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Women’s clothing sizes have undergone tremendous changes through the years. What was a size 16 in 1958, is equal to a size 8 today, and a size 8 dress in 1958 does not even have an equivalent today. Official sizing standards once maintained by the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) has cited these measurements in women’ s wear.
Today’s women's clothing sizes apparently have their roots in a Depression-era government project to define the Average American Woman by sending a pair of statisticians to survey and measure nearly 15,000 women, as per Julia Felsenthal who detailed over at Slate.
The National Bureau of Standards published ‘Body Measurements for the Sizing of Women's Patterns and Apparel’ in 1958. The purpose was to provide consumers a means to identify their body type and size from the wide range of body types covered, and enable her to be fitted properly by the same size regardless of price, type of apparel, or manufacturer of the garment. This is when the first women’s clothing size charts were included and it provided data points.
In 1970, again the government updated these standards, however, it was obvious that the ‘representative’ women measured for the standard weren't representatives of all. So, by 1983, the government ditched the standard completely and manufacturers had to define sizes as they saw fit.
After a few years, clothing manufacturers realised that they could flatter consumers by revising sizes downward. Also, different manufacturers defined sizes differently. A non-governmental international standards organization, The American Society of Testing and Materials, began trying to restandardise women's sizes in the 1990s. Yet, women find it frustrating to get the right size and navigate through the chaos of arbitrary sizing on their own.
A report by Persistence Market Research (PMR) confirms, brings out some recent trends in pigments and dyes market include shifting of manufacturing facilities from the US and Europe to India, China, and Taiwan, and the rising preferences for eco-friendly products. With its emerging economies and quickly growing manufacturing bases, Asia Pacific accounts for the largest market and is likely to remain the highest growing region in the years to come.
Demand for pigment and dye products such as printing ink is driven by several factors such as technological development and increasing demand for digital inks. It says an increase in end-user preference for environment-friendly products is likely to drive growth of dyes and pigments market in the near future.
A pigment is a chemical material, which alters the colour of reflected or transmitted light due to wavelength-selective absorption. Based on product, the pigments and dyes market is classified into two parts, namely dyes and organic pigments, and inorganic pigments. Based on application, the pigments and dyes market are classified into textiles, leather, paper, paints and coatings, plastics, constructions, paper & specialty, printing inks, and others.
www.persistencemarketresearch.com
The government has not yet accepted farmers’ demand of setting a minimum support price, as new cotton has arrived in the market. This may result in losses to growers for yet another year. Since the beginning of August there have been new stocks in the market and prices are declining compared to last year. Last year, the price of cotton seed (Phutti) was in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,800 per maund (40 kg), which depended on the quality. This year, the new crop is being sold in a price range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,300 per maund. This is at least 20 per cent less than 2014.
A minimum support price of cotton is being demanded by the farming community. This is aimed at saving them from potential losses. However, officials say the Ministry of National Food Security and Research has not taken any decision on the issue. The international market is also slowing down due to unconsumed stocks of previous year, say cotton traders, which is also adversely affecting price new crop.
Farmers are not getting fair return, say cotton growers, and the situation is creating unrest among cotton growers. Also, China, which is the main buyer of Pakistan yarn, is going through an economic meltdown, which is gravely affecting Pakistan. Besides, the spinning industry is facing heavy taxation.
Due to drought, cotton growers and buyers in Tanzania’s lake zone would suffer substantial losses this year. The drought has affected the production of the cast crop greatly. Acute shortage of seed cotton has put almost all cotton ginners’ business in crisis and the hardest hit are cotton buyers who snubbed the contract farming system.
Serapion Rujuguru, Head of Agriculture Department in Bunda District Council feels cotton buyers are jostling for whatever little produce is available. Besides the bad weather, the collapse of contract farming has had a negative impact on cotton production in the district. Farmers say this is the worst year they have seen since they started growing cotton. While they normally harvested 1,270 kg of seed cotton per acre on an average, they managed only 900 kg from three acres this season. Experts blame the problem on collapse of contract farming, saying that though drought took its toll on production, unreliable access to farming inputs had exacerbated the problem.
The absence of cotton and man-made fibre cost pressure is likely to continue for at least another year in the US, which is good news for textile mill and apparel manufacturers. Any new slippages in this sector’s cost inputs are hardly as impressive as those noted over the last year. This was the time when cotton and man-made tags dropped by more than 10 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
However, even with modest increases in global demand there is no indication yet that these quotes will reverse course. At present, experts are calling for about a 3 per cent rise in world consumption of cotton, with a similar gain anticipated for key man-made constructions. Concentrating on man-mades, holds-the-price-line optimism based on a combination of two factors: a relatively unchanged petroleum feedstock costs and beyond ample capacity. These factors will almost certainly put a ceiling on any new price-boosting attempts.
Experts perceive the possibility of an overall dip in man-made fibre quotes over the next 12 months, albeit fractionally. The average annual man-made increase of less than 1 per cent has remained fairly under the country’s general inflation rate, over the past few decades.
