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The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a consortium of North American apparel retailers and buyers has claimed that 68 per cent of all necessary repairs across Alliance-linked factories have been completed till date. It also says 60 per cent of Alliance linked factories had completed their corrective action plans to a great extent.
As per James Moriarty, Alliance Country Director the Alliance has helped transform what was once one of the most dangerous industries worldwide into one of the safest and as evidence; the number of fires and safety incidents was going down. The Alliance completes its pre-determined five year tenure in 2018.
Since its inception in 1995, Tex-Styles India Fair has emerged as an ideal forum for presenting the multi-faceted splendor of the Indian textile industry and established itself as the leading fair of its kind in south east Asia.
This is the only textile show in India which provides users a one-stop platform for purchase of every conceivable textile product produced by India i.e. furnishings, floor coverings, fabrics, garments, accessories etc.
Exhibitors will be companies in fields such as cotton, silk, wool, synthetics, power looms, jute, blended and other fibers.
A yarn and fabric show is being held in Bangladesh, February 15 to 18, 2017.
More than 180 exhibitors from six countries including China, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and the host Bangladesh are taking part in the show to display state-of-art fabrics, garment accessories, fleece, fancy finishings, different types of yarn, weaving ribbons, denim, knitted fabrics, artificial leather, embroidery, snap fasteners, shoulder paddings, interlining, buttons, zippers, linen blends etc.
There are seven garment factories in Bangladesh that are placed in the top ten environmentally-compliant readymade garment factories around the world.
The country has a target of reaching 50 billion dollars in textile exports by 2021Currently Bangladesh imports viscose worth billions a year which can be easily saved by producing the product from its own raw materials. Production of viscose fiber has proved more profitable than production of readymade garments. Bangladesh has made a deal with China for building a plant to make viscose fiber from jute using Chinese technology and finance.
Chinese investment in Bangladesh has increased by 30 per cent in the last couple of years due to attractive schemes. China is the top exporter of apparel products in the world while Bangladesh is in second place.
With the Trans-Pacific Partnership fizzling out, Vietnam is turning to its Asian neighbors for trade pacts. The country is looking to increase exports to markets in the ASEAN and some countries where it has bilateral trade agreements, such as Japan. It will look at ways to boost exports to the EU.
Vietnam has nine free trade agreements, including deals with India, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Seven more are being negotiated. The more free trade agreements Vietnam signs, the less it will have to rely on China and its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership for the benefits of international commerce. Vietnam is more active than other countries in forging trade deals, and that allows it to diversify its risk. Because of its export-driven economy, Vietnam probably would have benefited from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty more than any other nation. The TPP would have dramatically lowered or eliminated the tariffs the US imposes on Vietnamese goods. The US is the largest customer for the apparel, electronics, furniture, and shoes that Vietnam makes.
TPP was not only about market access. It was also a driving force for reform, for transparency and anti-corruption. Australia is interested in resurrecting some version of the TPP with Vietnam and other Asian countries.
Honduras wants to be one of the top textile and apparel producers and exporters in the world. As of now the Central American country is the second largest exporter of textiles in the region, after Mexico. Total export value of Honduras’ textile products is expected to grow by 10 per cent in 2017. The US, Europe and Canada are some of the largest export destinations for Honduras.
By 2020, Honduras wants to double its apparel exports and become the fifth largest clothing supplier for the US, up from its current position at seventh. The project is set to generate over 2,00,000 new jobs in the sector, and there will be additional funds for training more skilled workers, establishing renewable energy facilities and building logistics infrastructure.
Sustainability and innovation will be the new main focuses for Honduras to develop its textile and apparel sector. A big emphasis has been placed on technology to ensure the sustainability of all manufacturing processes in the textile industry, from saving water in the fabric dyeing process to using recycled fibers in production.
The country’s location allows it to have shorter time span and lower costs to ship its textile and apparel products to major ports in the United States and Europe compared to any other Asian textile exporter.
