Fibre2Fashion

A year-and-half after demonetisation and twelve months after the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST), it is a nebulous state of affairs in the bustling textiles hub of Surat. Precise and reliable numbers are hard to come by, but those that are being bandied around are bleary indicators in themselves. All that one is left to go by are estimates (some random, some well-calculated), and these estimates vary widely depending on who one is talking to. In many ways, it resembles a conflict...

Only a year back, the e-commerce landscape was dominated by two players: Amazon and Flipkart. With the acquisition of Myntra and Jabong by Flipkart, it would have appeared as though a process of consolidation had set in, and that the years to come would see the two in a no-holds-barred fight. Now, with the buying of Flipkart by American retail giant Walmart in May, things have changed in a way, and yet in many ways they remain the same. It would still remain a war between two big players, only...

The innerwear/intimate wear sector has changed drastically over the last one decade. What factors according to have contributed to this? Karan Behal: Over the past decade, the average woman in India has gained exposure from social media, the ways of the West and similar sources. This has led innerwear and intimatewear to no longer remaining a hush-hush discussion, but rather one wherein women openly have a say in their choice and preferences. Women no longer accept lingerie as casual innerwear...

Those were once perceived as only functional elementary necessities that no one needed to talk about or give second thoughts to. But today, they are used to assert style statements. That's how much the sheer concept of intimatewear itself has changed. These days, the term ‘intimatewear’ connotes one of those handful of product ranges that are both a necessity and luxury. The once-traditional intimatewear market that was underlined by abysmal production quality and desultory promotions is now...

Is digital textile printing defining the industry today? Be it 'yes' or 'no', could you explain your assessment? Why is it so? Kamal Kulshreshth: No, the textiles industry is too huge to be defined by digital printing. Printing is only one way of adding value to fabric. Besides printing, fabrics are dyed, jacquard patterned, dobby patterned or imparted special finishes to add value. Even within the printed variety, less than 5 per cent of the total printed fabric production is digital, but...

What, according to you, has been the growth story of the FESPA Global Print Expo since it was organised for the first time? On that count, could you also share some numbers in terms of participants, visitors, etc? Roz Guarnori: FESPA has certainly come a long way since the launch of its first exhibition in Paris in 1963. Originally formed as an exhibition for European screen printers, by 1973 the event started to grow its audience outside Europe, welcoming visitors from further afield including...

There are—few would contest—many aspects of the textiles-apparel-fashion business where technology holds sway. Still fewer would disagree it is the printing one that is decidedly the most colourful of them all. And when it becomes a question of what’s the latest in printing, the FESPA Global Expo is the one to visit for updating oneself on the trendiest in technologies and machineries. The annual congregation where manufacturers and suppliers from the world of print engage with those from the...

Five years is often not enough to gauge the impact of any movement. But in this case, the early signs of change are there for all to see. The Fashion Revolution movement, that first coalesced as an emotive idea and then gathered revolutionary zeal worldwide in the aftermath of the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy that resulted in the death of over 1,000 workers, observed the fifth Fashion Revolution Week from April 23 to 29 this year. The week kicked off with the launch of the 2018 Fashion Transparency...

Whenever the discussion hovers around India's relatively modest apparel exports and how the country has been losing ground to smaller countries in the great apparel supply war, Turkey invariably figures among those though to be stealing a march over India. But then, the cherry-picking of Turkey in the context is misleading—for it is like no other. Its textiles are steeped in history, its cotton is part of lore, and its flamboyance cannot be matched. It is a country that compares more to China...

Certain events serve as weathercocks—they tell you which way the wind is blowing, or, at times, beginning to blow. Textile machinery fairs are something like that. Since textile machineries call for huge investments that need to be planned years ahead—and given that no company would want to pump in monies unless they were sure those would not blow away in the wind—the interest generated in these events can vouchsafe be taken as indicators of the shape that industry may take. The ITM Istanbul is...