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Indonesia’s Sritex group has bolstered its production capacity in spinning mills and finishing. With this expansion, Sritex currently has 24 spinning mills, seven weaving plants, five finishing plants and eleven garmenting units, with a total employee strength of over 50,000 people. Development and improvement of human capital is the company's priority. In the two months of early 2017, Indonesia’s textile and textile product exports were up three per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.
The textile sector in Indonesia is an export-oriented labor-intensive one. It employs around three million workers, which is about 17.03 per cent of the total workforce in the manufacturing industry. The national textile industry during the last three years has been driven by new investments and factory expansion to increase production capacity.
For the national textile industry to improve its competitiveness, not only the capital and technology aspects but also competent human capitals are necessary. Therefore, efforts are being made to facilitate the improvement of human resources through a program of cooperation that links and matches industrial companies with vocational high schools. The program involves as many as 50 companies and 234 vocational high schools in east Java.
Luxury shoe and bag retailer Jimmy Choo, with market value of over 700 million pounds (Rs 5,800 crores), has been put up for sale. The retailer says they have decided to conduct a review of the various strategic options open to the company to maximise value for its shareholders. The move was backed by the company's independent directors and JAB luxury, its majority shareholder with a stake of 68 per cent. JAB, an investment company owned by Germany's billionaire Reimann family, wants to sell its stake in the shoes group to focus on food and other consumer goods.
Shares in Jimmy Choo jumped 10 per cent to a record high of 186.25 pence on the news, valuing the group at more than 720 million pounds. The company floated on the stock market in 2014 at a price of 140 pence a share, valuing it at about 550 million pounds.
The sale is expected to attract interest from strategic American buyers as well as Chinese and Russian bidders. The company was founded in London in 1996 by the Malaysian fashion designer Jimmy Choo and the then Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon. It runs 150 stores around the world including India, opening 10 last year as well as refitting 16 shops. Men's shoes remain its fastest-growing category and account for nine per cent of revenue.
Since the EU referendum and is expanding in China Jimmy Choo company has benefited from the drop in Sterling. It has fared better than other luxury retailers such as Burberry, which were hit by Chinese tourists cutting back on luxury purchases.
Amsterdam hosted the Kingpins Show on April 19 and 20, 2017. The show gathered a record number of 90 exhibitors – including accessory manufacturers, garment manufacturers, laundries and full-package providers. The show included more worldwide companies from the value chain.
Trends for the fall/winter 2018/19 were on display. Most influencing will be the return to ’80s and ’90s silhouettes and fabric optics. Oversize jackets and tops, cropped, boxy or boyfriend cut jeans will characterize the evolution of the market. More and more open-end denim with flatter and more regular surfaces will be must haves for seasons to come. Artistic Milliners presented various fabrics including a very open construction, relaxed and slouchy hand denim.
Among some of the most striking innovations launched at Kingpins was US Denim’s new ‘Duvet Denim’. This new authentic looking fabric incorporates leftovers from bird feathers and offers higher insulation from cold, a very soft touch and an interesting nap surface. Part of the new collection is Fluff Wear, a denim fabric that integrates natural and regenerated fibers – remains from the weaving process - blended, spun and woven into new extra soft denim.
Many companies also offered fabrics treated with sulfur dye blues, duck brown and ochre effects.
The volume of Kenyan apparels shipped to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act declined by 12.1 per cent last year. The AGOA allows US buyers to import goods from sub-Saharan Africa without paying duties or facing quota restrictions. But whether AGOA will continue to be favored by the US remains uncertain.
The US is Kenya’s largest apparel export destination. Textiles and apparel account for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s total exports to the US under the pact. Direct employment generated by AGOA increased by 2.5 per cent in 2016 while the number of enterprises operating at the export processing zones in Kenya increased to 91 from the 89 recorded in 2015. Total sales by the enterprises in the 65 export processing zones increased by 5.8 per cent in 2016 compared to the year before.
Exports from the export processing zones increased 3.7 per cent, accounting for 91.9 per cent of total sales. With the country becoming more visible on the global map, local traders are increasingly opening more supply channels to the US, helped by increased interactions with American investors. Kenya is looking to expand the list of products it exports.
Executives from 12 leading Bangladesh companies will be travelling to the United States ‘cotton belt’ to learn more about why US cotton is the world’s preferred fiber?. The tour set for April 30-May 6 will allow the group to participate in multiple meetings with US cotton exporters and help facilitate export of US cotton to these manufacturers. Bangladesh is US cotton’s 9th largest market, with US export commitments there at more than 500,000 bales to date in the 2016-17 marketing year ending July 31.
The individual companies participating in this trade mission are expected to consume about 705,000 bales in 2016-17 – about 11 per cent of Bangladesh’s total cotton consumption. The Bangladeshi delegation will begin its tour in New York with a CCI briefing and an ICE Futures seminar. During their tour, they will also see cotton research in North Carolina, tour the USDA cotton classing office in Bartlett, TN, and visit a cotton farm and gin in West Texas.
<> The group also will meet exporters in the cotton belt’s four major regions and with key industry organizations like: AMCOT, American Cotton Producers, American Cotton Shippers Association, Cotton Incorporated, Lubbock Cotton Exchange, National Cotton Council, Plains Cotton Growers, among others
Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing textile industry. Increasing demand for textiles made way for illegal structures, cheap labors. According to New York-based right Human Rights Watch many global companies are not complying with rules and regulations in their units. Only 29 out of 72 recently contacted companies have released information about how they source their products in Bangladesh, and "many brands have held out completely," Only 17 companies are now meeting the minimum disclosure standard, while some others are starting to move in the right direction.
