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With mounting opposition, US President Barack Obama is desperately trying to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal before his term ends in 2017. Both major party presidential nominees, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have publicly stated that they would not sign the agreement if they become president. Though opposition to TPP has typically focused on the threat of losing American jobs, another concern that is being seen is the loss of sovereignty through a byzantine process known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).
ISDS allows companies to sue states using private, three-man corporate tribunals as judges. The corporate tribunal process was originally intended to protect corporations from having their property nationalized by foreign countries. By allowing companies to recover lost funds, it was thought, states would be less likely to nationalize foreign assets. As a result, foreign investment would increase into countries in desperate need of it.
Under current practice, ISDS has become a means for transnational corporations to pressure governments to change health and safety regulations and let corporate executives walk on criminal charges. According to a recent study of the ISDS process, the system was designed to deal primarily with theft by autocrats, but, in the majority of cases today, businesses are suing democracies for enacting regulations. The Agency also found instances in Egypt, El Salvador and Indonesia where the threat of ISDS actions by a business led to criminal charges being dropped against company executives.
The ongoing trend of seasonless apparel does not exclude denim. From August 30 to 31, global mills exhibited a combination of core products along with a huge quantity of brand new washes and blends for S/S 18 at Bluezone, the denim section of Munich Fabric Start.
It was of mix show’s at the ‘keyhouse’ with a full house of fiber, technology and chemical companies that came together to offer the denim market seasonless solutions to do better business. YKK product designer Ina Kaiser said that winter is not cold and summer is not hot. There’s no more light colors for spring, dark colors for winter mentality. Apparel collections don’t drastically change from season to season. At Munich Fabric Start, the trims company showcased it’s A/W 17-18 range.
Kaiser explained that the call for seasonless or transitional, looks is getting into trims as well. In women’s apparels, accessories are light and pastel (mint, pink, lavender) with a hint of luminosity through opalescent and iridescent finishes. The theme is pretty for spring or dreamy for winter. Badges are at the forefront of men’s trims, with many manufacturers focusing on scouting and camping motifs—a concept that ties together nicely with autumnal color ways and summer brights.
With patchwork and DIY details expected to remain popular in denim, YKK is a collection of items inspired by retro haberdashery. For women, rivets are made to resemble 4-hole buttons. Patches of embossed leather are sewn onto the tops of frontier pockets, and funnel-shaped buttons and flat buttons are brushed with warm vintage yellow and green.
Shiny copper rivets, zippers and buttons add a jewelry-like effect to women’s. Tiny rivets and miniature bees are used for decorative items. Letters of the alphabet are reworked as rivets. The monogram theme is carried into belt loop ornaments that can be sewed.
India saw a decline in exports of woolen yarn, fabric and made-ups by 48 per cent and woolen garments by nine per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year. Demand for woolen garments has been falling due to global warming as well as sluggish orders from Europe. The price of 20.5 micron wool has risen to Rs 800 or Rs 900 from Rs 600 or Rs 700 a kilo two years ago. However, manufacturers find it difficult to pass this on to consumers because it might further affect demand.
India depends on imported wool from Australia for making garments and shawls. Domestic wool is used for blankets and rugs. Large firms catering to niche markets have been able to beat the slowdown in demand with the help of innovation and marketing strategies but medium and small players are gasping for breath.
During pre-winter months, wool fabric is in high demand by the Kashmiri artisans, who make embroidered garments. But business of mid-size manufacturers in Ludhiana and Amritsar has been hit by the turbulence in Kashmir. This year they have had to run their factories at one-third capacity. The unrest in the Kashmir Valley has wiped out nearly 50 per cent of domestic demand.
A $30 million dollar expansion at Invista’s fiber manufacturing plant in South Carolina will enable the company to rapidly respond to small-lot, carpet fiber demands. The investment represents the industry’s first-ever offering of one-step, small-lot capability specifically for solution-dyed nylon 6,6.
Mill customers and the design community rely on Invista to offer a palette of hundreds of solution-dyed nylon 6,6 colors for each of their unique design preferences. The new technology will expand Invista’s capability to offer sophisticated color families while at the same time improving service.
