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A Global Meet “Knowledge in Handloom Weaving in India” featuring many eminent speakers and experts from Oxford University, NALSAR, Columbia University, IIT Delhi, Netherlands, Germany and Italy began today at one of India’s largest weaving-focused towns, Chirala in Andhra Pradesh informed Ravi Kumar Reddy of REEDS, a city based NGO in a press note issued today in Hyderabad, the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The theme of the meet is “Rethinking Indian Industrialisation of Crafts”. It is organised in collaboration with Mr Mohan Rao of National Federation of Handlooms and Handicrafts, Prof Bijker of Maastricht University and Ineke Sluiter of Universiteit Leiden.
During the inaugural speech today, Padmabhushan Sri Rajiv Sethi, Asian Heritage Foundation, a not for profit organization servicing creative and cultural industries since 1996, expressed his concern over the shrinking creative spaces in formal pedagogy pertaining to handlooms industry.
He outlined the importance of life skills in handloom industry which cannot be measured by an y economic indices. He emphasized on textiles of making, doing and being as a living form of the art which converges as the true essence of handlooms.
The Padmabhushan Awardee Sri Rajiv Sethi called upon every person in the society to collectively revive India’s handlooms as they carry the tangible and intangible heritage of the nation.
Sri Sethi made to the young artisans in the handlooms to create a pressure group and collectively bargain for their stronger textile policy to keep the industry and art alive.
The 8 day Conference Cum Workshop called Chenetha Chethikala Sambaralu lined up many eminent speakers and experts like Uzramma of Malkha, Jaya Jaitly; Jagada Rajagopalan, Consultant; Amita Dhanda, NALSAR; Anique Hamelin, Classics and Ancient History, University of Amsterdam; Ashoke Chatterjee, Prabhat Education Foundation, Ahmedabad; BuYun Chen, Professor, Swarthmore College; Dorothy Ko, Professor of History and Women’s Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University; Ellen Harlizius-Kluck, Research Institute for the History of Technology and Science Deutches Museum, Munich; Rajeev Sethi, Asian Heritage Foundation; Sampat Mukhopadhyay, IIT Delhi; Subir Kumar Saha, IIT Delhi; Ulinka Rublack, Facujty of History, Cambridge University and others
It is organsied by Hyderabad based, NGO, REEDS–Rural Economic and Educational Development Society. It is a Not-for-Profit organization involved in formulating and implementing programs relating to various spheres of rural life. REEDS is a registered Society under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860..
The purpose of the conference is knowledge sharing, standardization and innovation of techniques, designs, motifs and repertoires.
The Workshop is led by scholars, academicians, weavers of outstanding expertise like Sri Mohan Rao, Sri Ravikumar Reddy from Reeds, Uzramma from Malkha, Mr. Bijker from Maastricht University, Padmabhushan Sri Rajiv Sethi, Smt. Anuradha Reddy from Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, Smt. Annapurna and Sri Mamidipudi Ravindra Vikram.
The Focus of the workshop is to exhibit the various types of looms, demonstrate the weaving techniques from various regions across the nation.
Another objective of the workshop, according to the organsiers is to exhibit the technology sharing through sessions where weavers interact with each other with scholars and designers to discuss the various techniques used across India in the knowledge sharing demonstrations.
The workshop is also aimed at activists and writers to document the history and also share the innovation techniques that have been developed for uplifting the industry.
The meet is the convergence of various experts, artisans, tradespersons who are involved in the handloom industry such as the spinners, dyers, sizers, warpers, embroiderers, tailors.
The handlooms provide livelihoods for 4.3 million families, making it the 2nd largest employer sector after Agriculture. The meet will provide a roadmap to transform the future of handloom weavers through innovations and network building.
The meet is organized by REEDs, a Hyderabad based NGO involved in formulating and implementing programs to various spheres of rural life. The industry has the potential to create over one million jobs with the lowest per capita investment for creation of such jobs, through building on existing skills and social capital.
The handloom industry employs thousands of people across the state. However, due to certain perceptions regarding handloom cloth, and the necessity of competing with power loom imitations, growth in the sector is severely hindered. For example, power loom designers can easily copy popular handloom designs and produce them in a cheaper fashion, as designs are not protected by copyright, eating into the demand for handloom cloth.
