Retailers of delicately embroidered traditional Chinese garments such as tangzhuang jackets and qipao dresses celebrated booming sales during the Spring Festival.

Sun Xing, a garment shop owner at a wholesale market in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said sales at his small store hit 60,000 yuan in the first two months of 2010.

He said: “Especially ahead of the festival, we received tens of orders a day as many people wished to dress up elaborately.”

Sun added that tangzhuang jackets have become a fashion trend in recent years among Chinese people and foreigners, especially since 2001 when many political leaders wore silk-embroidered tangzhuang at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai.

“Red and gold are two of the most popular colors. Young people prefer silk cloth with simple patterns while their elders generally choose cloth with dragon or phoenix embroidery,” he said. The prices range from 400 to 1,000 yuan.

Many Chinese parents love to dress their children in tangzhuang when they take them to pay New Year visits to elders because they think it looks cute and is appropriate for the festive atmosphere, Sun said.

Shanghaixu, a Chinese brand that focuses on haute couture tangzhuang, also enjoyed good sales. It has seven outlets in Beijing, most of them in luxury hotels.

Dai Xia, store manager of a Shanghaixu outlet at the Oriental Plaza in downtown Beijing, said it received a great number of orders during the Spring Festival period.

Among bustling stores stocking many international brands, Shanghaixu outlets have a unique look. The name of the brand is written using Chinese brushes on a wooden board and all clothes stands, counters and mirrors are made of red wood carved with traditional Chinese patterns such as peonies or plum blossoms.

With the smell of Chinese traditional incense filling the air, hundreds of colorful samples of tangzhuang and qipao are displayed according to category at Dai’s store.

Dai said: “As people have been having more and more business dinners, parties or annual meetings in recent years, our business has been boosted. Also, a lot of couples come to the store to select clothes for their weddings.”

The prices range from 2,000 yuan to more than 10,000 yuan depending on the fabric, style and embroidery the customer chooses. They have to wait about 10 days before they receive their clothes.

Su Rui, 30, bought a pink short-sleeved qipao with silver embroidery weeks before the Spring Festival. It cost her about 5,000 yuan.

“I hosted my company’s annual meeting and the qipao I wore won lots of praise,” Su said. “Unlike traditional qipao, which used to be very long, this one is above the knees which makes me look sexy.”

Dai said that a reason for the sales boom is that the company has made a great effort to innovate their designs, matching them to different occasions such as family dinners or formal cocktail parties.

Some of the qipao are decorated with fur and others utilize Western-style designs, for example pleated skirt hemlines.

But at a Ruifuxiang store - a big name in the Chinese traditional costume market with a 117-year history - in Beijing’s Wangfujing commercial street, business is rather quiet with few customers.

At the simply decorated store, most customers are elderly while occasionally some foreigners come and look around. The sales staffs’ faces paint a picture of inactivity.

Fashion insiders said many traditional brands are no longer attractive to young people who have plenty of spending power as the designs are considered to be outdated and service is poor.

However, a 65-year-old Beijinger surnamed Liu said that she still prefers the time-honored brands which she has known from a very early age.

Source: http://www.cnga.org.cn/engl/news/View.asp?NewsID=22720

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The addition of residential and commercial developments on the grounds of Barlow Respiratory Hospital would mark a dramatic change for Elysian Park, an oasis of green space, picnic grounds, and trails winding through hills that offer views of Downtown and other parts of the city.

The development is seen by administrators of the hospital as a way to help pay for new medical facilities required by state laws under earthquake safety standards that take effect in three years. Barlow has operated on the site for more than a century, and its main medical facility dates back more than 80 years. Administrators say the main facility has sustained significant earthquake damage. They add that professional engineers have indicated that a seismic retrofit to address such concerns about that or other buildings on the campus is not a viable option in meeting the new state standards.

Barlow’s administrators have been providing updates on plans and seeking opinions from select community groups in the Echo Park district and other neighborhoods bordering Elysian Park. A survey sent to residents of Echo Park in recent weeks said that discussions with “local neighborhood stakeholders and councils” have led to a number of standards to be included in the plan for residential and retail development, including:

• Improvements to community access to Elysian Park.
• The creation of a “pedestrian-friendly environment.”
• The creation of a “privacy zone” around the hospital.
• Neighborhood-scale retail.
• Efforts to minimize the effects of the project on traffic in the area.
• Protections for wildlife in the park.
• Space to be made available for community gatherings.
• Health and recreation programs for elderly residents of the area.
• Designs and plans that “maintain the community character of Echo Park.”