Invista developed the innovative, proprietary small-lot technology by working closely with equipment manufacturer Truetzschler, which will supply Invista with the highest quality of BCF extrusion technology for this important expansion.
The variety of small-lot nylon 6,6 fibers will initially be offered under Invista’s Antron Lumena brand to serve the global, growing solution-dyed nylon BCF markets.
US-based Invista, is one of the world's largest integrated producers of intermediate chemical products, polymers and fibers, primarily for nylon, spandex and polyester applications. Invista is the owner of the brands Lycra, Coolmax, Cordura, Stainmaster and Antron. The company’s cutting-edge nylon, spandex and polyester technologies are used to manufacture apparel, carpets, automobile components and other products.
In order to strengthen sales and after sales services, analyse industry and product trends, expand the business and further improve customer satisfaction, Huntsman Textile Effects has streamlined its India commercial organization. With a dedicated sales teams covering the North, Central and South India and Sri Lanka regions compared to North and South regions, the teams are now more geographically aligned with Huntsman Textile Effects’ customer base in India. Being more focused on a smaller region will improve operational efficiency, customer focus and response time for each sales team as they benefit from more agile and quicker decision-making.
Headquartered in Mumbai, the sales teams will be supported by a full-fledged technical resource team and regional marketing team aimed at enhancing the performance of each function. These teams will also provide dedicated strategic marketing and higher level of after sales support.
Recently Huntsman Textile Effects has also made significant investments in R&D and technical services. The increased capabilities of its R&T and technical service laboratories in its Lighthall Corporate office complex will improve sales and after sales service offerings.
To boost investment and meet growing demand from the synthetic textiles industry, the government is looking at lowering excise duty on man-made fibre (MMF). The Ministry of Textiles is contemplating a cut in excise duty on MMF in the new policy scheduled to be announced in a month’s time. While cotton fibre attracts zero duty, a 10 per cent excise duty is levied on MMF. On several occasions, the MMF industry had asked the government to exempt MMF from excise duty, arguing that the garments produced by them are primarily used by economically weaker sections of society.
The textile commissioner, Kavita Gupta too has affirmed the government is considering a cut in MMF excise duty. Gupta is speaking on the sidelines of TAG 2016, the 8th Annual Conference on Textile and Apparel Industry organised by FICCI. India's fibre demand is likely to double in 10 years with the government increasing impetus on textiles sector for both domestic consumption and exports of readymade garments. India's cotton fibre output currently stands at 6.5 billion kg, which may go up to 8 billion kg by 2025.
The Bangladesh government’s policy of promoting readymade garment exports has created an anti-export bias for other sectors and put hindrances in competition and product diversification in the non- RMG sectors, says a Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
he report titled ‘Country Diagnostic Study: Consolidating Export-led Growth’ recommends the government identify barriers to other productive sectors and eliminate anti-export bias against non-RMG export for ensuring economic diversification. The ADB report recommended withdrawal of some RMG sector supports which have outlived their useful lives.
‘As a general principle, incentives for new industries need to be time-bound while these [the RMG sector incentives] are not. Special incentives, such as corporate income tax exemption or tax holidays for imported machinery, need to be removed,’ the report said.
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Syed Nasim Manjur feels the government’s wrong policy discouraged non-RMG sectors’ growth. He said, that the government provided zero-tariff facility for importing fire safety equipments for RMG sector but imposed up to 65 per cent duty on the items for the non-RMG sectors. The industry president said that the RMG sector enjoys various tax benefits including incentive but other sectors are not entitled for the benefits that lead an entrepreneur shutting his/her non-RMG units. He demanded a long-term sustainable support for the non-RMG sectors.
Textile manufacturers in Egypt prefer US cotton to local Egyptian cotton. The reason: deteriorating quality of Egyptian cotton. Extra-long staple cotton like Giza 86 and Giza 88 is being mixed with medium-staple types like Giza 90. Therefore, US exports of lint cotton to Egypt increased by 30 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014. Cotton production in Egypt is made up of about 90 per cent extra-long and long-staple cotton, while 10 per cent are short and medium staple varieties.
