It is the augmentation in fashion trends in India that revolutionized the merchandising system in retail industry. Brands in apparel, textiles, jewelry, accessories, footwear, cosmetics and salons raised the business more than Rs 40,000 crore.

The Indian retail market is evolving rapidly. It is palpable that now Indian retail industry requires lots more of fashion. The organized retailing is developing at breakneck speed. It is amicable to all that fashion is a vital part of both the retail industry as well as the brands. Fashion has led the retail industry boom and it has sustained its dominance in every malls, markets and stores.

Since the spread-out of malls is increasing, the major issue will be how to organize fashion retails industry, has potential of making Rs 50,000cr business by the year 2007. Indian retail would cover-up 50mn sq ft by 2007 of sales space countrywide, and nearly 50 % of the total space would be assigned for fashion retailing. It is anticipated that about Rs 20,000cr retail sales would be coming-in from the fashion retailing. A population of over one billion, a massive consumer class, India is considered as the most preferred destinations for investments.

Apparel and textiles makes the biggest segment in retailing sectors, and if we accumulate all the other related segments such as jewelry, cosmetics, watches, health & beauty care etc at one single platform, then fashion would account nearly 60 % of the total retail sector.

With radically changing fashion and retail industry, the Indian consumers are facing considerable transformation. With an increase income levels and increasing attitude "LOOK GOOD - FEEL GOOD", fashion is offering huge potential to penetrate deeper into the untouched Indian markets.

Fashions will account nearly 95% in total sales in the department stores, while in hypermarkets such as Big Bazaar the share could be about 70%. Fashion apparel has been the significant segment in the terms of evolution in Indian retail industry, not due to its size but the way it has influenced lifestyle of the Indian people. It was apparel that led multi-national brands to explore and invest in the Indian market, which led the ball rolling to rearrange the retail industry.

Few key factors that shaped the fashion retail industry are listed below:

. Massive spread-out of the malls, hyper markets and supermarkets throughout the country, even in non-metro cities.

. Mergers and acquisitions, which let huge brands to participate in the local market.

. The advantages by the elimination of global textile quotas in 2005.

. Expansion strategies of brands and retailers.

. Many international brands march into domestic markets.

. Many brands performed well in the mass segment.

. Boom in luxury retail segment.

. Indian fashion designers marked their names at International platforms.

. Considerable expenditure on ad and marketing by apparel brands.

. Enhanced merchandising let the companies to enhance consumer relations.

Few points on which retailers and brands should mull over:

. Collaborative tie-ups with non-competent services providers and brands.

. Offer value-added products, not cash discounts.

. Offer uniform sizing throughout the country.

. Offer personalized services.

. Concentrate on particular buyer or market segment. Take action to fulfill the demands.

. Try to become exclusive stores for specific brands and adopt shop-in-shop system.

. Place well behaved, polite and trained sales staff to manage counters.

. Go for organized merchandising format for your company.

. Avoid offering all at once. Introduce products assortments in a phase manner with latest trends.

. Try to get feedback from the consumer on "What they want?"

Review of some of the retail industry players on the attained targets and their wishes for the current year:

Benetton

Achieved Target:

. Successfully reestablished its place in the market, with opening 22 stores.

Introduction

The article discusses various procedures of textile production that affect the environment and how to protect environment by taking effective measures.

Many countries of the world are undergoing grave environmental troubles and the reason is their fast growing industry. This is a very common situation where industrial units of textile, dyeing, leather tanning, paper and pulp procession, sugar production are flourishing in huge masses and discharging pollution. These industries emit waste matter in great amount and that waste causes dangerous effluence of surface water wealth, ground water and soils and finally afflicts the living of the people. Normally, these industrial factories are being operated in small or medium levels with high employment creation and foreign exchange potential. But the system of controlling pollution in these factories is very poor. In developing countries, the pollution controlling departments have a merciful eye on industries because of its socio-economic charities and low investment strength towards pollution control. Regrettably, this attitude deters the industries to launch successful pollution control either through efficient sewage solution or by adopting the manufacturing mode through cleaner production machineries.

Usually textiles go through various different treatments, conducted by different industrial units. Each treatment influences environmental impacts and product performance. The selection of fabric type decides the types of dye and dye processes to be applied. The property of dye is closely associated with the useful durability of the garment. Demands of fashion by consumers make the scene complicated; demands of colours that need more chemicals when being fixed may have unintentional environmental effects. Choice of the best fashion or material is not essential to redesign ecology; but we should minimise the environmental impacts of all items while sticking to their meaning and market potential.

Sustainable Design

Fashion is a fascinating industry and since eco-friendly clothing has been 'in vogue' for a few years, it may not be as common as it was. This fashion hype has given birth to a new concept of clean and green textile that has great impact on environment.

What designers are expected to do to diminish the environmental pollution generated by wastewater?

. By asking questions, designers must have full knowledge of theoretical, technical and practical importance of the whole manufacturing procedure of an item.

. They should form a co-ordination with technologists, scientists, farmers, producers and marketing sections.

. Know the performance and aesthetic features, which are the primary needs of any consumer

. Understand the method that consumer applies to use the product.

Life-cycle assessment

Water pollution, waste and utilization of resources are some of the supreme environmental hazards of the textile industry.

An evaluation of environmental influences is one of the first measures in environmental design. And the life-cycle assessment is the most useful tools for this; life cycle assessment (LCA), which is a method for examining the environmental influences related with a product or service.

The exact area of life-cycle management stresses the significance of the product design stage in the life cycle. From its most common expression as the product life cycle, to the market life cycle, and later the upswing to eminence of the environmental life cycle, the life-cycle term has a crucial performance in many management branches. Other related terms like integrated chain management, closed-loop supply chains, green supply chain management and industrial ecology, which all directly or indirectly apply the life-cycle term, has inflated the complication and extent of concerns around lifecycle management.

It is important to know the entire life cycle of textiles to examine the environmental influences of textiles. The life cycle of textiles involves growing and processing the fibre, manufacturing the yarn, manufacturing the fabric, dyeing and finishing, cutting and making the final product, maintaining the product during use and disposal or recycling.

Environmental impacts have their presence at the every phase of the life cycle of textiles. The textile industry discharges waste in plenty and utilises large volume of energy and water. Manufacturing, colouring and finishing of one kilogram of textiles can consumer approximately 200 litres of water.

During the several phases of manufacturing, fibres and uses, the amount of environmental impact fluctuates. While cotton has a large environmental impact during its making, synthetic or manufactured textiles use huge quantity of energy during production. Since clothes required to be laundered, the environmental impact related to clothing is notable during the 'use' period, while, for furniture and interior textiles, the greatest impact likely to occur during the 'production' period.

Let us now consider in brief the environmental impact of textiles. We will talk about pollution generated during the production of natural fibres and synthetic fibres.

How Natural fibres influence Environment

Fibre Growth relocates land for crops, removes nutrients from soil, pollutes soil and water by using chemicals like pesticides, biocides and herbicides, damages crop strain and consumes energy and water, which are limited in amount.

Harvesting procedure uses chemical like defoliants, which are carried by air. They are dangerous to human health while breathing. It also considerably uses chemical defoliants and fuel-powered equipment.

Production Cleaning applies harmful and strong chemicals. Water is contaminated by detergents, soaps and bleaches. Other dangers are waste to landfill, by-product lanolin from wool polishing, chemicals and fuel releases and noise and dust are generated.

Spinning creates dust and noise; moreover, if loose fibres are breathed in, it can badly affect our respiratory system. What is more, it oozes out poisonous smokes and also releases solid waste like cones and pallets.

Fabric Production consumes unlimited resources; raises dust and noise, discharges smokes from chemicals and uses energy and water, which are limited reserve.

Finishes gives birth to toxic by-products and gases from chemicals, metals, dyes and resins. VOCs are emanated from fabric and garment. Others are treatment dangers and storage of waste, i.e. used dye. It uses energy and water, which are limited sources.

The procedure of Garment Production generates waste from off-cuts, dust; workers are prone to health perils by treating fabric and other processed products. Chemical residues from the application of finishes, dry cleaning uses chemicals, solid waste like packaging, inks, plastics and hangers are also dangerous.

