Fespa will be held in Germany, May 14 to 17, 2018. Fespa caters to the screen and digital wide format, textile printing and signage markets. More than 700 exhibitors are expected to showcase the latest technology and applications for screen and digital wide format, textile and garment print, printed interior décor, vehicle wrapping, packaging and non-printed signage.

Fespa will once again dedicate an entire hall to substrates. The show is proving increasingly popular with Aussie and Kiwi print and sign businesses. Print service providers and sign-makers are continually looking at new openings and ways to grow their businesses. The industry is powered by technology and media innovations, and an irrepressible entrepreneurial appetite to experiment with new applications and enter new markets.

Visitors will also benefit from a host of educational features reflecting Fespa’s commitment to investment in education and promoting best-practice, including popular regular features from previous events and fresh initiatives guided by market trends and visitor feedback.

The event is regarded as a key destination for print and signage businesses looking for tools to fulfil their ambitions, and for inspiration from real stories of business transformation.

The co-located Sign Expo will give sign-makers and brand owners a dedicated exhibition for non-printed signage, while offering printers the opportunity to explore opportunities in visual communications beyond print.

To facilitate the partnership between Indian and foreign buyers with manufacturers and traders, a four-day premier textile fair ‘Weaves’, with the theme: Global Connect for Weaving was inaugurated at Texvalle, Coimbatore. Organised jointly by the Confederation of India Industry (CII) and Texvalley, the buyer-seller meet ‘Weaves’ is expected to generate revenue of over Rs 800 crore. The theme of the event is Global Connect for Weaving’. It has attracted about 1,000 business visitors and over 250 exhibitors representing the textile industry ranging from fabrics to weaving machines.

The event was inaugurated by A Sakthivel, Vice-Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council and Regional Chairman, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), who noted that the state accounted for 60 per cent of yarn and fabric exports, and 85 per cent of knitwear exports. It provides 40 lakh jobs per year, 60 per cent of which are held by women employees. The state this year registered a 15 per cent decline in its exports. A coffee table book titled “Titans of Textiles” featuring 28 successful entrepreneurs in the textile sector was also released at the event.

In October, textile, clothing and footwear retail sales grew 1.1 per cent in Eurozone countries in comparison to the same month last year. This is in a way a recovery from September, when sales dropped 7.2 per cent.

So far this year, the only months that have been positive for the sector in the Eurozone was April, when retail sales went up 1.9 per cent, August with a growth of 1.6 per cent and now in October. Between May and July, the sector’s revenue fell, between 2.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent.

In the whole of the European Union, textile, clothing and footwear sales grew in October by 1.4 per cent in comparison to the same month last year. It was the fourth month in 2017 that the sector ended positively, as the business grew 0.1 per cent in January, 1.9 per cent in April and 1.6 per cent in May.

Despite the bounce back, textile was the sector which recovered the least during October. On the whole, retail sales registered a growth of 1.7 per cent in the Eurozone, whereas the European Union grew by 2.1 per cent.

The sector that grew the most during the tenth month of the year was that of computer equipment, followed by the alimentation and drinks sector, with a growth of 2.3 per cent.

Milan will host the next session of the Denim Première Vision trade show in June 2019 in Milan. The session will instead array its stands at the Superstudio Più venue in the via Tortona area in Milan, a regenerated industrial district which also has a reputation for innovation and energy.

Denim PV’s latest session opened in London on December 05, 2018 in London. The event is being staged at the Old Truman Brewery in the hip neighborhood of Shoreditch.

Cotton plays an important role in the Indian economy as the country's textile industry is predominantly cotton based. India is one of the largest producers as well as exporters of cotton yarn. Cotton yarn and fabric exports accounts for about 23 per cent of India’s total textile and apparel exports. During April-September 2018, exports of cotton yarn, cotton fabrics and cotton made-ups grew by 26.8 per cent year-on-year.

Various reputed foreign retailers and brands such as Carrefour, Gap, H&M, JC Penney, Levi Strauss, Macy's, Marks & Spencer, Metro, Nike, Reebok, Tommy Hilfiger and WaImart import Indian textile products. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab are the major cotton producers in India.

India’s textile industry is expected to reach 223 billion dollars by 2021. The Indian textile industry is looking to complete its transition in the wake of demonetisation and GST. Internal factors are improving, even as external factors are in favor of India. China is retreating from a large part of the textile value chain and that is expected to favor India.

On export front too, things are turning around. Exports of textile and apparel grew 38 per cent during October 2018 as compared to October 2017. Over the same period apparel exports grew at a whopping 54 per cent.

Apparel exporters in Bangladesh don’t think sharing seaports with India is a good idea. They feel this will add to congestion. In Bangladesh, it takes about 45 days for execution of an export order, which is 10 to 12 days in China. Due to congestion at the ports, sometimes garment exporters have to ship goods by air, which costs a huge amount of money. Sometimes manufacturers have to offer a discount on price due to delay in shipment.

Bangladesh may allow India to use the Chattogram and Mongla seaports for transporting goods to and from its land-locked Northeastern states. This agreement is effective for five years with a provision of automatic renewal for another five years. But either country could pull out from the deal with a six-month notice.

There is a shortage of required equipment at Bangladesh’s principal port to even handle the current export-import shipment. Bangladesh’s export earnings from the apparel sector in the last fiscal year were up by 8.76 per cent. In the first four months of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh exports earnings saw a sharp rise by over 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s overall export earnings are up by about 5.8 per cent.

The second edition of the Partnership for Clean Textile (PaCT II) campaign has concluded its first year with seven organisations joining it along with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). PaCT II, International Finance Corporation's multi-stakeholder partnership to drive sustainability in Bangladesh's textile sector, aims to work with more than 200 factories to adopt state-of-the-art efficiency and cleaner production practices to reduce water, energy, and chemical use across the textile value chain.

