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Solapur district in Maharashtra wants to develop as a major supplier of school uniforms for the whole country. Solapur is known for easy availability of transport, labor and raw materials. It has more than 1,000 garment manufacturing units and is well connected with the rest of the country with a rail and road network and the nearest airports being Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad.
The district is already contributing six to seven per cent of the trade volume of the country’s Rs 18,000 crores uniform manufacturing industry. To showcase its potential, an uniform and garment exhibition will be held at Solapur between January 5 to 7. The fair will highlight the capabilities of Solapur, which in turn would lead to the setting up of more garment factories and thus more jobs in both skilled and unskilled areas.
Delegates from over nine countries have confirmed their visit to the exhibition. As many as 6,000 retailers from across the country are expected to visit the fair. Apart from school uniforms Solapur’s garment industry is known for children’s garments, men’s and women’s dresses. The district seeks investments from national and international garment manufacturers.
Generally, schools in the northern part of the country have separate summer, winter and sports uniforms, whereas most schools in the south have just one main uniform.
Bangladesh has a program, Pathways to Promise, that gives women working in garment factories the opportunity to leave their jobs and pursue higher education. In January 2016, 22 women walked away from their jobs at factories to participate in the Pathways to Promise program. That number now stands at more than 100, including more than 30 factory workers in addition to 70 other young women from ethnic minority groups and Afghan women from conflict zones.
Participating students spend 20 hours per week in the classroom, which is primarily focused on academic English language communication skills, critical thinking, leadership development and presentation skills. The core curriculum also includes mathematics and is supplemented by a robust extracurricular program of eight to 10 hours that includes activities ranging from community service and karate to IT and social enterprise.
Students receive up to two hours of personalized one-on-one academic mentoring each week and have access to the writing center and math and science center for additional expert academic support. A social mentoring pastoral care system is available for all Pathways students, and senior program participants take an active role in the mentoring and support of the less experienced Pathways students.
Bangladesh employs more than three million women in the garment manufacturing industry, many of whom have had only a few years of schooling.
Vietnam’s biggest importer of textiles and garments is China though exports to the US this year are also estimated to go up four per cent against last year. The EU, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia and Canada were also large importers of Vietnam textile and garments in 2016.
However, buyers want higher quality and are moving forward delivery deadlines. Increasing production costs, limited orders and pressure by exporters to reduce selling prices have placed a burden on corporations. Lower selling prices by 18 to 20 per cent, and even 30 per cent, hasn’t helped as buyers find partners who are less expensive in other countries.
The country’s textile and garment sector would continue facing challenges in 2017 due to fierce competition by other major exporters – including China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan –while global demand is forecast to slow down. Vietnam’s textile and garment exports to the US and the EU are expected to see negative impact, as consequences of Brexit and the new US administration, which opposes the TPP trade pact.
So the sector anticipates an export growth rate of just five to seven per cent next year. It has asked for support measures like strengthening the management of both domestic and foreign investment projects in the industry and reviewing policies on minimum wage increases and working hours.
The Textile Institute, Manchester, UK has conferred Darlie Koshy with the prestigious Holden Medal for Education. It’s a bi-annual award and Koshy is the second Indian to win this prestigious award.
Koshy is the founding head of Fashion Management at NIFT, New Delhi (1987-2000) and was at the helm of NID, Ahmedabad as the Director (and governing council member) for almost a decade from 2000 to 2009. He rewrote the fortunes of Indian design and created the National Design Policy in 2007. He also authored a path breaking tome named ‘Indian Design Edge’ which has been acclaimed by critics and readers alike.
At present he is the DG & CEO of Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC) that has over 200 centres around India and IAM with its campus in Gurgaon having trained over 2, 00,000 candidates under ISDS since 2010 and over 50,000 candidates in other programmes. He has been the ideator of the ‘Smart’ brand that ATDC had launched in October 2010 and initiator of the TOT Academies apart from the inspiring the “Imparting Skills, Improving Lives” slogan.
A visionary educator par excellence, he is a doctorate from IIT Delhi in Management. He undertook specialized training at FIT, New York in International Fashion Marketing and has received UNDP research grant for conducting research in nine importing centres in the USA Europe and Japan which led to the publication of successful book ‘Effecting export marketing of Apparel to the USA, UK & Japan’.
Nearly 20 industry leaders exhibiting in the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT), are expected to stand out at the Colombiatex of the Americas, a three-day event to be held from January 24 to 26, 2017 at the Plaza Mayor in Medellin, Colombia. Among the Italian manufacturers are: Biancalani, Btsr, Cogne, Carù, Fadis, Fk Group, Itema, Laip, Mactec, Mcs, Monti-Mac, Nexia, Noseda, Ratti, Reggiani, Srs, Tecnorama, Testa and Ugolini.
The well-represented contingent of Italian manufacturers confirms the level of attention Italy’s textile machinery manufacturers place on the Colombian market. For the second year in succession, Italy’s textile machinery industry will be collectively represented bearing witness to the undisputed value both the event and the Colombian market have taken on over time for our machinery manufacturers.
In 2015, Italian exports amounted to €10 million. Over the first eight months of this year, sales of Italian textile machinery in this market have exceeded 2015 with 63 per cent increase over the same period last year. Among the Italian machines, most in demand by Colombia are finishing machinery (50 per cent of the overall total) and knitting machinery (18per cent).
The world’s first silk-based electronic textile manufacturing technology has been developed by a South Korean research team lead by Incheon University professor Kim Byeong-hoon and Inha University professor Jin Hyeong-joon, says the National Research Foundation of Korea.
