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Even with a bumper crop India’s cotton imports may be as high as last years. For one, rains have hit the quality of the crop. Also, paucity of quality cotton may force textile mills to turn to overseas markets. Mills that make an assessment of quality early on and opt for import will be saving themselves the trouble of finding quality cotton later in the season. In addition to specific grades not produced in India, Indian mills may have to import a lot of varieties produced locally, where quality is an issue due to adverse weather.
India’s export prospects will largely depend on the difference between Indian prices and the benchmark Cotlook price. But exports will be of lower grade cotton, like the US did last year, due to identical weather conditions in that country. Last year, 70 per cent of US cotton exports were of lower grade. India is looking at a similar situation amid continued rains damaging open cotton bolls, which are in the process of drying.
Heavy rains continue to lash many cotton-growing areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka. India may be forced to import good grade cotton in 2019-20. Rains now could be devastating for the crop.
Atika Riffat, Joint Secretary Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development says international buyers are increasingly getting sensitive about ethical sourcing and international compliances.
To cater to this demand, the Pakistan government recently carried out various interventions to improve working conditions in the country. It also launched the Better Work Programme (BWP) to improve Pakistan’s compliance and exhibit its commitment to improve labor welfare. The program was launched in collaboration with the International Labor Organisation and aims to improve working conditions in textile industry and make the sector more competitive by enabling collaboration between government, global brands, factory owners and workers.
The program includes a comprehensive framework on improving industrial relations through training and compliance with International labor standards including occupational safety and health, nature of employment, discrimination and other forms of labor practices as well as strengthening employers and workers organisations in textile industry.
According to the CEO World Magazine, Louis Vuitton is one of the most expensive and sought after brands for menswear. With a net worth of $28.8 billion, the luxury brand manufactures clothing, leather goods, footwear, and stylish sunglasses as well. It is followed by Parisian beauty brand Hermes and Italian clothing brand Gucci on the second and third position respectively.
The third position in this list is occupied by the brand Prada which offers the impressive styles and colors. The fabrics used by this brand are also very comfortable and bring all-day long bliss for the wearer. Occupying the fourth position in the list British brand Burberry loves to experiment on earthy colors and interesting prints that are beautiful and extremely classy to look at.
On the sixth position is brand which was founded in the year 1946 by Christian Dior. The brand has a strong elite presence and prestigious reputation. Its range of apparel is spectacularly stylish. The last position in this list is occupied by the Spanish fast fashion brand Zara. The brand produces nearly 450 million items per year globally, with basic to layered designs. Their line of men’s trousers and tailored fit suits deserve special attention.
Bangladesh Denim Expo will be held November 5 to 6, 2019. Around 100 exhibitors from 11 countries, including host Bangladesh, will participate in this year’s denim expo. Other participating countries are China, Japan, Italy, India, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, and Germany. Responsibility will be the theme at product displays, presentations, seminar sessions and panel discussions. Presentations will be on human resources, transparency in business, water conservation, purchasing practices, sustainable chemical management, waste management, circular economy in textiles and climate change. The focus of this year’s show is on practical, pragmatic actions the textile industry can adopt to improve its environmental footprint. This is the first year the expo has set supply chain standards for its exhibitors. The show has adopted corporate social responsibility, environmental and chemical use standards that will require exhibitors to provide proof of compliance with industry standards. Kingpins initiated the protocol and encouraged other trade show organizers to implement the same standards.
Bangladesh is now the world’s largest producer of denim and leads the way in terms of addressing some of the sustainability challenges related to denim production, including excessive use of water and chemicals. Each expo marks continued and gradual progress being made by the more progressive players in the industry.
"Once a booming market for jobseekers, employment in the US textile and apparel industry is currently on a rapid decline. In 1950, the industry employed an estimated 2.5 million people which were reduced to only 341, 000 by 2017. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US apparel industry has witnessed the largest decline in laborers over the last 25 years. Two major contributors to this decline included increasing automation and foreign outsourcing."
Once a booming market for jobseekers, employment in the US textile and apparel industry is currently on a rapid decline. In 1950, the industry employed an estimated 2.5 million people which were reduced to only 341, 000 by 2017. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US apparel industry has witnessed the largest decline in laborers over the last 25 years. Two major contributors to this decline included increasing automation and foreign outsourcing.
Production processes enabled by technological advances have made the apparel industry more automated, eliminating the need of human intervention in it. Tasks, traditionally performed by people – knitting, weaving, and cutting – are now being performed by machinery and systems, replacing skilled workers.
Outsourcing impacts the domestic labor industry
Just as automation impacted the apparel industry’s workforce, it also eliminated the ‘Made in USA’ label from
the market as manufacturing began to be outsourced to foreign factories that offered lower production and labor costs and free trade agreements. This made the prospect of overseas manufacturing too attractive for many US companies to resist.
The initial outsourcing of apparel and textiles resulted in brands shifting their manufacturing bases to Asian countries such as China, Korea and Taiwan. Companies manufacturing in the US initially shifted their operations to Central America for a brief period in the 1990s. However, these operations ultimately turned to Asia with today China holding a major share of these outsourced apparel and textile manufacturing from US companies.
American clothes regain popularity
However, a recent Ford Motor Company survey indicates, the popularity of clothes manufactured in America is currently on the rise. Around 91 per cent millennials believe that clothes made by American manufacturers are of ‘equal or better quality as foreign competitors’ and 74 per cent believe purchasing products made in the US is important.
As demand for products made in America is increasing, apparel companies are proposing new ways to capitalise on this homegrown momentum. They are employing systems such as automation and AI, workforce training and micro-factories, and addressing the perceptions currently associated with a career in textile and apparel manufacturing, to deal with these issues.