The manufacturing of flame retardant textiles is even now a difficult issue, though many decades of research and studies practiced in its development. During 1960s and 1970s a period of slow progress shown and there was a primitive promise and improvement explained in flame retardant studies.

Every year thousands of people loose their life due to burning. There are number of disaster occurs due to fires in public places and hence need serious consideration. Because of the expansion of electrical and electronic apparatus, both our homes and offices surround with an increasing potential of "fire load" of flammable materials. In homes and offices flame-retardants can avoid a raise in fire risk from the increasing number of consumer and electronic goods. They also safeguard the modern materials and equipment such as technical plastics, building insulation, cables and circuit boards from igniting and from spreading a fire.

First we should have to know about the concept of combustion prior to talking the flame retardants. Combustion is classified as a fast, self-quicken exothermal redox progression that is capable to expand in the environment and is attended by luminosity and the creation of flame. Combustion occurs by a chain or thermal activities, according to the source of beginning and expansion; it stores the active particles in the system or releases heat.

A fire can progress and split in three different phases

. Beginning of fire
. Completely built-up fire
. Declining fire

The fire begins with an ignition source placing combustible material on fire. The fire increases, heats up the nearby and once the resources in the room have created sufficient combustible gases and are adequately hot, flashover occurs and the entire room is bound with the fire. Here the temperature up to 1200 degree C can be attained and it is the stage of the beginning of wholly built up fire. The fire then after reduces as the obtainable fire load is inspired by the fire or if the fire takes place in entirely closed room, the fire can lessen because lack of oxygen.

So generally number sequence affects the fire, they are heat created by a flame, fuel and air, more particularly oxygen. The essential factors which lead a fire are:

. Combustibility: A material burnt or not?
. Ignitability: How and when it will catch the fire, if it is combustible?
. Widen of flame: How rapidly will the flame spread, once it ignited?
. Heat discharge: The rate and total quantity of heat generated.

The function of fire safety policy

Fire safety policies targeting to stop fires and to avoid major accidents, saves material goods and properties. For building, transportation i.e. road and rail vehicles, aircraft and ships, electrical engineering and electronics as well as for furnishing and textiles you may have different methods and tactics of fire prevention and safety regulation tools.

Fire safety provisions are the way to support the general fire safety measures and are included in rules, technical strategy, approval procedures and safety ethics. They insure finished goods and consent to their categorization by the application of particular fire analysis. Today, there is a tremendous need of fire safety equipment and adoption of regulation globally.

The function of fire analysis

The function of fire check or analysis is to conclude the fire possibility for materials and finished products applicable in building, transportation and furniture. They are the primary source by which a material's flammability or a product's fire execution is decided. Fire check or analysis is made to replicate the ignition behaviour of materials, taking to consider how it harmful to humans and property. The material has to come across the definite fire safety standards defined in the tests or analysis.

Flame retardants

To make combustible materials more resistant to prevent from fire or any cause of fire, flame retardants chemicals or materials are added and applied to them. They are made to lessen the possibility of a fire preliminary in a situation of acquaintance with a little heat cause such as cigarette, candle or an electrical fault. The flame retardant will decrease momentum of combustion and stop fire from scattering to other items, if the flame retarded material has provided. There is a wide variety of various chemicals are applicable for this purpose, the term "flame retardant" explains a utility and not any chemical class.

Category wise classification of flame retardants

Flame retardants are classified according to their compounds:

1. Halogens (Bromine and Chlorine) flame retardants compounds
2. Nitrogen flame retardants compounds
3. Minerals (based on aluminium and magnesium) based flame retardants compounds
4. Phosphorus based flame retardants compounds
5. Other various flame retardants

1. Halogens, Brominated flame retardants (BFRs)

With specific properties and toxicological behavior there is availability of about 75 different commercial brominated flame retardants. The only general aspect is they include bromine and act in the vapour phase by a drastic trap means. They are available in different appearance, either in liquids, powders or pellets. A few of the vital BFRs are:

. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs): Close to the diphenylether molecule they are structured up to 10 bromine atoms. Penta, octa and deca brominated diphenylethers are its commercial products, and are available in the form of mixtures of diphenylethers with varying degree of bromination with a high molecular weight and great thermal constancy. The most important uses are for making styrenic polymers, polyolefins, polyesters, nylons, textiles.

. Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD): A cycloaliphatic BFR, generally applied in foamed polystyrene for insulation of buildings where it is only required at extremely little loadings.

. Tetrabromobisphenol (TBBPA): It is mostly applicable for epoxy resins, for printed wiring boards and this kind of application, where it is responded into the polymer backbone and so develop into a strongly bound ingredient of the polymer.

Historical review in textile printing

Textile printing is a method by which fabrics are printed in various colors, arts and designs. It is a very old art developed and created on fabrics in Egypt during 5000 B.C. Fabrics also found printed in Greek during 4th century. B.C, also it is noted that printing blocks were sourced from India in 5th century. B.C. During that time, France acknowledged as popular center of this type of cloth production and printing. Japan was popular for adding stencil work in wood by making blocks and further by pasting dies and prints it in fabrics.

In the Mid-15th Century, with the invention of printing press by John Gutenberg there was a drastic change seen in printing technology and textile printing. After practicing by William Caxton in England, there was a remarkable widespread seen in relief printing technology in 1476. In sixteen and seventeen century with the export of spices, India became major provider of printing fabrics and products, like calico, pajama, gingham, dungaree, chintz and khaki according to the requirement of European countries. Then by the efforts by Grant, Thomas Bell and many printers, with the invention of wood block (1760), copper block (1770) and copper roller (1797) printing technology in the eighteenth century, especially the trend of cotton printing spread, still it can be seen at the Toile de Jouy Museum.

The history of fabric printing in Dartford goes away with Augustus Applegath's acceptance of a silk printing works in the town and it sustained until 1865 when James Keymer established a new fabric printing works on the banks of the River Darent. In 1907 Samuel Simon was used a fabric printing system in which the designs were shaped from stencils through screen printing machines. In 1940's first photographic stencil was built up by Colin Sharp. After development of computers, the printing process and its developments geared up in their colors.

Development in last two decades

With the improvement in the printing technology, color inkjet printers played an important role in digital fabrics for the consumer market in the late 1980s. That time Canon and Hewlett-Packard became leaders in the printing technology. Canon's Bubble Jet printers were received so acceptance in the market. Again latest technology geared up in their improvement with the existence of a large format color inkjet printer - the Iris printer in the 1990s, but that technology was not considered as ideal tool for the fabrics due to light sensitive color problem, rather it was accepted for paper printing.

Earlier, direct printing method used for fabric with the computer and the printing is made with the computer inks; it was the time where fabric was printed using only black images or text because of the availability of only laser printers and ribbon printers and there were no color printers. In 1999 Bubble Jet Set printing technology developed, which permits fabric to be treated, amalgamated to freezer paper with an iron and then operate through an ink jet printer.

The meaning of Digital fabric/Textile Printing

The digital fabrics printing technology is existed since last decade, it emerged after 1994. It is a skill that prints the designs on fabric, immediately from your computer, without extra efforts just like printing and designing a paper. Digital textile printing is a flexible tool and a key acceptable to the vision of mass customization. It permits the user to evade the screen making process, offering the chance for quick changes to color or design elements prior to printing.

Advantages of digital fabric printing over traditional printing technology

Generally, textile printing has been operated through transferring media, such as screens and rollers. Each transferring media is designed and allocated for a specific color. A block printing and engraved copper printing are operating through these methods. A number of woodblocks that are designed in block printing give a number of colors in design. Advantage of using this type of method is that you can have three dimensional effects due to its color separation and layers, and still today rotary screen printing method is used in designing of traditional floral patterns and toile designs. Mechanical or traditional fabric printing methods some times manipulate in both way, by design aesthetics and styles, while in the field of printed textile design with the latest digital fabric printing technology it enhanced the style and meaning of printed textile design. It is a fact that the new latest methods of digital printing on fabrics have exposed new horizons to the designers and manufacturers. Digital printing methods have facilitated manufactures to make a digital sampling and have advantages of change in designs before engraving. By adopting digital printing techniques you can re-adjust conventional printing design and can able to give new looks in design.

