02 May 2022, Mumbai:

Bangladesh is fast emerging as a highly lucrative market for Indian consumers looking to buy cheap ready-made garments.

The country is home to several local and international brands and merchants setting up production units and increasing their sourcing from the country.

A robust supplier of formal shirts, tops, denim trousers, underwear, polo shirts, T-shirts, and bottoms to India’s middle-class.

ALSO READ Consumers look to buy cheap garments from Bangladesh

India's garment imports totaled $ 777.35 million in the first nine months of this year, up 25% year on year.

BGMEA, President very recently iterated that vis-à-vis a ballpark import figure of around 7 Bn$ as an Indian export to Bangladesh of our existing around 42-43Bn US$ market size where our industry runs a big deficit. This is quite sanguine to assume/there is merit in assuming our apparel exports to India are an inherent part of the healthy give and take meaningful sustainable relationship.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India), woven garment imports have remained stable, increasing by just 6.75 percent in the first nine months of 2021, with imports valued at US $ 402.75 million.

According to data issued by Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau, India bought $87.4 million worth of readymade garments from Bangladesh between July and November 2017, up 56 percent from $55.92 million in the same period last year.

Bangladesh's knitted garment exports to India totaled $30.1 million in the five months ending July 1, 2017, up 69 percent from $17.9 million in the same period. Similarly, Bangladesh exported $57.3 million worth of woven garments to India, up 51% from $38.1 million in the same time last year.

ALSO READ The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Faruque Hassan: Bangladesh’s garment export to India will continue to grow
The removal of the primary custom tax on garment imports from Bangladesh, according to Confederation of Indian Textile Industry head Sanjay K Jain, is the crucial cause for the surge in imports. India has requested that Bangladesh abolish tariffs on its garment imports, claiming that the two countries can take 35 percent of the global textile market in the next five years, displacing China.

Given the high tariffs on Indian textiles and apparel export items, China has a 54 percent share of imports in Bangladesh, while India has a 17 percent stake. Textile minister Smriti Zubin Irani had previously remarked that Indian businesses might celebrate if Bangladesh allows retailing of ethnic clothes from India at zero tariffs.

RELEVANT NEWS Tech upgradation way forward for Bangladesh RMG to stay competitive: President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan

Various studies for India and Bangladesh have been prepared, indicating the number of goods with higher RCA from 2005 to 2018. The investigation discovered textile dynamics in other countries and Bangladesh in specific.

From 2005 to 2018, investigations have shown that India has a more significant competitive advantage in Bangladesh's Textile and Cotton sector. India's garment producers must pay tax on imported materials, but Bangladesh may import tariff-free fabric from China, transform it into garments, and export it duty-free to India.

This is placing the Indian garment sector at a significant disadvantage.

RELEVANT NEWS  BGMEA: Bangladesh & India has enormous scope to complement each other

It is believed that there will be a substantial rise in this number in the coming days as more Indian businesses transfer their sourcing from India to low-cost duty-free nations such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The economy of the world is currently dominated by the transfer of production, in which developed-country corporations shift their focus to developing-country firms.

The new model is based on a core-peripheral production structure, with a small core of permanent personnel dealing with finance, research and development, technological institution, and modernization.

A periphery includes dependent aspects of the production process.

The primary reasons for this attitude are cost-cutting and increased output. They've realized that moving manufacturing to a nation with cheaper labor and production costs is the simplest way to undercharge.

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29 April 2022, Mumbai:

The entry of Covid-19 has led to huge ups and downs over the past 2-3 years and is still existing. There has been an increase in the market losses, and loads of employees lost their jobs in this pandemic.

It was witnessed after decades and has been a challenging time for everyone across the globe.

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There has been a considerable drop in the textile and apparel industry sales, and it has been complicated for them to get back on track. The market has changed magnanimously, and the dynamics have not been restored yet.

There has been a massive load of work on the organizations to bring the supply chain back on track.

The industries with the most globalized operations, especially those that rely on Chinese inputs for manufacturing, were the most vulnerable to COVID-19's early supply chain disruption. Precision devices, machinery, automobiles, and communication equipment were all affected.

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The fashion sector confronts enormous dangers due to its non-essential character. Indeed, as a result of COVID-19, customers worldwide are no longer in need of new items. This sector is characterized by a worldwide supply chain that is highly interconnected.

Because of the industry's globalization, firms and retailers must move their goods and raw materials across many nations. Other nations, in addition to China, play a crucial role as main hubs for fashion goods commerce.

