FW
Sri Lanka finance minister Mangala Samaraweera feels his country has tremendous potential to become a hub for design, development and logistics in the global apparel industry. At the Annual General Meeting of Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association, Samaraweera said the government is particularly keen to see the development of local design, innovative product development and research and development. He said Sri Lanka should one day be seen as the hub for design, development and logistics for all major global apparel players which would enable true value-creation in the apparel industry.
The Minister says liberalisation of the shipping and freight forwarding agency sectors would also contribute to more competitive freight rates for Sri Lanka's exporters, including apparel exporters and this measure would in turn help attract international investment to would enable Sri Lanka to become a logistics hub. A world-class logistics network is also essential to help connect with global value chains. Significant steps are being taken to enhance trade facilitation measures, such as a single window, a trade information portal, etc.
The German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jörn Rohde, said in order to achieve this aim, Sri Lanka needed to follow standards of other hub economies in Asia. He said, when it comes to being a hub, all hub economies have one thing in common, whether it's Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, etc., they have very low corruption indicators, efficient fiscal and legal infrastructure and competitive tax systems. These are precisely some of the benchmarks and Sri Lanka can achieve. Looking at current benchmark indicators such as the 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'World Competitiveness Report', Sri Lanka ranks 107 (2016) and 71 (2016–2017) respectively. These rankings clearly show that Sri Lanka has room for improvement. Also, investments will come more than they are coming at the moment. German investment in Sri Lanka for the last 5 years was EUR 130 million, which is a number that should be increased.
"Asia’s leading exhibition for home textiles industry to be held from August 24-27, will see around 1,400 international and domestic suppliers. The Autumn edition will again feature InterDesign, following the success of revamped design and trend program last August. With a combination of trend forecasting, conceptual designs, product demonstrations and seminars, the program is intended to benefit the entire home textiles and design industry."
Asia’s leading exhibition for home textiles industry to be held from August 24-27, will see around 1,400 international and domestic suppliers. The Autumn edition will again feature InterDesign, following the success of revamped design and trend program last August. With a combination of trend forecasting, conceptual designs, product demonstrations and seminars, the program is intended to benefit the entire home textiles and design industry. Not only does it provide inspiration and market direction for both exhibitors and buyers, it also allows designers to play a more in-depth role in the home textiles industry.
The InterDesign consists of three parts: Trend Area, Trend Space Installation and Forum Space. Trend concepts for 2017 will be demonstrated and discussed throughout the fair, allowing show participants to have a better understanding on the upcoming market direction so as to take advantage of it for their business.
Considered as Asia’s top exhibition for home textiles industry, the event will see around 1,400 international and domestic suppliers. Products including upholstery fabrics and other home related items including bedding & towelling, carpets & rugs, sun-protection systems & curtain accessories, digital printing and original service designs & artwork will be on display.
Lifestyle themes by trend committee
The trend committee comprise of experts from the Nelly RodiTM Agency, the internationally renowned trendsetter, and five other specialists from diverse backgrounds including an international home textile brand, a floral designer, brand designers and an architect, has interpreted the latest consumer lifestyle trends from various perspectives. Each expert will share their knowledge, inspiration and exchange visions on trend evolutions considering consumer demand, the retail and contract markets, as well as new technologies. To offer the most suitable trends for the industry, the committee also merged their visions with sociological insights from a study on consumer behaviour. This year’s Intertextile International Lifestyle Trend keyword is ‘Far Away,’ four themes have been developed to express this concept:
Sweet Dreams: Under Nature’s influence, this lifestyle looks to the great outdoors, communes with the elements and cultivates the kind of mystery found in the mild. Realistic Utopias: The ambience is esthetically pleasing, precious and refined. It goes back to essentials. This quest for excellence is reflected in luxurious simplicity and a minimalist, albeit sophisticated, lifestyle. Happy Manifesto: This theme unites folklore, influences and know-how in an energising, stimulating mix. The luxuriance of these associations of graphic and cultural references is positively extravagant. Exquisite Temptation: This design mode has a predilection for collaging shapes in a clash of periods and cultures. Late 19th-century Victorian meets family crests as well as surrealistic and theatrical objects. There’s an esoteric aura and magic in the air.
The committee will select the latest products submitted by exhibitors, with reference to these four themes. Products that are in line with the respective themes will be chosen and be presented through product displays in the Trend Area, providing buyers with real-life examples of the 2017 trends.
