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After the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Ministers of 11 TPP members reached an agreement on a new deal called Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Vietnam expects to benefit from the new agreement once it takes effect. Vietnam may not gain much from CPTPP, when compared to the original agreement but analyst say the new deal will open up significant opportunities for the country to cooperate with the world’s leading economies.
It can expand export markets with Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile — with whom Vietnam has not signed trade agreements. Vietnam’s garments, leather and footwear exports and several other labour-intensive industries are forecast to increase. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), is positive, “It’s obvious that without the US there will be fewer advantages. But Vietnam still can penetrate major markets like Japan, its 5th biggest trading partner and 3rd biggest investor and Australia, a potentially strong market for Vietnam’s farm produce.”
Economist Vo Tri Thanh is of the view that the deal will be favourable to a state governed by law with a transparent investment and business environment and a driving force for development. “20 of about 50 clauses of the initial TPP agreement are temporarily frozen. Under the CPTPP agreement, quality must be ensured and attached to the reform of institutions and policies, the most important factors in boosting growth quality and promoting inclusive growth,” He said.
The TPP is estimated to cover 40 per cent of world’s GDP and 30 per cent of global trade, the CPTPP will cover only 14 per cent of world GDP and 17 per cent of global trade. But the challenges Vietnam will face will be the same.
The Dutch brand Braez, which was acquired two years ago by the Turkish Suteks Group, is set to introduce the clothing retailer to Turkey, sats Nur Ger, founder of the textile company. Ger, who belongs to a family long settled in the business, is the owner of Braez, which has 250 stores abroad, together with other Turksh brands.
Suteks produced items for Dutch retailer for 15 years before the acquisition. “A key to our success is sharing revenues with our employees through an income-sharing-system that has been in place for 20 years,” Nur revealed. The company’s key focus is exports to Europe and the US and it managed to stave off any reduction of brand value in-spite of a negative perception of Turkey seen in foreign countries.
Nur disclosed how she went about this task changing perceptons, “We have frequently invited our clients to visit Turkey. In line with our strong communications strategy, we told them our business environment has not changed. Nevertheless, we can see that many investors are waiting on structural changes before committing to long- and mid-term investments,” she said. In 2015, Suteks signed a partnership agreement with U.N. Global Compac to advocate for gender equality. Established in 1986 in Istanbul, Suteks produces and exports high-end fashion.
A new scheme selling cotton to textile enterprises will be launched in Uzbekistan from next year. The presidential decree noted, “Starting with the harvest of raw cotton in 2018, as an experiment, the system of ordering and advancing the production of raw cotton directly from farms and other agricultural producers by domestic textile enterprises will be introduced.”
Through the years, enterprises purchased raw materials from the monopoly supplier Uzpahtasano at export. As per the new order, textile enterprises will finance the basic costs of farming to grow raw cotton by advancing at least 60 per cent of the contract's value. “All delivered raw cotton should be used only for further deep proces sing and production of finished competitive products,” the document noted. The price for raw cotton purchased by enterprises will be established on a contractual basis, based on an analysis of actual costs and profitability of farms. Despite this, it should not be lower than the cost of cotton purchased for state needs. Therefore, the President instructed the government to establish procurement prices for the 'white gold’ harvest of 2018 until January 15, 2018.
Textile enterprises sell cotton seeds to fat-and-oil enterprises and additional products to other consumers through exchange trade. This year Uzbekistan collected over 2.9 million tons of raw cotton. The experience of foreign countries has shown one of the most effective forms of development of the textile industry is the creation of clusters. This model implies the organisation of a single production cycle, which includes the cultivation of raw cotton, primary processing, further processing at cotton ginning enterprises ensures production of final textile products with high added value.
Environmental group Stand.earth’s “Too Dirty to Wear” campaign has demanded Levi Strauss & Co. ramps up its efforts to reduce pollution and increase the use of renewable energy across the entire supply chain. The group draped a banner above Levi’s sign at its downtown San Francisco headquarters, changing the company’s name to “Levi Strauss & CO2.” The group also released an open letter urging Levi’s employees to do more and talk less.
Stand.earth wrote, “We recognize that Levi’s has talked about environmental and climate issues and it has taken some important steps towards sustainability, however, our planet needs much less talk and far more action. Your voice is more important than you think. In the last decade, how employees feel about where they work has been one of the biggest catalysts for new corporate behaviour and policies. You want a workplace that reflects your values — Levi’s can be that kind of company in its walk, not just its talk.”