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This is true for the United States, the largest retail market, and several European nations with ports like Rotterdam and Antwerp playing a pivotal role in this commerce.

Clothing collections often fluctuate since their lifecycles are brief, and prominent seasonal peaks mark their commercialization. Textile logistics, in this sense, is characterized by minimal inventories and short delivery periods.

The COVID-19 epidemic has thrown up many questions, forcing clothing and textile (C&T) firms to reconsider their current processes and make immediate adjustments to manage their future.

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This study intends to show new possibilities in the C&T value chain by assessing various industry solutions. This era represents an exceptional market circumstance with practically no prior research on how the industry might recover from such a crisis and rearrange its value chain.

Regular business operations have been seriously harmed due to a lack of customer demand or the threat of a significant decline in order.

Even though several nations have reopened physical retail establishments, which accounted for 80% of all fashion sales, customers are still wary of virus-spreading crowds and prefer to avoid in-person interaction.

Fashion has become an afterthought as everyone's attention has been obtaining vital supplies to survive the lockdown.

To conclude, the clothing and apparel industry has witnessed an unprecedented condition during this pandemic. It has not been that easy to cope with this situation and regain the supply chain position.

Realignment of the supply chain will take some time, especially for getting back all the needed positioning and profits, hoping that we will get over the pandemic soon and that everything will go back to normal.

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25 April 2022, Mumbai:

We have increasingly witnessed a rapid increase in the amount of Work-from-home with the onset of the pandemic and the lockdown, and this has both its advantages and disadvantages.

There were certain working domains in the market where work from was never present before.

With this massive crisis in the picture, people have adapted to this new working mode and are now evolving in that.

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WFH has shown to be a viable choice for the textile manufacturing business.

Still, it is currently restricted to a few processes and operations in its supply chain, much to the surprise of many.

The most encouraging aspect is that even after one and a half years of COVID-19, garment firms are considering what they can achieve in the long term from remote areas.

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Looking at the statistics, we can see that most of the companies in India have opted to continue remote working conditions for the upcoming two-three years, which is strongly going to affect the work environment of the countries as well as the employees and the company.

As the world is witnessing the %G internet speed facilities, work from home will become more preferred, and most easily doable, come to work from the office.

A handful of companies are planning to shift to that. Most of the domains that require a considerable amount of work on technology and online platforms and computers can be successfully shifted to WFH in the coming times. 

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However, other industries like manufacturing, market, construction, etc., cannot move to the WFH mode as it is highly labor-intensive and thus will be a disadvantage to some people who were enjoying the life of WFH.

Many companies, especially government working spaces, do not have such a well-developed technological infrastructure but do have a lot of employees. So, in such cases shifting ultimately to WFH will become a challenge, and thus they will probably prefer WFO. 

Coming down to the advantages and disadvantages of both WFH and WFO, we discovered that professionals in areas like HR and Finance were more productive when they worked from home during the lockdown.

Their decision-making was rapid, and they responded to emails quickly. They usually do a lot of stuff at the office, but they were more focused during WFH.

We have also witnessed that in areas like Fashion and apparel, there has been a significant increase in sales via the online platform, making it a plus point for them, and thus it has become an excellent boost to them. 

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However, many retail stores had faced a very severe crisis with the announcement of lockdown and the onset of the pandemic.

Several stores had to shut down due to no sales and losses. Online delivery people had to face massive difficulty in delivering orders.

If the industry decides to shift to WFH, they first have to set up a very enhanced team and manage the working and the sales and purchases very efficiently to make the best out of it.

During the lockdown, we noticed that professionals in departments such as HR and Finance were more productive when they worked from home.

Their decision-making was lightning fast, and they responded to emails almost immediately. They generally do many things at work, but during WFH, they were more concentrated.

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01 May 2022, Mumbai:

FTAs are agreements between two or more nations or trading blocs to lower or remove customs tariffs and non-tariff obstacles to significant trade between them. FTAs often encompass goods or services (banking, building, and trading).

Other topics covered by FTAs include intellectual property rights (IPRs), investment, government procurement, and competition policy.

ALSO READ India is currently in the process of negotiating FTAs with several countries

According to an RBI article published on Wednesday, India has to pursue free-trade agreements (FTAs) with major export destinations such as the EU and the US to boost clothing shipments in the face of rising competition from Bangladesh and Cambodia which benefit from tariff cuts.

