FW
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) recently stated that value-added textile export industry had rejected the federal budget for 2020-21, terming it “one-sided and unrealistic” without any relief for the textile industry, which was the backbone of the economy and exports.
The association was of the view that the textile industry had been completely ignored and deprived of relief in the federal budget, which purportedly had been made on directives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It said the imposition of 17 per cent sales tax in the previous budget had brought a disastrous impact on the textile industry and its exports as well as caused liquidity crunch due to stuck refunds worth billions of rupees. Value-added textile exporters have expressed sheer disappointment and have demanded that the government review and restore the zero-rated regime for the five major export sectors as a lifeline for the economy.
The exporters urged the government to reconsider restoring the zero-rating facility or slash general sales tax from 17 per cent to 4 per cent.
The local Sri Lankan apparel sector has stressed the need to establish a stronger online presence to ensure it anchors strong in the post-COVID-19 era and hold a sizable portion of the global fashion industry.
With the core business of Sri Lanka’s apparel sector being the fashion industry, Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) President Arumugampillai Sukumaran said it is essential for the industry to continue to focus on it and urgently put in place a payment platform to engage in e-commerce as a major change.
Noting that the global supply chain will only change its origin, due to trade wars but will be revitalised with a more Asian focus outside China, he said the local apparel industry is working hard at staying afloat without collapsing to “win the game”.
According to Sukumaran, the true impacts of COVID-19 have not fully presented and there still are few more months of difficulty for the industry to navigate through. He also pointed out that the global apparel industry would be smaller post COVID-19 than before and it is a reality the industry stakeholders need to understand.
However, he opined that with the changes in technology, increasing value addition to product, changing the way the industry works, Sri Lanka’s apparel sector will continue to be vibrant and relevant.
A survey by Business & Human Right Resource Center (BHRC) shows, out of 35 brands and retailers, just 19 are prepared to pay for their entire order. And this is having a devastating impact on millions of garment workers who have either lost their jobs or are not being paid since the last two months. This has left millions of women and migrant workers in fashion’s supply chains unable to put food on the table for their children, and wondering how they will pay the rent.
Also, eight companies have requested retroactive discounts from suppliers for orders they had previously placed. Debenhams has asked for a whopping 90 per cent discount. In addition, eight firms including Primark have delayed settling their bills by extending their usual payment term by up to 180 days, or six months. Three brands — Hermès, N Brown and Zalando — said that some suppliers were taking shorter payments in order to alleviate issues with cash flow during the crisis.
However, some brands have stood out against this norm, showing leadership, said Thulsi Narayanasamy, Senior Labor Researcher at BHRC. Another 23 have taken steps to ensure that workers are paid in March and April and 19 businesses said they are helping suppliers access financial resources. Narayanasamy says, this can help build their trust with suppliers and workers on whom their successful recovery will depend. He urged the industry to applaud brands who are transparent about their actions as this allows civil society and workers to monitor whether commitments are being met.
Munich Fabric Start and Bluezone are relocating to a more spacious venue to help ensure social distancing. The Fall/Winter 21-22 event will move from the Munich Order Center (MOC) to Messe München-Riem. Messe München-Riem, located approximately 10 miles from MOC, has ground-level exhibition halls, numerous spacious entrances and loading gates, as well as ground-level parking spaces in the immediate vicinity of the halls. The fairground is accessible by public transportation. The organizers have drawn up a concept that will span four halls in the interim location with a total area of approximately 485,000 square feet.
MFS and Bluezone will be among the first physical events to take place since the global pandemic. Trade shows will be held in Bavaria as of September 01, taking into account necessary protections against infection.
The new requirements entail numerous structural, organizational and personal measures that are necessary for smooth and safe trade fair operations. Due to the site restrictions in the MOC, many of these mandated precautions cannot be adequately implemented in the traditional location.
Jeanologia has developed a manual for the application Trizar technololgy in its denims to save costs, reduce waste and add permanent warmth to jeans, without bulk. The e-flow technology is based on nano bubbles and was developed and patented by Jeanologia. The e-flow breaks up the surface of the garment, achieving soft hand feel and controlling shrinkage. A minimal quantity of water is needed and there is zero discharge from the process. Air from the atmosphere is introduced into an electro flow reactor and subjected to an electromechanical shock creating nano bubbles and a flow of wet air. The nano bubble mix is then transported into a rotating tumbler containing the denim garments, and when it comes into contact with them produces a soft and natural hand feel.
Trizar technology is a space certified technology that was used by NASA on Spaceships. By increasing a materials emissivity, Trizar materials are engineered to re radiate heat your body produces to keep you warmer longer. O’Neill Snowboard jackets, Forloh Hunting gear, Endeavor Athletic, HXT Mittens, Olympia, Cloudveil, Arctic Cat and Wolverine cold weather gloves all use Trizar materials now to retain body heat in cold weather.
The consolidated net profit of Aditya Birla Group firm Grasim Industries jumped by 46 percent to Rs 2,305 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 31, as against a net profit of Rs 1,583 crore that the company posted in the year-ago period. The company’s revenue during the quarter declined by 11 percent to Rs 19,902 crore as against Rs 22,431 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal.
During the fiscal year 2019-20, Grasim Industries’ net profit grew two-fold to Rs 6,677 crore, as against Rs 2,745 crore in the previous year while its revenue increased by 1 percent to Rs 77,625 crore, as compared to Rs 77,200 crore in 2018-19. Its domestic grey VSF prices softened sequentially in Q4FY20 in line with global prices but the overall performance improved QoQ on the back of better cost management, higher speciality sales, and lower input cost.
