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The five day forum organised this spring, attracted nearly 40 participants from the China Cotton Association, top Chinese spinning mills, the Taiwan Textile Federation, the Taiwan Spinners’ Association, and Taiwanese spinning mills. The topic was automation in the spinning industry based upon the lack of skilled labour and sustainable development, including discussion sessions on automation realisation, product innovation and spinning mills’ core competency. A subsequent plant visit was arranged to the highly automated spinning mill of Far Eastern New Century Corporation.
<br> Since 1998, the Far Eastern New Century Corporation Hukou Mill has adopted the fully automatic Rieter system, including ring spinning machines (70000 spindles) and rotor spinning machines (2800 rotors). To ensure perfect product appearance and efficiency, the company integrated the whole process, from fibre preparation to stocking and delivering products with highly automated equipment like link systems between roving, ring and winding, automation transportation system for laps, silver cans, yarn bobbin, automatic packing and stocking warehouse.
Even after running for 16 years, the machines still remain in a fairly good condition. After launching Rieter spinning machines, the manpower went down to 10 operators/10000 spindles and production efficiency 5 per cent higher than that of the peers, and the stable Com4®yarn quality is well recognised by their customers. And that’s why the company ordered another nine Rieter R 60 fully automatic rotor spinning machines (3600 rotors) in 2012.
Representatives from top mainland spinning enterprises, like Esquel Group and Huamao Group were impressed by the Taiwanese spinning mill management experience and concept of total automation in the spinning mill.
The textile and apparel industry in Indonesia must work towards improving its competitiveness in face of increasing trade cooperation agreements between nations and globalization of the world trade, Director General of Industrial Manufacturing (BIM) Harjanto said while inaugurating the Uniform and Workwear Fair 2014, organized by the Ministry of Industry in Jakarta.
The textile and clothing industry is one of the strategic sectors that continue to make a significant contribution to Indonesia’s economy, in the form of providing employment as well as earning foreign exchange, Harjanto said.
The textile industry in Indonesia absorbs a large amount of workforce. In 2013, about 1.55 million people were engaged in the country’s textile sector and around 570,000 people were employed in the garment sector. In recent years, the garment sector has become one of the highest foreign exchange earning sectors for the country and in 2013, the value of garment exports reached 7.3 billion dollars, or 60 percent of the country’s total textile exports.
Harjanto said the increase in the value of Indonesia’s clothing exports is the result of hard work an innovation of the textile industry in the face of increasingly intense global competition. The existence of trade cooperation agreements with other countries also makes trade competitive, and this challenge must be addressed carefully by the textile industry by improving production efficiency and marketing strategies, he added.
Pakistan's cotton consumption is forecast to grow by three per cent to 2.6 million tonnes in 2014/15. Comparatively, the consumption grew nine per cent to 2.4 million tonnes in 2012/13. World’s cotton consumption is predicted to go up by three per cent to 24.2 million tonnes in 2014/15.
China’s consumption fell by four percent in 2012/13 to 8.3 million tonnes and is expected to fall by one percent in 2014/15 to 7.8 million tonnes. The volume of cotton traded internationally is expected to decline by eight per cent to 8.1 million tonnes in 2014/15. This was due to reduced shipments to China to an anticipated 2.1 million tonnes in that fiscal year. The exports to the country were registered at a record 5.3 million tonnes in 2011/12.
According to the statement, the increased volume of trade had benefited a number of exporting countries and farmers, though it didn’t reflect the improved demand for cotton. Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam also experienced similar growth in 2012/13 in consumption and should continue growing in 2014/15, though at a slower rate.
Bangladesh's garment industry is worried about the free trade agreement between European Union (EU) and India as it may directly make a negative impact on exports from the country. The ongoing negotiations on the FTA may grant New Delhi, zero tariff access by end of this year or early next year. The EU provides duty free access to Bangladesh and Pakistan under its 'everything but arms' program while Indian products are, as of now, subject to payment of about 12 per cent duty.
Players in Bangladesh fear that the country might lose competitiveness in basic garment products like T-shirt and home textiles if India-EU FTA gets through. The move may pose a huge challenge for the country putting pressure on its garment exports since the trade preferences will lead to boom in production of basic garments and home textiles in India.