This has been developed based on graphene oxide coating on silk, requires no adhesive. The research team focused on the properties of silk, that is, the ease of hydrogen bonding and high-temperature resistance. It succeeded in graphene oxide coating without a medium such as an expensive adhesive by repeatedly dipping silk in a graphene oxide solution and drying it. In addition, the team accelerated the process of reduction into an electronic textile by using heat.
The team’s silk-based electronic textile showed little deformation even after washing and bending while maintaining an electric conductivity of approximately 10 S/m comparable to those of existing ones. In other words, the textile can be produced with its performance intact, at a lower cost and within a shorter period of time.
According to the research team, its technique is expected to contribute to the development of flexible display panels, wearable gadgets, sensors detecting harmful substances and so on. Electronics textiles have been applied to combat uniforms, biometric shirts, wearable computers, etc. The commercial use of this type of textiles due to high manufacturing costs and complex manufacturing process has shown little progress.
PrimaLoft provides high-performance insulations and fabrics. The Insulation ThermoPlume is a blowable synthetic insulation. It is a blend of water-resistant PrimaLoft fibers that deliver insulating loft, wet weather protection and compressibility. It has been developed to mimic the fluidity, feel and aesthetics of goose down in a synthetic fiber.
The new product offers an ethical and water resistant synthetic alternative to down, guaranteeing warmth even in wet conditions, delivering thermal properties. It fills a growing demand for innovation from designers, brands and consumers looking to move away from down.
The plume is manufactured with small, silky tufts of fiber plumes that collectively form a loose fill insulation, replicating the lightweight warmth, softness and compressibility of natural goose down. Its construction allows it to be blown through traditional down-blowing manufacturing equipment, simplifying the manufacturing process for brands, enabling product designers the freedom to create innovative garments which combines the look and feel of down with the water-resistant performance of a synthetic.
Providing a blowable, high-performing synthetic that acts as a true replacement for down allows brands to replicate the design aesthetic and manufacturing process of a down garment. This helps to simplify the supply chain, combat the volatility of down prices and provides peace of mind when it comes to the ethical sourcing of materials.
The Pakistan government has slashed gas prices for industrial consumers to Rs 500 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) from Rs 702 or $6.68per mmbtu. For export-oriented industries, it cut the gas price to Rs 400 per mmbtu from Rs 600 per mmbtu.
Commenting on this, M Babar Khan, CEO of Multinational Export Bureau, a Karachi-based textile company said he doesn’t think textile exports will show any significant improvement in the coming months despite a 33 per cent reduction in gas price for export-oriented industries. Khan cautioned that the small increase in October export numbers did not mean that textile exports had started recovering. He ruled that fundamentals were still the same for the industry and the slight increase in numbers shows that the country may have received additional support this fall.
However, Khan, whose company’s gas consumption makes up around 70 per cent of the total monthly energy bill, acknowledged that the gas price reduction announced at the end of November would have a positive impact on its earnings. After posting a continuous decline, textile exports from Pakistan showed a marginal increase in October 2016. The country’s textile shipments increased to $1.053 billion in October 2016 up by a mere 0.59 per cent compared with $1.047 billion in October 2015, according to latest available data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
Textile exports account for more than 50 per cent of total exports of Pakistan and any development related to the textile industry has a visible impact on the country’s overall exports. In the first four months (July to October) of fiscal year 2016-17, the export value of textile and clothing products stood at $4.082 billion, down 4.4 per cent compared with $4.268 billion in the same period last year.
Calvin YM Lam will head the new Association of Textile, Apparel & Materials Professionals (AATCC) Global Membership Office in Hong Kong, China, offering membership services and membership payment in local currency for the convenience of our members in Hong Kong. The office in Hong Kong joins other AATCC Global Membership offices in Bangladesh, Peru, South Korea, Hangzhou and China.
Lam is the Business Development Director of Global Softlines for Intertek. His duties are mainly for both business developments and technical sustainable growth. Earlier he worked in the textile industry for more than 16 years including the areas of textile testing, textile wet processing, visual color evaluation, laboratory accreditation and operation management, new product development, training and consultancy.
Lam recently served in the AATCC Board of Directors as an International Reginal Board Member from Spring 2013 to Fall 2016. He also was a member of the AATCC Executive Committee on Research (ECR) from 2009 to 2011. Lam is currently an Associate Editor for the AATCC Journal of Research.
AATCC is the world’s leading not-for-profit association serving textile professionals since 1921. Headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, AATCC provides test method development, quality control materials, and professional networking for members in about 50 countries throughout the world.
In a special meeting, shareowners of Monsanto approved the merger of the company with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayer AG. Under the terms of the agreement for merger, the shareowners of Monsanto will receive $128 per share in cash at the closing of the transaction.
Happy at the events, Monsanto chairman and chief executive officer, Hugh Grant said this was an important milestone as the company works to combine two of its complementary companies and delivers the shared vision for the future of agriculture. By bringing together expertise and resources to drive this shared vision, the company can do even more together to benefit growers around the world and to help address broad global challenges like climate change and food scarcity.
On his part, CEO of Bayer AG, Werner Baumann observed that the acquisition of Monsanto is driven by the company’s strong belief that this combination could help address the growing challenges that farmers are facing and the overall agriculture industry today and in the future. Based on a preliminary tabulation of the shareowner vote, approximately 99 per cent of all votes cast voted in favour of the merger.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including the receipt of required regulatory approvals. Bayer, with the support of Monsanto, has now submitted a number of filings, including the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Act filing. Closing is expected by the end of 2017.
