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Garment factories in Bangladesh are adopting sustainable practices. The sector has made impressive efforts to embrace green practices and ensure well-being of workers. Some 67 garment factories of Bangladesh have obtained a highly regarded global certification -- the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) of the US Green Building Council. Another 222 factories have registered to obtain the recognition.
Currently, Bangladesh has 13 platinum-rated, 20 gold-rated, 27 silver-rated and 7 LEED-certified garment factories. Seven of the world’s top ten green factories are from Bangladesh, including the top three platinum-rated industrial units. Platinum is the highest level of certification that a factory can earn.
Green factories in Bangladesh are not only about saving energy or water or protecting the environment. They are also about ensuring a safe workplace. A green factory also houses schools, childcare, health care, recreation and training facilities dedicated to workers.
The two-storey Eco Couture is LEED gold-certified and is located on a 1,44,000 sq ft space where all operations from sewing to packing of a product take place. Eco Couture is designed in the concept of an opera house where artistes work. Garment workers are treated like artistes as they are involved in innovative work.
SEAMS, the National Association for the US Sewn Products and Textile Industries, will mark its 50th anniversary at the annual Spring Networking Conference ‘Shaping the Next 50 Years’. The conference on sewn products will be held at OMNI Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, from May 16 to 17, 2017. The conference will explore trends and opportunities that diverse sewn products brands, original equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers will encounter as they grow into the future.
The event is meant for textile providers, contract manufacturers, brands, vertical retailers and their suppliers and service providers who collectively represent the complete concept-to-consumer supply chain. It aims at promoting the continued growth of the US fashion, sewn products and textile industries through educational programs, networking opportunities, business opportunity matchmaking, industry collaboration and special member benefits packages.
Attendees will have the opportunity to introduce their company to all attendees, meet industry-focused benefits providers, and visit special products/services displays during the conference.
Highlights include a keynote presentation on trends and predictions delivered by a noted futurist, feature presentations covering trade, government relations, human resources and more, breakout sessions on several relevant industry topics to choose from, and a panel discussion, which will provide an update on trends in military, automotive, industrial and other segments. The focus is on preparing members to embrace the future.
A new single-day conference program will be preceded by an optional plant tour, golf outing, opening reception and dinner.
Lectra has conceived a strategy to empower fashion and apparel, automotive and furniture companies. A digital value chain will provide real-time connections between creative teams and product development teams, smart factories, suppliers and consumers.
This offer, capitalizing on data analyses and exploitation, will translate into even smarter, connected equipment and finely tuned integration between equipment, software and services. New industry-specific services will reinforce the offer, enabling Lectra to continually improve customer processes.
Initially, tested in 2017 with select customers, some of whom have been involved with the offer since the beginning of the design, the new offer will be commercialized from 2018. Lectra will increase the share of revenues dedicated to R&D to ten per cent for the period 2017 to 2019, representing a rise of about 50 per cent between 2016 and 2019.
Factories are propelling a new digitalized life cycle for products that will benefit consumers. Mass production is making way for large-scale customized production as well as providing quick-to-market, quality products expected by demanding customers.
Lectra is a leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using fabrics, leather, technical textiles and composite materials. It serves major world markets: fashion and apparel, automotive and furniture as well as a broad array of other industries. Lectra’s solutions, specific to each market, enable customers to automate and optimize product design, development, and manufacturing.
India wants to build manufacturing hubs in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Private companies will be helped in establishing a presence in these four countries and regional value chains.
These countries have the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) facility through which they have low or no duty on their exports to developed countries. So India is interested in creating manufacturing hubs, especially textiles, in countries like Vietnam. If Indian manufacturers go to these countries and produce, they will be able to utilize the GSP benefits to get market access to the developed countries.
The government cleared a Rs 500 crores project in August 2016 for exploring such opportunities. India does enjoy GSP benefits in certain sectors but the United States and European Union have been threatening to end India’s GSP benefits, given its rising share in world exports.
India’s exports to these four countries increased by more than eight-fold in 2015 compared to 2005. This accounted for a 24.3 per cent share in India’s exports to the Asean region. Imports, on the other hand, increased nearly six-fold from 2005 to 2015, accounting for a 9.4 per cent share in India’s imports from the Asean region.
Hohenstein has developed a test procedure for assessing the biodegradation of textiles. Biodegradability of textile products is becoming an increasingly important factor in assessing their sustainability, focusing not just on manufacturing and product safety, but on what happens to a product once it reaches the end of its useful life cycle.
Hohenstein is developing a protein-based water and dirt-repellent finishing agent to provide an alternative to hydrophobic processes using fluorocarbon chemicals. The aim is to functionalise textiles in a stable, economical and sustainable way using fungal proteins produced with biotechnology as a replacement for per- and poly fluorinated hydrocarbons that are potentially dangerous to humans and the environment.
The subject of responsible chemical management in companies along the textile chain has recently been growing in importance. Using the Oeko-Tex modular system of certifications and tools for increased sustainability as a basis, Hohenstein provides companies with solutions for incrementally optimising their chemical management systems to meet these market requirements successfully.
Hohenstein also provides its expertise in the area of pattern making techniques and fitting tests. The latest data on breast volumes for women, for example, enables further improvements to be made to bra cup sizes. The group is developing a thermoelectric cooling bandage for mobile cold therapy for acute injuries and post-operation treatment.