Indian is already at an advantage over Bangladesh due to its strong raw material base. Bangladesh’s garment export segment is now demanding that the government must ensure backward linkage industries and investors in these sectors get all necessary support. It also feels that Dhaka should beef up diplomatic efforts to make the EU understand the FTA would hit the apparel industry hard, which employs over four million workers, mostly women.
The Phillipines' Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has released the latest statistics and as per latest figures the country’s fashion and garment industry is bouncing back from where it was in the early 2000. This was confirmed by Ponciano C. Manalo, Jr, Uundersecretary of DTI’s trade and investments promotion, while inaugurating the Sikat Pinoy National Fashion Fair in Mandaluyong City.
The five-day fair, that took place from May 21-25 2014, was launched last year as the first national fashion event. This year, it attracted more than 150 exhibitors from 15 regions, showcasing a wide range of apparel, accessories and other products. The country is hoping for the opening of the ASEAN free trade market in 2015 and the competitive position its fashion, textile and garment industry is currently in, aiming to increase its export share. The aim behind this fair was to expose and showcase the ability of Filipino designers, dressmakers and shoemakers to the global market.
In the first quarter of the year (January to March 2014), Philippine apparel and accessories exports reached $433.527 million, an increase of almost 4 per cent compared to $417.008 million in the first quarter of 2013 according to the National Statistics Office. Micro, small, and medium enterprises contribute about 60 per cent of the total exports.
Inspectors hired by Western retailers have been checking the structural safety of factories in Bangladesh. But a dispute has erupted between Bangladesh’s Inspector General of Factories and engineers from the group of retailers called Accord. The Bangladesh government is refusing to shut down garment factories declared unsafe.
The inspector general has refused since April to review or close down six factories, employing hundreds of workers, deemed unsafe after inspections. Accord represents some 150 mostly European retailers. The dispute centers on the estimated strength of the concrete in buildings made before 2005. Accord’s inspectors put the concrete strength significantly lower than estimates from the country’s main engineering university which advises the government.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology says accepting Accord’s recommendation on concrete strength would prove disastrous for the garment industry and would lead to the closure of at least half the garment factories. Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest clothing manufacturer. But the sector with some 3,500 factories has a woeful safety track record, highlighted by factory collapses and disasters.
Invista has launched a denim fabric under the brand Cordura. The fabric is rugged and helps hard-working jeans last longer than traditional 100 per cent cotton denim. It’s based on a blend of cotton and Invista’s T420 nylon 6.6 fiber and offers the authentic look and comfort of cotton denim, but with added abrasion resistance and toughness. It has stretch and para-aramid properties.
Cordura has been launched in collaboration with Artistic Milliners, a leader in global denim technologies. Other durable performance denims in the Cordura denim fabric collection feature technologies designed to channel moisture and enhance airflow. These denim fabrics contain fibers with a specially engineered cross-section that helps to move moisture away in hot climates as well as hollow core fibers to help provide insulation for added comfort on colder days.
Invista is known for denim innovations with technical performance features that include thermoregulation, moisture management, water repellency, and enhanced tear resistance. Cordura applications include durable performance denims for apparel, including thermoregulation and waterproof denim solutions for hiking, skiing, rock climbing, snowboarding, motorcycling and urban cycling.
Invista is one of the world's largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers and has a manufacturing or business presence in more than 20 countries. It owns brands like Lycra, CoolMax, Cordura, Stainmaster and Antron.
China's clothing exports may fall over the next few years owing to rising labour and production costs. As a result, export growth could falter, this is the analysis by a new report from the global business information company Textiles Intelligence. Rising costs in China are already forcing an increasing number of western apparel brands and retailers to cut back on their sourcing from China and have their apparel manufactured elsewhere. In response, the Chinese government is pursuing a policy of encouraging growth in the domestic clothing market in order to take up slack in its manufacturing sector caused by this apparent loss in competitiveness.