In order to improve the situation of handloom weavers, it is crucial to improve market and production infrastructure, capacitate weavers and designers to innovate deep craft skills, and provide access to credit and financial support. Designs have to be protected under the intellectual property regime. The system of production can be re-engineered such that the creativity of the weaver can co-exist with the demands of production to the designers taste. Handloom currently services many growing market niches; luxury, ethnic, semi-urban markets for sarees as well as green markets for sustainable goods. The meet is organised against this backdrop.
Many Scholars, artisans and other professionals involved in the textile industry are participating in order to better understand and promote futures and livelihoods in handloom weaving informed Ravi.
The meet will go on till 19th November.
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Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani stated that India held a special place in global textile trade as the 2nd largest textile exporter in the world, with cotton yarn and fabric exports accounting for over 23 per cent of India’s total textiles and apparel exports.
Furthermore, Irani emphasised that the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) should also look at propagating growth in the MSME sector, as a third of its members fall under the MSME category. “This has become more relevant in the light of the announcement made by the Prime Minister on November 2 for the MSME sector,” she said.
The minister added that it was for the first time that banking institutions were directed to give in-principle approvals to loans in 59 minutes. She urged the industry to avail benefits of the ATUF scheme, as provided under the special package of Rs. 6,000 crore for the made-ups and garments sector. She assured that the Ministry of Textiles would provide all types of support to the cotton textile sector in increasing exports.
Irani addressed the gathering as the Chief Guest of TEXPROCIL Export Awards 2017 – 2018 on November 3, where the TEXPROCIL presented 56 awards in 32 categories for the best export performance during 2017-2018. Out of the 36 companies receiving the awards in various categories, 7 companies received the prestigious export award for the first time. Another novel feature of this year’s awards was the introduction of the award for the highest employment generated during fiscal 2017-18, including women employment.
“The ongoing trade war between the US and China would possibly open up new opportunities for the cotton textile exports from India and we should be ready to explore them. The Government was also in the process of putting in place alternate schemes to promote exports which would improve the competitiveness of the products. These alternate schemes were expected to be WTO compatible. The alternate scheme would replace earlier schemes like MEIS etc. and it was believed that the level of support would not in anyways be lowered,” said Ujwal Lahoti, Chairman of the TEXPROCIL.
TEXPROCIL has proposed to include cotton yarn under the MEIS. The cotton yarn is a value-added product with a lot of value addition taking place within the country. The MEIS for fabrics also needed to be increased from 2 to 4 per cent. TEXPROCIL would also request the Government to include cotton yarn and fabrics under the ROSL scheme as these products also face the incidence of state levies as in the case of made-ups and garments. The ROSL scheme currently covered only state levies. However, there are also central levies, the burden of which the exporters have to bear. To make exports competitive, these central levies also needed to be refunded under a new scheme.
In the current year (April to September 2018), exports of textiles and clothing have declined by 3 per cent with exports of readymade garments registering a steep decline of 16 per cent. However, export of cotton textiles have grown by 26.8 per cent in 2018-19 (April to September 2018). During this period, exports of cotton textiles (raw cotton, yarn, fabrics, and made-ups) touched USD 6235 million as compared to USD 4917 million in 2017-18.
While delivering the Vote of Thanks, Dr. K.V. Srinivasan, Vice Chairman – TEXPROCIL, stated that although many issues related to the sector have been addressed, but there are still a few that require attention and intervention of the government.
Welcoming the package for the MSME sector, Lahoti said: “Interest subvention on pre-shipment and post-shipment finance for exports by MSMEs has been increased from 3 to 5 per cent. These measures would provide much-needed support and encouragement to the MSME sector, which contributed significantly to the textiles exports. Under the package, GST – registered MSMEs would get 2 per cent interest rebate on incremental loan up to Rs. 1 crore.
The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, is leading the delegation for the meeting for trade Ministers of RCEP member countries which is taking place in Singapore on November 12-13, 2018.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a pact that aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights. Trade Ministers of the 16 member RCEP are meeting in Singapore to continue to exert all efforts towards meeting the targets set. The chief negotiators had recently concluded the 24th round of meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, last month.