Manufacturers turn to micro-factories
Another strategy these manufacturers are adopting is setting up micro-factories. These micro factories are essentially small factories that require a fraction of the square footage of traditional factories. They utilise a significant amount of automation in their processes and provide an ideal solution for the on-demand marketplace as they are nimble and capable of filling small, customised orders. Also, their small sizes enable them to be far less expensive than other factories and easier to establish their units than their conventional counterparts.
One of the most important benefits that these micro-factories offer is their ability to tackle the industry’s most significant challenge of inventory management. This is achieved through a more on-demand process that is not bound by a traditional structure. Also, by fully automating their manufacturing processes, these companies can avoid their labor cost concerns that often drive them to outsource. Automation also addresses their issue of labor shortages.
More investment in workforce management
Automation in the apparel industry can complement manual, human-performed processes and tasks. Some companies are even incorporating collaborative robots that work together with humans, or cameras that allow the operator to determine placement and other critical components of the process.
With many experienced workers retiring, and younger workers seeking employment in other high-tech less manual fields, skilled labor in textile and apparel industry is becoming a rarity. To solve this issue, the industry needs to invest more capital besides organising more textile and apparel design courses and other relevant programs to attract more youngsters to this field.
Nike’s CEO Mark Parker is stepping down, he will be replaced by board member John Donahoe, who formerly ran e-commerce company eBay. Parker, who joined the company in 1979 as a footwear designer, has been CEO since 2006.
Nike’s sales have been on the rise as the company focuses on selling more of its swoosh-branded sneakers online and on its apps. The company’s first quarter earnings last month soared past expectations.
For Generation Z, i.e. those born between 1997 and 2012, Nike is their favorite clothing brand. Nike also leads among US teens in the footwear segment. Nike’s athletic apparel offering is gaining mindshare among American consumers in four categories—innovation, fashion, style, and value. On the question of the most innovative brand, Nike is gaining ground in the mid- to upper-income male demographic. Nike is perceived as the most fashionable on-trend brand. Nike was named tops in fashion among men (42 per cent) and women (31 per cent). The positive response to Nike on both the innovation and fashion fronts is translating into high future purchase intent. Specifically, 41 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women are likely to make Nike their next athletic apparel purchase.
India’s cotton production in the current fiscal year is likely to rise by 20 per cent. The surge in production due to a bigger cultivated area and a boost to yields from above-average monsoon rains is likely to bring down prices. But India still has to import cotton. This is because certain grades such as contaminated free certified cotton and extra long staple cotton are not produced in India.
For the moment though high cotton prices in India have kept the industry burdened with low earnings. Since Indian supplies are uncompetitive due to higher prices, buyers are giving preference to Brazil and the US. The expectation is that bumper cotton production in the new season could damp prices and make exports viable. The minimum raw cotton buying price has been raised by 38 per cent in two years even as global prices were corrected to their lowest level in more than three years. Bulk buying by private bodies apparently shows the good quality of Indian cotton. Depending on the season, India produces 320 to 380 lakh bales of cotton, and despite the increasing minimum support price farmers sell only three per cent to the Cotton Corporation of India as they get a much better price for their produce by private bodies.
The High Court has imposed a six-month ban on Nirapon, an alliance of 23 foreign RMG brands that oversee building inspection, remediation, and monitoring of listed apparel factories in Bangladesh. The High Court also issued a rule asking Nirapon to explain within two weeks why it should not be ordered to join the RMG Sustainability Council, a tripartite compliance and safety monitoring body of the apparel sector that will formally come into being on November 25.
Nirapon was established as a common platform, by global RMG brands, for whom Bangladesh is an important sourcing destination, to sustain and build on the safety achievements of the past six years. More than 600 factories are functioning under Nirapon, which requires that the National Action Plan be met on a continued basis, as well as synchronised standards for physical, structural, fire, and electrical safety.
After the collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,135 people in 2013, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a platform of North American apparel brands and retailers, started to work with Bangladeshi apparel industry to improve safety standards within a five year time frame.
Bangladesh’s cotton imports will continue to grow in the near future. One reason is that retailers and brands are coming back to Bangladesh with a lot of work orders as China has become very expensive because of the trade war. Another important reason is that much of yarn and fabrics in Bangladesh are made from cotton. One very big advantage for Bangladesh is that consumers, especially in the western world, are coming back to natural fiber from manmade artificial fiber with the view to protecting the environment and for comfort. While cotton fibers are biodegradable, polyester and other manmade fibers do not mix with the soil and damage the water and soil quality.
Between 2015 and 2017 Bangladesh imported 2,26,000 bales of cotton each year, but the quantity tripled last year. Currently, Bangladesh imports 11 per cent of its annual total requirement of cotton from the US, which was just four per cent even three years ago. Over time, America’s export of cotton to Bangladesh will grow because of good quality, competitive prices and timely delivery. Cotton USA has ramped up its marketing efforts in Bangladesh for grabbing a bigger market share. It has opened its office in Dhaka and hired some technical persons for educating about cotton use and trade.
Elleti Group featured its “Out of the blue impression” collection during Kingpins show at Amsterdam on 23th -24th October. The collection is inspired by Cubism, a movement that transforms reality instead of representing it. It is dismembered and recomposed by laser geometries until they merge and overlap with their very own pattern.
The use of multi-colored metal coating, coiled hand-made lines, the balance of seamless and defined figures in this collection are a tribute to the Art Nouveau’s artist Klimt. These garments are reworked using natural pigments through the Tie&Dye technique, their dynamism, color and expression taking over the subject represented. The abstractism in them is turned into communication tools through their unexpected combinations of shapes, symbols, and colors. Lastly, the collection represents through its innovative production techniques of plastic foiling and color spray.
Elleti group produces 14 million garments annually. The company leads the way in reconstructing the stylistic development that has been made possible by technological advancements.
