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While launching the ‘Make in India’ campaign in September 2014, PM Narendra Modi had stressed on the nation’s handloom and handicraft legacy as the campaign called on designers to back the cause. The textiles industry is India’s second largest employer after agriculture, engaging 40 million people, directly or otherwise. Yet the experts believe the fashion industry hasn’t received any government recognition till date.
The recently held TextilesIndia 2017 in Gandhinagar seems to be a path in the right direction. It brought together established and emerging designers with master craftsmen. Indian Handloom Brand show included a segment where designers showcased their work, created in collaboration with handloom clusters weavers from various regions of India. For instance, Hemang Agrawal and Rajesh Pratap Singh collaborated with handloom clusters from Varanasi and Anavila Misra, known for her ethereal linen of saris, collaborated with clusters in Gadwal. Through the initiative, the Ministry of Textiles claims to be working towards creating rural employment. The ministry hopes to turn Jharkhand into a new apparel and footwear hub, while a farm-to-fashion project unfolds in Gujarat. The government has stepped in to fund another project, Size India, with the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Most developed nations work with standardised sizing. India borrows the Western scale. Size India hopes to change this.
Figures speak
India stands at $41 billion, of which textiles contribute $24 billion and apparel $17.1 billion. This figure could have something to do with the fact that India’s export strength is cotton-based – it is the second largest producer of cotton after China. Darlie Koshy, CEO of the Apparel Training & Design Centre and Institute of Apparel Management points out in 1991, cotton was placed at $5 per band, and continues to sell at the same price. How can we expect to make a dent in our exports?
Everywhere in the world, textile and apparel industries come together as an integrated global fashion ecosystem, in which cotton growers or manmade fibre producers, fabric manufacturers, designers and fashion-related media, all work towards promoting the current or forthcoming fashions for garments, home furnishing, lifestyle products and accessories. In India, this network is missing. Turf protection by each segment means there is almost no dialogue between various players. Only an integrated fashion system that collectively moves towards creating consumer pull and demand for products can effectively create global leadership, highlighted Koshy. He feels, leadership qualities need to be encouraged in the fashion sector. Branding is an important exercise. Be! Fund, India’s first not-for-profit risk capital fund for less privileged young people, could have been a step in the right direction, but has been a non-starter for several years.
Amazon has invested more than $2 billion in India. In all the Seattle-based online retail major is committed to $5 billion to India. Amazon India wants to grow big in fashion. The focus is also on growing Prime membership for the next six months and keeping the user engaged. Part of the infusion will be directed to Prime content development.
A year after launching its subscription-based Prime program in India, Amazon is focused on growing the selection and offerings under Prime, to increase membership and stickiness as renewals for the program will be at a full price of Rs 999 this year.
Part of the infusion could also be towards strengthening the network ahead of the festive season, the biggest sale event online, which arrives earlier this year in September. Amazon is gearing up for Diwali and the usual investment in logistics and warehousing will continue. These infusions will continue in a six to nine month interval for Amazon India to take on the competition for the next two to three years.
Amazon is committed to its India business with a long-term perspective to make e-commerce a habit for Indian customers and to investing in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the entire ecosystem.
Following the lifting of European and American economic sanctions, Myanmar’s garment industry is growing. Currently, Japan and European countries are placing the largest orders for garment shipments. Additionally garment exports also go to South Korea, China and America.
Myanmar’s garment industry is focused on cutting, making and packing, which is a basic contract garment assembly system that allows international garment companies to reduce their labor costs. The country is hoping to transition the domestic garment industry into a more value-added free on board system which puts international garment manufacturers in charge of not only cutting and assembling garments but also sourcing materials and shipping finished projects.
The main attraction for garment investors is the cheap labor. There are currently over 400 garment factories in Myanmar, with a labor force of more than 3,00,000 workers. Myanmar earned nearly $400 million from garment exports in the past three months. This is $100 million increase over the same period last year. Natural gas and agricultural products each comprise 25 per cent of Myanmar’s exports. CMP garments account for 16 per cent of exports, minerals eight per cent, fisheries five per cent, and forest, animal products and other products 21 per cent.
Telangana wants to have some 150 business centers of the Cotton Corporation of India. The state says the extent of its cotton sown area has doubled and this year farmers would be requiring at least 150 centers through which to sell their produce. The centers would run six days a week. CCI could use the payment gateway of e-NAM for easy transactions since online payment of sale proceeds to the farmers will prevent delay in payments.
Also, it wants the CCI to relax its purchasing norms as due to heavy rains during October and November, cotton was getting discolored to some extent. It has also sought supply of hand machines on a subsidy basis to farmers to help them pick cotton as this would not only address cotton contamination but also tackle the labor shortage. It also wants a supply of bags to pick the cotton.
Telangana is planning to set up four testing laboratories for bales, which would facilitate exports. Telangana grows cotton in 40 lakh acres, making it one of the top cotton-growing areas in the country. The state has about 1.6 crore acres of arable land, but given the lack of water availability, only about one crore acres are being harnessed.
US denim retailer True Religion has filed for bankruptcy protection. It has signed a restructuring agreement with a majority of its lenders. The restructuring agreement will slash the company’s debt by over $350 million. The restructuring plan provides full payment of claims of True Religion's continuing trade creditors, which includes continuing vendors, suppliers and landlords.
True Religion’s financial struggles are due in part to consumer tastes shifting toward online shopping and away from the brick-and-mortar shops and department stores where the company's jeans have been primarily sold.
