21 February 2023, Mumbai

The formerly labor-intensive textile sector has transformed on the back of the steady adoption of AI and the internet of things (IoT). Nowadays, broadly it has been experienced that most textile companies use computerized equipment, which is far more effective than human laborers in producing precise patterns on a large scale.

Every day, new innovative apparel/clothing products are developed. Smart textiles can track and transmit the wearer's information, including biometric data like blood pressure, heart rate, sweat, temperature, and more, by integrating AI with technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), edge computing, and cloud data.

Textile production is labor-intensive, which is predominantly a low-not-so-high fixed capital investment; characterized by a range of product designs and, hence, requisite input materials; variable quantum of production; the fierce need for competitiveness in the sector where there is the quantum of existing players across segments.

Semantics

The core idea of delving into the possibility of automation AIs of the world replacing human element will be orchestrated by, the labor-intensive processes, methodology as a pre-condition needs to be converted into automated processes achievable only by nothing else but the use of computers, tailored models, specified digital components, and artificial intelligence (AI)/IoTs to optimize production processes, reduce costs, and improve product quality.

Unleashed Technologies

This article will look at novel applications, how AI affects the textile industry, and why ultra-low-power (ULP) technologies are necessary to unleash AI at the endpoints.

AI is revolutionizing the whole manufacturing process and business practices for textile businesses. AI can access and gather past and current operational data, offering insights that can increase operational effectiveness.

It is simpler to adjust procedures to maximize the talents of human workers when you have a thorough understanding of your operations. AI impacts every process step, whether product cost, textile production, quality control, just-in-time manufacturing, data collecting, or computer-integrated manufacturing.

Defect identification, pattern inspection, and color matching are some frequently used AI applications in textile production.

Smart Apparel and its advantages

Smart garment/clothing and electronic sensing technologies like fitness trackers can help users lead healthier and more attentive lives. Yet, smart clothing can offer more physiological signal assessments since it has a broader area of contact with your body than a device like a smartwatch. Important biometrics, like our heart rate, may be continuously monitored with the help of smart clothes.

The possibility of long-term monitoring makes it easier for doctors to recognize or classify potential heart problems. With frequent monitoring over a longer time, smart clothing assists patients in gathering complete and comprehensive heart-related data, tracking long-term heart illness, and improving the identification and diagnosis of heart disorders.

AI in The Textile Industry

In addition to having a significant fixed capital investment, a broad range of product designs and input materials, unpredictable production volumes, high levels of competition, and frequently high demands on product quality, the textile manufacturing business is labor-intensive. Automating labor-intensive operations using computers, models, digital components, and artificial intelligence is the best way to meet these needs (AI). Artificial intelligence (AI) study focuses on creating and evaluating intelligent computational entities.

This proposition describes several uses of AI in the textile manufacturing sector. Moreover, it incorporates several AI techniques in producing textiles and clothing, such as expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic, evolutionary algorithms, and others.

Labor importance in the sector

Many of the world's most significant fashion, clothing, and apparel brands appear to have a sizeable portion of their products manufactured in Asian nations such as China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc., suggesting that garment and textile manufacturing has historically been a labor-intensive industry.

Over the previous two decades, when labor prices in Asian nations started to rise, a significant portion of the textile manufacturing industry's shift to the East occurred (notably China). Industrial automation is becoming more prevalent in the textile manufacturing sector, and companies with access to operational data from the past and present may use AI to boost productivity and expand the skill sets of their human employees.

Business case

AI adoption in the labor-intensive textile sector can definitely improve efficiency. To play devil's advocate machine learning algorithms can optimize material usage and detect defects, while robotic automation can take away jobs thus reducing reliance on manual labor.

Moreover, predictive maintenance can help minimize machine breakdowns, improving efficiency bar and uptime. There is merit in the argument that AI adoption can lead to a definitive enhancement in profitability and improved competitiveness in the industry.

The application of AI in the textile industry has the inherent possibility to transform a labor-intensive sector by sector super efficient and cost-optimization. The application spans the spectrum of fabric design to quality control, there is little surprise that AI can augment every step of the textile production process.