Today, many customers are demanding fabrics to be printed with various color combinations, styles, designs, traditional designs and looks, but to co-up with these customization demands there has been a limitation to attend the entire mass market with traditional printing technology. Digital printing profits over conventional printing it provide noteworthy benefits like quick turn-around, efficient set-up and speed, economical and great flexibility, takes less time, alteration possible etc. And in today's customer oriented market the printing technology is not limited to wearing wears; but it bounds to its limits and reaches to the requirements of trade show graphics, picture of huge fabric posters of television and movie stars, advertising purposes, flags and banners and many mores.

Introduction

The Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) has governed international trade in textiles and clothing since 1974. The MFA enabled developed nations, mainly the USA, European Union and Canada to restrict imports from developing countries through a system of quotas.

The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) to abolish MFA quotas marked a significant turnaround in the global textile trade. The ATC mandated progressive phase out of import quotas established under MFA, and the integration of textiles and clothing into the multilateral trading system before January 2005.

The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing

ATC is a transitory regime between the MFA and the integration of trading in textiles and clothing in the multilateral trading system. The ATC provided for a stage-wise integration process to be completed within a period of ten years (1995-2004), divided into four stages starting with the implementation of the agreement in 1995. The product groups from which products were to be integrated at each stage of the integration included (i) tops and yarns; (ii) fabrics; (iii) made-up textile products; and (iv) clothing.

The ATC mandated that importing countries must integrate a specified minimum portion of their textile and garment exports based on total volume of trade in 1990, at the start of each phase of integration. In the first stage, each country was required to integrate 16 percent of the total volume of imports of 1990, followed by a further 17 percent at the end of first three year and another 18 percent at the end of third stage. The fourth stage would see the final integration of the remaining 49 percent of trade.

Global Trade in Textile and Clothing

World trade in textiles and clothing amounted to US $ 385 billion in 2003, of which textiles accounted for 43 percent (US $ 169 bn) and the remaining 57 percent (US $ 226 bn) for clothing. Developed countries accounted for little over one-third of world exports in textiles and clothing. The shares of developed countries in textiles and clothing trade were estimated to be 47 percent (US $ 79 bn) and 29 percent, (US $ 61 bn) respectively.

Import Trends in USA

In 1990, restrained or MFA countries contributed as much as 87 percent (US $ 29.3 bn) of total US textile and clothing imports, whereas Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and ANDEAN countries together contributed 13 percent (US $ 4.4 bn). Thereafter, there has been a decline in exports by restrained countries; the share of preferential regions more than doubled to reach 30 percent (US $ 26.9 bn) of total imports by USA.

The composition of imports of clothing and textiles by USA in 2003 was 80 percent (US $ 71 bn) and 20 percent (US $ 18 bn), respectively. Asia was the principal sourcing region for imports of both textiles and clothing by USA. Latin American region stood at second position with a share of 12 percent (US $ 2.2 bn) and 26 percent (US $ 18.5 bn), respectively, for textiles and clothing imports, by USA. In most of the quota products imported by USA, India was one of the leading suppliers of readymade garments in USA. Though China is a biggest competitor, the unit prices of China for most of these product groups were high and thus provide opportunities for Indian business.

Import Trends in EU

EU overtook USA as the world's largest market for textiles and clothing. Intra-EU trade accounted for about 40 percent (US $ 40 bn) of total clothing imports and 62 percent (US $ 32.5 bn) of total textile imports by EU. Asia dominates EU market in both clothing and textiles, with 30 percent (US $ 30 bn) and 17 percent (US $ 8 bn) share, respectively. Central and East European countries hold a market share of 11 percent (US $ 11.3 bn) in clothing and 7.5 percent (US $ 4 bn) in textiles imports of EU.

As regards preferential suppliers, the growth of trade between EU and Mediterranean countries, especially Egypt and Turkey, was highest in 2003. As regards individual countries, China accounted for little over 5 percent (US $ 2.8 bn) of EU's imports of textiles and over 12 percent (US $ 12.4 bn) of clothing imports.

In the EU market also, India is a leading supplier for many of the textile products. It is estimated that Turkey would emerge as a biggest competitor for both India and China. However, with regard to unit prices, India appears to be lower than both Turkey and China in many of the categories.

Import Trends in Canada

Amongst the leading suppliers of textiles and clothing to Canada, USA had the highest share of over 31 percent (US $ 8.4 bn), followed by China (21% - US $ 1.8 bn) and EU (8% - US $ 0.6 bn). India was ranked at fourth position and was ahead of other exporters like Mexico, Bangladesh and Turkey, with a market share of 5.2 percent (US $ 0.45 bn).

Potential Gains

It may be noted that clothing sector would offer higher gains than the textile sector, in the post MFA regime. Countries like Mexico, CBI countries, many of the African countries emerged as exporters of readymade garments without having much of textile base, utilizing the preferential tariff arrangement under the quota regime. Besides, countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia emerged as garment exporters due to cost factors, in addition to the quota benefits.

It may be said that countries like China, USA, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey have resource based advantages in cotton; China, India, Vietnam and Brazil have resource based advantages in silk; Australia, China, New Zealand and India have resource based advantages in wool; China, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Turkey, USA, Korea and few CIS countries have resource based advantages in manmade fibers. In addition, China, India, Pakistan, USA, Indonesia has capacity based advantages in the textile spinning and weaving.

China is cost competitive with regard to manufacture of textured yarn, knitted yarn fabric and woven textured fabric. Brazil is cost competitive with regard to manufacture of woven ring yarn. India is cost competitive with regard to manufacture of ring-yarn, O-E yarn, woven O-E yarn fabric, knitted ring yarn fabric and knitted O-E yarn fabric. According to Werner Management Consultants, USA, the hourly wage costs in textile industry is very high for many of the developed countries. Even in developing economies like Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Mauritius, the hourly wage is higher as compared to India, China, Pakistan and Indonesia.

There is a huge untouched potential in non-metros

Producers of women's pajama sets are increasing R&D capability to raise the range and functions of designs. Companies are also making efforts to enhance product quality and decrease operating costs through vertical integration. With the elimination of export taxes and import limitations on China-made sleepwear to the EU and the US, suppliers from China and India find themselves in a strong competition for market share. In the Indian market, the sleepwear and lingerie market is emerging quickly as a fashion segment, and has, over the last decade, observed the existence of organised players such as Juliet, Sleep-ins, etc

What was Kashmira Nightwear Company started with a single standalone store in Pune many years ago is today the Sleep-ins brand of complete nighrwear solutions possessing a chain of many exclusive Sleep-ins stores and existence in many of the country's major retail chains. This change has been promising on account of the single-handed effort by only one person, Kishor Chhabria, who is managing director of the Pune-based Kashmira Nighrwear Company -¬ Sleep-ins today is a brand with a national manifestation. Chhabria experienced that Indian consumers have awareness of about selecting of occasion-wear and sleeping dresses were as important as office, casual, party or sports wear, and commence to offer consumers what they required.

Sleep-ins is among the leading players in the segment, and has been beholding considerable growth in its market share over the last few years. This market even today is largely in the unorganised sector where price is the only its consideration. Organised players are not contending with products that are being traded on the streets. The growth in retailing, the rising level of fashion consciousness has supported sleepwear and lingerie move into a higher market step.

Sleep-ins has increased by almost 150 per cent over the two-three decades, they were highly focused in the western market, but this year the brand performed well locally. They have appointed distributors in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, UP, MP, Punjab, etc. and possessed more than 20 exclusive outlets in the country, and will add to this by another six. Besides the exclusive outlets, the brand retails from a many large departmental stores too.

This increasing in retail space is encouraged by the remarkable response the brand has gained in various parts of the country. Many of their garments are in the range of Rs 2000-4000. When introducing these, they believed that sales in this price segment would be optimum in Delhi and Mumbai, and they were staged to see sales growth gained in Punjab. This just set to observe that fashion awareness is high in every part of the country, and there is still a lot of unexploited potential in cities other than the metros. And this is where the fashion aspect plays an important role. The company finds the finest of fabrics from within the country, imports the satins from Korea, and makes the prints in-house.

