FW
The Lifestyle Agency® along with, the Turkish Apparel Center (TAC) recently launched a trade event of a New York-based luxury designer. This event unites international Turkish designers and garment manufacturers with US based retail buyers, merchandisers, stylists, fashion trade journalists and other fashion insiders to foster economic opportunities that inspire commerce with the fashion capital with Europe and Africa.
This initiative will create a two-way path for innovative opportunities in international retail distribution and commerce for emerging fashion professionals, starting here in New York and fashion markets abroad. The event will be held at the TAC Showroom, New York. Its curated pool of international designers will interact with attendees of this invite-only event on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. It has invited various retailers including buyers from JCPenney, Against All Odds (AAO), Lord and Taylor, Jimmy Jazz, South Pole, Porta Bella men's stores, Ilys, etc.
Garment manufacturers in Bangladesh are developing their own brands. This is true of export-oriented companies as well as domestic market-oriented brands. And customers are accepting these brands. They feel comfortable purchasing their fashion products from local brands’ outlets since these brands like Dorzi Bari, Aarong and Anjans offer a quality product at a reasonable price and provide the most up-to-date trends and styles.
Snowtex, an export-oriented garment manufacturer, launched its own brand Sara in May this year. Snowtex manufactures woven items like outwear and sportswear and exports to Europe and other countries including Canada, Russia and Japan and has been in the export trade for 20 years.
Dekko is one of Bangladesh’s leading exporters of readymade garments. These go to major players in the international market including Zara, Esprit, and Tommy Hilfiger. The group launched its first branded showroom Klubhaus in May 2018.
Red Origin is a brand from the Partex Group. Launched in 2013 initially, the brand returned in a bigger way in 2016. It sources fabric from the local market and has its own factory where nearly 150 people work to design and produce the clothing for the domestic market.
Dorji Bari combines western fashion with tradition. Its main target group is the young generation.
Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers' Association (ZCMA) has urged the government to implement a colonial era Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) it signed with South Africa in 1964 in a bid to boost the local industry. Although, South Africa had argued that all trade should be done within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade protocols, BTA had some preferences towards SADC, mainly due to the refusal by South Africa to liberalise areas of the regional trade protocols.
The rest of the region should also be supported to develop so that our economies can also be more industrialised. The clothing and textile sectors had formalised an agreement on support measures, which would greatly enhance the competitiveness of both industries.
The support measures were regulatory and relatively simple but the implementation had stagnated. It was also vital that the industry received allocations of foreign currency to import the raw materials, which were not made locally. The agreement provided targeted support for cotton value addition and textile development but most raw materials the clothing sector required still needed to be imported.
Picanol will launch its newest rapier, the GTMax-i 3.0, at ITMA-CITME 2018. The machine combines a redesigned gripper drive with extra reinforced sley drive and further integrates the future-oriented BlueBox electronic platform for higher production speeds. The machine has been refurbished completely, with a special focus on ergonomy and user friendliness.
The company will display four machines of this type at the show. Of these, a GTMax-i 3.0 will be weaving a denim fabric, another one will be weaving a zebra style curtain fabric. On the Bonas booth a decoration fabric will run on a GTMax-i 3.0 with jacquard, whereas on the Tongxiang booth a GTMax-i 3.0 will be weaving label.
On the Picanol booth two OptiMax-i 190 cm weaving para-aramide and shirting are being presented. As for the airjet machines, two OMNIplus Summum will be shown, one weaving a bottom weight fabric and the other weaving sheeting. On the Stäubli booth a TERRYplus Summum with jacquard is weaving a high quality terry fabric.
In total 9 Picanol machines will be on display, of which six will be displayed on its own booth, one Picanol TERRYplus Summum with jacquard at the Stäubli booth and one GTMax-i 3.0 on the Bonas booth. On the booth of Tongxiang a GTMax-i 3.0 will be weaving label.
Chinese businesses may export their goods through Vietnam to the US amid the trade war. They can also set up factories in Vietnam and manufacture products with materials imported from China. Chinese garment products would be labeled as made in Vietnam and exported to the US.
This will result in bad consequences for Vietnam’s textile and footwear industry as the US might impose the same tariffs on Vietnam as it does on China. Vietnam’s industry feels if products’ origin is not traced and violations are not penalized, it will have to suffer consequences. In May this year the US slapped anti-dumping duties of 199.76 per cent and countervailing duties of 256.44 per cent on imports of cold-rolled steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate.