Bangladesh's garment industry has invested more than $1 billion in safety improvements since April 24, 2013, when the Rana Plaza garment factory complex collapsed, killing more than 1,130 workers and injuring 2,500. Following the 2013 disaster, global clothing companies joined UN agencies and the Bangladesh government in promising improved safety standards. Representatives from North American and European brands visited the country's garment factories to suggest improvements or sever ties with factories that failed to improve.
The government has also hired more than 350 new factory inspectors and passed legislation setting up a workers' welfare fund and allowing stronger union representation. The companies say the efforts are paying off. The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, a group of 29 North American brands, lauded the industry's progress over the last four years as it says their comprehensive programs have begun to transform the industry once repeatedly facing tragedies. The group has 775 factories in its network. Low wages in the South Asian country have attracted global apparel brands and retailers.
Despite Brexit, Britain has revived some of the foreign investment in the country. The recent example is investment of millions in textile industry in the Northwest city of Lancashire. This has helped create nearly 380 jobs and 24 apprenticeships, while safeguarding nearly 150 of the existing jobs. Interim findings from the Textiles Growth Program has shown that 39 business across Lancashire have invested £8million in the program over four years. And as David Hardman, Chairman of Accrington-based textiles firm Lantex opines despite overseas competition they continued manufacturing for both domestic and international markets.
Figures from the Textiles Growth Program show nationally there has been a £200million growth in production in the last two years. They also estimate textiles production in the UK was worth £9.1billion last year and 4,450 additional jobs were created or safeguarded by the Textiles Growth Program. The program focused on five Local Enterprise Partnership areas (LEP) which previously had a history of textiles manufacturing .These include: Lancashire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Leicestershire.
As per Lorna Fitzsimons, Founder and Director of Textiles Growth Program points out five years ago, Lord Alliance challenged Sir Vince Cable, the then secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, to recognize the opportunity for increasing UK fashion and textiles manufacturing. Thus began an extensive study on supply and demand for UK fashion and textiles manufacturing in decades.
Bayard Winthrop, CEO and Founder of the clothing brand American Giant, is not impressed by President Trump’s mission ‘Buy American, hire American’. Winthrop says the problem is not that it's hard to manufacture in America. American Giant was founded in 2011, and it has remained committed to selling Made-in-USA garments for a price that most would consider reasonable for their touted quality. It makes most of its garments in a factory in Middlesex, North America. The brand has proven that selling American-made clothing can work as long as you make something people want to buy. American Giant found early success with a sweatshirts that was crowned "the greatest hoodie ever made" in 2013, and that success has moved into other categories like women's pants.
Winthrop admits that small tweaks to trade deals like NAFTA could help American Giant, he adds it would really help his business by fixing the other things that every business has to deal with simplifying taxes and health care. He says they are not talking about that in a meaningful way and you're going to find in a hurry that a lot of things like immigration are important to this business in case one took the time to go to North Carolina along with him for six hours and meet some of these people and talk about the actual challenges.
He further adds, he will keep sailing on with American Giant whether lifted or buffeted by the Trump administration's policies. He leaves it on the customers to judge and at some point have someone in Washington says Winthrop.
World cotton supply and demand estimates for 2016-17 include a modest net increase in world production, concentrated in China, Brazil and several other countries and partially offset by a reduction in Australia. However, the real wild card is US exports for the new crop market. The old crop market has been driven by a boom in US exports. This is reflected by a seven-month uptrend in both price and export sales, representing an expansion of the demand relationship. Most of this expansion can be attributed to the particularly good, and widespread, quality of the 2016 US crop.
To the extent greater export demand for US cotton depends on the US actually having the biggest supply of quality cotton in a given year, it remains to be seen whether the US will retain this larger market share. We don’t know what the quality of the 2017 crop will be.
On consumption side, domestic mill use can be expected to be around 3.5 million. However, market share may be influenced by more longer-lasting things, like the reputation of the sourcing country, and the expanded relationships between suppliers and buyers. Perhaps then there will be positive spillover into the new crop marketing year that is somewhat independent of the specific quality of 2017 US cotton supplies.
The UK bedroom textiles market is set to grow by 12.5 per cent between 2017 and 2022, reveals research and consulting firm GlobalData. The report explains how retailers are successfully able to target shoppers by suggesting replacing bedroom textiles at regular intervals is an important practice to maintain healthy and hygienic sleep habits.
Sarah Johns, Retail Analyst for GlobalData explains with over a third of shoppers agreeing that they never seem to get a good night’s sleep, retailers can increase sales by emphasizing the ways in which new bedding can improve comfort and quality of sleep. The company believes retailers should also aim to capitalize on the increasingly fashion-oriented environment of the bedroom textiles space. For example, Hygge, a trend embracing Scandinavia’s minimalistic way of living, directly impacted the look of bedroom textiles in 2016 as consumers sought cosy yet minimalistic decor. ‘Lagom’, meaning ‘just the right amount’, is the next Scandinavian lifestyle trend to hit headlines, and a good example of the sort of household trend development retailers should track to stay ahead of the curve.
Johns further adds traditional bedroom textile retailers, such as department stores, need to ensure they communicate the superior quality of their products. This can be achieved through visual social media accounts such as Pinterest, which will help reach a target audience interested in home design and embrace the latest home lifestyle trends.
