FW
"Founded by Dean Wegner, Founder and CEO, Authentically American gets its apparels manufactured by a whole list of US contract manufacturers. The company’s T-shirts are manufactured in Texas, while its hats are made in New Jersey, socks in North Carolina, and athletic jerseys in Georgia. Overall, the company has facilities in 12 states across the country."
Authentically American-a Nashville-based apparel-making startup aims to revive the ‘Made in America’ label by reshoring a bulk of the production of custom branded garments. Currently, the company provides US-made custom branded apparels and merchandise to only corporate, educational, and nonprofit clients around the country. A $8 billion per year business, the company has posted growth rates of over 300 per cent each of the past couple years.
Founded by Dean Wegner, Founder and CEO, Authentically American gets its apparels manufactured by a whole list of US contract manufacturers. The company’s T-shirts are manufactured in Texas, while its hats are made in New Jersey, socks in North Carolina, and athletic jerseys in Georgia. Overall, the company has facilities in 12 states across the country.
The origin 
Authentically American was born out of Wegner’s curiosity over Procter & Gamble’s acquisitions of apparel brands across the country. His further digging into the issue led him to discover the huge potential that corporate and organisation-branded apparel business had in the US. He then decided to quit his sales job at P&G and move on to Mars Inc.
Another factor that drove him towards this business was his military career. In 2012 along with a partner he purchased an 18-year-old company called Omega Apparel. The company made uniforms including trousers, skirts, and slacks for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. However, it didn’t satisfy his ultimate desire to launch an iconic brand and create jobs. Wegner sold his share of the company to his partner and launched Authentically American in July 2017.
Altruistic initiatives
The company progressed well in a short period. Besides its regular customers, the company also supplies apparels to universities like Belmont, Vanderbilt and Lipscomb, and a number of charities. They believe in giving back to the society whatever it receives from it.
In addition, Wegner is also committed to continuing to serve his brothers and sisters in arms. His company donates 10 per cent of proceeds to charities supporting U.S. military veterans, first responders, and their families. That combination garnered them some healthy publicity, including an appearance on Fox & Friends. While the company’s original business plan was to stick to the B2B side of things for a number of years, that publicity has prompted them to recently launch a consumer brand as well. According to Wegner, this will help the company accelerate its future growth.
Knitwear lifestyle brand, 22 Factor has launched a new 3D knitting service which allows designers to create their own garments. The Li & Fung-linked technology is described as a waste-minimising whole-garment production technology, as it allows designers to produce small volumes of stock in a short period of time.
The 3D knitting technology features an HD virtual sampling which allow designers to customise and visualise their designs without creating a physical sample in the traditional manual way. Using Shima Seiki’s wholegarment technology, the manufacturing process is shortened by 92 per cent while the quality of the garment remains.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has named Anta Sports Products as its official sportswear uniform supplier till the end of 2022. The agreement, which includes apparel, shoes and accessories, will see Anta supply IOC members and staff with sports apparel uniforms for the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Lausanne 2020, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the YOG Dakar 2022, as well as for the IOC administration's needs in Lausanne, according to a company press release.
Anta has been the official sports apparel partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee since 2009. The company was set up in 1991 as a comprehensive multi-brand sportswear company and first Chinese supplier of sportswear uniforms to IOC. The company also provided IOC uniforms for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and the YOG Buenos Aires 201
Bangladesh is poised to become a hotspot for leather and leather goods much like the way it has been for apparels. Bangladesh produces nearly 400 million sq ft of rawhide, of which local leather and footwear companies consume 30 million sq ft. At present, there are some 180 registered leather goods exporters, up from less than 100 even a few years ago. Apart from registered members of the association, there are many micro and small investors who serve both domestic and international markets.
American brands have expressed interest in shifting to Bangladesh as their sourcing destination following the US-China tariff war. Foreign factories are also relocating to Bangladesh. For instance, Indian leather goods and shoe manufacturers have invested in Bangladesh.
Leather and leather goods exports are the second highest export earner for Bangladesh after garments. Now the country hopes for the Leather Working Group (LWG) certification. Getting the LWG certification means manufacturers comply with global compliance standards and that everything will be produced following international standards of compliance. In the absence of such certification, Bangladesh leather and leather good exporters are essentially shut out from upmarket destinations like the EU and the US and have to make do with sending their products to China, where prices are 40 per cent lower than elsewhere.
India Fashion Forum will be held in Bangalore on December 17 and 18, 2019. It will bring together fashion retailers from across the country to discuss current trends and innovation. Focus areas for the conclave include: how CEOs will have to adapt for the coming decade in retail, reimagining physical retail, and how the current year has been for India’s fashion consumers. The forum began hosting fashion summits in 2000 and aims at creating a platform for brands to launch new products and labels from as well as a place for businesses to join forces to forecast trends for the coming year.
IFF’s edition from March 27 to 28, 2019, saw participation from businesses including Fila, Raisin, Soch, Wondersoft, Sara, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Retale, Indi, Zarzoa, Woolmark and Pepe Jeans.
The fashion segment in India has grown in relevance over the years. India’s booming fashion and lifestyle market is drawing the attention of the world’s retailers and brands. The vastness of India’s fashion market, with the promise of growth at every price point, is the attraction. The laddering of going from tailor-made to ready-made and national branded to international brands and designer items is expected to increase the value of the market three or four times.