Considering the clear-cut upside, the adoption of AI in the textile industry is highly likely to amplify & step up in the coming years. Textile companies are nowadays started to well-leverage AI-powered systems to automate the design, prediction, and analysis of textile manufacturing, only resulting in substantial & meaningful gainful situations for the industry.

Latest Textile Events

Indian handloom artists are an integral part of the country's rich vibrant, cultural lineage/heritage. They have been weaving intricate and exclusive varieties of fabrics for generations, using time-old traditional techniques passed down from generations, and are transitioning now from traditional to modernity as digitization touches a range of spheres of manufacturing processes all across.

Introduction

However, despite their incredible inherent talent, skill, and immense contribution to the Indian economy, handloom artists are posed with severe existential challenges now.

Dampeners; Amongst a variety of factors that affected the livelihoods of these artisans with earning multi-decadal low can be attributed; The lack of government support, competition from inexpensive machine-made versatile fabrics, and the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic's battering impact on the Indian textile industry. Therefore, today it is business imperative to recognize/reward the value of handloom art and help support and promote these artists by highlighting their work, enabling them with fair minimum wages, and preserving their timeless traditional techniques for the generations to come.

About Birla Cellulose

A company that produces sustainable and eco-friendly fibers for global textiles. As part of a bigger corporate purpose it is fully committed to helping produce sustainable fashion, company has consistently undertaken varied initiatives to help promote & support the handloom industry in India.

Outlining one of these key initiatives entails conducting seminars to counsel, educate and engage with handloom artists as a grounds-up exercise. Through a series of seminars, Birla Cellulose has held clearly aims to provide handloom artists with the latest knowledge and skills in their field. Through these interactions & personalized engagements, the company attempts to provide information on sustainable textile production and phenomenal service, providing them with raw materials and technical assistance to produce high-quality textiles for the trade by counseling them to work out ways & means to lessen/reduce the environmental impact their work leaves.

With the theme of empowering handloom these artists support the livelihoods besides helping imbibe with these skills, Birla Cellulose expects to contribute to bringing life back to the Indian handloom industry creating beautiful and sustainable textiles for years.

Right initiative at the right time

Birla Cellulose, in partnership with regional organizations, has lately launched an initiative/movement to sensitize raising awareness about the definitive advantages of using sustainable fibers like Viscose, Modal, and Excel in handloom weaving at a time when sustainability theme is making the right noises.

By introducing these fibers to the weaver community, Birla Cellulose (maker of LIVA which is a new-age fabric from the Aditya Birla Group that contributes to a more sustainably produced fiber ) aspires to value offer a natural and cost-effective substitute to conventional fibers and preserve the profound, rich cultural heritage of the Indian handloom textile industry as an underlying cause.

Short point; Here it is important to outline that," Birla Cellulose has trained 1500 artists across seven states and supplied 5.5 lakh worth of yarn annually proving a point.

Getting Things Done

In the spotlight is Birla Cellulose's R&D center's active engagement galvanizing in the earnest to develop new yarns and fabrics, chugging along with helping commercial manufacturers develop new bases for printing with the latest, strategic in-demand yarns or altering the weaving patterns as price remains the bottom line.

Vocal for Local

As part of the Vocal for Local campaign gathering pace in the Indian manufacturing eco-system, the Birla Cellulose's Liva team has supported/assisted printers aligning with grey base manufacturers to avail quality fabric ensured at the right price.

Incrementally, with pre-production support, Birla Cellulose galvanizing extending its expertise, giving insights & more importantly assistance to post-production preconditions like tagging, online and offline market connect, roadshows, and door-to-door promotions amongst a series of activities underway, supporting the weaver community with a robust supply chain and consistent delivery of quality yarn helping enterprises generate inquiry leads.

Bottom line

The Birla Cellulose initiative will not only resurrect the industry but also has a clearcut objective of assisting the handloom sector aligning its growth with the improvement in the lives of connected artisans, leading to the realization of the "Make in India vision" envisioned by the state for the handloom sector thus preserving India's cultural heritage.

