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The International Textile Alliance ( ITA) nrecently held showtime, an event held in downtown High Point. ITA announced that it has welcomed 14 new members for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The companies, which are based throughout the world, represent the growing variety of goods that define the home furnishings industry.
The newest members of the ITA include many companies showcasing such as Alendal- a convertor and distributor of home fabrics, contract fabric, drapery hardware, and lining, Convergence is a textile design studio which delivers textile know-how for jacquard and dobby wovens, prints, velvets, wall coverings, and flooring.
Fiama Textiles is a mill direct residential business with two 60-year-old mills, Harounian Rugs International is a new ITA rug member working with long time industry textile expert Wesley Mancini. High Rock Fabrics is a supplier of a wide range of upholstery fabrics to the U.S. furniture industry. Intrenze Leather specializes mainly in supplying high-end buffalo, cow and split quality upholstery leathers for contract, residential, hospitality, and designer market with unique look. Reflex Data Systems is a software provider for textiles that focuses purely on the management, movement, cost and control of everything relating to fabric. Suzhou Mary Tuntex Incorporation is a vertical textile manufacturer of mirco fiber fabrics for the furniture industry.
Formed in 1990 to advance the textile industries through the promotion of education, networking and collaboration year-round, ITA hosts the bi-annual ITA Showtime Market and directs the ITA Educational Foundation.
More than 70 per cent of Iran’s apparel manufacturing units are no longer active.One reason is excessive imports of garments.
There are about 50,000 apparel manufacturing units in the country.
Plans are underway to establish a new apparel industrial town in Fashafouyeh, located in Tehran province’s Rey county, with the aim of limiting imports, boosting domestic production and making the price of Iranian clothing more competitive. The hope is that such an apparel industrial park will be highly beneficial as it will lead to transfer of know-how, increase in quality and lowered production costs.
Foreign representatives, branches and distributors of apparel in Iran who seek business licenses have been mandated to produce goods worth 20 per cent of their import value inside Iran and to export at least 50 per cent of this domestic production.
The initiative is aimed at increasing domestic production, creating jobs and reviving Iran’s apparel industry. Public interest in domestic products has dramatically surged over recent months.
The country has taken measures aimed at renewing the country’s garment manufacturing industry, in a bid to enter international markets. Exporting apparel products to neighboring countries, including the CIS and, in particular, Azerbaijan, is on the agenda.
The Trump administration proposed tariffs on goods from China may include home textiles, according to an alert from the Home Fashion Product Association’s (HFPA) legal counsel.
The U.S. Industrial Fabrics Institute (USIFI) and Narrow Fabrics Institute (NFI) joined the NCTO in a 24-page statement supporting the action. The Home Fashion Products Association (HFPA) has issued a letter rebutting the argument for placing tariffs on Chinese textiles imports.
The shift of home textiles manufacturing to Asia was highly troublesome, and several companies did not survive the transition, the HFPA noted in its argument against the proposal. Charging a tariff on Chinese imports would deal a hard blow to the roughly 500 U.S.-based home textiles companies in the business.
NCTO asserted that China’s domination of global textile markets has been aided by intellectual property theft at the recent USTR hearing. In response, the HFPA told that some U.S. home textiles importers still operate substantial domestic “fill and finishing” operations employing thousands of employees that would be financially hobbled by tariffs.
The White House announced it will impose a 25 per cent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese technology goods. The list of covered imports is scheduled to be published June 15. The original list of goods slated for tariffs earlier this spring did not include textiles.
Footwear brand Hi-Tec is launching its first men's and women's apparel collection this fall.
Hi-Tec partnered with Tharanco for the coed apparel collection which includes hoodies, button-down woven and thermal shirts, fleece, hooded jackets, pants, vests and outerwear.
Hi-Tec is also launching accessories, which include beanies, socks, hats and gloves. The company partnered with Interbrand to manufacture the accessories.
Hi-Tec is a part of Cherokee Global Brands. Tharanco specializes in providing fashionable clothing that utilizes the latest trends and fabric technologies. Interbrand is a global accessories company with specific expertise in socks, headwear, gloves, scarves, and leather goods.
The collection pulls inspiration from Hi-Tec's performance footwear, with features including waterproof and windproof fabrics, sun protection materials, and heat retention and wicking fabrics. Adjustable sleeves, invisible zippers, and shirt tails in woven shirts that double as sunglass cleaners are some of the other tech features in the line.
Cherokee, founded in 1973, is an American family brand offering classic and California casual comfort. Cherokee is partnering with industry-leading footwear, apparel and accessories specialists to ensure that the full potential of its Hi-Tec portfolio is realized. Partners like Carolina Footwear, Tharanco and Interbrand will allow Cherokee to quickly scale its newest outdoor and active lifestyle brands across multiple channels and categories.
The sixth edition of Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2018 was held in Denmark on May 16.
Policymakers of the European Union (EU), top officials of brands and retailers, and representatives from global rights groups were present at the summit.
This summit is a platform for multi-stakeholders, such as major fashion policy decision-makers and fashion experts, to discuss social and ethical issues pertaining to the industry.
The opinion was that a level playing field is needed to ensure transparency and everyone has to be equally transparent in the entire global supply chain of the denim sector. A high level of engagement and support from brands, retailers and consumers is needed to implement transparent practices in reality.
However the biggest barrier to transparency is the cost. Someone is responsible for the cost escalation factor, the manufacturer, the brand or the consumer, and whoever is responsible has to pay.
