Textiles (147)
Collection of expanding fashion brands and retailer's locations across the U.S., is expanding its operations to include a new retail concept boutique in Minneapolis called Union 73. The new retail store opened at the Minneapolis City Centerat 40 South 7th Street, and is prepared to offer trendy, fast-fashion product at affordable prices. Union 73, the chic men's and women's retailer is the brainchild of entrepreneur, Marcus Lemonis, who is the star of CNBC's hit reality series, the profit in which he lends his expertise to assist struggling small businesses around the country.
Lemonisstated that the company is very excited to open the new Union 73 boutique in the beautiful and energetic Minneapolis City Center and its goal is to be the go-to trendy retailer in this community with our ever-changing collection of top quality men's and women's fashions, and we are offering over 1,500 pairs of jeans in all styles, washes and price points to start this new concept.
The 7,000-square foot boutique will feature an extensive selection of denim, jackets, tops, sweaters, dresses and bottoms, as well as a wide range of shoes, accessories and handbags, comprised of well-known national brands. The product base is finely crafted merchandise and the business model is focused on a strong commitment to one-on-one customer relationships.
Stephanie Menkin, president of the Marcus Lemonis Fashion pointed out saying that they are thrilled to introduce Union 73 to the fun, fashionable and diverse consumer base in the greater Minneapolis area, with affordably priced apparel for our transient consumer. The company is looking forward to offer monthly sales promotions for the customers and adding to overall growth as a company, with additional locations of Union 73 already in the works in Jacksonville, and Chicago.
Italian mill Berto is working to ensure that its manufacturing practices achieve sustainable products. With 130 years of business under its belt, Berto has proved to be a sustainable player in the denim market.
For autumn/winter 2018, Berto is offering bio eco denim, a collection of denim made with GOTS-certified organic cotton and GOTS-certified organic indigo dye.
The organic cotton is grown using methods with a low environmental impact. During the cultivation of organic cotton, neither pesticides nor chemical fertilizers are used. The cultivation process also requires a lower amount of water and helps prevent water contamination.
The organic indigo dye used in the collection stems from the processing of the leaves of the plant Indigofera Tinctoria. The cultivation of these plants occurs to the total exclusion of harmful chemicals. The indigo dye is extracted from the leaves through a process of bio-fermentation in water.
Berto is one of Italy’s premium fabric manufacturers. It operates a 100 per cent Made in Italy production chain.
Berto doesn’t use standard equipment. The machines are specially designed together with suppliers to ensure optimal performance. For selvedge denim, Berto even travelled back in time to find the perfect looms. All the blue selvedge fabrics are woven on Belgian Picanol shuttle looms from the 1950s. The looms were bought from a certified supplier and have been carefully restored and are constantly maintained to ensure the highest level of performance.
For online retailers like Amazon, that means a limited share of the profits though it is seriously looking at whether technology can change the fact of the matter. Though online retail is its mainstay, it seems the giant firm is showing a significant interest for the fashion industry as well.
However, analysts in the retail and fashion industry have doubted the ability of the company to seduce the client base considering the company is not what one would call fashion-esque. According to Richie Siegel at business of fashion, the front end experience is not particularly optimized for the merchandising of emotional products while the association with the discounting turns off the luxury form of brands. A number also still question as to whether the site is ever going to have the capability of creating the dream needed to sell top of the line dresses and bags worth a thousand dollars each.
Echo look is a version of the company’s line of Echo branded smart speakers. With the device, the firm is looking to solve the pains of apparel shoppers through making the experience of buying clothes online more natural using personal recommendations and the ability to virtually assess their outfits. It has the ability to place Amazon squarely on the path towards domination of the American apparel industry.
According to the research studies Amazon currently holds 16.6 per cent of the market share for apparel spending by the shoppers who are between 18-34 years. Other firms like the Gap and Macy’s account for 3.6per cent and 3.4per cent of the Millennial’ online apparel spending.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is also not afraid to consider long-term strategy when taking on a new market. The market has been salivating over the fashion industry since 10 years ago when it acquired the multi-brand women’swear e-tailer Shopbop.
