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According to chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), M. Senthil Kumar the Indian textile industry is expected to attract investments of Rs. 1 lakh crore ($14.74 bn) in technical textiles by 2025. He was speaking at a conference on technical textiles and non-wovens organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Coimbatore yesterday.
Kumar said of the twelve major technical textile items, packtech has the largest share with 42 per cent. The next in line are industrial textiles and home textiles each accounting for about 10 per cent.
Technical textiles is one of the fastest growing segments in the textile industry and has registered an annual compounded growth rate of 11 per cent. It has the potential to grow to 20 per cent. However, the production capacity is currently focused on commodity products and not on innovative ones. The industry should make investments in technology, especially in Tamil Nadu, to tap the potential in technical textiles.
According to a presentation made by an official of the Regional Office of the Textile Commissioner here, the technology mission on technical textiles launched in 2010 with an outlay of Rs. 200 crore ($.03 bn) was extended till the end of this financial year with an additional outlay of Rs. 55.2 crore($8.14 mn).
As per Raja M. Shanmugham, president of Tirupur Exporters’ Association, Tirupur aims to touch an annual turnover of Rs. 1 lakh crore ($14.74 bn) by 2020 from the current Rs. 36,000 crore ( $5.3bn) . Industries in Tirupur need to look at different products including technical textiles to achieve this target. The Central Government should establish centres of excellence in hubs such as Tirupur.
Scores of garment factories in Bangladesh have shut down as workers went on strike. This could in a way hit supplies to top Western retailers during the busy holiday season.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) closed 55 factories in a suburb on the outskirts of Dhaka, association president Siddikur Rahman said, after police arrested at least seven people who were leading the strike. These factories will remain closed until the government says it is safe to reopen them, Rahman added.
Here, it must be noted that workers there went on strike nine days ago in protest against the firing of 121 of their colleagues and soon added a pay hike to their list of demands. The protest escalated earlier this week when police fired rubber pellets, injuring 10 demonstrators according to labour leader Taslima Akhter.
Several hundred policemen have since been deployed in the industrial zone, home to the factories which supply leading Western retailers such as GAP, Zara and H&M. The workers want their salaries to be tripled from 5,300 taka (USD 67) to 16,000 taka.
The government raised the minimum wage for garment workers to 5,300 taka in 2013 after the industry came under intense international scrutiny over a series of disasters that killed scores. But even after the increase, Bangladeshi garment workers remain among the lowest paid in the textile sector in the world.
Bangladesh's USD 30 billion garment industry has a woeful history of poor pay and conditions for its four million workers. The garment workers have vowed to continue the strike until their demands are met. Garment manufacturing makes up for 80 per cent of Bangladesh's exports and a prolonged interruption would have a cascading impact on the impoverished country's economy.
Among various forms of slavery, employing children in the textile industry in India is a cause of concern. It is said that the practice of slavery is rampant in more than 90 per cent of South India's spinning mills that produce yarn for Western brands.
Researchers have asked for mapping of supply chains and do tougher audits. The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organization, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.
Most female workers employed in the 734 mills involved in the research were aged between 14 and 18, ICN reported and up to 20 per cent of the workers were younger than 14. The concerned report further states that employees were forced to work long hours by employers who often withheld their pay or locked their employees in company-controlled hostels. Many of them also faced sexual harassment. ICN Director claimed in a statement that they have raised the issue for five years now, but even to them the scale of this problem came as a shock.
K. Venkatachalam, chief advisor of the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association said that he was not aware of the research. He said the state government had recently filed a report in the Madras High Court clearly stating that these issues are no longer prevalent in the industry and the matter has been closed.
India is one of the world's largest textile and garment manufacturers. The southern state of Tamil Nadu is home to some 1,600 mills employing between 200,000 and 400,000 workers. Traditionally the dyeing units, spinning mills and apparel factories have drawn on cheap labor from villages across Tamil Nadu to turn cotton into yarn, fabric and clothes, most of it for Western high street shops.
