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Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing ranking 2018, which lists the largest 250 global retailers, reports US retail giants are spiralling down international market, while e-commerce, European fast fashion and sportswear brands are tightening their grip. Big US department stores are among those that have lost out most in the ranking this year: Macy’s dropped two positions, down at the number 37 spot, while Sears has dropped from 39th to 45th since 2017. The grand old American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch have sunk, having totally dropped out of the top 250 global retailers. Gap, , one of the world’s biggest fashion company, has also been overtaken by Japanese group Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company, which forced it to 61st place.
In contrast, the 2018 ranking shows strong progress for leading European fast fashion brands such as H&M which overtook Sears this year to garner 39th place, and Inditex, which is now hot on Macy’s heels in 38th spot. Bucking the trend in the US are Nordstrom, which managed to notch up three spots to 65th place – overtaking Marks & Spencer– and L Brands, which moves 2 notches up from 78th place in 2017 to 76th this year. Kohl’s also managed to hold onto its 52nd place from 2017 for another year.
The biggest winner of 2018’s is Canadian department store chain Hudson’s Bay, which zoomed up from 114th place last year to 87th. Nike was also one of the achievers rising up 14 places to 109th position. Indeed, the ranking showed generally positive progress for sportswear brands, with Dick’s Sporting Goods, Foot Locker and Decathlon all moving up.
Online retailers also continued to perform well: Amazon consolidated its place in the top ten, this year, by jumping four places to the number six spot, while China’s JD.com climbed eight places to 28th position. Deloitte’s report confirms some of the most noticeable retail movements that have been shaking up the sector recently. As reflected by the ranking, faced with ruthless opposition from online retailers, malls, department stores and other traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are under increasing pressure to diversify their offer and tap into the new experiential retail trend to tempt customers in store. Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing ranking is compiled using retail sales data from 2016.
The Tiruchirapalli District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (TIDITSSIA) who had demanded a mini textile park, a hub for minor readymade manufacturing units has been shown a few locations in Manapparai area for of a mini textile park (MTP) that will get significant government subsidy. N Kanagasabapathy, TIDITSSIAs President says the location of MTP with common facility centres for design ideation, training, and sales in Manapparai area will be ideal for the development of the readymade garments business in Puthanatham town.
The MTP includes establishment of at least 10 production units on a minimum area of 10 acres which has to be developed through formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle. The government, through the Handlooms and Textiles Department, will make available subsidy to the extent of 50 per cent with a maximum ceiling of Rs 2.5 crore under the project.
Revenue authorities have identified around 24 acres within the jurisdiction of the proposed area identified for establishment of the SIPCOT Industrial Park. Such a facility would be ideal for promoting export. Most of the over 50 readymade garment manufacturers in Puthanatham, located about 17 km away from the Manapparai town, have specialised in making churidars and children's apparel of export quality following study visits to Mumbai.
Establishment the MTP will be a motivating factor for scaling up production through cluster approach. Moreover, as Manaparai has both road and rail connectivity, by setting up a MTP would not only give a potential platform for small power loom manufacturers to promote their products in both domestic and international markets but also help in generating employment.
The 7th edition of Texfusion to be held from March 20 to 21, 2018 at the Business Design Centre, Londin. More than 100 international exhibitors will be visiting London for Texfusion, which happen to be the first trade fair within the UK catering exclusively to international fashion fabrics and accessories, home textiles, functional fabrics and garment manufacturers and a new section completely dedicated to denim. The show attracts top UK buyers, with an increasing interest from European designers and manufacturers.
Featuring the best international manufacturers, the show attracts industry professionals from sportswear to casualwear such as garment retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, chain stores. It is dedicated to international garment manufacturers and features menswear, womenswear, childrenwear, events/evening, sportswear, lingerie, swimwear, accessories, scarves and a lot more.
This February in Las Vegas, Sourcing at Magic will focus on the most important topic for 2018 –digitalisation of manufacturing. Digital Apparel Micro Factories, which can create apparel on demand and in extremely short periods of time, gives designers and producers powerful ‘concept-to-creation’ capabilities. In five steps you can go from design to product – CAD/Design to printing to cutting to sewing. Christopher Griffin, President, Sourcing at Magic says, “Automation will ultimately change where and how all apparel is produced. We are at a tipping point in terms of the technology necessary to move this forward. Sourcing at Magic felt it was a very compelling focus category that all buyers, brands and factories are interested in and are seeking guidance.”