India has long had a comparative advantage in the textile industry, which includes clothing, and it accounts for a significant portion of India's export basket.

India is currently in the process of negotiating FTAs with the EU, Australia, UK, Canada, Israel, and other countries/regions. India is facing tariff disadvantage in some of the markets such as the EU, UK, etc. as compared to neighbouring competing nations like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, etc.

According to the article in the RBI Bulletin, India's garment exports to the EU, which is the largest market for apparel exports, have remained stagnant over the previous decade, while other nations such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Cambodia have had strong growth.

RELEVANT NEWS FTAs: Garments could form part of early harvest in trade talks with different countries

According to the RBI article, India has to pursue free-trade agreements with its key export destinations, the United States and the EU, to avoid the competitive disadvantage it now confronts due to its competitors' tariff-free access.

The authors believe that the newly implemented production-linked incentive (PLI) program for textiles, which is targeted at increasing the production of MMF fabric, MMF clothing, and technical textiles, is a step in the right direction.

The higher cost of Indian garment exports than rivals is due to higher transportation costs due to a broader geographical spread, high inland transportation costs, and significant production hubs.

RELEVANT NEWS RBI article: To push Indian apparel exports, pursue FTAs

In addition, the new deal(2021) grants India a more liberal visa system, including a three-year visa for intra-corporate transfers and a 90-day pass for business travelers and contractual service providers.

It's worth noting that clothing exporters from Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Pakistan benefit from a tariff advantage of roughly 10% to 11% thanks to specific programmes that they qualify for.

The Government, under its Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme, provides financial support to various Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) and Trade Bodies engaged in the promotion of textiles and garments exports, for organising and participating in trade fairs, exhibitions, buyer-seller meets, etc.

This is expected to expand the market for Indian producers.

FTAs have been a crucial catalyst in growing exports of LDCs or the buying country's preferred trade partners, particularly in the case of the United States, which is the country's top garment buyer.

According to reports, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will grant India duty-free access to its mobile phones. 

Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries apparel export share to the USA has risen to 16% to $11.16 billion compared to other non-FTA nations in January to October 2021 calendar year period.

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28 April 2022, Mumbai:

As we are getting accustomed to the Industry 4.0 era, it is a whole new world of digitization. Everything has shifted online from buying appliances to clothes to medicines, making it faster, more user-friendly, and hassle-free.

So, with digitization in the picture, fashion, textile, and apparel all have a significant role in making the most out of this fourth phase of the industrial revolution.

Brands have to look for the perfect platform, as the competition is at large very high, and there are numerous brands.

ALSO READ Amazon focuses on digitizing MSMEs in India

Digitization's significance has never been more significant. Not only is the fashion industry looking for innovative methods to cut costs, but with the current global pandemic disrupting supply chains, we can all agree that having a digital standby strategy is no longer an option.

International connections between fashion companies and their suppliers must become more digital. Outsourced digitalization, IoT integration, AI, and ERP solutions are now available, allowing the textile sector to achieve Industry 4.0 leadership and streamline the whole fabrication process, from design and coloration through fiber manufacturing, fabric production, finishing, and delivery.

RELEVANT NEWS The emergence of industry 4.0 technologies in 'Textiles & Apparels'

The garment business is exceptionally likely to face significant changes in the following years due to digital transformation. Smart Clothes, or clothes with technical and digital characteristics and conventional protective and representative roles, have emerged as a promising possibility for one of the world's most significant economic sectors, the fashion business.

Devices that provide constant access to the digital world rapidly influence people's lives.

This has a significant influence not just on communication behavior but also on customer behavior. Artificial intelligence (AI) can access and collect historical and real-time operational data, resulting in insights to improve operational efficiency.

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When you have a complete view of your operations, it's easier to change processes to maximize human workers' abilities. AI has immensely influenced every step of the process, whether product cost, textile manufacturing, data collecting, just-in-time production, quality control, or computer integrated manufacturing.

In recent years, customers' desires and expectations have altered considerably—they premium on high-quality items, added-value services, and expedited delivery.

The need for digital transformation, which covers anything from 3D-printed gowns to smart factories, has risen.

The digital transformation process, on the other hand, is not easy. It would necessitate a well-considered digitization strategy.

While becoming digital has several advantages, the ability to fulfill ever-changing client behavior will be an essential gain for textile firms.

We don't underestimate the importance of digital transformation, one of the most commonly used words in today's fashion business.

Digital advancements will help propel the fashion, garment, textile, and footwear sectors into the next growth stage in the coming years.