Polish company Inovatica sp. z o.o. has developed ‘biotextile’ an innovative T-shirt fitted with bio-monitoring capacities that allows to perform electrocardiography (EKG) on the patient wearing it. Bogumil Zieba, the company’s managing director, confirmed that Inovatica aims to launch large-scale production of the particular T-shirt and that the next phase of the project will be to introduce it to the domestic and foreign markets.
Senior company representatives said that bio-monitoring system could be integrated with the T-shirt in a way that would make it possible to wash and clean it and use it in a regular way. The product should also allow recording the electrical activity of a patient’s heart with the use of electrodes placed on their skin.
The company is currently working on developing a new technology that would help allow producing individual T-shirts based on a 3D scan of the patient’s body. Once the necessary technology is available, Inovatica will introduce its bio-textile product to the Polish markets and also launch export sales of the T-shirt.
Amid expectation that regional trade can provide opportunities to both the economies, Pakistan has called upon Uzbekistan to explore joint ventures in the textile sector. This invitation was given by Pakistan Commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan while he was chairing a meeting with a high level Uzbek delegation headed by Ulugbek Rozukulov, Deputy of the Prime Minister of Republic of Uzbekistan.
The minister welcomed the delegation and said that the visit would help promote trade and economic relations between the two countries. In order to realise the vision of regional connectivity for enhanced economic integration and to follow up on initiatives taken during the Prime Minister’s recent visits to central Asian countries, the Ministry of Commerce has chalked out a comprehensive plan for trade promotion exclusively focused on Central Asia, he said.
The trade volume between the two countries was $3.92 million in 2015-16 which increased from $2.98 million in 2014-15. Pakistan’s exports to Uzbekistan have witnessed marginal increase from $1.347 million in 2014-15 to $2.07 million in 2015-16 while imports from Uzbekistan have also slightly increased from $1.56 million to $1.843 million during the same period. The minister said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was not reflective of the true potential. Uzbekistan is a country of about 32 million people with exports of $13.32 billion and imports of $12.5 billion.
The Swedish company, We are SpinDye has developed a new method that could revolutionize the manufacturing of synthetic fibers and thereby of pants, jackets and backpacks.
The new method involves no high use of water or heavy use of chemicals in the dyeing process. It is resource-efficient, sustainable, colorfast, and no bleaching out.
The way We are SpinDye dyes synthetic fibers is completely different from the way other textile companies do. It’s focused on sustainability and environmental protection. Above all, the immense use of water is significantly reduced by innovative procedures. Recycled plastic is melted down; the desired dye pigment is added to the undyed material. After that, yarn is produced from it in the desired strength. Clients and manufacturers can further process this yarn as usual.
We are SpinDye is offering its technology for all synthetic materials, such as polyester or nylon, and also for rayon. A combination of synthetic fibers and unbleached wool can be used. There are no limits for manufacturers in further processing: The fabrics can, for example, be coated or equipped with a membrane.
The company works on the principle of the least possible damage to the environment. Use of water and chemicals is reduced to a minimum.
India is in talks with China’s leading e-commerce firm Alibaba.com to help domestic garment exporters market their products online and educate them about payment gateways, security and privacy issues. With Alibaba’s help, India’s garment exporters will be able to promote, design and customise their products online as per clients’ needs and get assured payment, officials informed. The idea behind the intended partnership is to deliver end-to-end solutions for exporters especially the smaller ones who can’t keep huge inventory, they said.
In this regard, the Apparel Export Promotion Council, India’s nodal agency for promoting business between exporters and buyers, has held four to five rounds of discussion with the Jack Ma founded company so far. It’s not only that, the Council said that it was open to talks with other players also. If the deal comes through, small exporters in India will be able to market and sell their products to companies in other countries since sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors.
Promoting small exporters is high on the government agenda because 79 per cent of India’s garment exporters have revenue of less than Rs 10 crore ($1.47 mn) per annum. The council may also seek its online partner’s guidance for managing logistics in the future, officials said.
Although there are more than 8,000 garment exporters registered with the council, less than 100 use online platforms to promote and sell their goods. Exporters need to also explore the e-commerce method of doing business and not limit themselves to face-to-face interactions, the officials observed.