In summary, the future of the Indian handloom sector and artisans looks bright as there is a growing demand globally for sustainable and handmade products going forward. The actors & multi-stakeholders like government and non-governmental organizations are also visibly taking directional initiatives to boost, promote and support this sector.

Albeit, odds such as lack of market access and timely modernization are key needs to be addressed to enable a sustainable future for the artisans.

14 February 2023, Mumbai

India has acquired recognition as a desirable outsourcing location, primarily because of the large labor force available there.

One of the major industries in terms of size and the second largest in terms of employment generation is the textile sector construed to be the pride of India.

The theme of (R.U.N) reskilling, upskilling, and new-skilling is aptly pertinent now regard to the current workforce in earnest to save time, energy, and money as a saving grace and will only fire up the space.

Outlining: The sector's labour intensive nature

The initiative, which comprises several sectors and almost 4 million people, significantly boosts the national economy. Indian textile workers have been trained in these skills for many generations.

The textile industry is the only sector in India that offers skilled and unskilled laborers a significant amount of employment; As sector accounts for more than 10% of the nation's GDP and over 8% of all employment. 

Given the growth tailwind on the back of robust Indian demographics the estimated domestic textiles and apparel industry (T&C) as a proxy to global market was worth $152 bn in the year 2021, reflecting a sanguine growth of CAGR 12% hitting a whopping $225 bn by the year 2025.

Advantage India

It used to be hand technology, but now it's power technology. India's most significant exports are textiles and apparel/garments (T&A), which brought In FY 2022 Annual Textile, Apparel Exports showed an Upward trend of up to 41% To $44.4 Bn, as per the Minister of State for Textiles Mrs. Darshana Jardosh very recently.

There is some unanimity in acknowledging India is currently in the POST-Covid era an "Oasis of Calm" and that's a silver lining so far as the country's macro-economic fundamental stability goes. India offers several advantages compared to other nations, including a large labor force, vertical integration of the whole industrial process, and material resources.

The auxiliary industries will also increase in tandem with the textile market. The demand for textile equipment and accessories and the demand from the rural sector are rising.

The Indian textile sector would need around 10 million plus rightly skilled people to achieve the ambitious growth projections the government has contemplated and has envisioned in this Amrit Kaal of India’s independence therefore, the need for the right fitment can't be overstated. India has a sizable labor force but must work hard to fulfill the growing global demand.

Skill gap This is because there is a shortage of "skilled labor" in proportion to the availability of the workforce something experts have critiqued termed as "Low Employability". The chronic lack of trained workers in the Indian textile sector threatens the nation's economic ability.

India has the most significant & young labor pool in the world which our Honorable PM, PM, Narendra Modi is been pitching potentially making India the skill capital of the world one day iterating its critical vitality as investing in skill development has become the imperative demand of the day.

Yet just 5% of its workforce comprises skilled people compared to some of the great examples of the country like South Korea with 90% of workers in medium- or high-skill jobs as per some estimates.

In addition, many of them need more professional qualifications. This is due to the country's general education system needing to focus on developing vocational skills (Industry ready workforce) inducing employability at the end of the day.

More than 70% of Indian workers are either illiterate or have just a rudimentary education, which is a severe disadvantage that this sector stares at. As a result, individuals need to explore their employment options and be aware of possibilities to develop their current abilities and skillset. Place of women workforce

The demonstrability of female skillful weavers around the rich, vibrant, and diverse lineage/culture is a bright spot. While a further six crore people, primarily women and rural residents, are used in associated industries.

Policy intervention

The government must implement specific policy measures to start the rise of skilled labor. Policy initiatives of the Government entail as a part of achieving the bigger picture “Skill India” and “Make in India”; One such great example at the sector's micro level is Samarth (Scheme for Capacity Building In Textile Sector) is a flagship skill development scheme and, is quite certainly a right step in the right direction.

Everyone should have access to proper education, and vocational education and training should be encouraged at every single stage and level as this is the missing part of the puzzle. Several projects and programs for skill development have been developed in the textile industry in India in recent years.

The textile industry will be able to enhance output by using the skilled labor produced by the training program to raise productivity. Providing residents with training in textile manufacturing will also aid in creating job prospects in rural regions. Therefore, the government should develop planning strategies, policies, and programs to emphasize staff training.

