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The rules of origin clause will determine the fate of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This provision determines the country of origin and in turn the economic nationality of goods.
Deliberations during this phase could be chaotic for three reasons. In the present global value chain, no good is entirely produced or manufactured in any single country. Second, neither the country of origin nor production is defined. Last, China desperately needs access to Indian markets more than the other way round. And India is offering very few concessional tariff lines to China to prevent any onslaught of Chinese duty-free goods. China may set up manufacturing and assembly plants in Asean countries to exploit the China-Asean compensatory tariffs (for raw materials and intermediate goods). It may then make the most of Asean-India concessions (finished products) under the RCEP umbrella. The RCEP region will get access to Indian markets irrespective of which RCEP country exports to India. If electronic goods from China, after retail packaging in Vietnam, get imported to India, it can rightfully claim zero-duty offered to Asean, even though no such concession is offered to China.
The argument that substantial reduction in tariffs pertains only to Asean countries -- and not China -- appears farcical in this context.
For the first time, Bluesign is holding consultations with both external and internal stakeholders to update its Bluesign system criteria. The consultation which has been extended from system partners, to NGOs, trade associations, and various textile industry authorities has also been extended to September 30, 2019.
Bluesign takes a holistic look at environmental health and safety in the textile industry with strict criteria placed on input streams, raw materials, chemical formulations along with resource use. A draft version of the updated criteria is still available on the Bluesign website. The latest revision includes language refinements for better understanding, specific changes in content, and the development of new criteria to ensure the Bluesign System is ‘better aligned’ with the textile industry and related areas.
Bluesign regularly revises limits and usage bans for chemical substances that are published in the Bluesign system substances list (BSSL) for consumer safety limits to produce a comprehensive restricted substance list (RSL) for download that brands can use to improve chemical management in their supply chains.
"Nearly 50 percent materials such as multi-colored prints and textured materials can’t be measured by a traditional spectrophotometer. For these, the industry has introduced innovative spectrophotometers that offer the benefits of digital color measurement and communication to this previously neglected category. The new technology is already shortening the development and production process."
To say that fashion and apparel purchasing trends have changed over the years would be a gross understatement. Seasonal and designer-driven apparels, earlier marketed in retail outlets, are now sold on social networking platforms within seconds of being launched.
This is pressurising apparel brands to condense their product lifecycle and respond to trends at record speed. As a recent McKinsey survey revealed, around 80 percent apparel companies are working on improving their delivery speeds with an additional 19 percent planning to improve within the next 12 months.
Both large and small apparel brands are trying to achieve quicker, more efficient turnarounds while staying true to their brand identity and maintaining quality.
Need to focus on the color palette
However, one factor these brands tend to overlook is the selection of proper colors for their apparels. As there are only limited colors that can be successfully applied to specific types of fabric, brands need to pay special attention to their palette creation. They need to work with color specialists to ensure that all technical limitations of colors are taken into account from the very beginning and don’t contribute to production delays.
They also need to communicate these colors across their supply chain. This will eliminate differences in visual evaluations which can lead to sample rejections, wastage of time and confusion. For this, the industry relies upon specialised equipment, such as spectrophotometers, and quality control software to digitally measure and communicate colors between brands and their suppliers. These tools capture accurate, repeatable color measurements that can be precisely communicated down the supply chain — regardless of location, individual color perception or other influencing factors.
New technologies to shorten delivery times
However, nearly 50 percent materials such as multi-colored prints and textured materials can’t be measured by a traditional spectrophotometer. For these, the industry has introduced innovative spectrophotometers that offer the benefits of digital color measurement and communication to this previously neglected category. The new technology is already shortening the development and production process.
Dealing with color approval bottlenecks
However, digitisation alone will not solve the problem of speed to market. Often, slower and faulty deliveries are also a result of disconnect in the supply chain. This can be attributed, in part, to poor transparency, a lack of accountability among suppliers and the absence of real-time data to inform decision making. For this, brands need to choose the right suppliers who can not only ensure correct color-fabric combinations, but also approve samples and expedite the production cycles.
The approval of color and fabric sample is one of the common bottlenecks in this development cycle. This can be lengthy and challenging process; especially when a brand needs to match colors from different sources. As a result, brands often require multiple rounds of physical lab dips and strike offs until a sample is finally approved. To avoid this, brands should prioritise certain certifying mills to approve their own colors and provide real-time data for tracking purposes. This will eliminate many approval rounds and allows mills to focus on other issues like improving their product quality, ensuring quicker deliveries and cost –efficiency.
In the first eight months of the year, Vietnam’s export value of textiles, fiber, and cloth was up 8.6 per cent.Textile production and exports have grown over the same period last year.
However, domestic textile enterprises face many challenges in production and business activities. The US-China trade war has affected exchange rates, leading to higher prices of processed goods in Vietnam compared to regional competitors such as South Korea and China. That has also affected the number of export orders for local enterprises. Export orders have fallen. Some businesses have only received 70 per cent of new orders against the same period in 2018. Vietnam's major export market –China – has cut import volumes. Garment enterprises have also seen a drop in orders.
In 2018, many large enterprises in the industry had export orders throughout the year, while this year, they could only sign monthly export contracts with small volumes. Orders are broken up instead of bulk. As the third quarter comes to an end, it is unlikely that Vietnamese textile enterprises will increase exports due to the on-going US-China trade war. Enterprises from South Korea and Taiwan in Vietnam have gained advantages from the trade war because they own production factories under the value chain. Korean textile and apparel companies in Vietnam have been the biggest beneficiaries of the trade war.