Sleep-ins is possibly the only far-reaching sleepwear brand for whole family. It satisfies a hidden demand for quality sleepwear which the Sleep-ins exclusive brand stores offer - the whole range for women, men and kids. Within a lesser time from its establishment, the chain stores have registered a good growth all over India. As of now, women in the 18-50 years age group comprise the major buyers though men too make significant purchases. There is a large segment of consumers who wish to wear high quality nighrwear with features that match international standards.

Chhabria himself is a designer and thinks not just making, but real pieces of art. The Sleep-ins variety covers sleepwear and loungewear. The matchless and marvelously confined ensembles in cottons and cotton blended satin and Lycra are all made in-house. Nightshirts are offered in satins and georgettes and animal prints; Robes in soft fabrics; and Chemise in shimmering soft and tender pastel silhouettes. They also offer nighties with spaghetti straps, provoking teddy suits, stylish shorts with bikini tops, pajamas, Capri, etc. For men, Sleep-ins provides an elegant and sophisticated variety of night suits in pure cottons and imported polyesters and robes in soft suede and satins with pajamas.

They believe that men and women of today look at wearability, affordability and comfort; hence, the pricing factor cannot be unnoticed. The brand has helps to match the budget as well as the premium class of customers. Sleep-ins in Pune, which is possibly the biggest sleepwear stores in the country with 1500sq.ft of floor area holding a rich collection of more than 4000 garment pieces at a time. Their exclusive franchisees stores are situated in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Surat, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Baroda and Gurgaon. The brand is also offered at leasing retail chains like Globus, Shopper's Stop, Piramyd and Pantaloons.

The speed at which the brand is growing its market reach states that there is huge experience that gives a solid foundation of self-belief. He started retailing business with a little investment of rupees one crore," "and today aimed at setting up Sleep-ins as a standalone brand, which needs a healthy investment for brand imaging.

Sleep-ins is very well known to the existing competitors and is arranged to take on the new entrants. And they do not bother about stiff competition, as they have a complete range of nightwear and loungewear for women, men and kids. Its close competitor is "Sweat Dreams", but Sweet Dreams has so far not made any branding effort and is currently in all types of stores in the country whereas Sleep-ins is offered at exclusive stores only that placed on a firm territory.

Retail sector is the second largest industry in U.S., accumulating number of businesses and employees. According to the government broad measure of retail sales that consists food service, gasoline sales and automobiles) sales in the U.S. climb nearly 6.6% to $4.16 trillion in 2005, comparing a 3.8% increase in the year 2004. In the last year, retail industry evolved strongly, due to higher gasoline costs and good discounting during the Christmas.

The elimination of the global textile quota system enforced industry players to reorganize their businesses again to thrive in a cut-throat competition in the global apparel market. Last year was significant for the exporters and retailers, who re-organize to take benefit of the free trade era, and the best possible exploitation of resources. New initiatives were put in practice to meet new challenges to give the buyers value-add products at more competitive prices.

As a result, re-arranging the businesses for stiff competition was also witnessed in the American apparel industry. The sections, in which retailers focus on more are - better merchandise and inventory management, consolidating sourcing and more involvement in sourcing the country. The only reason behind all preparation was for a better market reach with wide product range.

The strategies made into practice last year and plans for growth in 2006 brought success for leading retailers like: Wal-Mart, Target, Tommy Hilfiger, JCPenny, Kohl's, Sears Holding, and Gap Inc., are all sourcing massively from India.

Wal-Mart: Success is a result of expansion strategy

Wal-Mart is considered the leader in value-added market and currently shifting gears to offer better products to its customers. The company was offering limited range in apparel line, but, has introduced the exclusive apparel line, Metr07 collection in Oct 2005. The intention behind launching this collection is to cater the needs of urban buyers with more styles, featuring feminine touches and fashionable looks.

In a move to provide eco-friendly lines, Wal-Mart has just launched durable, hygienic, value-added product, the George Baby Organic cotton clothing line. This would be the first clothing line, for which Wal-Mart is planning for the coming years.

The Wal-Mart management is very optimistic at the record net sales growth with 9.5 percent to $312.4 billion. 537 new international stores have been added and the company is going to sustain a trend this year with more than 600 stores.

Currently, Wal-Mart operates 2,285 international stores, sourcing from 70 countries and is looking to enter into unexploited markets.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc operates Wal-Mart discount stores, super-centers, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. The company operates in Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Germany, China, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Japan, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and South Korea.

JCPenney: Sees growth through high-end merchandising

In previous years, JCPenney's has marked upbeat enhancement in various commodity ranges and witnessed increase in recognition as a superb place for shopping. The company is optimistic about the future growth with 18 newly added stores, a 22.5 percent climb in operating profits, and more than $1billion in sales generated from jcp.com. Long-term initiatives have been made, which were implemented in mid 2005 to increase growth rate until 2009.

The designed plan has four major objectives to concentrate on, emotional touch with the customers, creating beautiful and easy shop interiors, to make JCPenney the best working place, and to become a premier in performance. Considering these objectives, the company has launched many new brands such as Miss Biou, Lee-work, Nicole, A.N.A., and Solitude.

The new POS system that provides internet connectivity and lessens transaction time to improve the shopping experience was implemented at more than 30 stores in the previous year. The company will implement this system in the remaining stores by the end of this year.

The company aims to add 27 new stores in 2006; most of them are scheduled at off-mall locations. It anticipates mid-single digit increases in sales in the year with re-organized focus on online merchandise and catalogue. JCPenny's also targets home furnishing area as another area of development.

JCPenney's is one of America's largest department store, catalog, and e-commerce retailers, employing approximately 150,000 associates.

Target: Implementing new ideas & innovations for better growth

In a move to comply its strategy to offer exclusive and exquisite designs, Target sustained to pour-in more investments to developing design and source fashionable, precise merchandise with objectives to add more competitively priced ranges along with true value-added goods. The annual sales reached over $50billion last year, and the company is looking for better growth on this performance by utilizing the experiences gained over the year.

To lure more shoppers, the company launched 'GO international', limited edition clothing line, featuring a totally new international designer every three months. Each collection introduced is carefully placed within the format to use sourcing skills and knowledge in designing the product. The company has strengthened product development teams and sourcing destinations are focused more than in the previous years.

Sewing seamless cloths? Sounds unbelievable, right? But the fact is sleeves and necklines require traditional stitching with thread and needle. However, the Italian knitting technology produces beautiful designs that features fashion with basic function. The soft micro fibres utilized in these cloths need particular threads, and enhanced sewing technology for the elasticity.

The seamless clothing has transformed the overall worldwide production process. This technology can directly produce finished products, and lessens traditional process of the production. This leads to saving of production costs up to 40 percent compared to the customary knitting. The seamless knits are in tubular shape, which is laid-in elastic yarns, placed in the welt bands and prepared in the compressed areas.

Circular knitting machines were mostly used by underwear makers since the beginning of the circular knitting technology in early 19th century. But the manufacturers in Italy merged the reciprocation technology for tips and heels of socks with intarsia for swimwear, underwear and outerwear during 80s. The machine manufacturing company, Santoni in Brescia is currently leading the market; although other companies like Sangiacomo, Italy and Merz, Germany are also famous players in similar knitting machine technologies.

Within just three years, production of seamless underwear assortment reached nine percent of the total global production in this segment in year 2001, comparing two percent reached in the year 1998, with climb of 18 percent in 2003. In 2007, underwear industrial segment is likely to reach 35 percent, Santoni reports.

In context to the educational and training, the Santoni Group has been conducting courses at The Machina Fashion and Design Institute, based in Brescia. The courses are focused on software oriented designs, and on the machine developments. Santoni training centre has emerged as a work place for innovations and develop prototypes, which are checked by consumers and stylists, and will be manufactured and distributed in the open market.

Santoni tried its hands on making seamless pants and bras, however, the results were not so positive because the diameter of the machines permits only small sizes. Although, this resulted many interesting out-comes like frills, fringes and designs.

Threads

Because the main products like underwear, outerwear and swimwear are highly elastic, fine to very fine fabric, made of micro-fibres, required to be very extensible and soft.

All major sewing thread makers have developed appropriate products.