Bangladesh is one of the world's biggest apparel-sourcing countries. After the Rana Plaza tragedy, a lot of safety measures have been put in place to avoid similar mishaps. Infrastructure facilities, such as roads, utilities and container congestion in Chittagong port, are some of the biggest challenges that Bangladesh needs to overcome in the near future to obtain more orders from abroad.
Exporters in India are going to have their dues such as rebate on state levies and IGST cleared very soon. Necessary steps will also be taken to prevent cheaper imports.
Exim Bank has been advised to work out a special scheme for reducing the interest rate burden on exports instead of increasing IES benefits. A decision will soon be taken on blocked/embedded central taxes. Industry associations and export promotion councils have been encouraged to directly approach their respective state governments.
The Indian textile industry has been facing numerous challenges in the international market and the global competitiveness of the industry has been affected after the implementation of GST.
The delay in clearing various dues and the TUFS subsidy has created a severe financial crunch. In addition, high tariff barriers have been the major bottleneck for India in achieving a sustained growth rate in exports.
The cyclic element of lower global demand, changes in structural demand, reduction in export benefits and tariff barriers affected exports. Certain leading manufacturers had to divert their investments to countries like Ethiopia and other countries to overcome the challenges of tariff barriers.
The industry wanted these issues resolved so that it could emerge from the recession and grab the emerging global opportunity.
Huntsman will build a new polyurethanes systems house in Dubai.
The facility will strengthen Huntsman’s differentiated downstream capabilities in the heart of the Middle East. Targeted for completion by the second half of 2019, the investment will increase the company’s systems production capacity in the region and add a new dimension to its polyester polyol capabilities. It will serve as a strategic platform to expand its business in the Middle East and North Africa and build its market leading position. It represents the next step in Huntsman’s plan to strengthen its downstream network.
The systems house will enable the company to supply traditional and high-end rigid polyurethane formulations from a local source. It will also enable Huntsman to leverage its development and production know-how in polyester polyol and polyol blends for the fast-growing flexible foam and footwear markets, as well as pre-polymers for adhesives, coatings and elastomers applications.
Huntsman has 30 facilities worldwide. Huntsman Textile Effects is a leading provider of high quality dyes and chemicals to the textile and related industries. It is continuing to invest in research and development to bring cutting-edge innovation to the textile industry. The company’s chemical products are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets.
Indian apparel exporters are facing stiff competition from their counterparts in Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Both these countries grant tax incentives in addition to export incentives. Besides these countries are preferential importers for several global markets.
Indian exporters used to get a duty drawback of 7.5 per cent before GST implementation. This has been slashed to 2.5 per cent due to which there is a significant impact on exports. As incentives have been cut, the prices of Indian products have increased.
In addition key global markets like Sri Lanka and the Middle East have imposed a value-added tax (VAT) on apparel exports from India. Recently, the UAE imposed VAT on apparels imported into their country, which further led to an increase in prices. With the duty drawback slashed, exporters were already struggling to generate export volumes at competitive prices. Now they face a stiffer competition in these regions due to changes in tax rates.
Export incentives for cotton and polyester have reduced. This makes Indian products more expensive in international markets and reduces their competitiveness.
Nearly a year after the implementation of GST, exports of textiles as well as garments have been found to have declined significantly.
Gujarat accounts for 12 per cent of the apparels exported from India. Exports have gone down by an estimated 30 per cent from Gujarat.
The textile industry in India may be made to buy cotton and jute from farmers at least at the minimum support prices.
The move is part of efforts to ensure a 50 per cent profit to farmers over their cost of production.
The proposal — fraught as it is with serious implementation challenges — could spell trouble for the labor-intensive textile and garment industry.
MSP for cotton will increase by at least 28 per cent in 2018-19 from the current level. Cotton accounts for roughly 60 per cent of yarn costs and yarn makes up for 50 per cent of fabric costs. Fabric, in turn, makes up for 50 per cent of garment costs. So higher cotton prices will push up costs in the entire value chain and jeopardise its competitiveness.
The idea is being mooted at a time when garment production has dropped for 11 months in a row and exports have contracted for a seventh straight month through April, with most units reeling under elevated costs.
Garment production dropped 11 per cent in 2017-18 and exports contracted almost four per cent even though the country’s overall merchandise exports rose 9.8 per cent.
Also, the proposal will potentially render the Cotton Corporation of India irrelevant.
From 2020 to 2040, India will have a large and growing section of its population in the working age, giving it a bigger workforce than China’s.
Deploying this large young workforce in productive areas could potentially create a huge economic output in the long run.
Due to rising labor costs, China is shifting focus to high-end manufacturing. With China vacating this space, a huge opportunity is up for grabs.
To begin with, labor cost in India is less than one-third of that in China. Secondly, the raw material is easily available. India is the world’s second largest cotton producer and no imports would be needed. Synthetic textiles are also manufactured in India. Availability of cotton and synthetic textiles, coupled with low labor cost, offers a huge advantage for apparel manufacturing in India which few other countries could match.
To add to it, more jobs can be created by investing in labor-intensive industries compared to automation-driven industries.
Every 0.1 million of rupees invested in apparel manufacturing is expected to create 24 new jobs compared to only 0.3 in automobiles or 0.1 in steel.
A structured policy on creating large local manufacturers in sectors like leather, apparel and footwear could go a long way in creating high volume jobs in India.