Bringing 2017 trends to life
The InterDesign program is set to expand its presence this year with a new presentation, considering the positive feedback from both exhibitors and buyers in 2015: Trend Space Installation. Well-known local designers from the Trend Committee will cooperate with leading industry brands to transform these brands’ products into art installations. Spread throughout the fairground, the installations will bring the four trend themes to life, and provide inspiration for fairgoers for 2017.
Adding to the product and art presentations are the Forum Space and a series of comprehensive seminars. Designers and trend experts are invited to express and exchange their perspectives on topics including interior decorations and market trends, while fair participants can also get more stimulation from a number of seminars about the market and latest technology. More details of these features will be released closer to the fair.
This week, ICE Cotton July contracts remained under pressure and hit more than two week's low of 61.63 cents per pound. A pickup in the pace of cotton planting in the US and renewed strength in the US dollar index acted as negative factors for the dollar-denominated fiber prices.
According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) weekly cotton planting report, favourable climatic conditions in the US helped speed up the fiber planting in the country, with 16 per cent of cotton planting complete, up compared to 10 per cent in the prior week and against 15 per cent last year.
Moreover, the start of China's auction from its huge reserve stock also kept prices under check. The agency is expected to release up to 2 million tonnes of cotton from its reserves. Sale of the country's cotton reserves that started on May 3 would continue till August 31, 2016.
Additionally, industry group International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) raised its estimates for global output to 22.96 million tonnes while lowering its demand forecast by 120,000 tonnes to 23.77 million tonnes, leaving the world with an ending stock at 19.59 million tonnes for the 2016-2017 season, which is higher than expected projections.
In addition to this, continuous rise in ICE stock level also exerted pressure on prices this week. Exchange inventories stood at 61,273 (480-lb) bales as of May 4, 2016, up more than 6 per cent from 57,746 bales as of April 29, 2016.
Jeanswear industry will gather in Barcelona, Spain May 18-19 for Denim Première Vision to examine what it means to be ‘true denim’ and to present the best of Autumn/Winter 2017-2018. Denim Première Vision will present three diverse themes for attendees to discover: Crafters, Anachromix, and Weirdologist, in addition to hosting 95 exhibitors from all aspects of the denim supply chain. The trends are a hybrid of new inspirations, bold workwear and flashbacks to parts of denim’s history.
As denim’s appeal spreads beyond pure players, the trade show will re-examine denim’s roots and how its past can inspire both its core group of designers as well as the growing number of luxury and up-and-coming designers that are adding denim to their collections.
It is a trend Première Vision has experienced at recent editions of its main textile event, Première Vision Paris. During the last two shows in February and September, the show received more requests for denim in fashion collections - a telling sign that luxury designers are coming to grips with denim and actually liking it.
Vietnam's small and medium apparel enterprises struggled to survive in the first quarter of 2016. Many of them suspended production as their customers shifted orders to Myanmar and Laos to enjoy lower prices.
Vietnam exported $27.4 billion worth of apparel last year and over $8 billion in this year's first four months, up six per cent against the same period a year earlier. But despite rising shipments, the industry is coping with a slew of challenges. While apparel products of Myanmar and Laos enjoy special tariffs for exports to Europe and the US, Vietnamese firms have to wait until 2018 to make use of preferential tariffs to export products to these two major markets when the new free trade agreements with them take effect.
Additionally, apparel enterprises have become exhausted by so many inspections by customs, taxation, labor, environment and food safety authorities, with up to three or four inspection teams a quarter.
Vietnam’s apparel exports exceeded $27 billion last year against a target of $20 billion for 2020. That means the target for 2020 needs to be revised. In addition the country’s industrial parks need to be developed to facilitate management and wastewater treatment.
The textile machinery fair to be held from June 1 to 4th will see more than 1,000 textile technology companies presenting their latest models. ITM is the largest exhibition in Turkey and in the region. Technologies to be exhibited at ITM 2016 include cotton and fiber preparation machinery, spinning preparation machinery, weaving machines, hosiery, embroidery and quilting machines, dyeing and finishing machines and flat and circular knitting machines.
ITM is a textile technology show with an extraordinary display of textile technologies, textile equipments and products, textile related software and solutions and other products and services. With the latest technologies and solutions in the textile industry, the event paves the way for innovation and creativity. It is an event that delivers promising returns to exhibitors and stands by its quality of display and services.