The recent survey also asked residents for more specific recommendations, with wording that largely presumes general support. A representative of Barlow said that approximately 100 of the sureys have been returned in recent weeks, with two-thirds of respondents indicating either strong or moderate support for plans so far.

Gaining broader support could become difficult in the Echo Park community and beyond, since any plans to substantially change the environment in or around Elysian Park would hold the potential to draw significant scrutiny from parties ranging from environmentalists to community groups or individuals who enjoy the place in its current, mostly undeveloped state.

City officials will ultimately make have the final decision on the development plans. The Barlow site is located in the 1st City Council District, which makes current representative by Ed Reyes a key player in the process. Calls to Reyes’ office were not returned at presstime.

Source: http://www.garmentandcitizen.com/category/news/headline-story/2010-03-05-1.php

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The committees — two in Narayanganj, two in Gazipur, and one each at Ashulia, Tongi, Savar and EPZ area — will be operated under the Crisis Management Cell of the ministry. Joint secretary of the ministry’s labour wing will head these bodies.

“A certain quarter is constantly trying to create unrest in our garment industry. The chaos at the Islam Group of Industries on Tuesday was created by this group,” said Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, labour and employment minister.

“We have decided to form the eight committees in important garment zones to prevent the repetition of such unfortunate incidents, and to identify culprits and punish them,” he said.

He was speaking at a meeting held by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders, the labour and employment ministry, and garment workers at the secretariat in Dhaka.

Md. Siddiqur Rahman, the BGMEA Vice President (Finance) who was present at the meeting, said, “We want to follow the country’s labour law. Nevertheless, such chaos is very unfortunate. It will ruin our reputation and eventually we’ll lose the majority of our export.”

Source: http://www.bgmea.com.bd/home/pages/Govt_forms_8_committees_to_check_unrest_

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The KOFOTI decided to implement the on-site training project based on its view that it is necessary to provide on-site and practical education to textile majors while they are in university, in order to help them improve their work skills up to the level that the companies expect from the new tech-savvy workforce.

From January 25 (Mon.) through January 29 (Fri.), an on-site training on the dyeing/knitting process was offered to the students of Yeungnam University at the Korea Dyeing Technology Center. About 10 people, including experts in the industry and researchers at the center served as lecturers. Under the training, made up of lectures and hands-on exercises, the students learned the current status and vision of the textile industry as well as the industry specific skills.

Meanwhile, Hee-chan Ro, Chairman of the KOFOTI, said, “We will pursue and expand not only the on-site training for textile majors but also the existing cooperative projects between academia and businesses such as CEOs’ special lectures at universities and on-site education for students at vocational high schools.” He went on to say, “In addition, we will introduce on-site training for university professors of Textile Engineering during the summer vacation this year. We are making preparation systematically for this training to raise its effects substantially.”

Source: http://www.kofoti.org/bbs/viewbody.php?code=press&id=8&number=8

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The fire, seemingly caused by an electrical short circuit, started on the first floor of the seven story building at 9.30pm, when workers were leaving the factory after their shifts. As the fire spread, workers became trapped on the floors above. According to one survivor, rescue efforts were hampered by the fact that firemen had to cut the window grills to access the workers. In addition, no one on the scene could tell fire fighters how many workers were in the factory at the time the fire began.

According to Patrick Itschert, General Secretary of the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) “This tragedy, which echoes so many others in Bangladesh’s garment sector, is a brutal reminder of the grossly inadequate safety measures in place in Bangladesh’s garment factories.”

“The Bangladesh garment industry has a horrendous safety history. In April 2005 the Spectrum factory collapsed, killing 64 workers and injuring 84 more. In February 2006 a fire caused by an electrical short circuit at a garment factory in Chittagong killed 61 workers and injured approximately 100 more. Two days later a five-story building in the Tejgaon industrial area collapsed after unauthorized renovations to the upper stories of the building, killing 22 workers and injuring 50 more. The very same day a transformer explosion at a facility housing five garment factories caused workers to rush for the exits, and dozens were crushed in the effort to escape from the narrow stairwells. On 6 March 2006 a fire, triggered by an electrical short circuit at the building housing three garment factories in Gazipur, lead to a stampede when workers attempting to escape were blocked by boxes.”