The Process: Create and prepare a garment prototype using 3D renderings; Convert designs into printing data and transfer to digital printer; Pick fabric using colour management software and you are now ready to digitally print. Send design to a ‘heat press’ which transfers the design directly onto fabric; and Automated cutters cut the patterns (sewbots).
Sourcing at Magic will host a micro-factory on the show floor, featuring live demonstrations of apparel production (the micro factory will produce T-shirts onsite). The micro-factory will consist of machinery from EFI, Optitex, EFI Reggiani, Klieverik, Zund and Eton System along with robots and sewing from Henderson. Several specialists will lead panels discussions on functionalities and the benefits behind automated technology.
South Africa is fighting to revive its frayed clothing industry, which at one time was a key provider of jobs in a country that had high unemployment due to the fact that a tsunami of cheap imports forced local factories to shut down and lay off workers. The glut of cheap products from China has led to the loss of nearly two-thirds of the sector’s jobs in the past two decades.
The clothing factory in Verulam, north of the port city of Durban, shut down post many years of fighting low demand for its products. The grim situation forced the government to intervene while business has called for a radical policy overhaul to stem the crisis. Inside a factory, workers sat in front of rows of sewing machines, stitching at a brisk pace to fulfil daily orders from a local chain store. It is one of the producers benefitting from government grants and loans designed to help companies recapitalise their operations.
Christopher Kinross, who runs a clothing company that bears his name and employs 253 people says, “We’ve had a very rocky ride, and we have lost ground to the rest of the world. The industry is stagnant at the moment.” The government’s scheme had brought some stability. However, more needs to be done to promote competition and create jobs.
One of the main challenges facing the industry is a tax on importing raw materials essential for manufacturers. “We pay 22 per cent duty on imported fabrics. If they remove that duty, our businesses could grow in a spectacular fashion,” he said. Years of talks to remove the duty have been unsuccessful and there are no quotas on clothing imports.
South Africa’s textiles and clothing sector contributes 3.3 per cent to the nation’s overall economic output and is heavily reliant on domestic consumption. Foreign investment in apparel has skipped South Africa and gone to Lesotho, Swaziland and Madagascar, among other African nations.
A steep 11 per cent rise in cotton prices during the past two months in India has spiralled up raw material costs for mills, making export unviable and uncompetitive. International cotton prices are also up 17 per cent but 2.7 per cent appreciation in the Indian rupee has nullified all gains to be had from international cotton prices. While cotton yarn and cotton fabric exports have seen a pathetic growth of 0.38 per cent year-on-year in dollar terms in December 2017, however, for man-made yarn and fabrics it grew by 6.77 per cent.
Central government's quick estimates of exports for some of the major commodities for December 2017 are: cotton yarn, cotton fabrics, cotton made-ups and handloom products, among others, grew by 0.38 per cent to stand at $938.57 million, up from $935.05 million in December 2016. On the other hand, man-made yarn, man-made fabrics and made-ups, among others saw a decent growth of 6.77 per cent in December 2017 at $416.91 million, as against $390.47 million in the corresponding month last year.
Paritosh Aggarwal, MD of Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills says, "With Bangladesh being able to export on free trade basis, India's cotton exports have become even more uncompetitive. Hence, price rise as well as dearth of incentives from government post GST has made exports growth difficult." Arvind Raichura of Balkrishna Ginning and Pressing Factory, says domestic sales and exports in December were also low due to lesser capacity utilisation. "This is owing to festive mood in the latter part of December when capacity utilisation fell. Moreover, with export demand lagging, fabric manufacturing companies reduced demand from spinning and ginning mills." Lack of export incentives hit the cotton ready-made garments (RMG) the most, posting a decline of 8.08 per cent in December 2017 as against December 2016. Cotton-based RMG exports stood at $1,336.63 million in December 2017 as against $1,454.17 million in December 2016.
The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has also been taking up the matter with the government, having made representation for restoration of duty drawback and other incentives that the industry was dependent on for exports.
A new industry agreement for the prevention of microplastic release from synthetic textiles washing was launched and endorsed by the European Commission. The European Textile and Apparel Confederation (EURATEX), the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (A.I.S.E.), the European Outdoor Group (EOG), the European Man Made Fibres Association (CIRFS) and the Federation of European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) struck an agreement to address the release of microplastic in the aquatic environment.