Unlimited opportunities

In the future years, the Indian textile sector has the potential to create millions of employment. The Indian textile sector urgently needs adequate labor reforms and skill-upgrading initiatives.

Prospects look promising for downstream items such as processed textiles, branded fabrics, woven fabrics, and knit fabrics. The lack of qualified and adequately trained labor for the production of these items would be a barrier to the expansion of the Indian textile sector on a worldwide scale.

India-centric thesis; India should concentrate on maximizing the potential of its human resources through educating and developing its young workforce. Also paper emphasizes the needfulness of fixing the phenomenon of "MISSING MIDDLE" in this sector.

Looking at the pace of digitization across sectors how could Textile Industry be spared of it, so the most fierce debate in the sector discourse is, "Inexpensive & easy labour access in countries like India is versus robots, who will stitch the apparel/garments of the future and how will the smart factories of tomorrow be?"

Opportunities exist for the sector to be further mobilized and for more players to look into other places to establish their manufacturing facilities and processes.

Government programs have already contributed to this direction. However, is the Indian clothing/garment industry prepared to make investments in the training of the workers, given that industry, input is essential for igniting the apparel sector?

Mindset change; A mentality shift is necessary, and it should begin at the local level, where parents & mentors may play a role.

Parents must be aware of new options since they have more say than their children in selecting higher education programs. Many people must know how engineering students may get better careers in the fashion and apparel sector given the upside in the growth story, as the sector still is not a sunset industry.

Emerging paradigm; vis à vis following the convention of cultural fit hiring/recruiting the skillset a new normal is evolving for jobs what we call (DEI) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion as in conscious informed decision while onboarding candidates as in fit and proper criteria. 

Latest Textile Events

 16 February 2023, Mumbai

According to Allied Market Research, the global online clothing rental market is predicted to reach US $ 1,856 million by 2023, rising at a CAGR of 10.6% from 2017 to 2023.

The millennial generation has done an excellent job of communicating that ownership is significantly overvalued.

Value unlocking; The Indian apparel rental market is on a path of growth providing end-consumers with affordable, sustainable, and catchy/trendy fashion choices & value offerings. It also enormously benefits the environment by lessening/reducing textile waste which is a big plus.

Playing the devil's advocate

In the times of shared and pooled, economic themes such as shared office, shared mobility, and so forth Post-Covid era there is a sanguine emerging trend towards the direction of renting clothing rather than permanent ownership of a range of designer product lines, fashion accessories & categories.
The paper is a serious thesis on an unleashed evolving, revolution sweeping across retail business models that
concomitantly serves rental and sales markets.
As there is an emerging megatrend of many a retailer predominantly concentrates on renting leading to a heightened incidental sales demand thereby.

Share a theme

According to a study, several sectors of the sharing economy are expected to be as big as their conventional equivalents by 2025, making it the newest craze internationally and in India. This has developed so that younger customers now automatically choose the sharing model.

While this strategy has worked well for industries like real estate, furniture, cars, etc., the apparel and accessory segment is currently dominating the market. It makes perfect sense for those who cannot afford premium labels but admires their intricate designs and high quality.

Apparel rental market landscape

And it is expected that India will see a considerably greater growth rate. In India, the apparel rental market is on a growth path showing a growth trajectory with an estimation of a compound annual growth (CAGR) rate of 10.6% between the forecasted period between 2021 and 2026, driven by heightened consumer interest in a sustainable fashion.

The estimated US $ 3–4 billion Indian online fashion rental business has been steadily growing with various established companies and start-ups, including Flyrobe, Rent It Bae, Stage3, The Clothing Rental, and LibeRent others, which are successfully garnering initial investmentApparel rental product categories are rapidly gaining popularity.

The most popular categories span from designer dresses, formal wear, activewear, and high-end accessories like handbags and the other end of the spectrum like jewelry, etc.

A Sustainable Mind

Fast fashion is not sustainable, and to make matters worse, today's millennials' purchasing habits have completely altered such that they need to buy a new outfit for every occasion.