Turkey is a center of the world’s textile production in Eurasia. It is experiencing successful times in terms of the textile exhibition industry. The exhibition has a place in the global textile exhibitions calendar. It is an international arena where cutting-edge technologies are exhibited. The show has proven successful in the past. In 2012 the exhibition was visited by more than 40,000 visitors from 78 countries.
Textile traders in Surat want an anti-dumping duty imposed on fabrics imported from China and other countries. Compared to fabrics produced indigenously, imported fabrics are almost 100 per cent cheaper. In the last year, crores of meters of fabrics have been imported into the country and this has put the domestic manmade fabric sector in the country under threat.
Almost 50 per cent of manmade fabric sector in Surat has been observing a total shutdown over a month. The manufacturing of polyester fabric by powerloom weavers has stopped due to the weak demand for fabrics and onslaught of cheap imported fabrics from China. Surat’s textile traders say the benefits under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) should be extended to textile processors as well as for traders. At present, TUFS benefits are only for the power loom sector. Textile exporters also want a cargo service from Surat airport at the earliest. They say this will help them directly export the fabrics to various destinations, instead of diverting them from Mumbai and Delhi.
The annual polyester yarn consumption by powerloom units in Surat is pegged at 40,610 lakh kg and annual fabric production at 91,871 lakh meters.
The textile sector in Pakistan is under pressure. An unprecedented cotton crop failure caused a 35 per cent drop in production this year. For the first nine months, only 30 per cent of listed textile companies performed marginally well while 70 per cent showed closure or negative results.
Textile units say the input cost of cotton farmers should be reduced to encourage cotton production. Also, they want the funding provided by the textile industry for cotton research to be spent on cottonseed technology.
Another suggestion is that the whole textile value chain should be zero rated in the Budget as over 80 per cent of all fibers consumed are exported in one form or another. They say only the consumption of finished textile fabrics and garments for domestic consumption should be taxed. Also the import of synthetic specialty fibers including viscose and acrylic should be zero rated to undertake product and market diversification.
They also want a 15 per cent regulatory duty imposed on subsidised and imports of synthetic yarns and fabrics. Sales tax refunds should be released and sales and import duty on cotton imports should be withdrawn. They say if all this is not done Pakistan’s industry will not be able to match up to competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam.
A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) may be signed between Thailand and Pakistan by the end of 2016. The FTA is expected to boost trade and particularly help Pakistan's textile sector because of the large demand for Pakistani textile products in Thailand.
Given the size of Pakistan's economy, Thailand considers it a promising country for business relations. Thailand wants to boost trade volumes between the two countries. The current volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Thailand is around a billion dollars. There exists scope to increase it to two billion dollars by improving connectivity between their private sectors.
Close cooperation between Pakistan and Thailand can be a win-win situation for both countries as they could facilitate each other in getting better market access in their respective regions. Pakistan could facilitate Thailand in promoting trade with south and central Asian countries whereas Thailand could help Pakistan in accessing the Asean region.
One way Pakistan and Thailand can promote bilateral trade is by holding single country exhibitions on a reciprocal basis. Pakistani products including textiles and readymade garments could find a good demand in Thailand. Strong linkages between the private sectors of both countries can increase trade volumes. Both countries are working to get closer in trade and economic relations.
Premium Textile Japan will take place from May 24 to 25, 2016. This is an exhibition of world class quality textiles. Premium Textile Japan will provide opportunities to participants to crack business deals with leading textile makers. The fair attracts buyers as well as suppliers. Premium Textile Japan will provide a platform to exhibitors to showcase their products and services keeping in mind their business targets and customer demand.
The show will exhibit a wide range of diversified as well as premium quality fabrics that are using superior raw materials, yarns and weaving or dyeing or finishing techniques. This is a business platform where top domestic and overseas buyers and suppliers converge. Most visitors comprise apparel designers and MDs who are decision-makers for fabric procurement, making the fair a real business-oriented negotiation salon. A productive and in-depth business related program coordinated by the organiser, such as business matching, also adds to the appeal of this key event.
This is the only premium textile salon that provides authentic brands and products. Japan is heavily dependent on fabric imports. Domestic textile producing regions are facing a decline. So the event provides an opportunity for garment makers to develop business ties with leading overseas textile makers.