Bangladesh’s denim exports to the United States rose by 5.42 per cent in January to August, 2019.
In the same period, Vietnam’s denim exports to the US rose 34.43 per cent. Pakistan’s denim exports to the US rose 14.20 per cent. As the second-largest exporter of apparel goods, Bangladesh was supposed to gain from trade conflicts in capturing a bigger market share of denim products. However Bangladesh’s competitors, Vietnam and Pakistan, have gained a higher share. Most of China’s trade is shifting to Vietnam and Cambodia as US retailers and investors feel comfortable due to a shorter lead time and a better business environment. Vietnam has gained the most from the US-China trade conflict because of its readiness to welcome the redirected trade and it has a diversified product basket and received a large amount of FDI relocated from China. Buyers are not willing to come to Bangladesh as the ease of doing business is still lower compared to other competing countries. Vietnam and Pakistan have gained as they have devalued their currencies, while the appreciation of Bangladesh’s currency against the dollar is eating up Bangladesh’s competitiveness in global markets.
Bangladesh needs to offer better incentives such as quicker services by bringing in regulatory reforms to attract FDI and improving infrastructure to cut time in shipment.
The newly launched China Textile Association in Cambodia (CTAC) will encourage more Chinese investment into the garment industry in Cambodia and provide assistance to existing manufacturers.
CTAC is an association of Chinese textile enterprises, including garment manufacturers, as well as related suppliers such as accessories factories, trim suppliers and sub-contractors. It will provide legal advice to investors and those considering investing in Cambodia, as well as liaise with the government. Its services will particularly target Chinese investors.
Cambodia is the world’s eighth largest exporter of garments and footwear. Around half of these shipments go to the EU and a quarter goes to the US. The economy depends heavily on the garment industry, which accounts for more than 78 per cent of the country’s total merchandise exports and 20 per cent of its annual economic growth and is the main non-agrarian employer in the country with nearly 9,00,000 workers employed in over 1,000 factories. These factories are almost exclusively Chinese-owned, and China’s influence in Cambodia will continue to grow as it finances major infrastructure projects. However, risks in the financial sector persist, with particular exposure in the construction and real estate sectors. External risks include the potential withdrawal of the EU’s trade preferences for Cambodia.
India’s exports of cotton yarn declined 38 per cent during the first six months of the current fiscal.
In fact, the export quantity in June 2019 was the lowest monthly export in the last five years. China’s free trade agreement with Pakistan from April this year is seen as one of the major factors for the drop in India’s cotton yarn exports to China. In addition, exporters of cotton yarn are at a serious disadvantage vis-a-vis competing countries due to differential import duties in leading export markets. There is an import duty ranging from 3.5 per cent to five per cent on cotton yarns imported from India into major markets like China, EU, Turkey and South Korea. But imports from competing countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoy benefits of zero duty in these markets.
Cotton yarn is a value-added product with substantial value addition taking place within the country. As a result of a decline in exports this year, the supply of cotton yarn has increased in the domestic market and in turn led to a drop in prices. Cotton yarn is not granted export benefits such as the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme and the three per cent interest equalisation scheme.
Indonesia is tightening restrictions on textile imports. Restriction is aimed at protecting domestic producers of products such as certain types of yarns, fabrics and other goods. The reasoning is that products that can be produced domestically should no longer be imported. Textile importers have to gain approval before they can ship in textile goods. With economic growth, and a shift in demand from basic clothing to functional clothing, such as sportswear, the national textile industry is building production capabilities and increasing economies of scale in order to meet the demand in domestic and export markets.
The country’s textile industry has weakened in the past three years due to an influx of imported textiles combined with sluggish consumption by Indonesian consumers. Imports of textile fabrics rose by 74 per cent between 2016 and 2018. Imports of textile products, such as some types of synthetic yarns, doubled in the three years to 2018. Indonesia imports products from China, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, among others. Companies are facing a cash shortage resulting from tough competition with imported products. Another problem Indonesia faces is smuggled used clothing. The country does not allow imports of secondhand garments. The industry hopes textile and garment rules are relaxed to help local businesses boost their exports. Companies that have been so far oriented to local markets are being encouraged to become more export oriented.
Danish start-up Son of a Tailor works on the strategy of make to order. Garments are knitted in one piece. For ordering, customers need to first provide their weight, height, age and shoe size. Then an algorithm creates a perfect fit using these four criteria, which helps the brands with low return rates due to the sizing challenge. Manufacturing of all its garments is done in the European Union.
The brand founded in 2014 specialises in men’s outerwear. Its zero waste pullover uses 3D knitting technology to eliminate textile waste and overproduction of garments. Convention clothing production wastes up to 12 per cent of fabric in the cutting process and Son of a Tailor’s method reduces the waste to under one per cent. As the company is made to order it has no stock inventory.
The apparel industry produced around 92 million tons of textile waste last year. Garment production and transportation account for around ten per cent of global CO2 emissions. Conventional clothing production wastes up to 21 per cent of fabric in the cutting process. At the same time, 15 per cent to 20 per cent of clothes are wasted in unsold inventory and 60 per cent of purchased clothes are discarded after just one year.