Alterfil has developed a 100 percent polyester texturized yarn "Alterfil T", for needle and looper. The combination of Alterfil T and Alterfil B in the needle and looper is recommended.

The Coats has introduced Coats Eloflex, produced from Polybutylene terephthalate (P.B.T.). It is designed for elastic knitted fabrics, featuring best firmness and elasticity. This could be utilized for both under thread and needle.

GOtermann, Germany has introduced an eye-catching seam with a glowing metallic effect. The in-depth testing has depicted that using a 2 or 3 needle over-sew stitch, a mixture of the micro fibre thread 'Piuma' and the metal threads, GOtermann W 331, rolls out a excellent result.

It is skin-friendly, without resulting any irritation. The 127 available Piuma colors and 12 W 331 colors (in some cases multi-colored) produce a wide-range of color permutation.

Amann, Germany developed new innovative elastic sewing thread, "saba FLEX". It is made from 100 percent PTT continuous thread, available in 2 variants, 80tex and 120tex for all kinds of elastic fabrics.

Reutex, Germany offers new elastic micro fibre thread for needle and looper, 'Softex 120'.

Joining Options

Welding, bonding, and heat sealing are other options then customary sewing method. However, these options have their restrictions over elasticity. Framis Italia, based in ltaly, is well-known for its welding technology, "NoSo" that is based on bonding. It is bonding of two fabrics together. The bonding tape is implemented together with hot-air welding. Framis has recently launched latest portable machine EI Nino for hot-air welding.

Swiss manufacturer, Schips has introduced ultrasonic machines. The first machine is HS C51 WHE-F8, which is for hemming, second is the HS C52BCO, which continuously assembles two fabrics with a bonding tape, and third is HS C51 WFO that welds folded elastic to release garments.

Sewing Machines

Sewing machine makers did not overwhelmed on new technologies, as anticipated. However, few machine makers have taken initiatives to enhance the technologies. The initiatives towards user-friendliness and flexibility are remarkable.

. AMF Reece, based in Czech Republic, introduced a chain stitch buttonhole lingerie tucker machine, 5-4000 LT, to enhance finishing process of the flat seams and flat lock seams. The surplus flat lock seam is absorbed through the sensor control. The flat seam is cut and fully sewn on, and then cut-off flat lock chain is thrown into the squander.

. The Italian sewing machine maker, CF has introduced Rimoldi, which is well known for seamless sewing solutions. Its concept consists of seven resourceful machines. The product assortment includes, over lock machine Vega II with 1 or 2 needles, Fenix with 2 or 3 needles and its smaller imitation Mizar and Libra are particularly developed for lingerie. Over lock machine Lyra is a 1 and 2 needle a new inexpensive sewing machine. Gemini, a station with two self-governing, opposite heads, which coordinates to execute parallel binding, lace and elastic functions on both legs of briefs or panties.

The home décor influenced industry is made up of many core products with insurmountable everyday demands e.g. curtains, bedspreads, quilts, pillows etc. But it also includes the product market of kitchenware and kitchen related linens, and rightly so with the ever increasing and beautiful variety of kitchen and table linen that includes tablecloths, table runners, napkins, table mats, aprons and mittens. And presently, these kitchen related linens contribute to anywhere from 5-10% of the total industry sales worldwide. And in an attempt to cater to these ever growing demands from the U.S., and Europe, exporters are continuing to experiment, and implement new ideas and techniques to acquire a more fashion¬-oriented design that appeals to International buyers.

The abundance and properties of cotton makes it the most popular material used to manufacture these products. But as of lately, linen has also been gaining fierce approval as the new preferred fabric for most of these products, especially in the quality part of the market. The main worth of linen is its environmental production attribute, because it uses 5-20 times less energy and water than all other natural and synthetic material production. Silk is not especially used for fabric bases for kitchen products, because of its susceptibility to burn easily, and it is a lot more expensive than other fabrics. And although cotton is still very popular and has a very steady demand, many buyers still prefer polyester fabrics, cotton blends with linen, organza, and poly-tissue have been deemed appropriate fabrics for table and kitchen linen.

The customer's preferences for the total designs of kitchen and table linen alter with the changing seasons or approaching festivals. Whereas red, blue, orange and pastels are ideal for summer, the darker colors such as black, brown, grey and every grayscale color in between are ideal for winters. White is rarely used as a complete color scheme for kitchen accessories, because it is dirtied and soiled easily, but instead, it is likelier used as the base or is blended with various colors for interesting motifs.

The constant demand for seasoned kitchen and table linens fuels the American trend of outsourcing large quantities in same style and color is widespread, but many European countries' have a demand for linen in various colors and designs in much smaller quantities.

The designs of the linen vary from product to product and depend upon their purpose and utilization. New design trends are taking hold and increasing the attractiveness of these linens; multicolored bold stripes, laces at the borders, sequin, appliqué work and beads in table cover and napkins, embroidery, printing, patchwork and painting can be spotted in napkins, runners and table covers.

The prices for table and kitchen linen are usually moderate and affordable to the average Joe, but price does vary with purpose, style/design, and use. The average costs of the kitchen and table linen on the basis of techniques and crafts can vary from 65 cents to US$20.

Products - Techniques from India

For the exportation of major amounts of kitchen, table and more or less any kind of household textiles, the U.S. and Europe look to India for their goods as the most preferred textile destination. But India's booming textile trade is always under intense competition from their neighbor, China, but is still ahead of the race because of the easy availability of raw materials, man power, and production capabilities. India creates the most fascinating varieties of home textiles because they include their rich culture into the designs. The Indian home furnishing industry offers an impressive range of curtains, bedspreads, linen, cushion covers, placemats, kitchen accessories, table covers, made-ups, bath linen, and many other home fixtures.

The industry itself accounts for 14% of the countries' total Industrial production and counts for about 30% of the total exports. With extensive improvements at each stage of production, it gives a very hefty contribution to the economy. And the industry is totally export oriented sect and earns foreign revenue for the country, besides employing large amounts of people at reasonable wages.

So you've got your drawings and design, your permits in hand, a pile of money lined up, your Contractor(s) reviewed and selected, and a gleam in your eye. Well, hang on! The most important step is yet to come before one nail hits the job. Now you have to decide how well you are going to REALLY limit your risk...

The first concept to get your head firmly wrapped around is this:

If you didn't get it in writing, it NEVER HAPPENED. Period.

This is so important, I can't stress the concept enough. I don't care if it's your brother's buddy or your Uncle John- a construction project where money changes hands in return for work is a Business Arrangement, and should be dealt with accordingly. If not, you can leave yourself open to a huge risk of loss, both financially and spiritually! No reputable contractor will have any problem whatsoever with preparing and executing a written agreement on a project- no matter WHO they are to you personally; In fact, they will admire and respect your intelligence and responsibility. You see, a properly drafted contract protects them as much as it does you...

The actual Contract need not be elaborate, but there are certain sections that are vital. The first is the names of the parties or entities executing the agreement, the date the agreement is being entered into, and the legal description of the property being improved. If it is an established structure with a postal address, that full address is usually sufficient. If raw land or an unimproved lot, you will need to list the survey information which includes: the County, Township, Section, and Range, among other details. You can get this information from the title or deed, or from your local County or Township Government offices.

Second, you should clearly list the entire scope of work. If you are acting as the General Contractor, you will need to prepare a separate contract for each Sub-Contractor. If you don't have drawings and specifications for the project, you will want to list exactly what you are expecting to be done: for example, remove and dispose of existing kitchen countertops; Provide and install new countertops and 4" back splash as manufactured by [insert vendor], style [insert style and type], color [insert color]. You don't need to list every screw and nail, however the "standard of work" statement "All work shall be performed in a competent, workmanlike fashion, following accepted industry trade practices" should be included. This allows you to have an impartial third party expert inspect the work and give an opinion as to the suitability of the work in case of a dispute or before making final payment (see chapter on close out).

