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The market for US women’s activewear remained flat in 2019, trailing men’s active apparel sector for the third consecutive year. Among men, activewear sales were up two per cent in the same period. One reason could be that American men have long had national retailers serving their activewear needs, while there’s no such equal counterpart for women. Women between the ages of 25 and 34 in the US traditionally make up the majority of women’s activewear sales, but last year sales for this group fell. American women are more active than ever but they’re not buying as much workout wear as their male counterparts. Leisure and performance goods drive most women’s activewear sales.
The women’s athletic apparel market in the US remains the sports industry’s greatest failure, yet its biggest opportunity. Traditional athletic brands continue to struggle at the expense of vertical brands. The activewear retail model is not in sync with today’s woman.
Brands and retailers have to put a lot of resources behind a women’s product and make a sincere connection and understand where she shops. But with more women and girls increasingly playing sports and getting active, growth in the category is expected to follow. Women are running more races than men for the first time in history.
Touchpoint and Spinnova have jointly launched an apron. The objective of the collaboration is to make the world’s most sustainable workwear collection. The apron named Tapio is 100 per cent wood-based, made without harmful chemicals, and quickly biodegradable. The apron can be recycled into new fiber in the Spinnova process, without dismantling. The apron contains no materials that shed microplastics and has no plastic or metal parts to weaken its recyclability. The apron is also undyed and uncoated.
Touchpoint is a Finnish pioneer in sustainable workwear. It is also building a closed-loop solution for domestic textile waste in the B2B segment. The recycling facility, Rester, starts operating in the beginning of 2021. Spinnova, also from Finland, is a sustainable fiber company that has developed an ecological breakthrough technology for manufacturing cellulose-based textile fiber. Spinnova’s patented technology includes zero harmful chemicals and zero waste or side streams, making the fiber and the production method the most sustainable in the world. The fiber is also recyclable with the Spinnova process without harmful chemicals. Spinnova’s raw material commitment is to only use certified wood or waste streams.
The apron’s most interesting circular feature is the fact that the apron can be recycled into new fiber in the Spinnova process without dismantling.
For the fourth quarter Gap’s sales were up one per cent. However, Gap brand comparable sales fell five per cent with Banana Republic sales flat and the company’s activewear brand Athleta lifting two per cent for the quarter.
Meanwhile Katrina O’Connell, Chief Financial Officer of Old Navy, was named the company’s new chief financial officer, succeeding Teri List-Stoll, who has served in the role since January 2017. Mark Breitbard has been chosen to lead the company’s specialty brands segment as well as Gap’s Asia business and its franchise category. With Syngal recently promoted to CEO of Gap, Nancy Green will now lead the Old Navy brand, replacing Syngal in the interim. Syngal is expected to deliver value from the portfolio of brands over the long term. The India-born Syngal moved to Canada and later to the US with her family when she was a child.
Gap is currently the largest specialty retailer in the United States, with 1,35,000 employees and 3,727 stores worldwide, including 2400 in the US. The company’s management structure will be slimmed down in order to speed up decision making as well as a refreshed senior compensation plan, based around performance and accountability. Gap owns brands like Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, and Hill City.
Ebitda margins of leading Indian textile and apparel companies have risen by one per cent during the current fiscal. Their employee cost index and raw material cost index have also increased by six per cent and two per cent respectively. This shows constraints on resources, and companies have to rework on their costing and reengineer their systems.
Among these companies are Arvind, Vardhman, Welspun, Trident and Raymond. The textile industry is a labor-intensive industry. So its growth plays a vital role in job creation. Textile exports from many Indian states have contracted in the last five years.
During this period, exports of textile and apparel commodities have shown a decline of seven per cent. The downtrend of exports of fibers, filaments, yarns and home textiles continues. Fiber export and yarn export are down by 47 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. Notably, fabric and apparel exports increased eight per cent and one per cent recepectively. As far as imports are concerned, India’s imports of textile and apparel commodities have increased by 16 per cent in this period. Fabric imports were down by three per cent, while fiber, filament, yarn, apparel and home furnishing imports increased. Fiber imports increased by 53 per cent and yarn imports increased 18 per cent.
At its upcoming meeting, the GST Council plans to address the tax rates for sectors including textiles and readymade garments in order to address the inverted duty structure where tax rates on raw materials are higher than the finished products they are used to make.