India already has a free trade agreement with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan and South Korea and it is negotiating similar pacts with Australia and New Zealand.
India is pushing for liberalizing norms to promote services trade as the sector accounts for about 55 % of India’s GDP. India is looking for a balance trade agreement as it would cover 40% of the global GDP and over 42% of world’s population.
The RCEP members include 10 ASEAN members – Brunei Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam and their 6 free trade agreement partners – India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The ministerial meeting will be followed by the 2nd RCEP Leaders Summit on 14th November, 2018, in Singapore.
Briefing media ahead of the East Asia summit, Vijay Thakur Singh, secretary (East) MEA, said, “The meeting of the Quad will take place but let’s make it clear it has nothing to do with the East Asia Summit
Besides participating in the most important Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) meetings, leaders of India, US, Japan, and Australia will be having the third round of Quadrilateral dialogue (the Quad) on the sidelines of the East Asia summit in Singapore.
Briefing media ahead of the East Asia summit, Vijay Thakur Singh, secretary (East) MEA, said, “The meeting of the Quad will take place but let’s make it clear it has nothing to do with the East Asia Summit. The Prime Minister will also meet with US Vice President Mike Pence in Singapore.”
Other issues that will be discussed by the ASEAN members and its eight key partners, who will also be present at the East Asia Summit, will discuss a wide range of issues concerning regional cooperation including the environment to cyber security. And other issues related to strengthening the trade and economic relations.
The leaders of these countries besides sharing their views on the geopolitics of the region, will highlight the importance of the Quad for the ASEAN Centrality, which could also be extended to other countries in the South Asian region in an effort to maintain balance of power in the region.
In this year, there have been several rounds of discussions amongst the members of the Quad in an effort to that the `ASEAN Centrality remains’.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day visit to Singapore beginning Nov 14 to attend the 13th East Asia Summit organised by ASEAN and associated meetings on both days. He will also participate in the crucial Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) meeting.
The official spokesperson of the MEA, Raveesh Kumar said that Prime Minister Modi is also expected to participate in a number of other events during the visit.
RCEP expected to be the world’s largest regional trading bloc has proposed trade agreement between ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
He will also hold bilateral talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and other leaders that day. The East Asia Summit is a premier forum in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its inception in 2005, it has played a significant role in the strategic, geopolitical and economic evolution of East Asia. While the ASEAN summit is already taking place in Singapore, this time this is no India-ASEAN summit.
Leaders will be reviewing the progress made so far in the RCEP talks and look for ways of concluding the negotiations which includes ASEAN members and India, Japan, Australia China, South Korea and New Zealand.
Modi will meet ASEAN leaders for an informal breakfast summit, while US Vice-President Mike Pence will be at the ASEAN-US Summit. Leaders from the ASEAN countries will gather for the ASEAN-India informal breakfast summit with Modi, before meeting US Vice-President Mike Pence at the ASEAN-US Summit.
RCEP is a proposed trade agreement between ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Besides attending the important meetings, PM Modi is also scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Summit. It is the biggest fintech event in the world which is expected to attract more than 30,000 people including influential entrepreneurs, leaders and experts.
CCI presence in market also keeping prices above MSP
The cotton season has commenced this year with an unusual trend — prices are up despite new arrivals.
The price of the widely-used Shankar 6 variety is ? 130.42 a kg against ?105.34 a kg last November.
Since October 1, when the season started, more than 20 lakh bales are said to have arrived in the market. Trade and industry associations have given varying estimates for cotton production this year (October 2018 to November 2019), with expectations ranging from 343 lakh bales to 380 lakh bales. The daily arrivals of cotton have crossed one lakh bales now and are expected to go up.
The prices usually drop when the new season starts. However, this year, prices are remaining firm for several reasons, say the trade and industry representatives.
The main cause is the hike in minimum support price (MSP), says P. Nataraj, chairman, Southern India Mills’ Association. The MSP is higher by 26% to 28 % this season, depending on the cotton variety.