European clothing companies prefer to source wool from Italy than from China. This is a sign of the changing times. China is caught between rising domestic costs and persistent technical and distribution advantages elsewhere. Italian fabric producers are closer to the market, so not only is transport cheaper also timelines between orders and sales are shorter and in the fast-paced world of high fashion, this matters.
When cost differences are significant, quality may be less important but if overall costs are comparable, quality should be decisive in sourcing decisions. If Chinese producers still have a reputation for relatively low-quality textiles, then as the labor cost picture worsens, they will likely have nothing left to offer.
At a macro level, China has for years aspired to move up the value chain, to capture more of higher skilled components of the global supply chain. In keeping with this, China was content for the low-value textile industry to relocate to Southeast Asia in search of cheaper labor. But now, as China’s own costs rise still further, they find themselves competing against long established, higher quality production centers like Italy, and losing out. Even in textiles, China is no longer the prime destination for new investment.
Thailand is hosting FESPA Asia 2017, February 15 to 17, 2017. The focuses of the exhibition is on wide-format digital, screen and textile printing, allowing visitors the chance to source all they need for their businesses under one roof. Domestic and international brands are exhibiting.
FESPA Asia is the latest addition to the FESPA portfolio of established trade print exhibitions. Designed to connect screen, digital and textile printing communities across the Asean region and beyond, this event brings together print professionals looking to discover the newest products, the latest innovations and the best advice.
FESPA is the largest specialty and creative printing federation with 37 member associations, and has the philosophy of reinvesting in the global print community for sustainable growth across the board. French software house Caldera is presenting its award-winning print workflow solutions. Products that Caldera will be showcasing at the event include its premium signs and display solutions software and its market-leading textile-printing solutions. The new Caldera V11 RIP suite speeds up image processing and improves organisation for wide-format print businesses of all kinds.
Hexis is showcasing its new HXS5000, which offers 14 colors and allows application on flat and slightly curved surfaces. Senfa is displaying Decoprint, a range of coated textiles for large-format digital printers.
Lenzing’s viscose and modal fibers have been awarded the Biobased Product Label by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The certification is proof that all standard types of fiber produced by Lenzing are fully derived from the natural and renewable raw material, wood. The company’s Lyocell fiber Tencel has been certified as 100 per cent bio-based content since 2011.
Eco-responsibility represents a key component of Lenzing’s group strategy. Lenzing is in tune with the growing trend towards ecology and sustainability. Lenzing fibers are not only derived 100 per cent from nature, but they are also returned to nature at the end of their life cycle. Standard Lenzing fibers are 100 per cent biodegradable and even compostable.
Based in Austria, Lenzing supplies to the global textile and nonwoven industry with high-quality, botanic cellulose fibers. Its portfolio ranges from dissolving pulp to standard and specialty cellulose fibers. With 79 years of experience in fiber production, the group is the only company worldwide combining the manufacturing of all three cellulose fiber generations on a large scale under one roof – from viscose to modal to tencel.
The certification by USDA is designed to motivate government institutions and companies to purchase bio-based products or those which largely consist of biological materials.
"With global cotton industry under scrutiny for using forced and child labor and polluting the environment, Western companies are now working with farmers to clean up fashion's leading natural fiber - and its complex supply chain. The phenomenon is visible with a crop of farmers coming ahead towards this cause. Kanchen Kanjarya is one such example having a small farm in Mayapur, Gujarat."
With global cotton industry under scrutiny for using forced and child labor and polluting the environment, Western companies are now working with farmers to clean up fashion's leading natural fiber - and its complex supply chain. The phenomenon is visible with a crop of farmers coming ahead towards this cause. Kanchen Kanjarya is one such example having a small farm in Mayapur, Gujarat.
Working for eight hours a day on the six acre plot, Kanjarya is one of millions of small holder farms in India supplying cotton to garment factories making clothes for Western brands. Kanjarya is one of 1,250 women farmers in Gujarat, India's biggest cotton and cottonseed producing state, taking part in one of a number of small initiatives led by companies to combat environmental problems and break the cycle of child labour.