Five apparel companies, VF Corp, PUMA, Levi Strauss & Co, TESCO and GAP and two technology providers Jeanologia and Omera Solar have joined the campaign. Started in January 2018, with support from the governments of Denmark, Australia and the Netherlands, the PaCT II seeks to save 10.9 billion litres of water and 1.3 million megawatt hours of energy every year. In the process, there will be 241,160 tonnes of green-house gases and 10,000 tonne of chemical use avoided every year.

The successful first edition of the PaCT, which ran from 2013 to 2017, helped save 21.6 billion litres of water every year, which is the average annual water use for 840,000 people in Bangladesh.

India’s total exports of textiles and apparel are expected to touch $82 billion by 2021 with CAGR of 12.06 per cent. The total textile and clothing exports, during April-September 2018, stood at Rs 1.30 trillion ($18.56 billion). Ready-made garments exports was Rs 52,810.51 crore ($7.53 billion) during the same time. Fiber exports from the country in 2017-18 was valued at $2,481.90 million. During April-September 2018, fiber exports stood at Rs 8,429.05 crore ($1,201.06 million).

Total value of yarn, fabrics and made-ups exports of the country was $14.33 billion. During April-September 2018, the exports stood at Rs 54,422.11 crore ($7.75 billion).

Absolute Denim will be the first denim manufacturer to switch 100 per cent of its production to aniline-free indigo dyeing. Based in Thailand, Absolute Denim focuses on eco-friendly materials and processes. The company can produce up to two million meters of denim a month.

During production, some of the aniline stays locked into the indigo pigment and is difficult to wash off the fabric. The remainder of the aniline impurity, approximately 300 metric tons annually, is discharged during dyeing. This can be an issue as aniline is toxic to aquatic life. In addition, exposure levels to factory workers can be high. Denisol Pure Indigo, developed by Archroma, is an aniline-free indigo solution for designers, manufacturers and brand owners who long for authentic indigo inspiration. The new indigo dye performs exactly the same as conventional indigo.

Archroma is a leader in color and specialty chemicals. Absolute Denim consciously adopts eco-advanced innovations in its daily production. Denisol Pure Indigo is one such. Similarly Archroma and Kathmandu, an outdoor brand from New Zealand, have teamed up to create an exclusive vintage casual look. The colors available in the capsule collection are slate blue, burnt olive and burlwood rose made from the non-edible parts of nutshells, almond shells, rosemary, saw palmetto, bitter orange and beetroot, left over from agriculture industry or herbal extraction.

"The change of climate in Vietnam is causing its inhabitants to shift from agriculturally-rich Mekong Delta to urban areas. As recent government statistics reveals, over 1.7 million residents have relocated out of the vast expanse of fields, rivers and canals over the last 10 years. Adverse climate conditions such as extreme floods, cyclones, erosion, and land degradation are making natural resource-based livelihoods more difficult, further encouraging inhabitants to migrate."

The change of climate in Vietnam is causing its inhabitants to shift from agriculturally-rich Mekong Delta to urban areas. As recent government statistics reveals, over 1.7 million residents have relocated out of the vast expanse of fields, rivers and canals over the last 10 years. Adverse climate conditions such as extreme floods, cyclones, erosion, and land degradation are making natural resource-based livelihoods more difficult, further encouraging inhabitants to migrate.

The labor situation in the country’s manufacturing sector is adding to its woes. Forced and child labor, gender discrimination, health and safety issues, wage theft, excessive working hours, and more egregious behavior is commonplace in a setting where demand increases pressure to make and ship goods quickly at the lowest prices.

EVFTA to eliminate custom duties on 99 per cent goods

The Vietnamese government, to tackle these, is setting up an equitable and sustainable response to climate change, by including environmental and worker rights stipulations in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The EVFTA will bring considerable benefits to all trading parties as it will eliminate customs duties on over 99 per cent goods, increase investments from EU and pave the way for a wider EU-Southeast Asia trade deal.

The FTA emphasises on sustainable development, environmental protection and labor rights, requiring supply chains to establish and expose their practices in each of these areas. A primary chapter is dedicated to the labor and environmental matters relevant to trade relations between Vietnam and EU countries. It outlines specific provisions to promote “mutual supportiveness between trade and investment, labor and environmental policies,” according to the “Guide to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement,” while also dictating that the anticipated boom in trade doesn’t come at the expense of workers and the environment.

Agreement ensures compliance to labor regulations

Specific to climate change and environmental impacts, the FTA includes commitments for each party to implement additional multi-lateral environmental agreements. Companies participating in the EVFTA can mitigate risk and ensure their downstream suppliers are following all applicable safety and labor regulations by leveraging technology for traceability.

In the past, duplicative audits with multiple companies conducting the same audits on overlapping factories were a serious issue. It led to audit fatigue at the factory level, with often contradictory requirements leading to confusion during the audit. The advent of third-party and shared auditing has resolved many of these issues, with companies working together to resolve setbacks and mitigate risk without stepping on each other’s toes or exposing sensitive information.

Building stronger relations through collaboration tools

Technology-based solutions help companies increase supplier collaboration and visibility, support greater supplier accountability, and provide a conduit for broader, proactive supplier management activities. The best technology solutions offer the functionality to fulfill the end-to-end, develop-to-shelf needs of both retailers and suppliers. Integration to external and third-party systems can push and pull information into a central repository to increase its value and preserve existing investments.

To ensure complete visibility and collaboration, technology should facilitate internal sourcing and compliance teams to work with factories, vendors and outside inspection teams to maintain strict adherence to the numerous performance standards, and subsequently build stronger relationships with each link in the supply chain through the collaboration tools on the platform.