Tariffs on goods imported from China have been devastating to small fashion brands in the US.They have added to the cost of production, which can be factored into prices very gradually, if at all. The initial tariffs only affected specific sectors like footwear so companies could adjust their assortment to minimize their impact on retail partners and customers. But the recent tariff raises which saw a ten percent increase in tax on certain imports from China, including apparel and footwear, have been a shock because of their scope and suddenness. All the goods that companies import from China will be subject to heavy tariffs. The impact will also hit women’s brands more than men’s since nearly twice the amount of women’s clothing comes from China than men’s.
Larger brands and retailers may be able absorb in the costs of increased tariffs without the consumer even noticing but smaller brands may have no choice but to pass at least some of the costs on to the consumer, which can hurt their relationship with customers.
China has become a major market for fashion. Many fashion brands either do business there — by operating their own stores locally or through Chinese retailers — or manufacture there.
Re.VerSo is a new textile platform that works with textile partners to produce a fully integrated, totally Italy-made textile collection. It presents refined and innovative materials that inspire creativity and infuse technology. Re.VerSo works with its Italian partners, such as Green Line and NuovaFratelliBoretti for the raw material, Mapel for textile fashion, Filpucci for the high-end knitting threads, and Filatura C4 for design contract textiles and for woven fabrics in general. Through these partnerships, Re.VerSo offers smart yarns and fabrics solutions with high aesthetics and quality, collecting, selecting, transforming pre-consumer wool and cashmere.
Re.VerSo represents a system of circular economy, with the addition of a new generation of values and quality. It saves heavily on water use and energy consumption and drastically cut down on carbon dioxide emissions, an artisanal approach that distinguishes the industrial supply chain. Re.VerSo is known for responsible innovation, represents excellence combined with a new vision of smart innovation.
Leftovers can be sourced directly by the Re.VerSo supply chain. Its advanced technology process invites retailers and brands to hand in their pre-consumer wool and cashmere woven and knitted off cuts, transforming them into high-quality yarns and fabrics integrated for a circular economy.
The textile processing sector in Surat has ramped up production following a rise in the demand for manmade fabric across the country. From the last one-and-a-half-years, the textile processing sector was reeling under a recession due to dwindling demand for polyester fabrics, labor issues and factors like GST and demonetization. Production of finished fabrics came down from 4.5 crore meters a day to two crore meters. Some textile processing units kept their units shut for three days a week to cut down on the production of finished polyester fabrics. A few small units shut down altogether.
However the fast approaching festive season has given a sense of hope. Orders have started flowing in. Manufacture of processed fabrics has increased by almost three crore meters a day. Textile mills running at 40 per cent capacity have ramped up production considerably. They are hopeful the ITC refund issue for the textile sector will be resolved since this will pave way for new investments and allow for the infusion of funds.
There are about 350 textile processing units in Sachin, Palsana, Kadodara and Sachin employing over 2.5 lakh textile workers. The grey or unfinished fabric manufactured by powerloom weavers is sent to the textile dyeing and printing mills for the final finishing.
Yarn production in India is likely to decline this fiscal owing to lower demand from China and volatility in cotton prices.Cotton contributes about 50 per cent of the total raw material in the Indian textile industry. With muted demand for yarn from China, and Pakistan enjoying duty-free exports to China, Indian yarn manufacturers are suffering idle capacities and production losses. Prices of cotton have seen a declining trend due to higher production in some countries.
India’s cotton yarn exports between April and June was 35 per cent lower than last year. The ongoing crisis has resulted in the closure of approximately a third of the spinning capacity across India. The industry will not be able to buy the upcoming cotton crop of about 40 million bales worth around Rs 80,000 crores.
Prices of synthetic/manmade fiber have stabilized with support from almost-stable crude prices in the second quarter. Further, the improving spread with cotton has made manmade fiber a more lucrative sub-sector for the textile market. Readymade garment exports from India have started improving because of the introduction of the rebate from state and central taxes and levies scheme along with the existing Merchandise Exports from India Scheme.
The Tirupur Exporter’s Association has revealed that the exports of readymade garments from India declined by 9.18 per cent in June 2019 and 2.44 per cent in August 2019. This was the lowest growth recorded during both months in the past six years. India exported readymade garments worth $1.260 billion in August 2019 from across the country; In June, it recorded $1.357 billion worth of exports. The Tirupur apparel cluster accounted for about for 55 per cent of the total trade.
The industry is witnessing the full adverse effect of demonetisation and GST. Around 50 per cent work has come down in apparel units in recent months, as many were layingff workers.
The central government is taking steps like the restoration of Merchandise Exports for India Scheme and other incentives to put the industry on the growth track. But, it needs to establish Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with countries like the US and the European Union, without which Indian units cannot compete with companies in underdeveloped countries including Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.
India’s leather and leather products exports dipped four per cent in July 2019. Yearly decline was about 13 per cent. India is the second largest global exporter of leather garments. Being a consumer oriented sector, and predominantly concentrated in the micro, small and medium segment, the leather and footwear sector has been facing challenges on the export front due to factors like recessionary trends and fierce price competition. Major export destinations include Europe and the US. The sector employs about 42 lakh people.
Easy and timely availability of credit with affordable interest levels is extremely important for the leather and footwear sector as this alone can help in tapping the huge opportunities available in global markets. In this context, major steps are being contemplated including measures to improve trade credit flows and transmission of interest rate cuts by banks and monitoring export finance through an inter-ministerial group in the department of commerce. Priority sector lending norms for export finance are expected to galvanize the sector particularly small and medium units which have been affected by the slowdown. To help revive leather garment exports, the industry has requested for an enhancement of the duty free limit from three per cent to five per cent of freight on board value of exports.