The rise in costs stems in part from significant increases in fuel and shipping costs. Also, wage rates have risen to the point where they are higher than in many other Asian countries. Moreover, wage costs are set to increase further, given the Chinese government’s commitment to raising minimum wage rates by an average of 13 per cent per annum during 2011-15.
Early signs of a shift in apparel manufacturing have been seen in EU and US clothing import trends. In 2013, China’s share of EU clothing imports from all sources in value terms fell from 41.7 per cent to 40.1 per cent, having fallen sharply in the previous year. China’s share of US clothing imports from all sources fell from 37.8 per cent to 37.3 per cent.
In most cases, the companies which are cutting back on having their apparel produced in China are relocating manufacturing processes to other low cost countries – mostly in Asia. In fact, the strongest growth in the EU clothing import in 2013 was in imports from Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan, while the strongest growth in the US clothing import market was in imports from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The potential for growth in China’s domestic market is huge. Consumer expenditure per head on clothing in China is extremely small – despite significant expansion in recent years. In 2012 it was only $290 in urban areas and just $63 in rural areas compared with an average of around $1,400 in Germany, the UK and the US.
If expenditure per head in China were to climb to $1,400, then domestic demand for clothing would be $1,560 billion per annum greater than it is at present. This additional demand would more than compensate for any likely fall in exports, given that it equates to about nine times China’s clothing exports to all destinations in 2013.
It is no surprise therefore, that a number of western apparel brands and retailers are expanding their retail operations in China in order to capitalise on an expected upsurge in domestic demand. One of the biggest opportunities in Chinese retailing, however, lies in e-commerce. This is expanding rapidly in the country in the same way that it is expanding in Western markets and Japan. Online stores have already been established in China by Burberry, Cherokee, Coach, Hugo Boss, Kering, Levi’s, Neiman Marcus, Uniqlo and Zara, to name only a few.
Alvanon, the apparel sizing and fit expert plans to launch a new virtual fit form avatar, based on its AlvaForm technical fit mannequins. The new Virtual AlvaForm will be compatible with multiple 3D fashion design and prototype development systems and will enable garment designers and technologists to create, develop, fit and share their designs on avatars that are an accurate match to their brand’s target consumer.
The Virtual AlvaForm avatar will be made available from September 1, 2014 and will be an exact 3D representation of Alvanon’s widely used physical AlvaForm technical fit mannequins. Used in conjunction with the advanced functionalities of leading 3D fashion design and prototype development systems, Virtual AlvaForms will further increase the speed of the design to market process while yielding significant savings in physical fittings and sampling. Crucially the Virtual AlvaForms will also help garment suppliers apply an accurate fit and size standard consistently across the entire supply chain regardless of location.
Alvanon’s Virtual AlvaForms will be used in conjunction with physical AlvaForms to implement consistency in fit and sizing at every level of the design, development, production and quality process. Garment designs will be fitted on the Virtual AlvaForms, manipulated and edited in the 3D design environments, and shared across the supply chain to ensure everyone has the same fit intentions and information.
DyStar will showcase products based on patented new chemistry at the Interdye & Printing Euroasia 2014 being held from June 5 to 7, 2014 at the Expo Centre, Turkey. DyStar is a leading provider of dyes, chemicals, effects and services for the textile industry. It will launch Remazol SAM, a new range of reactive dyes of pale to deep shades, providing a high color yield and build-up, high fixation yield and good fastness levels.
In response to increasing ecological pressures on mordant black dyes for wool, DyStar is now launching the new patented Realan Black MF-PV, which provides a completely metal-free dyeing process. Realan Black MF-PV provides the highest wet processing fastnesses, even higher than Mordant Black 9 types and far superior to Reactive Black 5 types for wool black.
DyStar will also showcase Lava Cell NSB, a new cold, neutral bio-polish enzyme giving a superior bio-polish performance at colt temperatures of 30 to 40 °C. Visitors can also expect to learn more on the latest range of Dianix XF2 dyes. These five new dyes have been designed to offer excellent wet fastness performance on critical fabrics. As for polyamide apparel exhaust dyeing and continuous polyamide carpet dyeing, the new Telon Red M-CP closes a critical gap in the Telon range.
