FW
In 2017, Picanol’s turnover increased eight per cent compared to 2016. The group closed 2017 with a net profit of €101.71 million compared to €119.72 million in 2016. In 2017, the weaving machines division experienced a record breaking year. Rising demand for quality and technology resulted in strong sales – mainly in Asia – and this led to further market share growth in many countries and weaving market segments. This resulted in Picanol’s putting a record number of weaving machines on the market in 2017. Sales of spare parts and accessories followed the positive trend of the weaving machines.
The industries division also showed a strong sales growth in various market segments while making an increasing contribution to the group’s turnover. On the other hand, rising material prices and a higher share of subcontracting versus own production had an adverse effect on the result.
For the first six months of 2018, the order book is well-filled. For the first half of 2018, Picanol expects to realize a turnover in line with that of the first half of 2017, but is taking into account a further negative impact of rising commodity prices.
Intex South Asia will be held November 14 to 16, Sri Lanka. This is the biggest international apparel textile sourcing show for yarns, apparel fabrics, denim fabrics, clothing accessories and allied services in the South Asia region. It connects the entire manufacturing and supply chain and brings together the best manufacturers of apparel and textile products and clothing accessories coupled with serious buyers from across South Asia and the rest of the world.
The event strengthens intra-regional trade helping manufacturers and buyers take advantage of opportunities developing in the South Asia region by combining their strengths and joining hands to create stronger business ties under one trading platform. Seminars and interactive business forums deliver high quality market intelligence to support industry efforts to upgrade, move up the value chain, better understand intra-regional trade, leverage better FX practices and help manufacturers gain a competitive edge.
Intex South Asia has attracted top global companies to Sri Lanka. WGSN and Woolmark made their Sri Lanka debuts at Intex South Asia. In 2017, exhibitors from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia and US exhibited top quality products. Intex South Asia 2017 saw 46 per cent exhibitor and 67 per cent international buyer growth.
Italian textile machinery manufacturers will be present at Indo Intertex, Indonesia from April 4 to 7. The textile industry is a major driving force for Indonesia’s national economy. In recent years, the country has supported a widespread modernisation program of existing technology, allowing for increased exports in the garment industry, and making Indonesia the eighth largest exporter in this sector worldwide.
Over the course of the past few years, Indonesia has represented one of the primary markets in Asia for Italy’s machinery manufacturers. There was a 19 per cent increase in Italian machinery sold over the first nine months of 2017 compared to the same period for 2016.
Italy’s participation at Indo Intertex is part of an intensive program of trade initiatives aimed at promoting the Italian textile machinery industry in Indonesia. A total of 13 Italian textile machinery manufacturers will be present at Indo Intertex. Among the companies are Bonino, Busi, Caipo, Cognetex, Red Carpet, Santex Rimar, Sei Laser, Sicam, Ugolini.
Indo Intertex is a trade fair for the textile and clothing industry where machines for processing of textiles and related equipment including materials and raw materials will be exhibited. The latest materials, fabrics and garment accessories are introduced to Indonesian producers.
India’s footwear shipments to the US have fallen eight per cent in a year. Brazil’s footwear shipments to the US were down 13.8 per cent year on year. In 2017, the US’ imports of shoes fell 0.4 per cent from 2016.
While China remains overwhelmingly the dominant supplier, still commanding a more than 71 per cent share of US footwear imports, footwear imports from China fell 4.3 per cent in 2017 from 2016. Vietnam has a 17 per cent share of US footwear imports.
Indonesia is the third largest supplier of footwear for the US market. Its shipments last year saw a 3.62 per cent year-over-year gain. The country now holds a four per cent share of the market. In value terms, Italy, India, Mexico, Cambodia, Spain, the Dominican Republic and Brazil are among the top ten suppliers of footwear to the US. In terms of volume, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia hold the top four spots.
Cambodia accounts for a 1.2 per cent share of overall US footwear imports. By value, footwear imports from Cambodia were up 6.8 per cent over 2016. Footwear shipments from Thailand also were up 21.2 per cent last year. For other footwear-making nations, costs drove up competition and ultimately lowered their shipments.
INDA, the association of the nonwoven fabrics industry, has five newly elected members on its board of directors. INDA’s strategic and governance affairs are managed through its board of directors. This governance is essential to the good stewardship of INDA members’ dues, INDA reserves, and the business of the association. The board of directors serves as fiduciaries of INDA’s finances and provides direction to its operating plans as well as counsel to the president. The board guidance supports INDA’s mission to conduct activities that enhance the success of the nonwovens industry and its members.
The board is responsible for reviewing the strategic plan, policies, programs, dues and operating procedures affecting the association’s 360 members. The 20-member board includes elected board officers and the immediate past board chair. One-third of the entire board is elected each year for a three-year term by a majority vote of INDA’s general membership.
INDA serves hundreds of member companies in the nonwovens/engineered fabrics industry in global commerce. Since 1968, INDA events have helped members connect, learn, innovate, and develop their businesses. INDA educational courses, market data, test methods, consultancy, and issue advocacy help members succeed by providing them the information they need to better plan and execute their business strategies.