And as a result of their constant search for more affordable alternatives to direct purchase, developing Asian-Pacific countries have seen an increase in the rental sector.

Growth enablers

Around the world, fashion rental websites have popped up, including Girl Meets Dress in the UK, Rent The Runway in the US, and Flyrobe in India. This has caused the segment's growth to accelerate at a never anticipated rate.

The Doubting Mind | Although few people believe that the sharing economy would stop hype consumption, there is still the argument that the market has not yet expanded sufficiently to displace ownership.

Incipient signs

"The Indian rental market is still in its infancy. It will take some time for the fashion rental business to flourish organically because consumers are only recently becoming aware of it and are highly perplexed by the notion. I don't see the end of hyper-consumption anytime soon, and there will be the coexistence of fast fashion and rental industry in the times to come, affirms Shilpa Bhatia, Founder of The Clothing Rental.

We are quickly moving into an age where attention span is often limited, and the audience craves freshness, newness, and quick ease. Despite a massive increase in start-ups, the industry is still in its infancy.

Global scenario

Stepping back, North America, which accounted for 40% of the global market in 2017, is the market leader in the sector, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific, which is predicted to grow at the highest CAGR of 11.64% over the forecast period. Bollywood significantly impacts the Indian fashion rental market, further driven by the wedding sector because dressing up for special events is a status symbol for ambitious India.

Social media influencers

Great aspiration to have; Millennials' apparel/clothing and fashion needs have changed from need-based to aspiration-based. Consumers today are either genuine social media users or die-hard Bollywood fans.

Their sartorial choices are more influenced than ever by the nation's top designers and celebrities' closets. Several elements influence this section. The increasing use of social media has made wardrobes more vulnerable than ever, and there is a growing interest in sustainability by using existing resources rather than producing new clothing.

Millennials and Generation Z (Gen Z) value experiences over possessions and believe ownership is about access rather than possession itself. Additionally, according to Sabena Puri, CEO & Co-Founder of Stage3, "the fashion rental websites assist designers with an exponential expansion in market size, providing access to a younger customer base as well as visibility in Tier-2 and Tier-3 locations."

Fast forward

At Rent It Bae, the spokesperson enumerated,” We provide a wide selection of clothing and accessories from well-known brands, including high-street and premium labels.

An in-house brand was chosen by our stylists and offered distinctive designs that are rarely seen in the market. Our target audience comprises people between the ages of 20 and 45 who earn at least Rs. 2 lakhs per year”.

The fashion rental companies offer products in both ethnic and western categories for men and women, ranging from tuxedos, sherwanis, kurtas, shirts to shoes and accessories for men, and lehengas, sarees, gowns, dresses, workwear, footwear, clutches, and jewelry for women.

These products are sourced from aspirational brands, upcoming and established designers, and high-end stores. These excellent collections may be hired in as little as three hours for a minimum of three to four days, and the rental fee ranges from 10-15% of the item's original price.

Canny business Or ethical idiocy
The article makes a case that there is a viable market for the apparel/fashion rental businesses albeit, given the incipient signs it is still an underdeveloped market and in the structural sense it clearly means diverting fashion-conscious/forward consumers veering from the stereotypes of ownership behaviours aligning the deeper aims societies aiming to attain circular economy fashion discipline; galvanizing the idea of sharing collective resources, a noble spirit of social aspects of access, the tenet of shared-values and meaningful win-win approach within the system fostering/stoking in the limited sense alternative consumption practice regime.

Latest Textile Events

20 February 2023, Mumbai

The literature has extensively discussed the Missing Middle (hence, MM) phenomena, particularly about developing nations. One of the theories contends that medium-sized businesses are leaving the market because they cannot compete. Conversely, small units may be eliminated from the competition before increasing their size and activity.

Given that in countries like India where MSMEs are the backbone of the industry and contribute significantly as a major employment generator across the small and large size-groups of establishments, with a remarkable ‘missing middle’.

The "missing middle" issue in Indian textiles is well described as the lack of mid-sized firms in this sector, leading to impeding growth and impacting employment opportunities.