A quick and clean way to enumerate the scope of work is to attach the quote to the contract as "Exhibits". If you are satisfied that the quote you received from your chosen contractor is detailed enough, simply call it out in the contract, for example: All work to be as per the quote for [short description here], prepared by [contractor name], dated [date here], which is hereby attached as [exhibit A, B, etc...] and is/are included by reference. If you have drawings, include a reference to them as well, and list all pages, such as: "[And/Or] as per the drawings and specifications as prepared by [Architect or designer here], dated [date here], [revisions if any], sheets [list all: A-1, A-2, E-1, etc...], and is/are included by reference. After the detailed scope of work, remember to include the "Standard of Work" statement from the last section!

Third, list any special conditions for the project, such as the process for dealing with change orders, working times, Insurances to be provided (both by the owner and the contractor), who is responsible for the permits and calling for inspections, allowability of overtime, performance schedules and/or expected date of completion, Milestone descriptions and target dates, etc... Always require a schedule from your contractor. This can be as elaborate as you like, such as a formal spreadsheet type "Gantt" chart, or as simple as a wall calendar marked up and initialed by both parties, and included by reference in the contract. This schedule must of course be somewhat flexible, and include time for weather delays, material shortages, and acts of God, among other variables, but it should NOT be open-ended!

Finally we come to the Payment terms. These should include the statement "Contractor agrees to perform all work as specified, pursuant to the terms of this contract along with all exhibits and attachments, for the sum of [list contract sum here]. to be paid as follows: [list payment schedule here]".

Again, the terms of payment may be as elaborate as you care to make them. I always recommend that any and all payments be tied to performance of some specific milestone or event, such as: xx% down; xx% upon completion of foundation work and backfilling; xx% upon completion of rough framing and exterior enclosure; etc...Trust me, your contractor may not like this, but be adamant. You have NO OTHER "stick to beat them with" except your checkbook! Use it firmly but fairly. Once again, a reputable and honest contractor should have no problem with this: it is actually to their benefit, as it clearly defines when they are going to get paid as well! If they want to get paid, they have to perform. Simple as that.

The textile industry in India is substantial, and largely diversified. It is hard to cover all its aspects even within hour-long presentation, however, research team of Fibre2fashion.com has attempted to gather significant pieces of massively complicated puzzle of this industry.

The Indian textile industry roots thousands of years back. After, the European industry insurrection, Indian textile sector also witnessed considerable development in industrial aspects. Textile industry plays an important role in the terms of revenue generation in Indian economy. The significance of the textile industry is also due to its contribution in the industrial production, employment. Currently, it is the second largest employment provider after agriculture and provides employment to more than 30mn people.

Prospect

Considering the continual capital investments in the textile industry, the Govt. of India may extend the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan (till 2011-2012), in order to support the industry. Indian textile industry is massively investing to meet the targeted output of $85bn by the end of 2010, aiming exports of $50bn. There is huge development foreseen in Indian textile exports from the $17bn attained in 2005-06 to $50bn by 2009-10. The estimation for the exports in the current financial year is about $19bn. There is substantial potential in Indian exports of technical textiles and home-textiles, as most European companies want to set up facilities near-by the emerging markets, such as China and India.

The global demand for apparel and woven textiles is likely to grow by 25 percent by year 2010 to over 35mn tons, and Asia will be responsible for 85 percent output of this growth. The woven products output will also rise in Central and Southern American countries, however, at a reasonable speed. On the other hand, in major developed countries, the output of woven products will remain stable. Weaving process is conducted to make fabrics for a broad range of clothing assortment, including shirts, jeans, sportswear, skirts, dresses, protective clothing etc., and also used in non-apparel uses like technical, automotive, medical etc…

It is been forecasted that the woven textile and apparel markets will sustain their growth from current till 2010. The imports of apparel and textiles will rise from developed economies like the USA and the western countries of Europe and Japan, along with some newly emerged economies, such as South Korea and Taiwan. Certainly, import growth has been witnessed vertical rise in the previous year.

Apparel is the most preferred and important of all the other applications. Woven fabrics are widely used in apparel assortments, including innerwear, outerwear, nightwear and underwear, as well as in specialized apparels like protective clothing and sportswear. Home textile also contributes considerably in woven fabric in products assortments like curtains, furnishing fabrics, carpets, table cloths etc.

Special kind of woven fabrics are utilized in medical as well as industrial applications. The medical applications include adhesives, dressing bandages, plasters etc.

Where as, industrial applications includes;

• Geotextile - interior upholstery, trim, airbags and seat belts and lyre fabrics.
• Sailcloth - tent and fabrics used architectures, transportation and tarpaulins.
And many more applications… The Indian Industry foresees huge demand for industrial woven products for medical and automotive applications. Demand for woven fabrics is anticipated to be rise vertically in the sector of home textiles.

Non woven sector has great future in terms of global demand, thus major facilities of cotton yarn are currently concentrating just on home textiles. It is mandatory, that the peak management of the cotton yarn manufacturers analyze the future prospect and growing graph of demand for non woven products.

Conclusion

Anticipating massive growth in medical and automobile sectors, these sectors assures substantial demand for non woven facilities in India. Albeit, home textiles also will lure higher demand, there are specific demands for home textile facilities also.

The 7th Five Year Plan has huge consideration on agricultural growth that also includes cotton textile industry, resulting a prosperous future forecast for the textile industry in India. Indian cotton yarn manufacturers should rush forward for joint ventures and integrated plans for establishing processing and weaving facilities in home textiles and technical textiles in order to meet export target of $50bn, and a total textile production of $85bn by 2009-2010.

The textile industry holds significant status in the India. Textile industry provides one of the most fundamental necessities of the people. It is an independent industry, from the basic requirement of raw materials to the final products, with huge value-addition at every stage of processing.

Today textile sector accounts for nearly 14% of the total industrial output. Indian fabric is in demand with its ethnic, earthly colored and many textures. The textile sector accounts about 30% in the total export. This conveys that it holds potential if one is ready to innovate.

The textile industry is the largest industry in terms of employment economy, expected to generate 12 million new jobs by 2010. It generates massive potential for employment in the sectors from agricultural to industrial. Employment opportunities are created when cotton is cultivated. It does not need any exclusive Government support even at present to go further. Only thing needed is to give some directions to organize people to get enough share of the profit to spearhead development.

Segments

Textile industry is constituted of the following segments

• Readymade Garments
• Cotton Textiles including Handlooms (Millmade / Powerloom/ Handloom)
• Man-made Textiles
• Silk Textiles
• Woollen Textiles
• Handicrafts including Carpets
• Coir
• Jute

The cottage industry with handlooms, with the cheapest of threads, produces average dress material, which costs only about 200 INR featuring fine floral and other patterns. It is not necessary to add any design to it. The women of the house spin the thread, and weave a piece in about a week.

It is an established fact that small and irregular apparel production can be profitable by providing affordable casual wear and leisure garments varieties.

Now, one may ask, where from the economy and the large profit comes in if the lowest end of the chain does not get paid with minimum per day labour charge. It is an irony of course. What people at the upper stratum of the chain do is, to apply this fabric into a design with some imagination and earn in millions. The straight 6 yards simple saree, drape in with a blouse with embroideries and bead work, then it becomes a designer¡¦s ensemble. For an average person, it can be a slant cut while giving it a shape, which can double the profit. Maybe, the 30 % credit that the industry is taking for its contribution to Indian economy as good as 60 % this way. Though it is an industry, it has to innovate to prosper. It has all the ingredients to go ahead.

Current Scenario

Textile exports are targeted to reach $50 billion by 2010, $25 billion of which will go to the US. Other markets include UAE, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Canada, Bangladesh and Japan. The name of these countries with their background can give thousands of insights to a thinking mind. The slant cut that will be producing a readymade garment will sell at a price of 600 Indian rupees, making the value addition to be profitable by 300 %.

Currently, because of the lifting up of the import restrictions of the multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) since 1st January, 2005 under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, the market has become competitive; on closer look however, it sounds an opportunity because better material will be possible with the traditional inputs so far available with the Indian market.

At present, the textile industry is undergoing a substantial re-orientation towards other then clothing segments of textile sector, which is commonly called as technical textiles. It is moving vertically with an average growing rate of nearly two times of textiles for clothing applications and now account for more than half of the total textile output. The processes in making technical textiles require costly machinery and skilled workers.

