FW
Designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla will launch a new bridal collection at the fourth edition of The Wedding Junction Show in Mumbai. The designer duo will showcase five ensembles from their latest collection. The collection - Asal Bride proves to be dream ensemble as it plays with the classics and infuses them with new life. It offers an entire spectrum of silhouettes and embroideries in these diverse ranges, from the most understated like Bakhiya and Resham mirror in skin and neutral tones and the shimmering play of Raj Mahal to the deep glamour of architectural mirror in jewel tones.
Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla was founded in 1986 and specialises in occasion, bridal, and traditional wear. The brand has two stores in Mumbai and one in Delhi as well as the same for their ASAL line and a Gulabo store in Goa.
"The government has relaxed FDI rules for foreign single brand retailers. It has also permitted 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in contract manufacturing and coal mining and a 26 per cent FDI in digital media. Also, the government has expanded the definition of mandatory 30 per cent domestic sourcing norm for single brand retailers. This will enable global retailers to start their online operations, waiving previous condition of setting up a mandatory brick-and-mortar store."
The government has relaxed FDI rules for foreign single brand retailers. It has also permitted 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in contract manufacturing and coal mining and a 26 per cent FDI in digital media. Also, the government has expanded the definition of mandatory 30 per cent domestic sourcing norm for single brand retailers. This will enable global retailers to start their online operations, waiving previous condition of setting up a mandatory brick-and-mortar store. It will also allow companies such as IKEA, H&M, Uniqlo and Puma to expand their footprint in India and bolster the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
While the present policy mandates that a single-brand retail company, that has more than 51 per cent FDI in India, has to source 30 per cent of its raw materials locally, the changed norms will allow it to include exports as well.
New sourcing norms to benefit apparel companies
Companies such as Ikea and H&M began sourcing from India much before they set up domestic operations. But
under existing rules, they did not get credit for what they had been buying from Indian entities. So, if a company was sourcing goods worth $100 million before entering the single-brand retail segment and it went up to $110 million in the first year, only the incremental purchases of $10 million were counted towards fulfilling the sourcing requirement. The new rules will allow the company to treat the entire $110 million as the value of goods sourced from India. This will prove to be big opportunity for apparel companies, where Indian factories have strong capabilities.
The government has also decided to include global sourcing by the single brand retailers for adjusting their 30 per cent mandatory local sourcing norm. Terming this move encouraging, Swedish furniture giant Ikea hopes it would enhance the ease of doing business in India.
Online stores to attract overseas investments
As per the new rules, single brand retailers can open online stores before setting up physical stores in the country. Experts say, this move will help new entrants. Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has welcomed the government's decision, saying it will help attract investment from global companies and would allow single brand retailers to meet local sourcing norms besides giving them time to build their brick-and-mortar presence in parallel.
Filip Miermans has been appointed the head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations at Lenzing AG. In his capacity, he will report directly to Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of Lenzing. Miermans will succeed Waltraud Kaserer, who will continue to support Lenzing in the future in the field of public affairs.
Miermans has specialised knowledge and longstanding experience in communications and marketing. Before joining the Lenzing Group, he served as Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications for the Lower Austrian mechanical engineering company Lisec Austria GmbH since the year 2013.
Prior to that, he held management positions in marketing and communications at Miba AG, Heradesign (Knauf Insulation) and the Plansee subsidiary Ceratizit.
Dates for the next edition of Apparel Sourcing Week (ASW’20) have been announced. The event will be held from February 21-22, 2020 at Grand Sheraton in Bengarulu.
ASW ’20 will host around 150 manufacturers from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China. It will also include the luxury manufacturers from these destinations that are producing high value apparel, in addition to mass producers of fashion.
Apparel Sourcing Week 2019 was a hit for all the stakeholders that were a part of the ASW family- be it an exhibitor, a buyer, a collaborator, a sponsor, or even a simple visitor - as it introduced the concept of India’s very own sourcing platform that enabled the south-east Asian countries to cater to the needs of the rapidly growing Indian retail market. Carving a niche for itself, ASW became a networking channel for different industry players, triggering the need for such an event on an even higher scale.
The condition of handloom weavers in Andhra Pradesh is worsening. The Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society is yet to release their dues. The society is yet to release Rs 12 crores in arrears to around 50 primary weavers’ co-operative societies that are present in East Godavari. Lack of funds is not the only issue weavers are faced with. Imposition of GST has forced some weavers’ societies to resort to making school uniforms with polyester made out of power looms.