Some manufacturers choose US Pima cotton as a better alternative to Egyptian cotton due to its higher quality. Although the prices of US Pima cotton are higher than Egyptian extra-long staple cotton, the deterioration of the Egyptian extra-long staple cotton has forced local spinners to rely on Pima cotton to produce high quality yarn.
Egypt is famous for its extra-long and long-staple cotton, which are highly praised as the longer length of cotton fiber results in finer fabric. However, the extra-long and long-staple cotton are unsuitable for many textile operations which prefer short- and medium-staple varieties.
Egyptian cotton has been in decline for some years and it has accelerated after cash subsidies were removed. Many farmers replaced cotton acreage with rice.
A consortium comprising companies and liquidators will keep US teen retailer Aeropostale going and potentially save 229 of its stores. Aeropostale will continue as a business, though with much fewer than the 800 stores it had before it filed for bankruptcy in May amid fierce competition from online retailers, fast fashion trends and the fast-changing tastes of its young clientele. It had been losing money for 13 successive quarters.
The consortium intends to operate at least 229 of Aeropostale’s US stores, in addition to Aeropostale’s e-commerce business and its international licensing business. This way , Aeropostale has avoided bankruptcy liquidation. It hopes to continue to serve customers, emerge with new ownership as a financially stronger company positioned to compete and succeed in an evolving retail landscape apart from preserving thousands of jobs.
New York-based brand is popularly called Aero. It markets accessories and skirts, polos, jeans, hoodies and T-shirts mostly for teenagers. For decades Aeropostale has influenced American teenagers' style and fashion sense. At least five US teen retailers like Pacific Sunwear have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years, as the spending habits of young people shift and they visit malls less often.
"Worldwide, there is a growing sense concern about the quality standard of some of international brands. Of late, quality issues of some of top clothing brands have surfaced out in the open. According to AQSIQ some of the imported industrial products have not qualified the quality measures in June 2016. The products failed to pass the required standards in terms of colour fastness, pH value indicating the presence of excess formaldehyde"
Worldwide, there is a growing sense concern about the quality standard of some of international brands. Of late, quality issues of some of top clothing brands have surfaced out in the open. According to AQSIQ some of the imported industrial products have not qualified the quality measures in June 2016. The products failed to pass the required standards in terms of colour fastness, pH value indicating the presence of excess formaldehyde. As per reports, H&M branded man-made fibres, knitted men's t-shirt imported from Turkey by Haiensimolisi (Shanghai) Commerce had to be destroyed as pH values were high similarly Uniqlo imported men’s denim shirts from Bangladesh, was returned as PH values are not upto the mark. Shockingly, some of the biggest names like Eleven Paris, Levis, Versace, and Topman fall in this list.
Sub standard clothes a health risk
Excess pH values in clothing destroy the acid-base balance, causing skin allergy. It is understood that the garment dyeing and processing process, inevitably get exposed to many chemicals, so a range of pH values is a good barrier to ensure skin health. Because normal human skin pH value is acidic, and can protect the body against infection but in fashion industry pH value is found to be too highly alkaline causing skin irritation, burns, bacteria, etc. Similarly, high formaldehyde content can also stimulate the skin and mucosa, leading to respiratory diseases. It is worth mentioning that, formaldehyde in clothing is also a big problem. Formaldehyde is mainly used for wrinkle, shrink-proofing, color brightness. However, manufacturers are using cheap additives that contain formaldehyde, that result in people wearing them, the chemical is gradually released in the course and may enter the respiratory tract, eyes, and skin thereby causing complications and illnesses.
Since 2011 the national and local government in China has issued import expansion policies for imported clothes and inspection of batches for five consecutive years. However, there is gap in the quality of imported clothing and consumer demand. Hence, quality and safety needs to be improved.
Supply chain management exposes vulnerability
Recently, Giorgio Armani (Shanghai) trading company recall plan was submitted to the State administration for quality supervision. However, the punishment is weak. With China’s economic development and high consumption level, 'fast fashion ' brands in China are being gobbled up. Single regulatory management remains primary means of garment quality control. What's more, can sampling assure quality, fundamentally speaking, it all depends on the fabrics and accessories. Indeed producers have the obligations to subject their products to inspection or entrust a third party inspection, before entering the market.