“These tragedies are eerily similar and all could have been prevented by safe working practices. The Bangladesh government and the BGMEA must take urgent steps to ensure that this tragic event is the last of its kind, must ensure that victims receive adequate medical care and must put in place a compensation scheme for the victims and the families of those who died.”

“In the past the ITGLWF has called on the Government of Bangladesh to conduct an urgent structural review of all multi-storey buildings currently in use as garment production units; to launch an examination of all plant and machinery in garment producing factories; to ensure that all factories have adequate access and exit routes so that workers can swiftly be evacuated and emergency teams and equipment can quickly be brought to the site; and to create an adequate factory and wage inspectorate to ensure regular checks on workplace safety and adherence to labour legislation, including hours of work. Today we reiterate that call. The Bangladesh Government needs to act now” concludes Mr. Itschert.

Source: http://www.itglwf.org/DisplayDocument.aspx?idarticle=15926&langue=2

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Of particular note were growing middle classes in nations such as China and India, and the potential they present especially for high end apparel. As a result, overall world output is projected to expand by 3.9% in 2010, up by nearly 1% on projections made last October.

China’s robust economy is to growth by 10%, India by 7.7%, Indonesia by 5.5%, and Brazil by 4.7%, estimates the IMF study, prepared for a meeting of G-20 deputy finance ministers held in Seoul, Korea. However, output in advanced economies is expected to increase by only 2.1%, which makes for a sluggish recovery, with the US expanding by 2.7% and the Euro area nations by a weak 1%.

Contraction in demand for day-to-day apparel has been less affected by the global downturn compared with other consumer segments like the auto sector which has experienced sharp downfalls in demand, say analysts. But the sluggish recovery is expected to affect the upper end of the apparel market in rich economies.

“Weak household balance sheets are expected to remain a drag on private demand. Credit will be held back by the need to repair bank balance sheets,” the report notes and adds this is likely to impede access to credit for SMEs, which have less access to capital markets and consumers.

Concerning exchange rates, the IMF estimates the dollar is still “somewhat overvalued”, the Chinese renminbi has depreciated in real effective terms in tandem with the dollar and is estimated to be “substantially undervalued”, and the recent real depreciation of the Euro has moved it towards its “fundamental value.”

The volatility of the dollar and the continued uncertainty over the future path of the now widely perceived under-valued Chinese currency tends to affect more smaller textiles and apparel exporters and importers than bigger entities that have the personnel and resources to hedge against any sudden movements in the currency markets.

Therefore, while the stronger Chinese currency would stimulate more imports, including apparel, a lower dollar would act as a dampener of US import demand.

Source:http://www.aepcindia.com/international.asp?id=223&yr=2010

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The company’s fiscal 2009 net earnings grew to US$1.1bn from $967m last year. Net sales for the full-year fell to $14.20bn, compared with $14.53bn the prior year, and same-store sales decreased 3%. Fiscal year 2009 gross margin increased 280 basis points to 40.3% though, the company reported.

For the fourth quarter, which ended 30 January 2010, the company’s net earnings increased 45% to $352m, with same-store sales up 2%. Gap’s net sales increased 4% to $4.24bn in the fourth quarter, when gross margin increased 550 basis points to 39.5%.

“Led largely by our progress at Old Navy, we ended 2009 with a much-improved economic model and strong balance sheet,” said Mr Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Gap Inc.

“We’re now ready for our business to grow and move forward, as we aim to gain market share in North America and make a series of investments to bring our well-known brands to more customers around the world.”

By the end of 2010, Gap plans to roll out its Old Navy store model to an extra 200 stores, and open its first Gap stores in China and Italy. The company also said it wants to expand Banana Republic in Europe.

In its outlook, Gap said it expects diluted earnings per share of $1.70 to $1.75 for fiscal year 2010, from $1.34 in 2009.

Source:http://www.aepcindia.com/international.asp?id=222&yr=2010

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“And as the economy recovers our unique combination of high-quality, affordably-priced home and apparel merchandise is perfectly aligned with today’s more frugal consumer mindset,” he added. The company said that it earned US$936m in the quarter ended 30 January, up 53.7% from last year. Sales increased 3.2% to $20.18bn, the US discounter said.