The GST Council will revaluate the tax rates on a range of items including textiles and readymade garments. The council will also address operational glitches on its GST Network portal and seek a resolution plan from digital technology firm Infosys which won the contract for managing back-end online GST operations in 2015.
The meeting will also see officials address the current inverted duty structure faced by the mobile phone sector and will consider increasing GST on mobile phones to 18 percent from the current rate of 12 per cent. If the council moves ahead with the GST increase, mobile phone prices are expected to increase.
Other matters that the meeting will address include deferment of e-invoicing and QR code benefits as well as the possibility of an exemption of certain industries from e-invoicing. The GST Council could also defer the new return form which was scheduled to come into effect on April 1.
Sales of cotton grey fabric market in China are still lukewarm. There are no large export orders and customers and weavers prefer short-distance and fast orders. Second, due to the epidemic, fabric mills were shut down, overseas customers chose to cancel or transfer orders to other countries. So, grey fabric orders in the downstream will shrink significantly.
Compared to previous years, this year's weaving mill shipments are significantly lower. Compared with the operating rate in recent years, that in 2020 is at a lower level. As of now, the rate is less than 50 per cent and the recovery speed is also slower. There are specific reasons. First, weavers in Hubei cannot resume work due to strict local epidemic prevention work. Second, due to the restricted store functioning, some mills opted for limited production. They are working below capacity since migrant employees have not yet returned to work.
In March, the market is somewhat lackluster. Downstream traders show weaker enthusiasm to stock up than in the same period of earlier years. The increase in orders is insufficient. So market confidence has weakened. Therefore, judging from the current fluctuations in the prices of upstream feedstock, grey fabric price is unlikely to rise significantly in March.
Concerned about the environment consumers are turning more and more to buying used clothes or renting new fashions. H&M, Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters are among those offering clothing rentals, while online startups offer subscriptions that enable customers to swap fashions on a monthly basis.
The move may help boost the fashion industry’s reputation as a major polluter, responsible for more CO2 emissions worldwide than the international aviation and shipping industry combined. Adding to the problem, only 13 per cent of the total material in the clothing industry is recycled.
Meanwhile the European Union has introduced a plan aimed at cutting municipal waste by half throughout the bloc by 2030 through such actions as making more packaging reusable or recyclable and promoting longer product lifetimes with a right to repair. The strategy is to encourage the clothing industry to boost the re-use and recycling of textiles through innovation and regulatory measures. These requirements are expected to make planet-friendly clothes the norm and are aimed at making textile products with the lowest environmental impact the default. Fast-fashion clothes are expected to be hit hard by the EU’s actions regarding the textile industry. While it seems unlikely that cheap, fast fashion will be banned the EU’s plans may increase costs for such clothing companies.
The magnitude of public health and safety issues posed by the rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreaks have led to the postponement of Gartex Texprocess India, which was slated to make its debut in Mumbai next week. The cooperation partner of Gartex Texprcoess India, Denim Manufacturers Association, and its exhibitors strongly support this move. The Delhi edition continues to be on schedule from 21 – 23 August 2020.
As per the travel advisory issued by the Union Health Ministry, the Indian Government has temporarily suspended visas and tightened entry conditions for foreign nationals. Moreover, as per a statement issued by Maharashtra Health Minister Shri Rajesh Tope, no permission will be granted for public gatherings in the state of Maharashtra.
Keeping in line with the advisories issued by the Indian Government, the organisers - Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd and MEX Exhibitions Pvt Ltd, have had to act swiftly to postpone the launch of Gartex Texprocess India 2020 which was scheduled to open its doors in Mumbai, next week.
The decision comes after intensive consultations with exhibitors to gain a sense of whether the organisers should proceed with running the show as originally scheduled from 19 – 21 March 2020. The response was both swift and definitive, with an overwhelming majority opting to postpone. The decision is also supported by the Denim Manufacturers Association (DMA).
“After intensive consultations with exhibitors, we have had to take the difficult decision to postpone Gartex Texprocess India’s launch in Mumbai. The health of our exhibitors, visitors, employees and all the stakeholders is our first priority. The current situation represents a major challenge for the MICE industry over the world and we have to work in line with the local government’s effort to take precautionary measures to control its further spread,” says Mr. Raj Manek, Executive Director and Board Member, Messe Frankfurt Asia Holdings Ltd. “We are glad to have the support of the industry and our exhibitors who’s interests are at the center of this decision. We’re working on next steps to make the process easy and ensure business continuity for the industry going forward,” added Mr. Gaurav Juneja, Director, MEX Exhibitions Pvt Ltd
The organisers intend to announce the new Mumbai launch dates in the coming weeks, after consultations with industry stakeholders. The Delhi edition continues to be on schedule from 21 – 23 August 2020.