The group of European industry associations, representing the global value chain of garments and their associated maintenance, agreed that viable solutions need to be found to the release of microplastic into global marine and freshwater during the entire lifecycle of textiles — which is highlighted as one of the sources of microplastic.
As per an Ernst & Young’s report, ‘The Luxury and Cosmetics Financial Factbook 2017’ that the global luxury market is expected to reach sales of over €490 billion ($599bn) by 2020, after achieving sales of €419 billion ($512bn) in 2016. The company expects growth in the sector to be driven by emerging markets and development of online channels.
Patricia Fernandez Mesa, Head of Fashion Retail at EY says, “Trends in the luxury sector are changing rapidly, driven by the new digital consumer who sees fashion from a different perspective and demands a more personalised relationship with brands. We are in a deeply disruptive moment in which, far from identifying a great trend that guides the sector’s evolution, we are seeing different behaviours according to different categories and markets.”
The global luxury market was worth €269 billion ($328bn) in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.4 per cent by 2020. This is higher than the 2.8 per cent rate recorded in the 2012-2016 period, but contrasts with a strong CAGR of 11.7 per cent experienced between 2009 and 2012.
According to EY, the luxury market is slowing down due to a shift in consumer behaviour as more consumers are now combining high-end products with more affordable items. This is coupled with the disruption of digital age which indicates a direct impact on the global sales of the sector due to greater transparency and the ability to compare prices online. It has also contributed to a fall in footfall and in-store traffic, says the report. Meanwhile, the premium and entry-to-luxury segment was worth €101 billion ($123bn) in 2016, with a CAGR of 4.4 per cent between 2012 and 2016.
The EY report also notes the change in the market in favour of these two segments has been fuelled by the rise of the middle class in countries including China and India, an increase in the price range of luxury products, traditional luxury consumers increasingly adding premium and fast-fashion products to their wardrobes and the rise of casualwear.
Bangladesh has become a major source for garment accessories, as direct export of such items increased by 66.67 per cent year-on-year to $1 billion in the last fiscal. Earlier, the country was a net importer of garment accessories largely from Hong Kong and China, Bangladesh now produces numerous such items, with spiralling demand coming from international buyers of many garment-making countries. Manufacturers from Bangladesh have been exporting key parts of apparel items to Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Malaysia.
Accessories such as buttons, zippers, labels, price tags and washing instructions are used in making finished garment products. For example, of a T-shirt is sold at $5, the share of accessories is 15 per cent. Currently, around 1,600 factories are producing accessories and some are directly exporting to other countries.
The Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) reports earnings from apparel accessories skyrocketed to $600 million in 2015-16 as against $300 million in the previous year. As Shahadat Hossain Kiron, Chairman of Dekko Group, a leading garment exporter says, “The prospect of direct accessories export is very bright. I started exporting the items as some buyers have made it mandatory for garment makers in countries outside of Bangladesh to use accessories produced in my factory.” While Kiron had previously been producing accessories only for use in his own garment factory, today he supplies garment items to C&A, M&S, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger and Next.
Md Abdul Kader Khan, President of BGAPMEA, the accessory makers' platform reveals the total investment in the accessory making sector is over Tk 30,000 crore. The number of workers in this sub-sector is 4.5 lakh and it plays a key role in the garment sector.
Lectra, the technological partner for companies using fabrics and leather, has announced the appointment of Akihiko Tanaka as Managing Director, Lectra Japan. Based in Osaka, Akihiko Tanaka’s role is to support Lectra’s Japanese fashion and apparel and automotive customers as they undergo transformations related to Industry 4.0. For over 30 years, Lectra has given big names in the fashion industry in the archipelago and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) the means to meet their ambitions in global markets.
Tanaka has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hitotsubashi in Japan. He also followed the Concordia program delivered by ESCP Europe. He has over 20 years of experience as a sales director in the automotive and electronic industries. From 1994 to 2000, he worked in France as sales director of Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) in charge of commercializing automation equipment to the automotive and electronic industries, and then went back to Japan in early 2000. In 2001, he joined INCS, a consulting and engineering company, to develop the footprint of a 3D CAD offer, initially within Japanese markets, then elsewhere in Asia, and Europe. In 2005, Akihiko Tanaka joined Dassault Systemes where he successively held the roles of Business Developer for PLM solutions.
Founded in 1973, Lectra has 32 subsidiaries across the globe, serving customers in over 100 countries. With more than 1,600 employees, Lectra reported revenues of $288 million in 2016. Lectra is listed on Euronext (LSS).