But the escalating trade war will create opportunities for Vietnamese exporters of consumer goods to expand their market share in the US. About 27 per cent of Chinese goods set to be affected by the new tariffs are consumer goods, and Vietnam exports many similar items to the US. Apart from footwear and textile products, other products to benefit from the trade war are wooden furniture, electronics, sports equipment, and toys. The US has been Vietnam’s largest trading partner this year.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Shandong Ruyi International Fashion Industry have signed an MoU to establish a cotton value chain industry from cotton growing to ginning, spinning, textile manufacture and garment production. The factories will be established in Katsina, Kano, Abia and Lagos states. They will manufacture of at least 300 million metres of African print. This is expected to meet about 20 per cent of West Africa’s demand.
The Nigerian cotton industry will also receive an investment of $2bn (N610bn) that will enable the country to create its first ever cotton value chain sector. The investments, according to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, will involve aggregation and offtake of cotton from farmers for ginning, spinning and weaving. The pact will lead to the production of cotton and denim garments for local consumption and export.
Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers are receiving more work orders from the US. The main impetus has been the US-China trade war. China had already become expensive for US-based clothing retailers. The trade war is further pushing them in the direction of Bangladesh.
Though Vietnam is already benefitting on a massive scale from the US-China trade war, Bangladesh does have the scope to increase gains, especially in the garment business. But first of all the country needs to improve its production capacity.
The value of last year's global garment business also indicates a declining trend for China. Although China remained the largest apparel supplier globally, its share shrank to 34.9 per cent from 36 per cent. Bangladesh’s share increased to 6.5 per cent from 6.4 per cent.
The number will increase further if the US finally scraps the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). Earlier, Chinese garment companies had set up factories in Mexico to avail of the duty privilege under Nafta. But now, apprehending the withdrawal of Nafta, Chinese investors are pulling out from Mexico. Bangladesh has also benefited from lower cotton prices. These decreased ten per cent after China imposed a high duty on the import of the natural fiber from the US.
The Telengana administration has called upon powerloom weavers of Sircilla textile town to weave only Bathukamma saris for the next 20 days to achieve the targeted production. Powerloom weavers have so far weaved 55 lakh saris against the target of 90 lakh. The rest would be weaved on a mission mode in the coming 20 days. At present, 20,000 looms have been deployed to produce the saris and additional 2,000 looms would be added to increase production.
The state government has placed orders for saris at a cost of Rs 280 crore. It may not place orders in future if weavers fail to achieve the targeted production by October 10. The government would appoint special officers to oversee the production by visiting powerloom sectors in various localities.
The powerloom associations have promised to produce only Bathukamma saris till October 10 to achieve the target and win over the confidence of the government to secure regular orders. The association leaders also hailed the Collector’s decision to provide wages for 20 days to old weavers and others.
Currency depreciation in Turkey, Brazil and India has put pressure on US cotton prices. But if the currencies move in a different direction demand could increase. China isn’t buying as much cotton as it was before the tariffs but is still purchasing US cotton. The textile process has moved to Southeast Asia, a growing market for US cotton. Vietnam is the largest consumer of US cotton.
Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia are also significant consumers. The price competition between polyester and cotton has shifted toward cotton. This was led by China cracking down on polyester manufacturing facilities because of water and air pollution. Additionally, consumers are again expressing a desire to return to the comfort offered by cotton.
A counter-cyclical tariff on cotton by Turkey could disrupt some established trade flows, but the critical shortage of US quality cotton this year and the next would mean that the solid Turkish market honed out by US merchants and cooperatives would shift to other export locations and US export volume would not be hurt. Simply, Turkey would end up paying more for cotton than it currently does. Demand for US cotton – already one of the cheaper growths in the world – will do nothing but boom.
Turkey and Myanmar, have been named by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) in its annual “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.” As per the report, garment industries in both countries have employed child labor as have footwear manufacturers in Turkey.
The report, which includes 148 commodities from 76 countries, was mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act of 2005 and is updated regularly. ILAB continuously collects data from worldwide exporters in order to educate industry leaders on risky goods and regions that might otherwise escape notice. The process requires independent verification of labor information and does not rely solely on official data.
For ILAB, the goal is to protect interests at home by providing data to both consumers and organisations sourcing goods from foreign counties. In Turkey, ILAB uncovered reports that children, sometimes just 10 years old, produce garments for the industry. It also found that many within Turkey’s large Syrian refugee community were forced into this type of labor, too. The footwear industry in Turkey was also found to engage in the use of child labor. The instance of young boys and girls working in footwear production areas like Gaziantep and Istanbul has been considered common. In Myanmar, girls and boys from the age of 12 to 17 have been found working in garment factories, with a large portion of offenses occurring within the Yangon region.