Amazon also sponsors two international fashion weeks that now have the brands name on their titles such as the Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo or the Amazon India Fashion Week. This year, the company has escalated its efforts by quietly launching private label apparel brands dealing in men’s accessories and women’s dresses and handbags, as well as a recently launched lingerie line at cut-rate prices.
Los Angeles based technology and software company Tukatech is increasing its offerings for the design community. At the recent Texprocess technology trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tukatech introduced a new suite of applications, including several patent-pending applications and processes the company says will eliminate sketching and any “misinterpretations” that occur as a result. The software uses existing 3-D garments, real-scale prints, Pantone colors and pattern repeats.
Tuka3D designer edition is a visualization application that allows designers to show their concepts virtually without the need for a pattern. The patent-pending program allows users to virtually build a garment from a library of virtual assets. Users can see print repeats and placements in true scale on the garment body and the final-concept visuals can be presented in a design meeting, used in a tech pack or sent to a vendor for visual reference.
TUKA studio is a suite of print-development applications that can be used with other graphic-design software programs. Users can create and preview repeat patterns, check and change colorways, and separate colors for print screens. There are fabric-texturing modules to create enhanced digital fabrics. Users can create yarn-dye weave patterns and knits, which can be viewed on a design flat or on a virtual garment.
An Adobe Illustrator plug-in allows users to add placement prints to graded patterns that can then be sent to Tukamark, Tukatech’s marker-making software, which configures efficient marker layouts.
Tukatech’s Tukacloud operates as a “Web-based digital sample room,” allowing designers and merchandisers to work directly with vendors and manufacturers. In the cloud, users can access all data exported from Tuka3D and other systems in a central platform. Digital files are stored in a protected platform that allows users to access information from anywhere in the world. The Tukabank is a library of PDF patterns or 3-D virtual style files available for download.
Arne Arens is now global brand president, The North Face. Arne’s passion for and deep understanding of the outdoor marketplace, coupled with his management expertise and operational agility, make him ideally suited to unlock new opportunities and accelerate growth for The North Face around the world.
The North Face is a part of VF Corporation. Since joining VF in 2010, Arne led The North Face brand in Europe, Middle East and Africa, where he oversaw sales, marketing, merchandising, product development and direct-to-consumer activities.
In his most recent role as general manager of the Americas, he managed the brand’s Americas business and strategic initiatives for sales, merchandising and the direct-to-consumer business.
Prior to joining VF, Arne worked at Nike in Europe, where he spent eight years in marketing, sales and category roles. Before Nike, Arne served in consulting roles across a range of industries and geographies.
VF Corporation is an international apparel and footwear company and has brands like Wrangler, Lee.
Meanwhile the corporation has reduced its global carbon emissions by 12 per cent from 2011 to 2015.
VF achieved these reductions while seeing vast expansions to its business, adding more than 500 sites to its global operations within the five-year period – a 40 per cent increase driven mainly by retail store expansion.
Smriti Irani’s cotton campaign trends on Twitter as celebs join in
Written by FWUnion textile minister Smriti Irani is back on ‘WearHandloom' that has been trending on Twitter. A selfie in a cotton sari, with the hashtag 'Cotton’s-Cool', and asked netizens to post their selfies and tag five friends was tweeted by her on Tuesday. The hashtag started trending, with people still tweeting their pictures in cotton attire.
Irani has kept a low profile in the textiles ministry, her Twitter campaigns seem to be a hit, enforcing her image as a social media savvy politician. It's the second twitter campaign of Irani which has managed to get people talking, even as she has consciously stayed away from traditional media, preferring to be visible on twitter and Instagram.
Irani's #CottonIsCool campaign certainly got the attention of twitterati. Following up her selfie with posts in which she termed cotton as a "celebration of Indian summer and the cotton industry", Irani had celebrities and regular folk, not to mention her Cabinet colleagues posting pictures of themselves in cotton wear.