Prelude

The missing middle issue in Indian textiles refers to the absence of small and medium-sized enterprises in the sector, which creates a gap between large-scale textile producers and individual artisans.

With the government's multiple pro-business initiatives aimed at helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) thrive, financial mismanagement causes many small businesses to spring up to vanish as soon as their requests for financial aid are approved.

In contrast to the units that permanently left, the group of medium-sized firms that persisted has a larger profit margin ratio. The investment turnover ratio is similar in this regard. The coefficients of several financial indicators are shown to be statistically significant for just a few years, which suggests that the association between the likelihood of a business being pulled out and economic indicators is minimal.

Factors leading to the problem

Due to two factors, the MM problem is significant in the Indian setting. There has been substantial worry about two things: first, providing enough work possibilities for the expanding youthful population, and second, addressing the commercial interests of the expanding middle-class population. Since the start of the planning period, India's economic development strategy has focused on industrial development as the primary engine of overall economic growth.

The contribution of the manufacturing sector to general employment and output of the economy has not increased as expected when compared to other major industrializing nations like China and South Korea, despite significant changes in policy strategy from License Raj and public-sector-led growth to market-oriented growth through trade and industrial liberalization during the post-1990s period.

Historical perspective

The Indian economy has emerged from two consecutive quarters of contraction, growing by 0.4% in the three months leading up to December 2020. Yet, there is a catch: the V-shaped recovery may be optical, and a missing middle remains.

This implies that despite a rapid acceleration in growth that has manifested itself as a V-shaped rebound, most analysts think it will never approach the pre-Covid trend line.

This trend line represents the trajectory that the gross domestic product (GDP), the most common indicator of income, would have followed in the absence of the pandemic.

Recovery has undoubtedly been uneven. The most significant source of employment, tiny low-end manufacturing enterprises in the "middle," have not experienced growth, according to experts, who warned that rising gasoline costs and a recent rash of Covid cases in several areas are potential threats.

Restoration steps

To restore at least 14 million lost employment, as predicted by the Centre for Monitoring of the Indian Economy, the reversal must be more widespread. The epidemic more severely impacted services than manufacturing.

The trade, lodging, transportation, and communication services sectors, which make up around 16% of employment, had the most significant service declines. The main obstacle is still a need for more demand. Consumer durables, food, clothes, health, transportation, and education are just a few products and services people spend little on, particularly those in lower-income households.

Deep dive

This impedes the growth and development of the industry, as well as restricts opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs and artisans to access markets and resources.

A broad-based recovery depends on the health of India's struggling small enterprises, which account for over 25% of the country's GDP and over 40% of its industrial output. According to Joshi, they are the missing middle.

Smaller businesses' revenues were hit harder by the pandemic than more prominent firms, which was the primary source of employment losses. Joshi claimed that domestic demand and commerce dynamics remain unfavorable for small enterprises.

A lack of negotiating leverage and financial constraints have prevented the recovery from reaching labor-intensive areas of the economy.

Latest Textile Events

15 February 2023, Mumbai

A quick perspective; Typically these are a platform to engage the leading importers wherein potential buyers & importers from abroad are invited to the show; and quite a number of times in the Indian textile industry the event is organized under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme/under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India to drive the point home.

Generally it has a great probability of success in terms of the participation of potential buyers from abroad and business generation. Thereby, the visiting buyers get a unique opportunity to see the latest products of leading companies in the sector under one roof.

One great example of this media is when,” The 10th and 11th of February 2023 saw the beginning of the journey of a series of "UPNEXT INDIA" reverse buyer-seller meetings, which began with Japan.

In front of foreign buyers and exhibitors, Naren Goenka, Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), and the other members of the Export Council (EC) officially opened the inaugural edition of up next India 2023 today at Apparel House in Gurugram (Dellhi, NCR)”.

Does it lead to supply chain cost savings?

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry uses the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme to promote Upnext India, which AEPC coordinates. 84 influential Japanese buyers, including trading firms and retail chains/stores, were in India to seek their needs from the 112 Indian exhibitors showcasing the wide variety of RMG that reflect Japanese taste.