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25 April 2022, Mumbai:

With the leap of electronic media, social media, e-commerce, and the digital world, there is an extensively massive amount of usage of smartphones, android, iOS, windows, mac, etc., and the world is moving at a very swift pace, making it an extremely digital-oriented, and highly competitive world.

There are numerous social media platforms, and their use has increased significantly.

Presently online selling and buying have significantly increased with the help of social media platforms.

ALSO READ Social commerce to be the future of retail in India

Reports have shown that sales via the online platform have grown about 75 percent, with social media in the picture.

Thus several small businesses had flourished, especially during the pandemic and lockdown days when people were strictly house arrested.

People have increasingly started following their preferred brands and brand ambassadors, which has added to the country's fashion culture.

Statistics have confirmed that around 75 percent of social media users have received their fashion knowledge from online platforms and influencers before making purchases.

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In this growing world, we have seen the best brands trying to accommodate these online traditions to make them approachable to the users.

Even though the users respond positively to this venture, as their main motive is to attain the maximum possible amount of sales in the market, the medium does not matter.

After several studies, it has been jotted down from the trends of e-commerce that the considerable traffic witnessed on the Shopify portal was majorly from the advertisements posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, respectively.

Several other online mediums are responsible for increasing the sales of several brands, including Vine, Google Plus, Youtube, etc. Be it B2B or B2C businesses, online media plays an exceedingly important role in gathering traffic for these brands and companies, leading to an improvement in their sales.

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The various social media platforms terrifically influence the branding and traffic because of the big data gathered, which helps set up a social algorithm for the consumers and benefits the brands.

Consumers' preferences are matched via computer programs, and since it is online, consumer interaction medium with the retailer becomes more accessible, making it easily approachable by the consumers.

RELEVANCE NEWS

With the help of the reviews posted by the consumers, the brands have the power to monitor them and thus solve or develop their products from the consumers' viewpoint to make them more attractive to the consumer.

Apparel businesses are actively pursuing a variety of models to entice customers through social media. One is to have a direct social link.

Rather than having a website that forces customers to go through the not-so-pleasant process of providing personal information, merchants opt for a social connection.

With so many new models incoming, the union of social media and the retail union is forming further communication and selling methods.

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29 April 2022, Mumbai:

According to the policy, the global fiber consumption trend is projected to shift further toward man-made fiber.

Given that future demand is likely to be substantially in favor of manufactured fiber-based textiles, as concluded, particular attention is necessary to raise consumption and production.

Reliance India Limited, Grasim, Indo-Rama Synthetics Limited, Century Euka Limited, and Birla Cellulose is the major manufacturers of man-made fiber in India.

ALSO READ Cotton-based apparel see traction as MMF impacted

Itochu is one of the leading Japanese commercial corporations globally, with roughly 122 facilities in 65 countries and a presence in India since the early 1960s. Itochu is headquartered in Delhi, with offices in Mumbai and Chennai.

The firm trades a wide range of items (both export and import), including metals, minerals, plastics/chemicals, and food, but its textile division remains the most profitable. The textile section handles raw materials (yarn), textiles, and apparel.

The segment's current concentration is on specialty man-made fibers. Sanjeev Kothavade, Country Head, Raw Material & Fabric, Itochu India, discusses the company's expansion plan with AO.

RELEVANT NEWS 'Uniform GST rates 12% set to reduce compliance burden' for 'MMF Textiles' sector

With the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic and a sluggish global economy, the country's MMF garment exports decreased dramatically in 2020. In 2020, India's monthly average MMF garment exports fell to $256.18 million.

The dramatic drop occurred in April 2020, from $277.16 million in March 2020 to $32.22 million in April 2020, a massive reduction of 88.38 percent.

With the joint efforts of the Government of India and industry employees, an export level of $258.40 million was reached in July 2020, representing a seven-fold increase in just three months.

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Except for the variation between September 2020 and November 2020, it has exhibited a constant climb till December 2020.

Itochu obtains this yarn from Asahi Kasei Fibers, a business located in Japan that holds a monopoly on this technology and is the exclusive manufacturer of this yarn.

The company, a pioneer in environmentally-friendly solutions, creates next-generation enterprises that contribute to living in health, comfort, and harmony with nature.

Itochu has been selling this yarn in India since 1978, with Surat being the primary market; however, sales are now growing in Bangalore and other parts of the country.