The list had names like Advaita Kala, Amish Tripathi, Rajat Sharma, Gul Panag, Randeep Hooda, Anita Dongre, Vir Sanghvi, Virender Sehwag, Mohammed Kaif, Manish Malhotra, Kirron Kher, Hema Malini and Vijender Singh. Those from the government included Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Kiran Rijuju, Piyush Goyal, Manohar Lal Khattar, Swapan Dasgupta etc. Minister for railways Suresh Prabhu and minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha expressed their support as well, with Prabhu calling it his personal choice.
Still in red Mothercare’s digital, international operations lend positivity
Written by FWMothercare reported its latest full-year results and had good news with the second half having returned to underlying profit in its core UK operations. The mother and child specialist’s focus on digital also helped position it for future growth with 41 per cent of its sales now coming online after a 7.8 per cent rise last year.
UK comparable sales rose 1.1 per cent, margin were up 54bps, 70 per cent of the store estate is now in the newly refurbished club format, 10 new website opened around the world and international total sales growth was 10.6 per cent.
CEO Mark Newton-Jones says the company is now in the third year of its turnaround. He further added following a difficult start to the year, the UK recovered in the second half, returning to underlying profit for the first time in six years. International markets showed signs of recovery with strong growth in Russia and Indonesia, and a sales recovery in China, albeit the country is yet to return to positive cash profit.
Digital revenue is currently on a growth trajectory to be over half of its turnover with 83 per cent of traffic coming from mobile. Store numbers are being reduced steadily. Newton-Jones stressed stores still count, outlining a vision that could be repeated across the retail sector as the digital revolution continues.
The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the apex body representing the entire textile industry in the country, has elected its new office-bearers at its committee meeting held recently. J Thulasidharan, Managing Director of Coimbatore-based The Rajaratna Group of Mills, has been elected the new chairman of the apex body.
Thulasidharan, who was the Vice Chairman of CITI till now, has also served as the chairman of The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), president of Open End Spinning Mills Association and SIMA Cotton Development and Research Association (SIMA CD&RA). He is also the president of Indian Cotton Federation, formerly known as South India Cotton Association who holds directorship in Coimbatore Capital and Coimbatore Commodities.
CITI is the apex body representing the entire textile industry in the country. Sanjay K Jain, Managing Director of T T, a vertically integrated textiles company (fibre to fashion) having its manufacturing units in various States of the country is the new Vice Chairman. T Rajkumar has been elected the deputy chairman
UK industrial thread giant Coats’ sales in the four months ending April went up seven per cent at constant exchange rates and four per cent on an organic basis. Reported sales were up two per cent in the apparel and footwear sub-division and 17 per cent in performance materials. But the crafts division saw sales falling three per cent.
Craft sales fell largely due to the business disruption caused by the tornado strike at the distribution centre in the US. However, the impact of lost profits and incremental costs of re-establishing operations there are expected to be covered in full by the group’s insurance cover.
Coats is an UK industrial threads giant. The four per cent growth in total group sales on a reported basis, which is lower than the five per cent constant exchange rate growth, reflects the stronger dollar, primarily against the Turkish lira, Mexican peso and Egyptian pound, compared to the same period in 2016.
The good results came despite continued mixed demand from clothing retailers and manufacturers. An improvement in the US consumer durables markets helped as also the contribution of Gotex, acquired in June 2016.
Coats has had a strong start to the year and now expects to deliver 2017 full-year results ahead of expectations.
The global textile chemical market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of four per cent from 2016 to 2024. The fast growing markets are: China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Malaysia who are triggering demand. Asia Pacific is the leading market for textile chemicals by revenue which accounted over half of the gross revenue in the world over the past couple of years.
Textile chemicals are specialty chemicals in demand due to an increase in the variety of fabrics manufactured. These chemicals give fabrics better quality, flexibility and durability. They are a crucial part of the textile industry and play a vital role in manufacturing different type of fabrics like water resistant fabrics.
The global textile chemical market is segmented as surfactants, desizing agents, colorants and auxiliaries, coating and sizing chemicals, yarn lubricants and finishing agents. According to its applications the market is further segmented into home furnishing, apparels, industrial and others.