H&M is the first fashion company to make its supplier network fully public. The company works with between 2,200 and 2,500 suppliers, including primary and secondary. It has mapped out all Tier I suppliers and has gotten through roughly 60 per cent of Tier II.
H&M is working on the traceability factor so consumers can follow each product as it evolves from, say, a boll of cotton to a thread to a fabric and finally into a finished garment. The need for fashion is to wake up to the reality of its environmental and social impact.
By 2030, H&M plans to source only sustainably produced materials, and it’s on track to meet its 2020 goal of using all sustainably sourced cotton. Garment and textile recycling has been a big push for H&M. Not only has the company partnered with Worn Again to tackle the challenge of separating polyester and cotton fiber from fabric blends, it has spearheaded a similar project with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel to develop a similar poly-cotton separation technique. One year later, HKRITA has a viable solution and is looking to scale as it sets up a factory and plans to make its approach open source by 2020.
UK menswear designer Craig Green will be guest designer at Pitti Uomo, June 12 to 15, Italy. He will present an exclusive runway show, featuring his spring/summer 2019 collection. He joins a list of celebrated guest designers, including JW Anderson, Paul Smith and Virgil Abloh of Off-White.
Craig Green’s collection reveals many of the critical success factors for those who make fashion today, specifically his ability to innovate menswear codes without losing track of the contemporary market’s dynamics. His style mixes workwear influences and futuristic shapes, sculptural silhouettes and function.
Craig Green established his namesake brand in 2012. His continuous exploration of the concepts of uniform and utility has become a highly anticipated fixture of the menswear calendar, and his style has resonated with a loyal customer base. He has won several awards.
Pitti Uomo is a leading men’s fashion and accessories trade fair. It will be attended by approximately 35,000 international professional visitors. The show will offer the latest trends in menswear, collections in 16 distinct sections, special events and countless business opportunities. Last year the event set yet another attendance record by gathering 1100 top brands and 20,000 buyers from all over the globe.
Gap wants its Tier I suppliers – approximately 800 factories in about 30 countries – to make the transition from a cash-based system to digital payments by 2020. More than 60 per cent of Gap’s supplier factories already provide digital payments methods, such as online transfers to bank accounts or mobile wallets.
By having suppliers pay garment workers digitally, Gap aims to accelerate the transition toward a more transparent workplace for the women and men who make its clothes. Gap’s approach includes developing and delivering training around topics like communication in the workplace, problem solving, grievance handling and effective negotiations for workers and managers; measuring and improving workers’ sense of value and sense of engagement at work by helping factories make well-being investments in their workforce; consolidating and publishing its Tier I supplier base to focus on partners that share the company’s values and sustainability goals.
Women make up 80 per cent of the world’s garment industry workforce. Electronic wage payment methods have the benefit of drawing previously unbanked workers into the formal financial system, allowing women greater control over their finances and a safer way to save, send money, and invest. At the factory level, suppliers benefit from cost savings, due to increased efficiency and speed.
India’s cotton exports have been gathered pace after global prices jumped to four-year highs. Increased supply from India could rally international prices and likely compete with shipments to Asia from exporters such as Australia, Brazil and the United States.
Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan are aggressively buying from India due to lower prices. India has a freight advantage over others. India could export more than six million bales in the current season, up a fifth from previous estimates.
Indian merchants have contracted to export 4.7 million bales so far this marketing year, of which nearly 3.5 million have already been shipped. The country exported 5.82 million bales of cotton last marketing year. A depreciation in the Indian rupee has also boosted exporter profits, stoking the appeal of sending cargoes abroad.
The upturn in exports marks a change from just a couple of months ago, when lower global cotton prices meant there was little incentive to ship overseas. Demand from Pakistan, which resumed imports from India in January after making no purchases in the previous quarter, has been strong and the country could take as much as 8,00,000 bales this year. However, India’s production of cotton bales for 2017-18 may be down 1.4 per cent from an earlier estimate as the pink bollworm pest has hit some crops in key growing regions such as Maharashtra.
There has been a drastic 10.4 per cent decline in apparel production in India from April 2017 to January 2018. However, a 1.3 per cent growth was reported in apparel production in April 2017 which again saw a five per cent decline in the following month. June too witnessed a 3.2 per cent decline while July, August, September, October, November and December recorded a 5.1 per cent, 6.4 per cent, 7.2 per cent, 11 per cent, 13.1 per cent and 13.5 per cent decline respectively.
The decline has surfaced at a time when exports are already registering a weakening trend. A 14 per cent decline was seen in exports since January onwards. The industry is already struggling due to blocked funds which have resulted in delays in payments to the supplier on time. Suppliers too do not prefer advance as they cannot carry them for an indefinite period which ultimately resulted in a decline in apparel production.
Delays in RoSL disbursements and IGST refunds all have added to the woes of industry players. This situation would lead to difficulties in meeting the export target of $20 billion.
