular economy.
The Indian textile industry is highly fragmented and facing unprecedented challenges. One is the global recession. Another threat is the import of yarns, fabrics, and garments from Bangladesh. The industry needs help in the areas of export promotion, access to working capital, and loan restructuring. Indian textile units have asked for liquidity support and a one or two year moratorium. Other issues are pending claims under the various rebate schemes; release of TUFS subsidy; reducing the margin money for working capital from 25 per cent to ten per cent and the debt-equity ratio norm from 1:1.33 for the entire textile and clothing industry; extending the five per cent interest subvention for all textile and clothing export products; slotting recycled PSF under the five per cent GST rate; and enhanced EPF benefits.
Last year, China’s exports of textiles and clothing to the US increased 7.9 per cent. Clothing accounts for 73 per cent of those exports, and textiles make up the other 27 per cent. China is still at the top of sourcing for American brands. This is because in comparison to China other manufacturing countries are not able to provide quicker service.
For some products with complex procedures, the delivery time in Southeast Asia is at least one month slower than in China. If the quantity of zippers and all the buttons is miscalculated before production, it can be solved in China in only two hours, while in Southeast Asia, the production line would need to be shut down for two days to wait for the right accessory to be replaced. So brands with fast-fashion items that need to be replenished quickly prefer to stay with China. Compared with emerging textile and garment manufacturing countries such as Southeast Asia and Africa, China’s supply chain is still in a favorable position for fast orders. China still holds a 31.5 per cent market share of textiles and apparel in the US.
Chinese and American companies have not stopped trying to seek opportunities for cooperation.