Messe Frankfurt India has announced the Screen Print India 2020 - New Delhi debut edition. The trade fair will be held from 21 – 23 August, 2020 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi concurrently with yet another premier tradefair Gartex Texprocess India.
Messe Frankfurt India Trade Fair Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of one of the world's leading trade show organisers, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, acquired the rights of Screen Print India in 2018. In 2019, Messe Frankfurt India and MEX Exhibitions enter into a strategic alliance to create Gartex Texprocess India, an integrated business platform for textile sector. Consolidating its expertise in the textile portfolio, Messe Frankfurt India, the leading trade fair organisers have announced that Screen Print India 2020 will make its debut in New Delhi alongside Gartex Texprocess India, thus bringing latest advancements and machinery in sectors like screen printing, textile printing, digital and sublimation under one roof.
“It is a tactical step to co-locate the Delhi edition of Screen Print India exhibition with the forthcoming Gartex
Texprocess India. This way, we are also able to offer a comprehensive product showcase to visitors across diverse categories within the garment and textile finishing sector in general and screen and digital printing sector in particular for this segment of buyers,” emphasized Mr. Raj Manek, Executive Director and Board Member, Messe Frankfurt Asia Holdings Ltd.
Moreover, like its Mumbai edition, Screen Print India New Delhi will also feature a special “SPI Sample Gallery” showcasing award winning pieces of screen printing excellence. Informative sessions and workshops will be conducted by various leading international experts on a wide range of topics related to the graphics industry.
Considering the potential of screen printing sector in India, the organisers are in talks with leading industry associations such as Screen Printing & Graphics Association of India (SGAI) to extend support and participation at the show. While the Mumbai edition continues to grow with surging figures in international participation, the Delhi edition of Screen print India is also expected to attract exhibitors from international borders. Owing to rapid technological changes, leading brands will conduct live demos of their latest technological offerings in screen printing, digital sublimation, heat transfer and textile printing, garment decoration to potential business visitors and traders.
Focused knowledge seminars throwing light on various processes and technical advancements is another highlight. Moreover, the show floor will display an array of product launches and live demonstrations to help decision makers and buyers invest in the right technology.
At the same time, Gartex Texprocess India, dedicated to the entire value chain of garmenting & textile manufacturing, is expected to give a much needed boost to the domestic industry. Various zones and focused segments ensure cross-sector, creative and collaborative interactions among the stakeholders; while the dynamic synergy will highlight the latest tech-advancements and trends that the country’s textiles and apparel industry is moving towards.
Following the WHO declaration that the Covid-19 outbreak is now a pandemic, Make it British Live! event has been postponed until further notice.
The number of cases in the UK is rising and is expected to increase dramatically over the coming days. This has increased the risk of contamination to the exhibitors, visitors and their families, by making the trip to the event.
In a press release issued by Make it British Live! they informed, “This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we have tried hard not to do this, but we no longer feel that the decision to keep 'business as usual' is in line with worldwide medical developments. By the time the event is due to take place we will be in the midst of a national emergency. Whilst we really want to continue with the event, we believe the right thing to do is to make this decision now to give enough time for everyone to cancel travel arrangements or hotels.”
But in line with the fact that the UK manufacturers need them now, more than ever, they are planning the Make it British Virtual Expo which will take place online at the end of May.
The virtual event will include everything that the live event does, including the conference, the networking and the workshops. Each exhibitor will have their own virtual booth that they will be able to ‘man’ for the duration of the show using a webcam that can be attached to any computer.
With this new arrangement, some of the international visitors, who might not otherwise have been able to attend, will now also be able to ‘visit’ the show, meet the exhibitors, watch the talks and network with other visitors.
And since there’s no longer any need to travel, exhibitors will be able to display a greater range of products and include more people from their teams than otherwise possible.
This virtual expo model, and the software platform chosen for it, has already proven to be successful for other large events and the organizers are confident that it will give the platform that UK manufacturers and British-made brands deserve.
