After witnessing a sharp decline since April, India’s ready-made garment exports are on a road to revival. This recovery is largely driven by the European Union (EU) markets. Capacity utilization has increased to 60-80 per cent with customers placing new orders based on the season and the number of stores that opened have globally.

Raja N Shanmugam, President , Tiruppur Exporters’ Association, said enquiry levels are more than last year’s. Brands are now looking for alternatives from China. According to him, Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) will not impact apparel exports since it has been withdrawn last year itself.

SP Apparels’ factories are operating around 60 per cent capacity due to social distancing norms imposed by the authorities. The company managed to address labor shortage by providing migrant workers with accommodation and food in the hostel premises. The depreciation of the rupee in the fourth quarter impacted the company’s hedged positions and resulted in hedging losses.

The gross sales of e-commerce companies are expected to increase by 50 per cent to $4 billion during the five-day Diwali sale events of Flipkart, Amazon India, etc, say latest estimates from market research firm Redseer. According to Redseer, the festive season is expected to see an over 70 per cent jump in consumers with 45-50 million digital buyers. Of these, over 50 per cent are likely to be from Tier-II cities. The entire festive month is expected to clock gross sales of $7 billion in 2020 against nearly $4 billion last year.

The date of the much-publicized sales are yet to be announced, but e-tailers have started working with brands, sellers and logistics players in the run-up to the event likely next month. Industry executives are also working with sellers and brands to overcome supply chain and investment issues to meet the surge in demand.

Industry sources say, grocery, FMCG and general merchandise will drive higher volumes due to COVID -induced demand. Typically, smartphones, electronics, small and large appliances and fashion dominate Diwali sales.

The Ingka Group, which handles retail operations for Swedish furniture giant Ikea plans to open a global office at Bengaluru. The office will operate within the Global Business Operations , Digital, and Centres of Expertise (CoE). This will help the group streamline, simplify, and standardise ways of working and operations, while diversifying the overall digital footprint, it added. In addition, the Centres of Expertise (CoE) will provide leadership, best practices, research, support and training, it added.

Besides Bengaluru, Ikea Retail has GBO in Poznan (Poland), Shanghai (China) and Baltimore (the US). GBO is a capability and service organization, responsible for implementing modern tools to meet growing business demands as well as to increase employee satisfaction.

A part of Ingka Group, Ikea India opened its first store in Hyderabad in 2018. Besides, it has an online presence in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Its second store in Mumbai is under construction. The company plans to open smaller format city centre stores and expand its online presence in other Indian cities in the future. Its aim is to reach approximately 100 million consumers in India over the next few years through a multichannel approach.

Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the Ikea franchise system, operating 380 Ikea stores in 31 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.

The Indian MMF industry needs to work with the government to push MMF garment exports, says A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC.

According to Sakthivel, MMF garment exports in India total $1.6 billion whereas the world trade is about $200 billion. To increase share in the global MMF garments business, AEPC has initiated a dialogue with Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), he added.

He informed that AEPC will host a series of webinars on how to increase the export of MMF garments. Ronak Rughani, Chairman, SRTEPC, said that while cotton was the primary fiber for universal usage, MMF has surpassed cotton as the dominant fiber since the mid-1990s and has continued to grow faster thereafter as compared to all other fibers.

The domestic fiber consumption ratio in India at present is 40:60 between manmade fibers and natural fibers, which is almost opposite to the global fiber consumption trends, he added.

Join our community on Linkedin 

Global sports brand FILA will release its FILAXBTS Love Yourself collection in India with its brand global model BTS.

The collection features various graphic and artwork elements in the music video of BTS global hit ‘DNA,’ IDOL, with Fila’s unique sensibility as design points. The collection consists of apparel, footwear and accessories. In the first half of the collection, a dedicated icon combining Fila’s F logo and BTS official logo highlighted the nature of the collection, and each song of ‘DNA’ and ‘IDOL’ was embodied as a point symbol. The song ‘DNA’ has secured 1 billion views and ‘IDOL’ has over 570 million views.

Every style will have an official BTS gate logo with a label or hang tag on its product. Additionally, an official hologram seal shall be put on every product of this collection, which approves that it is an official licensed product related to BTS. The collection will be available to pre-order in India, from September 23-25, 2020.

As per an Economic Times report, Flipkart plans to launch an IPO overseas as early as 2021, which could value the firm up to $50 billion.

Flipkart is likely to choose between Singapore, or the United States for the initial public offering (IPO). The retailer begun work to ensure compliance, legal and finance functions will meet regulatory standards ahead of a potential listing.

Walmart acquired a roughly 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion back in 2018. That deal remains the single largest foreign direct investment in India.

In July this year, Flipkart raised $1.2 billion in fresh funding with Walmart as its lead investor. That round valued Flipkart, which counts China's Tencent, U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global, and Microsoft among its investors, at $24.9 billion.

Flipkart would use the funds, to be received in two tranches this fiscal year, to support the development of its e-commerce marketplace as India emerges from the Covid-19 crisis.

The Ingka Group, which handles retail operations for Swedish furniture giant Ikea plans to open a global office at Bengaluru. The office will operate within the Global Business Operations , Digital, and Centres of Expertise (CoE). This will help the group streamline, simplify, and standardise ways of working and operations, while diversifying the overall digital footprint, it added. In addition, the Centres of Expertise (CoE) will provide leadership, best practices, research, support and training, it added.

Besides Bengaluru, Ikea Retail has GBO in Poznan (Poland), Shanghai (China) and Baltimore (the US). GBO is a capability and service organization, responsible for implementing modern tools to meet growing business demands as well as to increase employee satisfaction.

A part of Ingka Group, Ikea India opened its first store in Hyderabad in 2018. Besides, it has an online presence in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Its second store in Mumbai is under construction. The company plans to open smaller format city centre stores and expand its online presence in other Indian cities in the future. Its aim is to reach approximately 100 million consumers in India over the next few years through a multichannel approach.

Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the Ikea franchise system, operating 380 Ikea stores in 31 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.

India’s pioneering fashion platform, Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) plans to launch its digital-first and season fluid edition. Open to one and all, the virtual event will be live from October 21-25, 2020 on a high-tech virtual platform specially created for the event.

Ashwath Swaminathan, Head of Innovations, Lakmé says, this first-ever digital edition will reinvent Lakmé Fashion Week to continue to enable the business of fashion, create new experiences for audiences and put the spotlight back on the future of fashion. Jaspreet Chandok, Head, Lifestyle Businesses at IMG Reliance says, the digital platform will enable Lakme to bridge gaps between national and international audiences and buyers while continuing to support and nurture the design community.

Lakme Fashion Week is jointly organized by Lakme, the premier cosmetics and beauty services brand in India and IMG Reliance.

Join our community on Linkedin 

Indian sportswear brand Seven has partnered with Chennai Super Kings as its official kitting/ clothing partner for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

As part of this association, Seven will launchg the official IPL collection that includes the official team outfit of jersey, lowers and supporting accessories. The collection also includes the team training / workout apparels and accessories; shorts, jersey, lowers, and caps.

Seven was launched in 2016 by the sports-centred business Rhiti Group with the celebrity cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador.

The brand currently retails in 45 countries worldwide including the U.S., Canada, UK, and South Africa, among others. The brand has a presence in 309 multi-brand stores across India and retails from its dedicated e-commerce store as well as having a presence on multi-brand online stores.