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Unilever has rolled out an initiative to improve the livelihoods of a million apparel workers in Bangladesh and enhance their overall health and well-being. Unilever is the largest fast moving consumer goods company in Bangladesh. Specifically the aim is to ensure good health and well-being for all ages, ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, and ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. In addition, Unilever will make its products available inside factory premises at special prices exclusively for workers.
The garment sector, being the bulwark of economic growth for Bangladesh, has been making a crucial contribution of approximately 11 per cent to the gross domestic product. With more than 4.4 million workers employed in the sector, about 60.8 per cent of whom are women, the growth of the garment industry has far reaching implications for the economy.
Unilever is one of the world’s leading consumer goods companies, making and selling around 400 brands in more than 190 countries. Thirteen of the world’s top 50 brands are owned by Unilever. Its business activities span a complex, global value chain. Its products are distributed to 25 million retailers. Unilever is also the second largest advertiser in the world.
The Renewal Workshop’s circular model for renewal and re-commerce not only drives sales and customer engagement for brands but also has significant environmental impact. Based in the US, The Renewal Workshop is a provider of circular solutions for apparel and textile brands. The company is organised around the idea that businesses have multiple responsibilities for generating positive, lasting value.
The apparel industry’s take-make-waste cycle is turning circular with the rise of re-commerce. This is changing the game for brands who see their products resold on third-party sites. The Renewal Workshop enables brands to be a driving force in this transition, with a complete solution that not only manages the collection, renewal, and quality of a brand’s damaged or used garments, but also the back-end of the brand’s own re-commerce site. This allows brands to engage directly with customers in their own branded second-sale channel. The Renewal Workshop operates a zero-waste circular system that recovers the full value out of what has already been produced. Brand partners receive impact data on the amount of water, carbon, and chemicals that are saved through their partnership. To date, over two hundred thousand pounds of apparel have been diverted from waste in this system.
Serai, a platform belonging to the HSBC Group, helps apparel companies in Bangladesh to build networks they know and trust, paving the way for transparent and sustainable supply chains. The whole concept is a network of interested parties who gain value from interacting with each other. Serai allows companies to showcase their capabilities, find new connections, and build new / strengthen existing relationships. The Serai platform is currently by invitation only. Over time, there will be other proprietary and third party solutions on the platform ranging from insurance, accounting, freight forwarding or procurement, logistics and more to serve the needs of Serai customers.
Serai looks at changing how companies build relationships and transact. The focus is beyond banking – it’s looking at helping businesses successfully navigate the waters of international trade. It is developing non-banking applications and products that serve the needs of this segment. The aim is to be a platform which provides a canvas for companies all over the world, independent of size, independent of sector, independent of geography, to build connections, to build relationships, and start trusting each other. Serai hopes to be the platform of choice for businesses when they are looking for trusted and credible partners to do business with and wants to deliver innovative trade solutions that further the good of domestic and cross border trade.
Garments account for 78 per cent of Vietnam’s export turnover. Export turnover of Vietnam’s garment and textile industry is the third highest after China and Bangladesh. The middle class in Vietnam is expected to account for 50 per cent of the population by 2030. As of now the industry has to import 60 per cent of fiber materials.
Vietnam has not mastered and developed production stages such as dyeing, manufacturing high quality fabrics, high-quality materials and accessories. That is the reason why value added has not been high. One target set for the industry is to create brand names, at least 30 of them by 2030. This is expected to bring long-lasting benefits for the country and future generations. By 2030, the goal is to have an export turnover of $100 billion.
The difficulties being faced by Vietnam’s textile industry include: rising costs of raw materials from China and lower prices demanded by foreign buyers. Vietnam is losing its low labor cost edge over other countries even as its use of technology in production remains limited, leading to reduced competitiveness. Vietnamese textile manufacturers are seeing orders decline, with buyers moving to other, cheaper developing countries. Normally, by the end of a year, manufacturers have enough orders for the whole of the following year. But this year many do not have enough orders for 2020, with some reporting a 20 per cent drop in orders from last year.
The Philippines garment and textiles industry roadmap has projected that Philippines will become one of the top 10 global players with annual exports growth of 45 percent. This should be made possible with the elimination of the popular “ukay-ukay” (used imported clothing) and focusing on increase in the utilization of natural and synthetic textile fiber by 5-10 percent.
As per the roadmap, government was urged to address smuggling and proliferation of “ukay-ukay” by strictly implementing RA 4653. The government must also reinstate the SGS pre-shipment inspection and to cancel business permits related to trading of used clothing.
Incentives to the industry are also pushed in the short term for the innovative product processing that promotes sustainability and green environment. Reduction of the 12 percent value added tax was also pushed.
For the long-term, an annual 45.8 percent annual increase in garment exports is attainable by 2026-2029. The Philippines is well-known for its affordable daily wear global brand as the industry has already upgraded to original brand manufacturer with homegrown Filipino labels. Textile manufacturing in the country can fully support garment producers offering a more diverse range of products both for the local and export market.
Garment and made-up exporters in India have yet to avail of benefits under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) and the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL).