Hohenstein will present these developments at Techtextil, Germany, May 2017.
Fashion house BCBG may file for bankruptcy. It will close most of its approximately 200 US stores. Bankruptcy would have the advantage of shielding it from legal action by landlords, who have been put under pressure by a wave of retail bankruptcies and shuttered stores.
BCBG is from the French phrase bon chic, bon genre. It was founded in 1989 and grew through its retail shops and distribution in department stores including Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's. It also acquired Herve Leger, maker of skin-tight dresses, and started a lower-cost line called BCB Generation.
The company’s retail store business declined by 20 per cent over the past three years. It reported consolidated net sales of just over 600 million dollars in the 12 months to December. Retail accounted for 71 per cent of its revenue, while wholesale accounted for 18 per cent. The percentage share for licensing and e-commerce sales were in single digits.
BCBG’s form-fitting party dresses have been worn by the likes of Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore and others. Competing specialty retailers, including The Limited and American Apparel, have also filed for bankruptcy in recent months and are closing down stores. The US retail sector is struggling as shoppers are abandoning malls in favor of internet shopping.
A slowdown in exports and weak remittance growth are the new challenges for Bangladesh. Challenges on the external front include: a protracted slowdown in key export markets (particularly the EU) and a further weakening of remittances. The EU and the US account for over 70 per cent of exports, and weaker growth, together with retreat from trade liberalisation, could adversely affect export growth, mainly the garment industry, with a negative impact on the balance of payments. A sustained appreciation of the US dollar could erode Bangladesh's cost advantage and harm export competitiveness.
Bangladesh needs to boost private investment to sustain high growth. A significant increase in public investment is also necessary to maintain competitiveness and generate further productivity growth. The delayed VAT law should be implemented. In addition, structural reforms, strengthening institutions and capacity development remain priorities to unleash the full potential of the economy.
Many of Bangladesh's economic institutions and governing practices will need to be upgraded to support its transition toward middle-income status and as the country becomes more integrated globally. Other policies should seek to foster resilience, diversify the economy, and promote inclusive growth, including by addressing infrastructure and capacity gaps, while preserving debt sustainability. Low energy prices provide scope for scaling back subsidies.
A denim exposition is being held in Bangladesh from today March 1 to 2, 2017. It’s aimed to attract global buyers against the backdrop of the country’s capacity to supply quality products at lower costs. About 28 companies from countries, including Bangladesh, Turkey, India, China, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Pakistan and Hong Kong, are taking part to showcase their denim pants, fabrics and latest accessories.
The theme Denim Mashup event will focus on latest trends in denim where embellishments, embroideries, sequins, patches, paints etc. are used in different combinations to produce visually exaggerated hi-fashion denims. This theme is being taken up by global brands like Gucci, D&G, Tommy Hilfiger, Wrangler and many other companies.
Exclusive to authorized trade visitors, the expo acts as a hub for players on the international denim scene to mingle with colleagues, make new contacts and broker deals. A denim quiz will be held for students of fashion universities of Bangladesh. The competition will be transmitted globally. The idea is to encourage students to research more on denim subjects and get a deeper knowledge that will help them in their careers as well.
Bangladesh is a fast growing denim destination globally for sourcing fabrics and has been growing exponentially and rising up the value chain.
VF Corporation has formulated a policy on sustainable forest materials and products. The policy aims to avoid issues associated with deforestation and forest degradation, including the loss of ancient and endangered forests, loss of biodiversity and habitat, use of forced labor in making forestry products and loss of indigenous peoples and local community rights.
It emphasizes the use of products made with recycled fiber whenever possible and promotes the use of Forest Stewardship Council -certified paper and fiber, while striving to elevate all third party forestry management certification systems. It strengthens VF’s broader efforts to use responsibly sourced materials throughout its global operations and supply chain.
From hang tags, to packaging to fabrics, some of America’s favorite global brands are protecting the world’s forests and the species that call them home. VF has a goal to eliminate the use of ancient and endangered forests in the production of forest derived fabrics such as rayon and viscose from the apparel and fashion industries by the end of 2017.
VF Corporation has a portfolio of iconic lifestyle brands including Vans, The North Face, Timberland, Wrangler and Lee. Founded in 1899, VF is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies.
On a 12-month smoothed basis, retail sales in the US rose by 6.2 per cent. This was the biggest increase in the measure in almost three years. Clothing and accessories specialty stores managed to turn in a good month, with sales up 2.5 per cent year-over-year or more than three per cent on a 12-month smoothed basis. However, department, chain and discount stores saw their sales tumble again, by 7.4 per cent.
The combined department, chain and specialty channels, the apparel-oriented stores, dropped 1.4 per cent. Apparel retail stores in the US had the best January sales in almost two years. Sales at non-store retail, which includes pure-play e-commerce, increased by almost 12 per cent in January, driven by continued gains by Amazon.
The total retail inventory-to-sales ratio fell to its lowest point in almost a year and a half, but rose slightly for department, chain, discount and apparel stores in December, due to sluggish holiday sales that left these stores with excess merchandise. January retail sales, which include gasoline, groceries and automobiles, rose 5.6 per cent over December 2015.