The application that comes under technical textiles are filtration, bed sheets and abrasive materials, healthcare upholstery and furniture, blood-absorbing materials and thermal protection, adhesive tape, seatbelts, and other specialized application and products.

Strengths

. India enjoys benefit of having plentiful resources of raw materials. It is one of the largest producers of cotton yarn around the globe, and also there are good resources of fibres like polyester, silk, viscose etc...

. There is wide range of cotton fibre available, and has a rapidly developing synthetic fibre industry.

. India has great competitiveness in spinning sector and has presence in almost all processes of the value chain.

. Availability of highly trained manpower in both, management and technical. The country has a huge advantage due to lower wage rates. Because of low labor rates the manufacturing cost in textile automatically comes down to very reasonable rates.

. The installed capacity of spindles in India contributes for 24% share of the world, and it is one of the biggest exporters of yarns in the global market. Having modern functions and favorable fiscal policies, it accounts about 25% of the world trade in cotton yarn.

. The apparel industry is largest foreign exchange earning sector, contributing 12% of the country's total exports.

. The garment industry is very diverse in size, manufacturing facility, type of apparel produced, quantity and quality of output, cost, requirement for fabric etc. It comprises suppliers of ready-made garments for both, domestic or export markets.

Textile and Apparel industry has a great contribution to the Turkish economy. The industry has been denominated as the locomotive of the Turkish Economy for years. Turkey's textile and apparel exports continued rising recently after began falling in January, with elimination of EU and US quotas.

The industrialisation efforts of the 60's and 70's gave birth to the modern textile industry in Turkey. At the beginning, this sector was operating as small workshops. But the sector showed rapid development and during the 1970's began exporting. Today, Turkey is one of the important textile and clothing producers and exporters in the world.

Turkey's textile and clothing manufacturers began relocating production in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the last three years, Turkish textile and apparel companies faced raising difficulties, after having substantially succeeded in the eighties and the first part of the nineties.

Chinese textile exports after a decades-old quota system limits ends on January 1, 2005 and the World Trade Organization believes that within three years the Asian giant could be producing over half of the world s textiles, up from 17% in 2003.

The end of the quota regime has spawned fears of widespread job losses around the world, including in Turkey, whose own textiles and apparel exports stand at around $20 billion a year.

Thus, it is necessary to understand the Turkish textile and apparel sector, the weakness and the strength it has in the World market.

Current scenario of Textiles and Apparels in Turkey

The textile and apparel sector has been the backbone of the Turkish economy with a vital role to play in the industrialisation process and market orientation of the economy in the last two decades. In the 1980s, it was the leading sector related to the global economy and the export revenues of this hard currency earning sector contributed substantially to the overall economy. The textile sector continued to be one of the major contributors to the Turkish economy, being one of the fastest growing sectors in the 1990s with an average 12.2% annual growth, while the Turkish economy had an average growth of 5.2% per year. Total investment in the sector exceeded US$ 150 billion, of which more than US$ 50 billion was invested in the last 5-10 years.

Textile industry started out in the 1960s in small workshops, have rapidly developed and transformed Turkey into a global competitor.

The total number of firms in the sector, dominated (95%) by the private sector, number around 44,000 and 25% of them are active exporters. The apparel industry is constituted mainly (80%) of small and medium sized firms whereas the technology-intensive textile production has been undertaken by large-scale companies. Today, around 20% of Turkey's 500 largest companies are involved in the textiles and apparel sector.

Low labor costs, a qualified workforce, relatively cheap raw materials have played an important role in the significant growth of the sector; as well as a liberalized economic environment and export-led policies in the last two decades.

The production value of the sector is over US$ 20 billion. Employment in the sector is estimated to be about 4 million people (2.5 million employed directly and a further 1.5 million indirectly through the sub-sectors). Official statistics also reveals that around 500,000 employees in the sector due to unregistered labor force.

The apparel sector exports approximately 60% of its production. Capacity utilization rates are approximately 75% especially among exporting manufacturers.

Turkey ranks also among the top ten global producers of wool cloth, carpets, synthetic filament and fiber, polyester and polyamide filament. While Europe's 3rd largest polyester producer is a Turkish-US joint venture, Turkey's synthetics production mounts to 15% of Western Europe's capacity.

Economic Contribution

Textile and clothing industry has a great contribution to the Turkish economy. For example, textile and clothing industry accounts for:

. 10% in GNP
. 40 % in industrial production
. 30% manufacturing labor force
. 35% of exports earning

The textile and apparel sector contributes over 20 billion USD to the Gross National Product. The sector is mostly important for its export earnings; its share in the country's total exports has been between 33-39% since 1990.

The major export market for Turkish textile and apparel goods is the EU countries, which account for about 65% of total textile and apparel exports. Turkey ranks 2nd in apparel and textile imports to the EU having an 8.2% and 4.8% share in the EU's total textile and apparel imports respectively as of 2003.

Export scenario

Textile and apparel exports increased by 14.6% on average per year during 1980-2003. Especially until the second half of 1990s, the sector's exports increased at a rate above the increase in total exports of Turkey as well as the increase in global textile and apparel exports. In 2003, the sector's exports totaled US$ 15.1 billion, having a share of 32.6% of the total exports. Exports rose to 23% in 2003, terms of value to 2002. The increasing share of apparels in exports since 1986 signifies the efforts to produce more value added products.

After the EU, the USA is a big and impending market. Turkey is the 19th apparel supplier and ninth textile supplier of USA with a 1.9% and 2.9% share respectively. Beside the EU and the US market, new markets are North African countries namely, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria; Middle East countries namely Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia; Eastern European countries namely Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary; and CIS countries. The sector faces quotas only in the USA and Canada. The Russian Federation was also a big market for the Turkish textile and apparel sector till the financial crisis of August 1998. It was the 3rd biggest market for apparel and 9th for textile products in 1997. Russia is still a promising market for textile and apparel sectors with its high consumption potential that will come out in the following years especially after developments towards better integration to the world economy and WTO membership prospects.

Cotton market

Turkey is a very important cotton country, which is an advantage in raw materials, for the clothing industry. Turkey is a traditional cotton producer and uses this advantage in the textile and apparel sector. Turkey ranks 1st in Europe and 6th in the world cotton production with an average production of 800,000-900,000 tons per year. Moreover, with the completion of irrigation projects within Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP), Turkey's most comprehensive development program, current cotton production is expected to double by the year 2005.

During 2003-04 season Turkey produced 893,000 tons of cotton. About 30% of the cotton production is high quality long staple cotton and the rest is of medium quality. The cotton industry provides a competitive edge to the textiles industry, which utilizes cotton as its essential raw material.

Cotton Market Trends Main destinations for cotton yarn exports are Italy, Portugal, Greece and Belgium and for cotton fabric the UK, Italy, USA and Belgium. Whilst Turkey used to be a net exporter of cotton, the trade balance reversed in 1992 and since then Turkey has been a net importer of cotton since domestic demand has persistently exceeded available stocks. Beside cotton, Turkey has a strong standing in synthetic fiber, wool and mohair productions. Turkey ranks ninth in synthetic fiber, eighth in wool and third in mohair production in the world.

Home Textile Industry

Besides the Turkish textile industry Turkish home textile industry has also shown a growth in terms of production and exports. In recent years the production of home textiles has shown a stable increase due to the rise in domestic and external demand for home textiles. Turkish home textile industry has recorded growth in terms of production and exports in recent years. Almost all kinds of home textiles are produced in Turkey. These may be listed as follows in order of their export values: bed linens, bedspreads, table linens, towels, bathrobes, voiles, curtains, lace, interior blinds, curtain or bed valances, blankets, cushions, pillows, quilts, eiderdowns.

In home textile sector, besides large scale firms there are many small and medium sized firms scattered all around the country. As a division of the textile industry, the home textiles sector accounts for 3.2% share in Turkey's total exports and have been an important sub-sector for the Turkish economy. European countries are the most important markets for Turkey s home textile exports. At present Germany, the UK, France, the USA, Netherlands and Russian Federation are the major markets for Turkey s home textile exports. New markets such as Poland, Hungary, Romania and CIS countries are gaining more and more importance.

