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Flat knitting machine manufacturer Stoll has collaborated with Woolmark on several projects. Stoll has supported Woolmark in launching the Woolmark Learning Center with images from various stitch constructions and items of clothing from the Stoll archive for the knitwear design and make module. The launch of this module is planned for spring 2020. The center has been developed to educate and inspire specialization within the wool supply chain. The educational platform offers an unprecedented level of knowledge transfer from industry experts within the global textile industry and is designed for students studying fashion, agriculture, science and textile engineering; designers, brands and retailers; and manufacturers of yarn, textiles and garments. The platform will work to unify the global textile supply chain.
Stoll helped Woolmark in transforming The Wool Lab, an inspirational tool dedicated to wool, into Wool Lab Vision. This is aimed at inspiring the fashion, textile and lifestyle industries. The Wool Lab Vision will change the way the industry works with wool. The Wool Lab Vision is in addition to the latest edition of The Wool Lab, dedicated to spring/summer 2021, and stays true to its original mission, providing brands and designers with a curated collection of the world’s best commercially available wool fabrics and yarns.
Sateri, the world’s largest producer of viscose fiber, has successfully produced viscose fiber regenerated from textile waste on a commercial scale. The high-quality new fiber uses a mix of dissolving pulp made from recycled post-consumer textile waste by the Swedish company Södra, and other PEFC-certified wood pulp.
Trialed at Sateri’s Linz Nanjng yarn spinning mill using two advanced technologies, Siro compact and Vortex, the new fiber has proven compatibility with existing spinning technologies, ensuring stable yarn production without the need to adjust existing processes or parameters. The fiber also has excellent spinning efficiency and delivers yarn evenness and tenacity.
Sateri’s breakthrough comes on the back of RGE’s announcement in October last year of a $200 million investment towards next-generation cellulosic fiber innovation. Sateri is working with several dissolving pulp producers using various innovative technologies to aid the push towards a circular bioeconomy. Sateri will be partnering yarn customers, garment manufacturers and fashion brands to market and officially launch this new recycled viscose fiber product in the coming months, with the eventual goal of making recycled fiber available to the mass market.
Swiss flat knitting machine builder Steiger is looking to spread out in the East African knitwear market. Ethiopia, with a population of more than 100 million and considered to have good potential for the mid to long term. Various foreign textile manufacturers have already installed production units in Ethiopia, with the attraction of low production costs. Ethiopia and neighboring East African countries are increasingly viewed as fertile grounds for technological and commercial developments in textile production. The region is widely viewed as an emerging option for global apparel sourcing. Machinery and know-how from Switzerland offers the innovative and quality-focused boost that these markets can utilise to raise their competitiveness and broaden their appeal to international customers.
Steiger is part of the Cixing Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of flat knitting machines. Steiger has also launched a new app, which will allow, for example, a Steiger machine user in Brazil to live link to a Steiger technical expert in Europe for assistance. The company launched the Stitch Lab in 2017, where experts in knitting and programming work together with clients on developing their future applications. In the Stitch Lab Steiger develops 3D articles for knitwear, for medical applications and for composite materials.
Pakistan’s exports to the European Union increased 62 per cent from 2013 to 2018. This has been made possible by the grant of GSP by the European Commission till 2022. But shipments to Europe and the US are being deferred or cancelled due to the coronavirus. The cash flow crisis is so severe companies are finding it impossible to maintain operations, resulting in bankruptcies and massive layoffs of workers. This is feared to lead to a buildup of inventory and non-payment against letters of credit. The industry in Pakistan is already cash strapped due to the sales tax system.
The country hopes to double textile exports over the next five years if the issues related to high energy pricing, gas connection and tax refunds are resolved. This implies continuation of supply of energy at competitive rates as a long term policy, slashing the interest rate to single digits, refunds of all sales tax claims and other dues of the industry and ensuring availability of cheap credit for the sector. With a long-term five-year textile policy, textile exports are expected to start growing at ten per cent to 15 per cent. The country’s production of cotton is estimated to be at 8.5 million bales.
Oerlikon has received large orders from leading manmade fiber manufacturers in China despite the pandemic. All these companies have been key customers of Oerlikon for many years. The orders are for Oerlikon Barmag’s filament-spinning technology for the efficient production of polyester fibers. On-site delivery and installation of these systems is planned for the period from 2021 to early 2023. Oerlikon’s innovative technologies will enable the three Chinese companies to increase their production capacities for polyester yarn and to remain competitive.
The systems business in China remains largely unchanged despite the short-term interruption caused by the coronavirus epidemic following the Chinese New Year celebrations. Globally interconnected industries such as the textile industry and business models like that employed by the manmade fiber segment are more robust than many people believe.