The company would continue to operate business as usual. It sells its jeans and other clothing in 140 stores with the True Religion and Last Stitch brand names, and through other boutiques and department stores. The company closed 20 of its stores last year to cut costs.
Founded in 2002, True Religion grew popular with its array of pricey designer jeans, and from 2007 through 2012, it nearly tripled in size. True Religion’s problems were further adversely impacted by new product designs launched by the company that failed to resonate with the consumer. The rise of fast fashion stores carrying lower prices has hobbled True Religion and other apparel retailers.
Value retail giant Primark is going from strength to strength. The fashion chain is performing particularly well in the UK and is benefitting from the currency shifts that have seen the pound becoming weaker since the EU referendum vote a year ago. New or expanded stores accounted for 13 per cent more selling space in the period and at actual exchange rates, sales are 21 per cent ahead year-to-date.
Overall, the second half is turning out to be better than the first half and year-to-date sales in Britain are nine per cent ahead, with the firm continuing to increase its share of the total clothing market. The pound’s fall may have boosted turnover but it also increased the cost of goods that Primark had to buy-in from abroad. The first half operating profit margin of ten per cent declined from 11.7 per cent in last year’s first half, reflecting the strength of the US dollar on input costs.
Primark has continued to open stores fast and has added 1.3 million sq ft of selling space since the beginning of the financial year. As of June 24, it had 339 stores trading from 13.6 million sq ft of sales space. It opened 10 locations in the third quarter alone, including two in the UK, Spain, Netherlands and US plus one each in Belgium and Italy.
Imprima S.P.A. a multinational group entirely dedicated to textile finishing, announced the acquisition of Como-based converter B-Blossom. B-Blossom acquisition follows that of German printing leader KBC and Italian company GUARISCO. From a creative and commercial point of view, B-Blossom is led by entrepreneurs Maria Moreira and Massimiliano Conti, who will keep on leading the brand personally and will enter the IMPRIMA group as shareholders.
The reason why the company is focused on B-Blossom is its positioning and distinctive printing collection, which has allowed the company to grow and affirm itself rapidly as an accredited supplier for top-of-the-range products and within the most exclusive fast fashion collections.
B-Blossom’s creative team say they are happy to pursue their evolution alongside IMPRIMA, aware to be entering a professional group endowed with the necessary resources to take up future challengers in terms of new technologies and sustainable processes.
In the following years IMPRIMA will keep growing thanks to a 30-million investment in technologies and further acquisitions in and outside of Italy, making sure to maintain its best practice of quality and service as well as the identity of each individual brand.
Confusion reigns supreme in Bhopal’s garment shops over GST. Shop owners lack the software. Most people are still confused whether prices will increase or decrease. Customers hesitate to enter shops. Shops are charging GST from five to 28 per cent. They charge five per cent tax on the product whose price is less or equal to Rs 1,000 and 12 per cent for products with a price of more than Rs 1000. This applies to both stitched and unstitched clothes. It means if the price of cotton and silk saris was Rs 600 and Rs 4,000 respectively, now it is Rs 630 and Rs 4,200. Tax on leather products is 28 per cent. The price on clothing is the same but GST is being charged while billing.
A Levi’s showroom has 40 per cent discount on jeans. So if the price of jeans is Rs 2,141, then after the discount, the customer pays Rs 2,284 due to GST. The showroom is selling fresh products on a fixed price without charging any tax. A manager of a showroom of designer suits and lehengas says he knows nothing about GST and heard of it only through the media. The tax is creating confusion among shopkeepers as well as people.
Currently 9,818 industrial units are active in Iran’s textile and apparel industry. They constitute 11 per cent of all industrial entities in the country and have created more than 2,90,000 direct jobs, accounting for 13 per cent of all industrial jobs in Iran.
Textile exports alone stood at over $620 million last year, registering a one per cent increase year-on-year. Textile flooring topped the list of exports in this sector, with a 45 per cent share. Iran is also known for handwoven carpets.
Iran is the 36th biggest exporter of textile products and the 90th biggest exporter of apparel in the world. Taking into account both textile and clothing products, Iran’s ranking stands at 59th. Iran imported textile products worth $1.6 billion last year. Taking into account equipment and machinery, the figure reaches $1.9 billion dollars.
Fabrics worth $500 million were imported –70 per cent more compared to the previous year. Other major products imported were fiber ($440 million) and yarn ($300 million). In addition, the import of black fabrics used to make chador (a full body-length fabric worn by many Iranian women) saw a 73 per cent increase compared to the year before.
African Development Bank has developed a flagship initiative named Fashionomics. This initiative aims at increasing Africa’s participation in the global textile industry supply chain. The objective is to enable African women and youth operating in the textile, apparel and accessories sector to develop their micro, small and medium-sized businesses and grow their manufacturing operations to the next level of innovation and job creation.
The bank has a high-5 agenda, which is light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialise Africa, integrate Africa, and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. The overarching objective of the African Development Bank is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries, thus contributing to poverty reduction.
The bank achieves this objective by mobilizing and allocating resources for investment in member countries and by providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts. With Fashionomics, ADB plans to raise the profile of African fashion and textiles on the international stage.
The textile and clothing sector in Africa is dominated by small, medium and micro enterprises and holds the potential to create jobs for millions of women and youngsters. Whether in New York, London, Milan or Paris, African fabrics are inspiring more and more famous designers.
