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Shima Seiki’s Mach 2 S whole garment knitting machine offers the flexibility of producing whole garment knitwear using every other needle as well as conventional shaped knitwear using all needles. This feature helps users invest in their technology wisely.
The latest version of Shima Seiki’s 3D design system SDS-ONE Apex3 is at the core of the company’s Total Fashion System concept. Apex3 is designed to provide comprehensive support throughout the product supply chain, integrating production into one smooth and efficient workflow from yarn development, product planning and design to production and even sales promotion. With comprehensive support of the knit supply chain, Apex3 integrates every stage from planning and design to machine programming, production and even sales promotion into one smooth and efficient workflow. Photorealistic simulation capability allows virtual sampling to minimise the need for actual sample-making, reducing time, material and cost while increasing presentation quality in the sampling process.
Apex3 supports design and simulation in a variety of textile including flat knitting, circular knitting, weaving, pile weaving and printing for such industries as towel and home furnishings.
Shima Seiki, based in Japan, is a Japanese computerised flat knitting machine manufacturer. Shima Seiki’s seam-free whole garment knitting technology offers an alternative to labor-intensive manufacturing.
Italian investment bank Mediobanca held its firsts annual ‘Fashion Talk’, presenting the results of a fashion industry study, called Focus Moda, carried out by its research department. The study analysed the 2013-2017 results for 163 Italian fashion companies with annual revenue above €100 million (in the 2017 financial year), and compared the results of the top 15 of them with those of other leading European groups.
The aggregate added value generated by the 163 companies examined was equivalent to 1.3 per cent of Italy's GDP in 2017, an increase of 0.2 per cent compared to 2013. Notably, one third of the companies’ aggregate revenue was generated by 66 foreign-owned firms, chiefly owned by groups from France (26 companies), Switzerland (6), the USA (6) and the UK. Of the 163 companies surveyed, 48 per cent are based in the North of Italy, while the most highly represented market sectors were apparel, leather goods and eyewear.
The top 15 companies in the sample, all of them above the €900 million revenue mark in 2017, recorded higher profitability than the remaining companies, though it decreased slightly over the five-year period. Smaller companies, whose EBIT rose in the period, instead posted an average annual revenue rise that was higher than that of the top 15. It is interesting to note that, in 2013, 77.7 per cent of the sample's net income was generated by the top 15 firms, but the share fell to 56.2 per cent in 2017.
Japanese retailers are making headway in China. They include brands such as Casio Computer and Uniqlo. They are combining their physical presence with strong digital sales. Asics, known for its running shoes, has a large network of stores in eastern China, and to a lesser degree the central and northeast portions of the huge nation. Its sales are down two per cent in the United States and flat in Europe. They're up four per cent in Japan but advancing 40 per cent in China, thanks to strong demand for its Onitsuka Tiger brand of fashion sneakers.
Makeup brand Shiseido has a more even split between northeastern, eastern and central China. Its sales are up over 20 percent in China, driving record company-wide sales and record operating profits last calendar year. Casio sells its namesake watches and all manner of other electronic consumer goods.
Sony and Canon could follow in the footsteps of Casio, all three with a large network of Chinese stores. Japanese retailers are doing a better job than their US rivals in selling to the Chinese. China’s economy is increasingly driven by domestic consumption and consumer spending. Retail sales for China’s 1.4 billion population grew at nine per cent last year.
In early February, apparel retailer H&M revealed its plans to close 160 stores internationally and renegotiate 1,000 store contracts. H&M will need to reposition itself in the competitive apparel market. It can, however, use a similar approach to its Spanish rival Inditex, which has an adaptable and fast supply chain, reducing the need for heavy discounting. Forecasts suggest growth will continue to slow, meaning H&M is unlikely to be helped by market conditions and will, therefore, need to produce a market leading strategy to take on its rivals.
H&M has been struggling to compete against the growth of online e-commerce giants like Amazon, Asos and Boohoo that offer free shipping and returns. Meanwhile, budget chains such as Primark compete strongly on price. At the higher end, retailers such as Inditex have performed exceptionally well, and the company has managed to ramp-up its online sales.