The RoSCTL is aimed at keeping exports zero-rated, as per best international practices, while the MEIS is intended to help exporters deal with several infrastructural bottlenecks, including exorbitantly high logistics costs. While MEIS gains have been held up since August, benefits under the RoSCTL have never been extended since its introduction in March. This has exacerbated a liquidity squeeze for exporters, who typically factor in such incentives while firming up deals. Their ability to honor fresh contracts on time ahead of Christmas has been impaired. This is the most critical season for western apparel buyers.
Benefits worth Rs 5,000 crores are stuck under the schemes at a time when the flow of bank credit remains muted and exports have dropped for months. Overall exports have contracted for four months in a row through November. Most of the country’s garment exporters are small and medium units, with very limited ability to raise resources. They fear that unless the issue gets resolved expeditiously their business will go to new competitors like Vietnam, Cambodia and Poland.
Egypt‘s most famous export, the silky soft cotton prized by makers of luxury bedding and clothing, has become scarce as production fell and most supplies sold under its brand name last year were, fake. But a surge in local cotton prices ahead of next month‘s planting season, and a crackdown on ersatz Egyptian cotton worldwide, is reviving interest in cultivating the long-neglected crop.
Farmers, spinners, and exporters say the weakness of the Egyptian pound following its flotation in November and a scandal over the alleged sale of falsely labelled Egyptian cotton has increased demand for the real thing, injecting life into a historic industry on its deathbed.
Last year, agricultural production of Egypt‘s high quality long-staple cotton hit a more than 100-year low. In a bid to save its historic crop, Egypt in 2016 banned all but the highest quality cotton seed, dramatically shrinking the area under cultivation but restoring quality.
With global stocks low, some foreign suppliers have mixed lower grade lint into yarns and fabrics, passing them off as Egyptian cotton, spinners and exporters said. The Cotton Egypt Association, which provides an official logo to suppliers of 100 percent Egyptian cotton, estimates that about 90 percent of global supplies of Egyptian cotton last year were fake.
Its return to world markets could provide a lucrative export opportunity at a time when Egypt has a huge trade deficit and is seeking to relaunch its stagnant economy.
Brexit could hit British luxury segment hard. A no-deal split from the EU would have negative repercussions across the industry. The European Union buys 42 per cent of British luxury exports. Some brands are already feeling an impact from the chaos associated with Brexit. Additional tariffs, taxes and regulation differences between the UK and the EU may cause a fifth of British luxury business to be at risk.
Since 2013, the British luxury industry has grown 9.6 per cent per year, on an average, compared to the UK’s overall economic growth of four per cent. The leading export markets for British luxury goods are the EU, North America and China. British luxury goods encompass a wide breadth of categories, including apparel and accessories, watches and jewelry, fine wines and spirits and car manufacturing. Luxury car sales account for almost two-thirds of all luxury sales. More than a third of total sales from UK automakers are high-end vehicles. Apparel is the second most valuable luxury industry in Britain.
About 70 per cent of British luxury businesses manufacture at least part of their products domestically, benefiting the economy while emphasizing the brands’ appreciation of craftsmanship. Luxury businesses employ 1,56,000 people in the UK, both directly and indirectly. Many British luxury brands, including automakers, differentiate themselves by investing in apprenticeship programs for a highly skilled workforce.
Viscose has emerged as a sustainable alternative to oil-based synthetic textiles such as polyester, acrylic, nylon and spandex.
Introduced in the late 1800s as an alternative to silk, the plant-based fiber, also known as rayon, is inexpensive to make and applicable in many ways, including for casual wear items, denim, socks, bed linen, towels, face masks and wet wipes. Viscose fabric wrinkles easily and may shrink when washed, but it boasts great qualities as well, including being soft, smooth, lightweight and breathable, featuring excellent color retention and absorbency, draping well and being versatile by blending nicely with other fibers.
Said to be the second largest polluter in the world, right behind the oil industry, the harmful impacts of the fashion industry, which employs more than 75 million people worldwide, are staggering. The industry is not only the second biggest consumer of water, but also responsible for eight per cent to ten per cent of global carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Fashion consumers on an average buy 60 per cent more pieces of clothing than 15 years ago, generating up to 92 million tons of waste, equivalent to four per cent of the world’s waste each year.
The United States and China have reached a tentative trade deal. This would push back any decision to roll out new tariffs.
US and Chinese negotiators have been working on for weeks and President Trump is reportedly prepared to sign the phase one trade deal. The president and top advisors met to review an outline of the deal, which they expect to confirm with Beijing.
Earlier reports, which likely came amid negotiations, said U.S. negotiators have offered to cut existing tariffs by as much as half on $360 billion worth of China-made goods, plus cancel the List 4B tariffs scheduled to take effect on December 15.
The debate over a potential tariff slash has been ongoing for the past month as the U.S. and China wrestled over whether a rollback was ever on the table. Now it seems the offer stands, and in exchange, the U.S. is reportedly seeking firm commitments from Beijing with regard to buying large quantities of U.S. agricultural products, plus the intellectual property protections that set the trade war in motion.
If Beijing doesn’t stick to the commitments that could finally see this phase one deal established, there’s a “snapback” clause that would take punitive tariffs back to their original elevated rates.
If Beijing OKs the deal, the industry could see the impending tariffs officially come off the table.