The “Too Dirty to Wear” campaign wants Levi’s to make a leadership-level climate commitment for the entire supply chain to meet or beat the Paris Climate Agreement, a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The campaign requests the company to transition its entire supply chain to renewable energy, with a minimum of 50 per cent of energy sourced through renewables by 2035 and a long-term carbon emission reduction target of 66 per cent by 2050.
Stand.earth is of the view that Levi’s can catalyse demand for renewable energy in China and India and accelerate the shift away from coal and other fossil fuels. It reports coal is the top source of electricity in the company factories. Levi’s works with 170 factories in China, where coal powers 70 per cent of the electrical grid and in 44 factories in India, where coal powers 75 per cent of the electrical grid. Todd Paglia, Stand.earth Executive Director advices, “Levi’s current climate commitments are important steps, but much more is urgently needed. Already, climate change kills more than 300,000 people each year. Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh has the opportunity to help his company fully realize its own core values of empathy and integrity by leading the apparel industry toward ground breaking climate solutions.”
The Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG has reappointed Stefan Doboczky as Chief Executive Officer of the Management Board. Doboczky’s new contract will begin on June 1, 2018 and he will continue to dedicate himself to these tasks over the next five years. Doboczky and his colleagues on the Board have been able to make excellent use of the favourable market conditions on the basis of previous restructuring to transform the Austrian company with foreign investments into a truly global player with strong Austrian roots. This has created the basis for consistently pursuing the growth strategy Hanno Bastlein, Chairman, Supervisory Board of Lenzing AG says the company has boarded on with the entire team, even under difficult conditions, and thus securing the long-term future of the Lenzing Group.
Besides Doboczky, the Board of Lenzing AG has chief commercial officer Robert van de Kerkhof, chief financial officer Thomas Obendrauf and chief technology officer Heiko Arnold.
The Lenzing Group is a world market leader headquartered in Austria, which operates production sites in all major markets as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing offices. Lenzing supplies the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality, botanic cellulose fibers. Its portfolio ranges from dissolving wood pulp to standard and specialty cellulose fibers.
The Nordic fashion industry joined global fashion leaders at a summit in New York on the future of sustainable fashion and to collaborate with the American fashion industry recently. Despite being geographically small, Nordic countries represent some of fashion’s largest and most crucial global players. Focusing on sustainability and responsible innovation, Nordic fashion companies shared pioneering solutions.
The Nordic Fashion Association presented Nordic innovations around fashion tech and initiatives, focusing on moving towards a circular production system. Among the presented solutions were climate positive fibres, carbon farming, near-market manufacturing, tax systems for rental services, baby clothes on rent prescription, jeans connected to dating apps, zero cotton denim, and more.
Fashion and textiles are the world’s 4th largest value creator. The Nordic fashion scene is growing exponentially to become one of the fastest growing export industries and is expanding three times faster than total exports, however, the impact that the industry has on the climate is huge as fashion ranks among the highest polluting industries globally. This initiative recognises producers of pollution-intensive goods must change drastically. Nordic countries seek to systematically change the global fashion system through the use of innovative technology, a respect for nature, Nordic heritage and sustainable practices.
As Gisle Mariani Mardal, Chairman, Nordic Fashion Association pointed out they need to make sure that their companies can deliver products based on sustainable practices for a better future of fashion. Elin Frendberg, CEO, Swedish Fashion Council presented “Powered by Technology.” She discussed how innovative technology, sustainability and sociology can combine to refresh and rethink the fashion industry. Johan Arnø Kryger, Chief Learning Officer at the Danish Fashion Association, presented “Powered by Sustainability.” He discussed the efficacy of programs such as Youth Fashion Summit and the Educators Summit to instruct designers, buyers and industry leaders on sustainable practices.
The Swiss-based Schärer Schweiter Mettler (SSM) AG launched two new products at the recent ShanghaiTex 2017. The PWX-CTM, for cone-to-muff and the PWX-MTC for muff-to-cone winding, generated tremendous interest. This year’s show attracted a large number of visitors. SSM, as inventor of the electronic yarn traverse system, was present at the booth of their agent Union Trading as well as at Rieter Components. Two machines for the dye package/rewinding process of high elastic yarns had been successfully exhibited.
The best solution to maintain a high residual elasticity of elastic Polyamide (PA) and Polyester (PES) Draw Textured Yarns (DTY) after dyeing is the muff dyeing process with integrated SSM leading yarn winding technology. The new SSM PWX-CTM enables the preparation of low-density muffs while maintaining the highest possible elasticity of the yarn throughout the dyeing process.