More exhibitors, latest technologies, knowledge sharing sessions, larger area, global visitors will mark the third edition of ITMACH India 2019, from December 5-8, 2019. The third edition of ITMACH India will be held from December 5-8, 2019, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, an most important hub for textile manufacturing in the country. This edition of ITMACH India will be important for the textile industry, especially in the Asian region, being the first large scale show in India, just about six months after ITMA 2019, in Barcelona.
Over 500 exhibitors are expected to attend the event who will display latest technologies. A number of important players in the textile engineering industry have already signed up as exhibitors. An added attraction at ITMACH India this time is a series of conferences, which will have renowned international speakers, and will attract a global audience. Indian Textile Sourcing (ITS) Exhibition 2019 will be held concurrently to ITMACH India 2019.
Pakistan’s share in the European Union’s imports increased by 0.5 per cent in both knitted and woven categories over 2013-2017. That means GSP Plus status, valid till 2023, hasn’t helped much. However, over the same time the share of Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam increased six per cent, two per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.
The main challenges facing Pakistan's textile sector are lack of product and market diversification, low value addition and low export competitiveness. Among the measures contemplated are focusing on the domestic supply chain, adoption of latest technology, making access to industrial raw materials easy and affordable and capacity building. One essential area is making access to credit convenient and easy, especially for the small and medium sector, and introducing policies to make the system of acquiring bank credit simple and friendly and doing away with complex procedures.
Pakistan’s textile sector plays a vital role in the country’s economy with 8.5 per cent share in GDP, a 40 per cent share in the industrial workforce, a 25 per cent share in industrial value addition and a 21 per cent share in large scale manufacturing. Pakistan’s share in the global garment market is 1.1 per cent.
Recent media reports in Bangladeshi suggest factory owners and authorities are insisting the Accord should transition its tasks to a national inspection body by a fixed date and not accept any conditions on the readiness of that body to carry out those tasks. If the government of Bangladesh and factory owners manage to expel Accord, it will reverse significant advances made to factory safety over the past five years and create irreversible reputational harm to the garment industry itself.
As witness signatories to the Accord, Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network, and Worker Rights Consortium support the eventual transition of Accord inspection tasks to Bangladesh’s national regulatory bodies, including the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC). Yet, such a process must be made conditional on clear and concrete readiness criteria, as formulated and overseen by the International Labour Organization.
The 2019 International Woolmark Prize, to be held at the London Fashion Week will feature an esteemed line-up of industry experts on the judging panel. The winners of the menswear and womenswear will each receive AU$200,000 to help support the development of their business. They will also receive ongoing industry mentor support, Woolmark certification for their winning collection and the opportunity to be stocked in some of the world’s most prestigious department stores and boutiques. The Innovation Award winner will receive AU$100,000 as well as ongoing industry mentor support and commercial opportunities.
The Woolmark Company has also partnered with online wholesale platform Ordre for the third year to present online showrooms for the International Woolmark Prize winners' and finalists' capsule collections to an invitation-only retail network and will allow wholesale orders to be placed.
Japanese sportswear company Asics, is collaborating with the Charity I:Collect on a sports apparel recycling and reuse initiative in Europe. The initiative will be launched at the Barcelona Marathon on March 10, 2019 where two companies will work together to collect used sports apparels and footwear for reuse or recycling. The programme will enable the recycling and reuse of Asics products at eight marathons happening across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Asia).
The Japanese brand has claimed that any merchandising and promotional apparel developed for the races is generally made from sustainable materials. The move is followed by announcement made by Asics to collect more than 30,000 pieces of sports apparels from the consumers in Japan. The collected pieces will be further recycled by the year 2020. Both initiatives aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent across the globe by the year 2030.
Enter Fabscrap, a non-profit organisation is dedicated to recycling and reusing textiles that are unsuitable for donation. Every day, 3,000 pounds (some 1,350 kilos) of scraps arrive at the group's massive warehouse in Brooklyn - part of a huge complex that used to belong to the US Army, according to Fabscrap founder Jessica Schreiber. The organisation has established partnerships with about 250 ready-to-wear labels and several haute couture houses - and the waste they collect is representative of that variety.
There is everything in the warehouse piles from luxury pieces by the likes of Oscar de la Renta or Marc Jacobs, to mainstream retail labels like J Crew, to scraps from the workshops of up-and-coming designers. Last year, Fabscrap picked up a total of 150,000 pounds of fabric.