The comprehensive manmade fibers technology solutions by Oerlikon are used along the entire value chain in polyester yarn manufacturing and contain cutting-edge automation and digitalization technologies. Oerlikon offers the entire process chain, from the melt to the textured yarn or the fibers and including the necessary semi and fully automated logistics process, from a single source. Oerlikon is known for its brands Barmag, Neumag and Nonwoven. Using Oerlikon polycondensation and extrusion systems, manmade fiber companies manufacture polyester, nylon and polypropylene.
American rating agency Moody’s says, the most exposed sectors are those linked to travel and discretionary spending, such as fashion or retail, excluding the alimentary sector.
Fashion will take the biggest hit from the coronavirus in the sector. According to Moody’s, the rating agency, the sectors most exposed to this unusual situation are those linked to discretionary spending and travel.
The organisation cites fashion, automotive, durable goods, gaming, tourism and non-food sectors as the most vulnerable to the crisis. The evaluation has been carried out considering a normalization of economic activity in the second half of the year.
Among the sectors with reasonable exposure are beverages, steel producers and the chemical industry, among others, while the least exposed are real estate, food, telecommunications, defense, and construction.
India's export of textiles and garments may decline by 40 per cent in the following months. The Coronavirus has halted shipments. The spread of the virus, especially in the United States, and leading markets of Europe like Spain, Portugal, Italy and even the United Kingdom has led to cancellation/deferment of orders on a very large scale. Buyers and major retail shops importing home textiles from India have put further business on hold. Exports of cotton yarns and fabrics have virtually come to a standstill. Besides affecting order flows, this could potentially result in the renegotiation of realisations as well as an elongated receivables cycle for the exporters.
Urgent policy interventions/support are needed in order to provide fiscal relief and ensure credit flow with an extension of the Remission of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme to cotton yarn and fabrics so that India’s competitiveness is enhanced at a time of falling markets. Also, there is a need to extend the interest subvention of three per cent beyond March 31, 2020, and also cover cotton yarn within that to ease the financial burden. A relief package is urgently needed. Demand for textile products and domestic sales have also come to a grinding halt.
As pr OTEXA, import of brassieres by the US fell 23.03 per cent to $1,847.57 million in January 2020 on Y-o-Y basis as against $239.79 million in January 2019. The major downfall was recorded from China’s side which slumped drastically by 39.56 per cent to export $65.75 million worth of brassieres. Markedly, the share of China in total brassieres import value of USA has been reduced to 35.62 per cent in January 2020 from 45.37 per cent from a year earlier.
Vietnam clocked in $30.12 million in brassieres export to US in January 2020 falling by 7.20 per cent. The imports of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, and Cambodia also declined to $22 million, $15 million, $3 million and $2.80 million, respectively.
Hermès will close all its production sites in France until the end of March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has 9,500 employees in France. In all, it operates 52 production sites. Of these, 42 are located in France. They include tanneries, garment workshops, and leather goods and porcelain factories. However, the decision doesn't apply to the Hermès Parfums factory in Vaudreuil, whose operations cannot be halted and where hygienic measures, already very stringent, have been further boosted. Closure of rest of the production site will take place partially and gradually depending on the nature of the various operations.
With regards office staff, Hermès recommends employees to work from home and it will continue to pay its employees during this entire period and in addition to statutory provisions. Leather and saddlery goods are the core business of Hermès - world renowned for the Birkin and Kelly handbags - and account for nearly half of its revenue, which in 2019 was just shy of €7 billion.
Bangladesh wants to secure more trade benefits from China as a least developed country rather than sign a free trade agreement. China offers duty-free entry for 97 per cent of all Bangladesh products under the LDC category. China is Bangladesh’s largest bilateral trade partner. Import duty levied on Chinese products accounts for 30 per cent of the total revenue collected by Bangladesh from import duties annually. China is a vital trade partner of Bangladesh for various reasons. For instance, the country’s garment industry is heavily reliant on Chinese fabrics although local manufacturers can supply nearly 80 per cent of the yarn required by the knitwear sector. Bangladesh’s woven garment makers import nearly 60 per cent of all the fabrics they require directly from China as local weavers cannot supply adequate raw materials. In total, apparel makers in the country source 46 per cent of their raw materials from China. Moreovre Bangladesh is dependent on Chinese dyes, chemicals and capital machinery.
Apparel exports from Bangladesh to China are increasing with time as a section of consumers in the middle income bracket cannot afford the high-end garment items made in China. This is why they depend on cheaper Bangladesh products. The cost of apparel production in China has gone through the roof due to a shortage of skilled workforce.