Situation may change
The market prices are above the MSP by just 1% to 1.5%, says P. Alli Rani, CMD, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI). When the daily arrivals pick up, the situation might change, she says. Though the corporation has made minimum purchases now, it is present in more than 348 centres, ready for MSP operations if the prices fall. The presence of CCI in the market is also keeping prices above MSP, she says.
According to J. Thulasidharan, president of Indian Cotton Federation, sentiments are playing a bigger role in determining prices at present more than demand and supply.
The Cotton Advisory Board normally meets in October to estimate cotton production.
This year, it had not met so far. “We have written to the Textile Ministry to convene it soon and clear all the rumours and anomalies about the expected production and to give a clear picture of the crop position,” he said.
The movement of international prices will also have an impact on the domestic cotton prices. If China levies duty on import of cotton from the US, which is a major cotton producer, it will have an impact on the international and Indian cotton prices.
Atul S. Ganatra, president, Cotton Association of India, said domestic prices are high as the international cotton prices are up. Further, this year, there is a fear of a smaller domestic cotton crop. Prices might not reduce much for quality cotton as the season progresses.
Industry sources say the mills are buying cotton for their short-term needs, expecting arrivals to pick up and prices to stabilise.
Slow offtake
The yarn offtake is slow and is likely to revive from next week. Cotton yarn exports were good from April to August (553 million kg between April and August this year compared with 364 million kg during the same period last year).
Mr. Nataraj says the textile industry, which is the largest consumer of cotton in the country, is doing well and cotton consumption this year might be same as last year.
“We have to wait and see how the cotton pries will move.” At present international prices are higher than domestic prices.
Volume of purchase of Indian cotton by the mills will depend on the price movement, he says.
India-US trade in goods and services stands at $126 billion with a $27 billion trade balance in favour of India. While trade negotiations are ongoing, both countries’ sustained investments in the other indicate a valuable and resilient economic relationship. Indian investments and job creation in the US continue to rise and the US has also been a significant contributor to the Indian economy. The ambitious $500 billion trade target, while achievable, will need steadfast commitment and reform on both sides. The US is India’s largest export destination and second largest source for imports and the two countries can achieve $500 billion trade by widening the trade basket and resolving impediments.
In recent months, the US has raised tariffs on its global imports of steel and aluminium, imposed higher duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and renegotiated the North American trade agreement. The US has a broad strategic agenda with India and has recently accorded it the Strategic Trade Authorization Tier 1 (STA-1) status.
However, India is impacted by the metal tariffs, and the US has recently withdrawn GSP benefits to 50 products totalling $70 million of imports.
A high-profile CEOs delegation led by Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President, CII and Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises will be visiting the US from 14 – 16 November 2018, to reinforce Indian Industry’s commitment to US – India business ties. The Business leaders will meet with diverse stakeholders – including senior government representatives, industry bodies and think tanks – in a bid to fortify the bilateral India-US strategic and economic relationship at this critical time. With the US midterm elections just concluded, the delegation will aim to strengthen US Government, Congressional and US corporate ties with Indian industry and highlight trade and investment concerns at a time when the two Governments are working on negotiations on various issues.
The delegation will hold several engagements through which the CII CEOs will deliberate on some of the most pressing economic issues in the bilateral agenda in areas such as commerce, defence equipment, agriculture, energy and high-tech goods. Engaging key stakeholders driving these discussions in Washington, D. C., the delegation aims to deliver future engagement strategies for both countries as well as opportunities for increased business collaboration.
A quick check of the numbers show that all Indian products satisfy the Competitive Need Limitations criteria.
On October 30, US President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 9813 “to modify the list of products eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences”. This proclamationannounced the list of products from the developing countries that would not receive duty-free access to the US market from November 1, which they had hitherto received under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
The GSP has been in place since 1971 after it was adopted unanimously in the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1968. Under the GSP, products exported by the developing countries were granted duty-free access in the markets of developed countries. In other words, developed countries granted unilateral grant of trade concessions to the developing countries for increasing their exports.
While most developed countries introduced the GSP in 1971, the US accepted this system of trade preferences in 1976, after the Trade Act of 1974 authorised the US President “to extend duty-free treatment to certain eligible products imported into the United States from beneficiary developing countries”. The benefits were extended for an initial period of 10 years, which was subsequently extended.