Expecting the COVID-19 related economic slowdown to impact its sales in near term, the company has initiated various measures to reduce its fixed costs and conserve cash as part of its comprehensive business continuity plan.”
Fashion entrepreneurs in UK are developing different ways of helping garment workers during the pandemic. Edinburgh-based Cally Russell has set up the Lost Stock initiative, which sells garments from orders cancelled by UK fashion retailers by purchasing garments directly from manufacturers in Bangladesh. A Lost Stock box of clothes costs £39. Almost a third of it is donated to the Sajida Foundation, which gives food and hygiene parcels to Bangladeshis struggling due to the pandemic. For maximum transparency, Lost Stock also provides a price breakdown that outlines the costs to the manufacturer, the charity and the initiative itself.
Some fashion marketers are also encouraging brands to adopt a cool-to-care ethos as seen with the UK’s weekly clapping for key workers. Businesses in numerous sectors are already focusing their marketing message on supporting NHS workers to capitalise on this spirit of collective solidarity. Fashion marketers are also channeling people’s desire for self-gratification towards buying clothes that contribute to the social good. For example, TOMS (Tomorrow’s Shoes) donates a pair of shoes to the needy for each of its pair sold.
On the other hand, Snag Tights, supports NHS frontline workers with a free pair of tights for every order placed. Another emerging trend is of swapping clothes. London Fashion Week hosted a fashion swap shop in February for the first time. Similarly, the flagship Selfridges store on London’s Oxford Street began selling second-hand luxury fashion and high-end brands with resale site Vestiaire Collective in 2019.
There has also been a rise in fashion libraries that rent fashion garments and accessories, allowing consumers affordable access to higher quality and luxury items. Fashion retailers could move in this direction, while also supporting customers by hosting workshops for upcycling garments into something new.
In line with the UK government’s gender pay gap regulations, fashion brand Burberry reported a 33.1 per cent mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay as on April 05, 2019. The organization currently has 9,862 employees. The UK government’s reporting regulations require organizations with 250 or more employees to publish the differences in mean and median hourly rates of pay for male and female full-time employees, the gap in men and women’s mean and median bonus pay, the proportions of male and female employees awarded bonus pay and the proportions of male and female full-time employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay bands.
Due to the pandemic, gender pay gap reporting regulations have been suspended for the 2019/2020 reporting period, however, some organizations have chosen to do so voluntarily. Burberry’s median gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay is 10.3 per cent as in April 2019. On average women, earn 90p compared to every £1 their male counterparts earn. The brand’s mean gender pay gap for bonuses paid during the reporting period is 40 per cent while its median gender pay gap for bonus payments is 23.2 per cent.
Over the reporting period, 78.7 per cent of the brand’s female employees and 76.3 per cent of its male employees received bonus payments. Around 56.4 per cent of employees in the highest pay quartile at Burberry are female, compared to 67.6 per cent in the second quartile, 59.7 per cent in the third quartile and 78 per cent in the lowest pay quartile.
Escada, the once high-flying brand synonymous with the big-shouldered Eighties and the Dynasty set, is reportedly struggling under its new owner Regent LP and is in an increasingly bad financial shape. Escada was acquired by Regent LP, a Los Angeles private equity firm last November. Since then, the brand has closed several of its retail stores in North America and laid off or furloughed nearly its entire retail force besides drastically reducing its corporate headcount.
While some of these outcomes are due to the coronavirus pandemic that forced nonessential retail to close for the last several months, things were already looking grim for the retailer in December and January. A multitude of its typical operating bills have been piling up, since the acquisition, like payments to in-store seamstresses, UPS delivery services and electricity bills of stand-alone retail stores.
Before Regent’s takeover too Escada was already struggling financially but its bills were being paid, unlike today. Regent’s round of layoffs at corporate headquarters in Germany have reduced headcount by at least 50 people, but by some accounts it was by as much as 100 people. All corporate roles in the US have been eliminated as well, leaving roughly 150 corporate employees remaining in Germany.
Escada is facing a current loss of at least $100 million. In a Companies House filing in the UK for 2018 last year, Escada made its mandatory annual financial disclosure where it listed a loss of 7 million pounds, or $8.8 million at current exchange. That was just for operations in the UK however, where it has five points of sale, only one of which is a stand-alone store.
Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) is urging the government to initiate anti-dumping law on export of low-cost yarn by competing countries, like Pakistan and India. As per BTMA, dumping of yarns not only adversely affects their production and marketing but also defies international trading practices under the WTO rules.
In its recent letter to the Finance Minister, BTMA alleged that India has started exporting yarn to Bangladesh at dumping prices. Considering the international prices of cotton and the cost of other components for production, the BTMA claimed that India was exporting its 40- count combed yarn at rates lower than the production cost. This is creating undue competition for Bangladeshi manufacturers.
Bangladesh's primary textile sector, estimated to be worth $8 billion in investment, is working as a dynamic backward linkage industry and supplying 80 per cent of knit and 35 per cent of woven fabrics to the export-oriented readymade garment sector. Experts say, with the use of local inputs, the value of RMG export increased to $35 billion from $26 billion in the last five years. However, lately, with Coronavirus hitting the industry hard, exports of garment and textile products are feared to slump by as low as 40 per cent to the European Union alone, the largest export market for Bangladesh.
In such a situation, if backward linkage factories, such as the textile mills, are adversely affected by dumped imports, this key feeding-industry would be fraught with untoward barriers to produce even on a limited scale. Hence textile millers now want the government to initiate anti-dumping duty on yarn import.