Naren Goenka, Chairman of AEPC, highlighted the shifting market dynamics by stating, "We hold a substantial business opportunity in Japan, reflected by the fact that China, which has been a significant supplier of clothing to Japan, has seen a decline in the past five years, giving India a considerable advantage.

The apparel industry in both nations is preparing to expand this commerce by utilizing duty-free entry for Indian RMG after the Indo-Japan CEPA agreement, as opposed to an estimated 9% for China and Turkey.

The exercise is designed broadly to invite leading buyers from a range of countries by proxy directly or indirectly and involves the sponsorship of guests in quite a number of cases aiming at enabling a more decisive, constructive, meaningful, and end of it a FRUITFUL VISITATION and, the merit of it cannot be overstated.

VOCAL For LOCAL

The world's most significant supply of cotton, jute, silk, and wool as raw materials is available to the Indian garment industry, which is also home to the second-largest capacity for spinning and weaving.

Quintessential Indian; This presents a chance for the sector to add 95% of value domestically, enabling India to provide the world with a total value chain solution from agriculture to fashion and extending a competitive edge by reducing lead times to reach our buyers.

The Indian clothing sector has advanced to expanding into new MMF garments fields after having established itself in traditional clothes, “Chairman AEPC remarked.

Japanese firms have two competitive advantages as a platform for apparel/clothing sourcing, according to Shri Sudhir Sekhri, Vice Chairman of AEPC, in his speech. These benefits include sourcing cost and flexibility, and agility.

Small customized orders of 300 pieces and big orders of 3 lakh pieces of one type may be fulfilled by Indian vendors. Despite Covid 19, there has been a good increase in garment imports into Japan over the past three years, giving India's apparel sector significant potential”.

"Upcoming India looks forward to forging bridges of collaborations between the Indian exporter community and Buyers globally, commencing with Japan. We hope to help Japanese businesses prepare for further sourcing from India through this event," said Ashok G Rajani, Chairman of Fairs and Exhibition, AEPC.

The Reverse Buyer Seller Meet's Japan-focused 2023 edition hosted interested apparel and fashion accessories exporters as it was a great honor to have discernible buyers offering them a forum to interact with Japanese brands and customers.

Expected outcome

The many types of clothing, including the summer and winter collections, are on exhibit from Indian RMG enterprises. The theme pavilions for startups in the technology and sustainability domains, two critical sectors where the Indian apparel industry is undergoing significant shifts, will also be present over the two days of Upnext India 2023.

In addition, the exhibition will feature several panel discussions where experts, business executives, and academics will debate topics, including trade outlook, ESG compliance, and emerging technologies to help the sector prepare for the future.

Historic perspective

India exported readymade garments worth US$ 0.22 billion to Japan with a share of 0.9% in 2022 (up until November), showing that there is significant room for Indian apparel manufacturers and Japanese readymade garment importers to close the gap and start a new chapter in the India-Japan apparel trade, textiles.

Reference point

The underlying purpose of let us say any Reverse Buyer Seller Meet invariably is to offer an achievable possibility to a prospective/targetted set of importers/buyers to engage possibly one-on-one, closely interact with their counterparts explore business prospects understand mutual needs and requirements as a productive outcome of the initiative thereby, optimizing meaningfully the economic gains.

What is remarkably arguable is," India is in a uniquely good place & well poised to be the next ‘+’ opportunity for the global supply chains as new narrative building in the globalized markets interestingly is discovery mechanism, The Geopolitical Economic Imperative for Reorganising Global Supply making reverse buyer-sellers meet making much-needed, relevant and to the point".

Latest Textile Events

14 February 2023, Mumbai

The history of spinning and weaving in Pakistan comes from the Harappa culture, which was there four thousand years ago. Since then, Pakistan has continued this long-standing custom and grown to rank as Asia's eighth-largest exporter of textile goods.

The nation has the highest spinning capacity in Asia and is the third-largest cotton producer after China and India. Pakistan has 442 spinning mills, 1260 ginning facilities, 2550 garment manufacturing businesses, and 600 knitwear manufacturing businesses.