This Act also outlined a set of conditions for determining whether any country should be designated as a beneficiary developing country. These are: (i) a request by the country to be so designated; (ii) the level of economic development of such country; (iii) whether or not the other major developed countries extend their GSP scheme to the country; and (iv) the extent to which the country has assured the US of equitable and reasonable access to its market and basic commodity resources. These conditions gave the trade administration discretionary powers with which they could discriminate against the developing countries while implementing the GSP.
Alongside, the Act also introduced a mechanism that was to be used to review whether specific products originating in the beneficiary developing countries could continue to enjoy the GSP benefits. One of the key mechanisms is the Competitive Need Limitations (CNL). This states that a beneficiary developing country could lose its GSP eligibility with respect to any product if the CNLs are exceeded. There are two measures for CNLs: (i) when, during any calendar year, import of a particular product into the US from a beneficiary developing country account for 50 percent or more of the value of total imports of that product into the US; or (ii) exceed a certain dollar value. As per the GSP rules, the dollar-value limit is increased by $5 million annually. The limit set in 2017 was $180 million.
Enforcement of CNLs is, however, subject to the application of waivers, the more important of which is the de minimis waiver. This waiver is important for it sets a floor for the value of imported products below which the CNLs cannot be enforced. The de-minimis level is adjusted upwards each year, in increments of $500,000. In 2017, the floor was set at $23.5 million.
The current year’s review of the US’ GSP is particularly significant as it identified a much longer list of products to be excluded from the coverage of the system based on the observed CNLs. Ninety-four products were identified from 16 countries — the largest number of products included in this list in recent years. Of these 94 products, 50 were imports from India — by far the largest number for any GSP beneficiary.
A quick check of the numbers show that all the products satisfy the CNL criteria, namely that the imports of these products into the US from India accounted for well over 50 percent or more of the value of total imports of that product into the US in 2017. In case of 12 of these products, India accounted for more than 99 percent of the total imports to the US. However, none of the other identified products imported from India meet the other criteria, i.e. exceeded $180 million in 2017. The list of products targeting imports from India are relatively low-value products; more than half of the 50 identified products had import values of less than $1 million. In fact, the product having the highest import value in 2017, hand-loomed carpet and other textile floor coverings, was just $10.3 million — way below the $180 million threshold.
These calculations show that the entire list of products for which the GSP benefits have been withdrawn, should have been given the benefit of de minimis waiver, where the threshold was $23.5 million in 2017.
Commentators have often argued that the US’ trade administration implements the GSP using a set of objective criteria, and is, therefore, non-discriminatory. The latest round of the GSP review and the application of the rules in the case of India, does not support this argument.
A dozen nations including the U.S. and China demanded the European Union provide a mechanism for “appropriate compensation” to ensure its split with the U.K. doesn’t leave them worse off after Brexit, according to a World Trade Organization document.
The document marks another snag in the EU and U.K.’s plan to unwind their WTO commitments and increases the likelihood of a showdown at the global trade body.
Europe’s Ties That Bind
The bloc has long-standing pacts governing trade, immigration and currency
We urge the EU to provide further assurances to members that it will provide clarity on how it intends to account for U.K.-EU trade; that it will provide for negotiated outcomes that maintain the quality and level of access currently enjoyed to the EU; and that appropriate compensation will be offered where this access is not maintained,” according to the document, which was obtained by Bloomberg.
The document, which was to be discussed at a WTO meeting in Geneva on Monday, was signed by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S. and Uruguay.
Read more: Pressure Mounts on Theresa May to Abandon Brexit Proposal
“Given their considerable, unprecedented scale and scope, these changes are of general and systemic interest to the WTO membership,” according to the paper.
The countries said they were dissatisfied with the EU’s plan to divide its joint WTO tariff rate quota, or TRQ, obligations with Britain and said the bloc has not made any new WTO commitments regarding the future of the EU-U.K. trade relationship, according to the document. The issue centers on the most important part of the EU and the U.K.’s membership in the WTO — their schedules of concessions, which outline tariff rates and other trade rules by which other countries may sell goods and services to the European marketplace.