Retail segment sales rose 3.7% in the fourth quarter to $19.7bn, boosted by new store openings. Same-store sales were up 0.6% in the period. The performance of Target’s credit-card segment has weighed on the bottom line. However, fourth-quarter credit card expenses fell 37% and the unit swung to a profit in the latest quarter.

Commenting on the result, Mr Steinhafel said gains had been driven by “discipline” and “innovation.” “Fourth quarter retail segment performance was well above our expectations due to stronger-than-expected holiday sales, combined with well-controlled inventories and disciplined expense controls, he said.

Shoppers are also more confident and paying more visits to the 1,740 Target stores. “Once hesitant and even fearful, they now are taking pride in their new found financial discipline and their confidence is leading them to add a few more home and apparel items to their basket.

The retailer also singled out its Merona women’s apparel line as one of its leaders beyond the holiday season. For the full-year, Target’s earnings were up 12.4% to $2.49bn or $3.30 per share, from $2.21bn of $2.86 per share the year before.

Fiscal sales increased 0.9% to $63.4bn from $62.9bn last time, while same-store sales fell by 2.5%. “In 2010, we expect our guest traffic trends and sales of discretionary categories to benefit from broader implementation of our new merchandise initiatives as well as a continued modest recovery in the economy, and believe Target will continue to gain profitable market share,” Mr Steinhafel said.

Source:http://www.aepcindia.com/international.asp?id=220&yr=2010

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The United States, in a recent submission to the WTO committee on subsidies and countervailing measures (SCM), stated that it has reason to believe that India has met the definition of ‘export competitiveness,’ as defined in the SCM Agreement for certain products. The agreement exempts developing country members (with per capita income below $1,000) from prohibition on export subsidies, as long as exports of individual products are lower than 3.25 per cent of world trade for two consecutive years.

“The United States requests that the Secretariat (WTO) undertake a computation of the export competitiveness of textile and apparel exports from India in accordance with Article 27.6 of the SCM Agreement,” the submission said.

According to a government official, since most of the support given by the Centre to textile exporters was on a short-term basis, there was very little risk of the United States move leading to action against India’s exports. “Things are at an initial stage. We are certainly going to keep an eye on how things develop,” he said.

At present, the subsidies being given to Indian textile exporters (which includes handicrafts and carpets) include discount on interest on loans and incentives for exporting to particular markets in the form of duty-free import scrips that can be sold in the market. These sops are part of the Centre’s efforts to help the Indian industry tide over the effects of the global economic crisis.

Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry (CITI) secretary general D.K. Nair said that since the subsidies were short term in nature, they would probably be gone by the time the WTO takes a decision on the issue. “Moreover, these subsidies may not be actionable under the WTO,” he said.

According to Mr Manab Majumdar, head of FICCI’s WTO committee, even if India’s exports of textiles and clothing turn out to be greater than 3.25 per cent, the country could easily continue to give subsidies under other flexibilities allowed by the WTO. “India is also allowed to give support to exporters under the special and differential treatment (S&DT). So I don’t foresee any problems,” he said.

A FICCI calculation shows that in 2008 India’s exports of textiles and clothing were 21 billion dollars, forming 3.4 per cent of the sector’s global trade at 612 billion dollars. In 2009, however, India’s textile exports to the European Union and the United States (which together account for more than half of India’s total textiles and clothing exports) fell due to a severe slowdown in demand.

Source:http://www.aepcindia.com/national.asp?id=224&yr=2010

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The key objective of the Foreign Direct Investment scheme is to attract maximum possible FDI, focusing target countries like Germany, Italy, Turkey, China and Switzerland which are perceived among the most promising investor countries, according to a preliminary study, said minister of state for textiles Panabakka Lakshmi.

She added that the ministry is thinking over taking co-operation from overseas in textiles and clothing industry and join hands with probable target countries to mobilize FDI in the sector during the 11th Five-Year Plan.

The National Fibre Policy is currently being formulated which will facilitate steering different activities and schemes to achieve fixed targets of the industry, informed the Minster.

In order to maintain an 8 percent growth rate, the textile industry of the country needs an additional investment of $24 billion by the year 2015. This investment may include domestic investment of $18 billion and foreign investment of $ 6 billion, said textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Source:http://www.aepcindia.com/national.asp?id=221&yr=2010

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