Scope

To be sold to nations including the United States, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Dubai, and Afghanistan, textile items like carpets, rugs, towels, tents, home textiles, hosiery, and garments are created in this region. The textile industry firmly supports Pakistan's economy. Nearly 50% of all overseas exports are made up of textile goods and clothing, which also provide 8.5% of the nation's GDP and employ 38% of the labor force in manufacturing.

The way things are

Regarding acquiring and utilizing raw materials, Pakistan's spinning industry operates in a competitive yet unrestricted environment. The lack of crops has hampered Pakistan's sourcing of foreign cotton since it started a decade ago. The country imports over 3 million bales from outside while producing close to 11.5 million locally.

Role of FTAs & GSP

Pakistan benefits from a free trade agreement with the EU. Pakistan's textile sector has helped to foster positive relations with the EU. Pakistan is no longer subject to import duties from the European Union, and a bill passed in December 2013 gave it a Generalized Scheme of Preferences status (GSP Plus).

The agreement and task distribution started in January 2014 and will last through 2017. The European Union will profit from importing inexpensive textile items from Pakistan. Still, the latter will aim to gain an edge by fostering employment growth and economic development in the industry. In the first year of the agreement, it is predicted that the GSP Plus will raise exports of textiles and clothing alone by $650 million.

Policy interventions

The Pakistani government has also improved the 2014–2015 textile policy to encourage and advance the industry. The modifications emphasized having the proper infrastructure, making the right investments, having suitable training facilities, and having the proper research facilities for the textile sector.

To increase the production capacity of clothing in Karachi, Islamabad, and Faisalabad, it will also focus on regional commerce. However, the nation's administration has failed to address the energy situation.

The government promised to develop gas and continuous electrical facilities to increase power availability but has yet to do so. This has had a significant impact on Pakistan's textile sector. Manufacturers were forced to switch to alternate electrical generation techniques, including generators and inverters, increasing manufacturing prices.

Electricity shortages lead to higher costs and worse profitability for the nation's textile exporters. Numerous factories closed down due to a lack of power supply, leaving thousands of people without jobs.

Prevailing scenario

The expiration of a European preferential trade deal has already impacted the sector. It was severely affected by the global financial crisis the previous year, and top executives of apparel firms anticipate that it may be further affected if the rupee keeps strengthening. 5.4 percent of the island's gross domestic product was generated by textiles and apparel in 2008 as opposed to 6.5 percent in 2007, according to figures provided by the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The industry creates 11% of the employment in Mauritius and receives the bulk of the $340 million stimulus package announced in December. It also adds Rs 28 billion to export revenues.

Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association's Central Chairman of the Council of All Pakistan Textile Associations, Jawed Bilwani, Zonal Chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Zubair Motiwala Chairman of the Pakistan Knitwear & Sweater Exporters Association, Arif Lakhani Former Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers & Exporters Association Chairman Rafiq Godil Chairman of the Towel Manufacturers Association Khawaja Usman (TMA) According to media reports, Farrukh Maqbool, Shaikh Muhammad Shafiq, the former chairman of the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association, and Abdus Samad, the chairman of the Pakistan Cloth Merchants Association, recently issued a joint statement in this regard.

Challenges galore

According to the heads of the trade associations, cotton yarn is sold at an international rate. Therefore, depreciation raises the price of cotton and yarn in Rupees. They also note that cotton yarn is more affordable in Bangladesh than in Pakistan due to reduced utility costs.

Nation's currency crash 2023; According to one last week of January 2023 media reports, "cash-strapped Pakistan which is facing an economic crisis of sorts in a dire straight of cash-strapped state presently has its currency plummeting to historic low value against the US dollar in the interbank and open market.

Jawed Bilwani, Central Chairman of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA)alluded in one of the media interactions that, " The Pakistan rupee has fallen precipitously in recent months leading to inflating the cost of doing business and has a disastrous impact on the economic prospects of Pakistan textiles as make no mistakes cotton yarn is available at an international price only as any given devaluation will only hike cotton and yarn price in Pakistan rupees as an after effect.

Additionally, the stronger greenback/USD poses mounting price pressure on other facets of the business too making importing machinery much more expensive hurting business interest, particularly in cases where machinery demand had been placed previously.

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