Factors such as increased use of nonwovens and technical textiles, changing consumer trends such as a greater emphasis on fitness and hygiene, rising brand consciousness, rapidly changing fashion trends, and increased female participation in the workforce will help drive up demand for manmade fibers.

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27 April 2022, Mumbai:

Industry 4.0 sounds fancy but is also something to look into.

With the emerging world, with the world moving into a technology shift, inventions, and inventions, everything shifting to digital, industry 4.0.

It works by collecting and processing all the critical and essential pieces of information and data.

It helps to make a detailed study and upgrade to higher and higher quality goods and products at an effective low cost.

It is an essential part of the industrial revolution and, in combination with the previous industrial outcome.

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Data exchange has become the new trend and is a vital manufacturing component. IoT, cognitive computing, and cloud computing have also become very important for setting up a new factory of intelligent technologies. 

This industry 4.0 comes with a beautiful merge of the environment and the digital world. The motive is to enhance the quality of life several folds higher with this increasing population globally. With these incoming innovations, there is a perfect future.

The efficiency of working will increase significantly, along with increased productivity.

Transportation and communication costs will decrease, logistics and global supply chains will improve, and the cost of commerce will decrease, which will open new markets and drive economic development, ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for you.

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Artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, automated systems, 3D printing, and other sophisticated and more innovative technologies are rapidly entering the textile sector, just like they are in every other production area.

Technology has generated a constant state of flux, which will last for a long time.

The overall trend is favorable, with significant gains across the board. In truth, even though many connected technologies now offer fantastic features and functionality, there is still a lot of testing.

For labor-intensive garment and apparel companies, Industry 4.0 has the potential to transform whole production processes and business models.

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To obtain a competitive edge, firms in the garment and apparel sector must invest in Industry 4.0 and its enabling technologies to shift from traditional plants to intelligent factories.

Textile Machinery Industry's Application of Textile 4.0.

It's striving to match itself with the global manufacturing industry's footprint in terms of innovations and improvements.

Most textile manufacturing enterprises cannot keep up with changes in the outside world and the needs of today's consumers because they lack a flexible, digital operational structure.

Even though the textile machinery manufacturing business, particularly in Europe, is already wholly linked with Industry 4.0, the textile manufacturing industry is lagging.

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23 April 2022, Mumbai:

The world is exceedingly moving towards digitization, and currencies are not left behind, and this has highly shown its effect on the fashion industry. From buying to selling, the world is overpowered by the Metaverse.

One added exciting feature is the NFTs. With increasing demands, we have seen innumerable stars and icons entering the world of NFTs, selling their studs via the NFT platform.

NFT was initially introduced in the domain of cryptocurrency, where it gained popularity. Art and artisans started selling their stuff using Bitcoin, etc. There came the picture of NFT.

ALSO READ Fashion designers ride on NFT bandwagon

The digital world is highly volatile, with which comes the risks, but at the same time, they are highly rewarding if used smartly, and that is what made NFTs a likable choice in the fashion business.

With time their value is increasing, and their popularity. In the recent rush, we witnessed a $125,000 worth of jackets being sold by RTFKT. There was a 69 million dollar acquisition of Beeple, which is also a huge step.

NFTs are closely associated with collectibility, making it a luxurious step into the fashion business. NFTs are handy for tokenizing collectible and one-of-a-kind products. NFTs have given the fashion industry a new degree of exclusivity and the ability to transform digital designs and collections into precious, elegant, and one-of-a-kind collector items.

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The fashion businesses are developing a new universe of interaction with a digital experience with people, from designing their games to fashion in the metaverse. Customer loyalty may be increased by using memorable goods.

Customers can capture, trade, and appreciate one-of-a-kind experiences and unique moments in time, which these businesses might exploit to form a far more lasting bond with their customers.

Buyers should be aware of the conditions in the contract, a collection of code and data that acts as a self-executing program and can specify the NFT's needed requirements. The buyer should be informed of the rights and liabilities, significantly if they might affect the NFT and underlying asset's present or future worth.

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Up-and-coming businesses should follow NFT updates and other comparable trends in the fashion and art industries. Collaborations with well-known fashion designers and artists may be one method to enter this industry.

Launching a few unique NFTs to gauge interest might also be an intelligent way to measure early adoption. Various creative works may be transformed into collector items if they are appropriately developed and promoted.

Users may purchase unique digital artworks and digital collectibles like music, concert tickets, apparel, original forms of art, and even unique experiences from brands already employing NFTs.

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