Andhra Pradesh boasts of 80 per cent of the country’s handlooms, most of which are in East Godavari, Krishna and Kadapa districts. There are 1.40 lakh looms in Andhra Pradesh, but the number of weavers far outnumbers the looms in the country or the state.
Meanwhile India’s power loom weavers and business owners want the current GST rate for power loom trading to be retained at five per cent. They say any change would negatively affect their business. Instead the power loom sector hopes for more assistance and a stable tax rate. Many power loom manufacturers are small-scale businesses. Weaving units have also asked for release of funds under the Technological Upgradation Fund Scheme and say delay in release of these funds could hamper their expansion plans, which are meant at generating thousands of jobs.
Sri Lanka-based Hirdaramani Group has teamed up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Make Fashion Circular’ initiative to improve the use of natural resources and reduce waste with better design in apparel manufacturing, one of the world’s most polluting industries. The group, one of the island’s biggest apparel exporters, aims to reduce energy and water use and improve waste management at its factories island-wide as part of its sustainability initiative.
The group is part of a global project to redesign jeans to make their manufacture sustainable by 2021.Its efforts focus on garment durability, material health, recyclability and traceability. Hirdaramani employs about 20,000 people in factories across the island and provides apparel design, production and delivery services to some of the world’s top fashion and clothing brands.
Apparel and footwear are on an average, eight per cent cheaper in Spain than elsewhere in Europe. Only Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are cheaper than the Spanish market. Garment prices are 9.4 per cent lower in Spain than in the rest of the continent. Footwear prices are 3.2 per cent lower. The strong presence of operators like Decathlon or Primark has forced down prices of the fashion sector in the Spanish market.
Fashion isn’t the only sector where Spain is cheaper compared to the European average. In fact, the differences are even bigger in transportation (20 per cent cheaper), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (15 per cent cheaper), restaurants and hotels (14 per cent cheaper) and transport equipment (12 per cent cheaper). Spain is more expensive only in two categories: communication (40.2 per cent higher) and furniture (4.7 per cent higher).
Away from Span, are the Nordic countries, with Iceland in the lead, where buying clothes is 50 per cent more expensive than the European average. Denmark is 39 per cent more expensive, Norway is 31 per cent more expensive and Sweden is 26 per cent. In France prices are 9.9 per cent higher. Italy and Germany are very close to the average.
R|Elan™, the next-gen fabrics from Reliance Industries (RIL), launched its latest studio in Tirupur, to display its future ready innovative range of sustainable and performance fabrics created through specially engineered fibers. R|Elan™ Studio will be a hi-tech experience centre that showcases all its Hub Excellence Program (HEP) partners’ innovative products & developments across aesthetics, performance and sustainability category.
It will provide a seamless and uniform experience to garment manufacturers, exporters, local & international brands, buying houses, agents, traders and the fashion design houses. This would help build a strong collaboration between R|Elan™ and the entire value chain.
About 70 per cent of the textile production of Pakistan is exported. This is further complicated by the structure of the industry which is fragmented with few vertically integrated companies leading to multiple taxation of the same goods. The bulk of the textile output is from indirect exporters such as spinners, weavers, finishers etc whose products after finishing are finally exported.
Withdrawal of zero rating has impacted the system badly. Only 90 per cent of the input tax will be allowed to be set off against output and 10 per cent is refunded 14 months later. Coupled with the four per cent withholding tax, and the additional funds required to pay the 17 per cent GST in the first place, there appears to be no chance of the industry’s surviving the additional working capital requirement or the wiping out of the slim margins and the already low profitability. This will necessarily turn into a loss for the great majority of the registered and compliant units in the sector leading to their imminent closure. About 70 per cent of the revenue comes from withholding taxes. These are extremely regressive in nature as they are applied to turnover and not on margins or profitability of the company.
German denim brand Mustang plans to launch an in-store clothing collection program in collaboration with circular solutions specialist TexAid.
As per a Textile Today report, the service will enable TexAid – which specializes in the collection, sorting, reselling and recycling of pre-owned garments to prolong the lifecycle of materials used in Mustang products.
TexAid is continually fostering new collection programs of post-consumer textiles to efficiently sort them for their next lifecycle.
Also they are looking for strong industry partners to push consumer awareness and participation in joint projects like these.
Having customers in more than 20 countries, Mustang is keen to improve its sustainability credentials by adopting the principles of a circular economy.
The brand’s partnership will TexAidenable it to benefit from the company’s existing infrastructure to collect, sort and – depending on quality – resell or recycle goods.
Meanwhile, Mustang is offering a simple in-store collection service in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland, enabling shoppers to drop off their unwanted items to ensure they’re ‘sustainably’ disposed of.