According to industry experts, climatic changes and fast moving fashion trends have made buying patterns unpredictable. Hence, online presence will enable year-round buying and faster delivery for manufacturers and exporters. The entire process of design to delivery, which used to take up to three months in 2004, has now been crunched to 30-35 days and can be further reduced if online platforms are used, they said.
In 2015-16, India exported readymade garments worth $17 billion. The industry has seen fluctuations in the past six years due to global economic uncertainty and loss of competiveness to emerging economies in the region, especially China and Bangladesh. Shipments to the European Union, the top destination for India’s garment exports, fell 5.5 per cent in 2015-16 from the previous year.
According to Ashok Rajani, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), exports of India's garment is poised to register a positive growth in 2017-18. He was speaking on the sidelines of the award for excellence in global exports for apparel sector. He said that the Council has an ambitious target for export and job creation in the next three years. For this, he called upon the winners to be mentors to the start ups and SMEs in this sector and together strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Divulging on the subject, he further added that the garment export industry was poised to grow in 2017 with the initiatives announced by the government along with the good quality products aided by innovative design prowess that will drive the change for the industry. The growth will also help in meeting the target of Rs. 6,000 crores and create one crore jobs set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a special package for the Apparel Export Industry.
Highlighting the achievements of the industry during 2015-16, Rajani observed that in 2015-16, the share of textiles and apparels in total exports increased to 15 per cent from 13 per cent in 2013-14. He said that he was proud to inform that India has today an expanded capacity with seven new Common Effluent Treatment Plants with Zero Liquid Discharge technology in last two years covering 3000 SME units. He also said that eight apparel and garment making centres were set up in all NER (North- Eastern) States and Sikkim for promoting garment manufacturing in NER (North-East).
Cordura Brand will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. On the occasion, festivities will happen throughout the next year that will present a wide selection of new uses, special design collaborations, innovative developments and parties. The first anniversary celebration will take place at the specialized trade show Outdoor Retailer USA that will happen from January 9 to 12 in Salt Lake City, USA.
The celebrations will be followed by the Munich Fabric Start-Bluezone (January 31- February 1 2017), ISPO Munich (February 5-8) and Techtextil in Frankfurt (May 9-12). In all these shows, Cordura Brand will disclose a new collaboration with Cotton Inc. and Lenzing Tencel powered with the Cordura Brand nylon 6.6 performance fiber technology.
Another premiere will be a generation of Woolrich fabrics. This new partnership will present garments made with ‘Wool-Dura, a special technology that combines together the appreciated durability of the Cordura Brand fiber with the natural Woolrich wool qualities of warmth, comfort and softness born with the aim to create a modern classic.
On the denim front, the Cordura Combat Wool Denim range is developed with Struktur Studio (specialized fabric and sports apparel creative studio) and Artistic Milliners. The new Artistic Milliners’ denim fabric Authentic Alchemie Collection will offer a portfolio of on-trend, classic, hard wearing, and authentic original Cordura Denims with at least four times more abrasion resistance than traditional cotton denim fabrics.
In 2017, Cordura Brand will also introduce the first results of their design collaboration with North Carolina State University College of Textiles for the “Menswear for the Millennial Male” project. The aim of the initiative is to help students bring to life innovative, tech-focused professional apparel for the modern male consumer.
The second edition of Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) will go underway from August 21, 2017. The three-day apparel, textile and fashion event is one-of-a-kind programme for people from the apparel, textile, fashion and fabric manufacturers, factories and leaders from across the world to meet each other. The show promises to provide a platform to develop global industry connections.
ATSC has also secured a 50 per cent increase in exhibit space for the event that will be held in Toronto’s International Centre. The event will bring to Canada hundreds of apparel and textile manufacturers from around the world, including China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, US, UK, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and many more. It will include comprehensive trade show and conference.
The programme is to be held in association with Canadian and International partnerships such as the Canadian Apparel Federation (CAF), US based Fashion Business Inc. (FBI) and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel (CCCT). JP Communications, a business sourcing platform is the producer of the event. ATSC debuted in 2016 with more than 200 booths of merchandise and over 1,800 attendees.
