Fibre2Fashion

The volume of world trade has not seen a healthy outlook for a few years now, and the dynamics are being dictated by trade wars more than ever. All this would mean that a small country like Bangladesh should stand extremely worried. Yet, it is not. Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 fiscal year expanded by 7.9 per cent over the previous year. Industry grew by 12 per cent (10.2 per cent in 2017) and manufacturing 13.4 per cent...

Bargaining power imbalance and information asymmetry between marketplace platforms and their business users are holding back the e-commerce sector in India. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) came to this conclusion in its report Market Study on E-commerce in India: Key Findings and Observations that was released on January 8. But, even without a formal determination of violation of competition law, the CCI remarked, "improving transparency over certain areas of the platforms’ functioning...

On October 21, 2015, when the European Clothing Action Plan (ECAP) was launched, it seemed to be quite an ambitious project. The €3.6 million pilot project funded by EU LIFE was meant to increase environmental and economic benefits by reducing the carbon, water and waste footprints of clothing in the EU. On December 31, 2019, the project drew to a close, and is likely to serve as a benchmark in the next few years, at least. The project involved UK charity WRAP, working in partnership with MADE...

For a long time, with the end of the quota regime in January 2005, the global fashion industry seemed to follow a singular model of sourcing. Broadly speaking, of course. At some point, the cost factor started giving way to the speed element. The jobs lost to the offshoring strategy of fashion companies were sought to be bought back home (i.e the West) through a reshoring drive. Even as things were beginning to coalesce and new realignments in the sourcing world were taking form, the discourse...

There is such a term called a “creeping normality”. The expression was coined by American scientist Jared Diamond in his 2005 bestseller, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. He had touched upon the subject earlier too “while attempting to explain why, in the course of long-term environmental degradation, Easter Island natives would, seemingly irrationally, chop down the last tree.” The concept is put succinctly in the Wikipedia entry on the subject: Creeping normality (also called...

The event promises to be the largest confluence of technology, professionals and policymakers from the Indian textiles and apparel industry. It its third edition this year, ITMACH India is positioning itself itself as a must-visit platform for machinery makers desirous of meeting investors, demonstrating new innovations, and exchanging ideas with user industries. The third edition of ITMACH India will be held from December 5–8 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Coming barely six months after ITMA 2019 at...

In 2014, observers of global trade were riding a euphoric wave. There was talk of mega-treaties and how those would change the world. There were the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). The age of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is as good as over, and trade would now be dominated by the mega deals. Or, so we were led to believe and taken down the garden path. But five years...

For one week the air pollution levels in Delhi and the NCR (National Capital Region) shot through the roof, forcing authorities to declare a public health emergency. Schools and colleges remained closed as Delhi-NCR choked under the dense fumes wafting in from neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. The capital region had its sources of pollution (from vehicular emissions to pollution caused by power plants), but the stubble burning in the two Northern states came as the last straw. Even though, at its...

Please tell us more about the ERP/PLM solutions that your company offers. In what ways are they unique? NGC’s cloud-based Andromeda PLM solution was designed specifically for the needs of apparel, fashion and footwear brands and retailers. NGC’s PLM is configurable and user-friendly, and it provides a common platform for all PLM related elements including planning, merchandising, design, costing, sampling, quality and sourcing. Workflow calendars allow users to track progress, predict unexpected...

You have taken over as ED of SAC at a very critical juncture. How do you assess the responsibility that comes with the new job? What would be your immediate priorities? I am honoured to be in this new role. It’s an exciting time at the SAC. The path we started on ten years ago was unchartered for any industry. The kind of collaboration the SAC has achieved in bringing the industry together to standardise social and environmental sustainability is groundbreaking. We hope it’s an example of how...