For the highest flexible and productive rewinding, SSM PWX-MTC offers the appropriate solution – regardless of whether muffs, hanks, dye packages on dye tubes or coreless dye packages are to be rewound.
Besides the displayed applications, SSM provides a wide range of renowned textile machines. A detailed overview about SSM machinery and supported applications of the textile process chain can be found under Winding Solutions at www.ssm.ch
The 86th edition of the International children's fashion show Pitti Bimbo will be held at the Fortezza da Basso, Florence from January 18 to 20, 2018. The show's previous Winter edition hosted 540 collections of which 315 were from outside Italy, and over 6,700 buyers, for a total of 10,000 visitors. For the forthcoming edition, foreign buyers from Russia, Asia (Hong Kong, China and South Korea), the USA and Europe (France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the UK and Scandinavia) are expected.
The Italian children's fashion industry is growing significantly reveals SMI data, the Italian fashion and textile industry association, with exports up 2.9 per cent during the period January-August 2017. The UK and Russia were leading destinations, while exports to Spain and Germany fell. 86th Pitti Bimbo will celebrate the 50th anniversary of high-end children’s wear brand Monnalisa, with the show's first evening event on 18th January.
Simonetta will present a collection created in collaboration with Vespa, and Elisabetta Franchi La Mia Bambina will showcase two new lines, Newborn (0 to 18 months) and Baby (6 to 36 months) as well as a new footwear collection produced and distributed by Andrea Montelpare.
As for the show’s sections, #Activelab will be focusing on innovation and research in urban and activewear and feature labels such as Bangbang Copenhagen Aps, Barn of Monkeys, Carlijnq, Duukies Beachsocks, Gardner and the Gang, How to Kiss a Frog, Jborn Kids, Kids on the Moon, Kukukid, Loud Apparel, Lucky no.7, Oji, Tom Joule and Wheat. The Apartment section will concentrate on luxury children’s wear, KidsFIZZ will host creative labels, Fancy Room will feature lifestyle products, from interior design to accessories and tech gadgets, while The Nest will be host a selection of smaller brands and emerging labels, chosen in collaboration with Berlin concept store Little Pop Up Berlin.
The EcoEthic section will be dedicated to sustainable children’s wear brands using organic and bio materials. The show will also present Fashion Comics, featuring a series of mini collections by a selection of emerging fashion designers inspired by the Powerpuff Girls cartoons.
Messe Frankfurt has continued to build on its commercial successes in financial year 2017, thus strengthening its market position among leading international trade fair companies. Due to its outstanding business activities globally, the company will set a new record this year with around 95,000 exhibitors. Messe Frankfurt sales will exceed the €660 million mark for the first time. The company is growing sustainably with consistent investments in events and products, in digitisation and in optimising design and capacity use of its exhibition grounds.
On presenting the Group’s preliminary key figures for 2017, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wolfgang Marzin exults, “We also make a point of investing counter-cyclically when we deem this to be the right strategic approach”. With around 95,000 exhibitors and 4.3 million visitors – the highest ever – the Group is setting new records, which is also a testament to the resounding success of the 148 innovation platforms held globally under the Messe Frankfurt umbrella.
The company’s sales have grown to an estimated €661 million, despite a cyclically weak event year. This means that Messe Frankfurt has improved upon the two previous record years. With over €271 million, the proportion of sales generated outside Germany is now at 41 per cent. As a result, consolidated annual net income for the Group will once again be healthy at about €40 million.
The company is pushing ahead with its activities in Russia in spite of difficult conditions there. As one of the main organisers in Russia, Messe Frankfurt’s events are among the country’s leading trade fairs. Messe Frankfurt is also behind one of the leading trade fair companies in South America. Our Argentine subsidiary is also making a name for itself by organising and running major international congresses, such as the WTO Congress with 5,000 participants.
To provide training to people in the textile sector under the Mukhya Mantri Kaushalya Yojana (MMKY), the Madhya Pradesh State Skill Development Mission (MPSSDM) has signed an MoU with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bhopal. The MoU would provide exclusive rights to NIFT for training. As per the scheme, training will be given to around 10,000 candidates in collaboration with several industries. The practical training would lead to recruitment of at least 70 per cent of those who passed. The trainees will get 4 grade certificate from the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship.
Ttraining would be given in 10 to 12 courses as per industry’s needs. Four courses related to spinning have been identified. State domicile and Class 8th pass out certificates are required for training. The one-month training programme would induct students on batch-basis and each batch will include 30 applicants.