For the past three years, these women farmers have had classes and infield training twice a month in sustainable farming methods such as water efficiency, natural pesticides, and soil health, designed to increase cotton yields and income. The pilot, by social enterprise CottonConnect, India's Self Employed Women's Association and funded by UK budget retailer Primark, has pushed up profits more than two-fold and is expanding to 10,000 farmers over six years, its founders say.
Local sourcing
Elsewhere in India, the C&A Foundation, affiliated with global retailer C&A (and in a partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation on trafficking), is working with various groups to help 25,000 farmers move to organic cotton. And the non-profit Better Cotton Initiative, set up in 2005, has nearly 1,000 members including retailers like IKEA, H&M, Burberry and Adidas, committed to fair work practices in cotton and regulated use of land, chemicals and water. They have been witnessing an increasing trend of companies getting involved in cotton production.
Alison Ward, Chief Executive at CottonConnect says, the world is changing and it is starting to be far more about local sourcing but getting to the middle of the supply chain is a real challenge. Only 10-12 percent of cotton globally is sustainable and it will take time, effort and investment to shift to farming methods that could boost profits and combat labor abuses in the crop historically plagued by slavery.
Experts say cotton supply chain is the hardest to crack as the journey from field to store involves so many stages – from seed production, to cotton growing, to gins to separate seeds and fibre, spinning mills to garment factories.
India’s global positioning
India, the world's second largest cotton producer after China and ahead of the United States and Pakistan, is the only country named for having child and forced labour in both cottonseed production as well as cotton growing. Indian group Glocal Research's 2014 study ‘Cotton's Forgotten Children’ found the number of children under 14 working on cottonseed farms doubled from 2010 to 200,000 with small hands useful in cross pollination to produce hybrid seeds.
In pockets of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the situation has deteriorated and the issue is what defines a family enterprise and whether children registered for school do attend.
MC Karina, Deputy Rural Labor Commissioner for Gujarat, claimed they have been working on this concern for the last eight years and are now sure that not a single child is working on the cottonseed farms.
Global brands take initiatives
With the complexity and lack of transparency in the cotton supply chain, international brands are getting more involved for the sake of their reputation and to meet ethical commitments. Katharine Stewart, Primark's ethical trade and environmental sustainability director, said her company set out to find an ethical and sustainable way to produce cotton at the same price as conventional cotton. Organic and Fairtrade has a premium. Primark, part of Associated British Foods, sells low-priced clothes such as $5 T-shirts in 11 countries, and is constantly under pressure to explain how it makes clothes so affordable without exploiting workers.
Stewart said the retailer, with a high volume, low cost business model, ensured workers were well treated in supplier factories and paid at least the minimum wage with regular and surprise audits but wanted to dig further into the supply chain. She said the Gujarat pilot proved sustainable cotton could be produced at the same price as conventional cotton. Definitely there are little signs of improvements, but there's a long way to go.
The growth in athleisure is not only influencing the luxury goods industry but also the jeans category. Yoga and jogging bottoms have gained appeal. The jeans industry is now looking at ways at turning the athleisure trend into its own opportunity, as brands design denim for men and women with new stretch fibers and fabrics with more effective sweat management to make them feel like jogging bottoms.
The global jeans market has seen a slow growth over the last few years. The new innovations in more comfortable textures have helped jeans see a global increase of almost four per cent in 2016.
Though performance sportswear takes the lead in terms of market size, growth in sports-inspired clothing, or athleisure, is being witnessed in emerging markets such as India and Thailand as well as core markets such as the US.
Athleisure has evolved from what brands dabbled in with capsule collections to a full-fledged business opportunity. With a wider selection and greater availability, sports-inspired products are gaining in popularity among a consumer base that seeks to incorporate sports-styled designs into their everyday wardrobe. Both sports-inspired footwear and apparel are growing at a rapid pace, registering ten per cent and six per cent growth in 2016.