However, the major restraining factor for textile chemicals market is its harmful effects on the environment. The textile manufacturing process includes consumption of large volumes of water and specialty chemicals for dyeing, washing, bleaching, desizing and other processes. These chemicals contain surfactants and other toxic material which can cause potential harm to the environment.
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US is the largest raw cotton exporter with 36 per cent export value
Written by FWThe United States is currently the largest raw cotton exporting country in the world, accounting for 36 per cent of the total cotton export value in the world. The biggest market for US cotton is Honduras followed by Mexico. The Dominican Republic is the third leading importer of US cotton and China is the fourth leading cotton export market for the US.
World production of cotton is about 25 million tons annually. China is the world’s leading cotton producer but most of the cotton produced is consumed by the domestic market. India ranks second in cotton production but a large proportion of the cotton produced is also consumed by the Indian textile industry. The United States ranks third in cotton production in the world.
India is the second leading exporter of raw cotton in the world. Exports of raw cotton from India account for 15 per cent of the total global export value of this product. Cotton plays a vital role in the economy of the country and cotton exports contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Telangana are the three leading cotton producing states in the country.
Africa’s share in the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Although Africa does not have a significant domestic textile industry, cotton is grown by small holders in some countries of Africa.
For the first quarter Century Textiles and Industries has gained massive profits compared to the same period last year. Net profit stood at Rs 36.83 crores compared to a net loss of Rs 2.3 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Total income from operations rose four per cent to Rs 2,353.5 crores on a year-on-year basis.
EBITDA – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – grew 4.8 per cent to Rs 204.83 crores compared to Rs 195.37 crores as compared to the same period last year while EBITDA margins expanded 11 basis points to 9.67 per cent in the same period.
Mumbai-based Century Textiles and Industries is active in textiles, viscose filament yarns, cement, and pulp and paper. In the textile business, Century has two revenue streams: cotton fabric and denim units that can be integrated with ABFRL’s businesses. The company has a vertically integrated plant at Bharuch for manufacturing cotton fabrics. Century earned about Rs 1,817 crores, or 8.6 per cent of total revenues, from its fabrics and denim business.
The cotton division of Century is one of the oldest in India and manufactures a wide range of premium textiles and supplies to many international players, including Royale Linen, Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Belk and US Polo.
AAFA releases industry testing guidelines for legwear, hosiery and socks
Written by FWThe American Apparel and Footwear Association, in collaboration with the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC), has released industry guidelines establishing testing standards for legwear, hosiery, and socks. Covering a range of issues - including product safety, labeling, and physical attributes such as color, fastness, and fit this resource provides useful, product-specific testing recommendations for the industry and its lab partners.
Rick Helfenbein, President and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association says these testing guidelines are the latest in a series of member-driven tools that AAFA has released to help the industry ensure cost-effective solutions for common problems.
The legwear industry is unique explained Dan St Louis, Director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center at Catawba Valley Community College. Specific industry testing guidelines are long overdue to ensure the industry has the proper and specific guidance it needs to produce quality, compliant products.
This testing guidelines document is a free, open-industry resource that will be housed on the AAFA and MSC websites. Future versions will be released as updates become necessary.
Woolmark has partnered with Australian shopping centre Westfield to put the spotlight on wool this winter’s retail season. Australian wool is the star in a curated selection of winter accessories, boots, denim and apparel. The campaign supports local retailers, starring wool in a curated selection of winter accessories, boots, denim and apparel, and celebrates Australian merino wool, the growers who produce the fiber and the designers who use it.
Westfield and Woolmark are telling the farm to fashion wool story, recognising people who produce one of the most important fibers for fashion worldwide. The campaign gives customers inspiration on how to integrate wool into their new season wardrobe, alongside a wide range of winter footwear, accessories and apparel from a number of Australia’s favorite brands, all available at Westfield.
The initiative champions the eco-credentials of fiber and says it is the perfect choice for today’s conscious consumer and that, natural or biodegradable, wool provides the global apparel industry with the most renewable, recyclable and reusable fiber on the planet.
The event is not only an engaging way for consumers to experience the natural attributes and luxuriousness of Australian merino wool, it also offers Australian woolgrowers a window into the commercial aspect of the fiber they work hard to produce.