Ring-spun cotton is in high demand. In the US, yarn sales have remained strong through mid-August. Experts say, positions in ring-spun yarns are hard to come by and there is not enough capacity in the US and the western world to meet current demand. Ring-spun yarn continues to be strong and there is backlog of orders and mills are running a full schedule. For some customers, especially smaller ones, who would not be ordering 50,000 pounds at a time, to move to open-end yarns, man-mades and blends. This is because of the difficulty in getting positions in ring-spun yarns. There is a definite increase in demand for blends since ring-spun began getting tight several years ago.
Spinners are looking at a good run for the remaining part of the year. They feel since the US economy continues to improve, more people are working and wages are beginning to grow. This after they almost struggled for orders three years ago.
Experts say that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) continues to be a cause for concern as the industry is unsure what the agreement would have for them. The central issue for the US industry is Vietnam’s desire to join the partnership without a yarn forward rule. This would open the floodgates for yarn from China and could, ultimately, decimate the textile industry in the US.
China's textile industry, after dominating global markets is losing its competitive edge as a result low-end operations are moving to emerging producers. Leo Yung, Director of Central Textiles (HK), feels that in the last two years, rapid expansion of textile investment in several developing countries has lead to oversupply, sparking fears of earnings and survival of many mills in Asia. Yung told the Australian Cotton Conference that China is losing in terms of costs to countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Many mills have been forced to switch from exports to domestic sales, which now comprise 79 per cent of production.
This comes after major migration of textile production from the US, Europe and Japan to developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. More than 70 per cent of world cotton is now consumed in Asian countries. China dominates with 42 per cent share. However, Yuan feels many mills in China which are struggling and may even close down in a couple of years, especially the small ones doing export business.
Oversupply had depressed prices along the entire supply chain, hitting yarn prices in China, India and Pakistan. China was reeling from an 18 per cent rise in the value of its currency since 2005. Added to this is the higher costs of labour, fuel, electricity and chemicals, not to mention a cut in domestic tax rebates, official moves to slow the economy, and pollution curbs.
India and China together account for more than 50 per cent of global cotton production. In 2015-16, India is expected to surpass China as the world’s largest producer of cotton. So, India’s share of world production will come to 26.5 per cent. For China, 2015-16 production is forecast to decrease by 10 per cent. This will be the lowest since 2003-04. Its share of global production is forecast to fall to 24 per cent.
India is headed towards one of the best yields ever with over 108.67 lakh hectares of sowing completed by August 14. The country is likely to exceed cotton acreage of around 120 lakh hectares. If it rains in September, this could be one of the best yields ever.
China was the largest importer of Indian cotton over the last three years but has imported less fiber this year. This has affected Indian exports. Bangladesh has emerged as India’s biggest cotton buyer. India has sold around 60,000 bales of cotton to the country so far.
However, there is a feeling India’s output next year may not exceed the current year’s output because of the erratic monsoon and the possibility of pest attacks in some parts of the country.
Australia's wool production expected to decline by 4.3 per cent for the 2015-16 season. There is expected to be a reduction in the number of sheep shorn in 2015-16 after the ongoing high turn-off of sheep and lambs last season. At the same time, average fleece weights across Australia will be slightly lower than in 2014-15. Seasonal conditions are mixed but the fall in average fleece weights reflects difficult seasons in several regions of the country.
Shorn wool production for the 2014-15 season is expected to increase 1.8 per cent over the previous season. The overall increase in shorn wool production in 2014-15 is also a result of the improved fleece weights which partly offset the decline in the number of sheep shorn last season.
Some of the increase in wool tests, receivals and auction offerings late in the 2014-15 season is attributed to the release of on-farm stocks held over from previous seasons as well as the forward offering of wool held in brokers’ stores and earlier than usual deliveries of recently shorn wool in response to the spike in wool prices in May and June. For 2014-15 season, there has been a reduction in volumes of wool 17.5 microns and finer, but an increase in the volumes of 18 to 20 microns, 22 to 23 microns and broad wool.
Batik has developed into a unique form of textile art exclusive to Sri Lanka. Brought to Sri Lanka by the Dutch, at the turn of the 19th century, it originated as a primary art of fabric dyeing. Batik comes from the Java word meaning writing with wax.
In its purest form, batik is a method of decorating a piece of cloth by creating patterns on it with wax and coloring the rest of the cloth, creating a vibrant mosaic with colored and uncolored areas. It was originally a hobby of the royal classes and soon the skills of batik were introduced to artisans who developed tapestry, regional flags and traditional clothes of the aristocrats with batik fabrics.
Today, batik textile manufacturing in Sri Lanka is deep rooted in the local culture. A new generation of batik artists has been encouraged to create and experiment with new forms and techniques in batik, giving a local flavor to a global tradition. Made in silk and cotton, designed by leading fashion houses and produced by local batik producers in Sri Lanka, batik clothes fetch extremely high prices in local and global markets.
Designers are maximising the batik's use of vibrant colors in producing unique lamp shades, linen, tapestry and upholstery.