TRQ Commitments
Since the U.K. does not possess an independent schedule, it has offered to replicate the EU schedule and split their joint TRQ commitments — which set import limits on hundreds of sensitive goods such as beef, lamb, and sugar. But the signatory countries said the joint TRQ proposal “amounts to a reduction in the quality and level of access provided by the EU to WTO members” that could “affect a globally-significant volume of trade,” according to the document. “Given their considerable, unprecedented scale and scope, these changes are of general and systemic interest to the WTO membership,” according to the paper.
Though WTO members cannot force the EU and the U.K. to provide market concessions they can block certification of their schedule of concessions and launch WTO dispute settlement proceedings into the matter. The EU can — and already does — trade on uncertified WTO schedules. However, a negative dispute settlement judgment could require the EU to offer new market-access commitments to any, and potentially all, of the WTO’s other 135 members.
Vietnam’s National Assembly on Monday ratified a Pacific Rim trade deal abandoned by U.S. President Donald Trump, but still being pushed forward by 11 other members.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP will take effect at the year’s end after Australia became the sixth nation to ratify it last month.
Trump pulled out of the pact just days after taking office last year, saying multilateral trade agreements cost American jobs and that he would prefer bilateral trade agreements.
The remaining 11-members account for more than 13 percent of the world’s GDP.
Vietnam is expected to be one of the members that would most benefit from it with its strong base of exports of cellphones, garments, shoes, seafood and agricultural products. A government study says the pact will boost Vietnam’s GDP by 1.3 percentage points, while exports will also increase by 4 percentage points by 2035.
State-run online newspaper VnExpress reported the legislators unanimously approved a resolution to ratify the pact Monday.
It said the resolution asked government to prepare to take advantage of the trade pact while minimizing the negative impact it poses.
“The government should pay attention to training of human resources to take advantage and sustain opportunities and benefits created by CPTPP and build measures to prevent and handle negative impacts which could occur while implementing it,” the paper quoted the resolution as saying.
New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Australia and Vietnam have ratified the pact. Malaysia, Brunei, Peru and Chile have yet to ratify it.
An article written by Senior Editor Cary Sherburne on the digital transformation underway in the textiles industry was published in the latest newsletter from the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC). Sherburne has become a regular contributor to the Association’s publication since WhatTheyThink’s Textiles section was launched in January of this year.
The article explains some of the drivers for increased adoption of digital solutions within the textiles and apparel supply chain—drivers that are not that different from other industries that have undergone, or are undergoing, a similar transformation. Shorter runs. Faster time to market. Reduced costs. Increased customization. Sound familiar? It should!
The book industry was experiencing 40% waste in the supply chain, and publishers have employed digital technologies to reduce that number. Supply chain waste in textiles is also at 40%, including inventory obsolescence and the amount of inventory that ends up on sale racks at reduced prices, or worse, must be disposed of.
Textiles also have a huge negative impact on the environment, which can be somewhat alleviated by employing digital technologies, from fabric finishes to online ordering, digital printing, and automated cut-and-sew.
There are even developments in the dyeing of thread on demand. Thread may seem inconsequential, but there is a great deal of waste and environmental contamination associated with conventional thread manufacturing. Sherburne cites Israeli company Twine Solutions as one example. Not only are there environmental benefits to this digital on-demand technology, but it enables production of complex patterns in embroidery and knitting that were not possible before.
She also mentions Unmade, a UK-based company dedicated to providing solutions and tools to enable widespread adoption of on-demand personalization and customization of apparel and other soft goods. Unmade started by developing software to enable custom knitted items, but is now expanding into direct-to-textile printing and more. Unmade not only lets manufacturers use existing equipment for custom items, but also works with companies to help them build the necessary infrastructure to make one-off production and logistics profitable.
Arguably, the transformation is almost complete in commercial print—there will always be analog product (offset, flexo, etc.), but digital printing and automated digital workflows are mainstream. Also arguably, it took 30 years to get to this point. One would hope the textiles and apparel industry will learn from experiences in other industries and progress much faster. Today, only about 6% of textiles are printed digitally…but that’s up 2% in just a couple of years.