Foreign Investments in the Sector

The products of the Turkish textile and apparel sector have a good reputation in foreign markets as a result of the availability of high quality cotton in Turkey, wide usage of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) and the increase in the number of qualified personnel.

Conclusion

The sector is aware of the trend in international markets towards increasing demand for healthier and more environmentally friendly products and tries to adapt itself to these developments by legal and technical regulations.

Nevertheless, it is hard to keep its competitive position in the world market full of emerging players. Thus, manufacturers have shifted their operations to value-added products and creation of brand names. Currently, 30% of Turkish manufacturers have their own designs and brands in international markets.

As current studies reveal, developed countries will have a decreasing share in global textile production while the developing countries will increase their manufacturing capacity to meet the increasing demands. It is also estimated that by 2005, the developing countries will increase their self-sufficiency in textile production. The US with an estimate of 200% increase in textile consumption is also estimated to have a 32% decrease in self-sufficiency by the year 2005.

Turkey, with its adaptability to European standards and regulations related to environment, health, quality, and safety is aiming to move into the production of more and more value added products, into an era in which the Turkish textile industry will be known for its quality trademarks and will be pricing a product for the Made in Turkey sign.

Fibre2fashion.com - Leading B2B Portal and Marketplace of Global Textile, Apparel and Fashion Industry offers Free Industry Articles, Textile Articles, Fashion Articles, Industry Reports, Technology Article, Case Studies, Textile Industry News Articles, Latest Fashion Trends, Textile Market Trends Reports and Global Industry Analysis.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive came into force in the UK on 13th August 2004. The WEEE Directive aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic equipment on the environment during their life times and when they become waste. It applies to a huge spectrum of products including Computer Hardware and it encourages and sets criteria for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste IT equipment.

The enforcement of the WEEE and RoHS (Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directives should greatly assist in the reduction of lead, cadmium, mercury, and other hazardous chemicals in our environment. WEEE and RoHS have implications for product manufacturers, component manufacturers, importers, retailers, local authorities and consumers. There are no exemptions for small companies in the Directives.

Previously, redundant or obsolete computer hardware was put in a back room to gather dust or worse still, thrown on a skip. These important Directives now make everyone responsible for disposing of IT equipment in an environmentally friendly way. However, there are still a lot of people unaware that this law will affect them.

Laws that are designed to help reduce world pollution can make an enormous impact. The ban of CFC gases has helped to reduce the hole in the ozone layer and was one of the first initiatives that got both business and the general public thinking about how our everyday lives impact our world. Today we are used to the recycling of household and business waste but more work in these areas is necessary. America, China and India are vast contributors to excess waste and more initiatives, such as the WEEE directive, are necessary to make manufacturing companies responsible for the waste they and their customers create.

COATINGS

Coatings production in The United States can be broadly divided into two major segments; architectural/decorative paints and industrial paints and coatings. Based on annual statistics for the year ended 2004, architectural and decorative paints account for approximately 52% of production, with industrial paints and coating comprising 48% of output. The industrial coatings are usually formulated and produced for specific needs. The processing line, from raw materials to the end user is relatively straightforward. Manufacturers sell a small proportion of their product, direct to the end user through retail outlets.

The most significant trend over the past 20 years has been the growth of water based paints and the decline of solvent based paint production. The latest statistics show binding paints split 23% solvent and 77% water based. It is expected that far greater use of water based technologies in industrial applications will occur in the future due to convenience of use and environmental and health and safety considerations.

Although technical innovation in any science-based industry is slow and continuous, it is possible to detect some significant new trends that have manifested themselves over the last few years. These have affected materials and methods of application. These changes can be considered as a natural evolution of the industry, from being based originally on naturally occurring materials (such as oleo resinous varnishes and enamels and the nitre-cellulocics) through the synthetic resins (such as alkyds and acrylics) to the plethora of types that are in current use.

The present stage of evolution of the coatings industry began in the early 1960s, primarily as a result of increased concerns over the impact of certain chemicals on the environment, notably the effects of solvent emissions which accelerated a trend towards the development of water-based and other types of coatings able to meet various statutory requirements.

The technologies which evolved can be categorized into six distinct groups, as follows:

improved low solids (<70%), solvent-based systems)
high solids systems (<70%), solvent-based systems)
water-borne coatings
reactive (two-part catalyzed) systems)
powder coatings
radiation cured systems (ultra-violet and electron beam).

One surface coating that is relatively new and growing at 5-8% per annum, is powder coatings. Many segments of the market, notably automotive coatings are heavily affected by economic cyclic activity. Marine paint growth rates have remained virtually static since 1980. There has been a decline in the demand of for wood stains since 1970.

1. DO NOT USE in a wet location, or in a gaseous explosive atmosphere.

2. When using all drills, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES and DO NOT WEAR loose clothing. Loose clothing could get wrapped up in your drill and may cause serious injury.

3. DO NOT CARRY the tool with your finger on the trigger.

4. USE A CLAMP OR VISE to hold your work. It’s safer and will free both hands for operating.

5. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION when drilling into a wall, floor or wherever there could be a “live” electrical wire.

6. KEEP VISITORS AND CHILDREN AWAY from the work area.

7. DO NOT TOUCH the bit after drilling. It is hot and can cause sever burns.

8. NEVER charge cordless drills in an environment where the temperature is less than 50 degrees F or more than 130 degrees F.

9. USE ONLY the charging system that came with your drill to recharge the batteries. Using a charger other than the one that came with your system may cause serious damage to the charger or the battery. There are different volt chargers and each charger is designed for the cordless drill it came with.

10. INSPECT the tool and charging system PERIODICALLY for loose or broken components. REPAIR any defects before further use.

Cordless drills are great tools to have in your work shop, and following these rules makes it safe for everyone. These safety rules for cordless drills are designed to keep you out of harms way. Careful planning and safety go hand in hand when you are working on all your projects.

Material Handling Equipment is machinery centered around the transportation of materials such as ores and cereals in bulk form. It can also focus on the handling of mixed wastes.

Material handling systems in the industrial arena are typically maded up of mobile peices of machinery such as conveyors systems, stacking machines, reclamation Machinery, ship loaders and numerous types of shuttles, hoppers and diversion machinery combined with storage structures such as stock yards, silos or storage units.

The purpose of a material handling unit is to move material from one or more locations to other destinations as well as potentially blending materials.

Material handling systems are normally found in places usch as mine sites, shipping ports and material processing facilities.

When searching for metal fabrication equipment it is important to focus on your goals. Remember that by accuiring your own equipment you are adding a business process that involves the construction of machines and components from various metals. A fabrication shop generally quotes a job based on cad drawings, and if the quoted bid is won, the shop will create the product.

Metal Fabrication organizations are generally in high demand and typical projects include; loose parts, structural components of steel buildings and equipment, and railings and stairs for commercial and residential structers.

Once a metal fabrication shop is awarded a job, the shop will begin making a plan to complete the job. The shops buyers will purchase the raw materials and if necessary, sub-contract out work to other shops if special fabrication equipment is required.

Metal fabricators may to contract with steel detailer to complete shop drawings, if not provided by the consumer, which the fabricating outfit can use for manufacturing.

Certain advancements have helped some metal fabrication companies to be more efficient. However, many still experience a hold up somewhere; most often in the press brake setup process.

Press Brake setup needs to be both efficient and accurate in order to eliminate rework and waste in both time and materials. The most expensive part of any operation is in the setup as from a production point of view, no parts are being made. To achieve both accuracy and speed, proper training and operating procedures for repetitive jobs through a standard setup process can help deliver superior results.

Training The press brake can be one of the most difficult machines to run in a precision metal fabrication shop. Despite all the technology improvements, the operator needs the know how and skills to think through the steps to create the part and anticipate problems ahead of time. This is especially true today as raw material costs have escalated and excessive waste from bad tolerances is not an option.

Modern press brakes have many features to take the guesswork and art out of bending with thickness compensators, automatic spring-back adjustments, and so forth. While these features are invaluable, the feature richness just adds to the knowledge needed by the operator to understand the setup possibilities.

Options abound and proper training is needed on how to properly leverage the right options the press brake offers both for efficiency of operation and accuracy of reproducing the desired part.

Standard Operating Procedures Metal fabrication shops today face the demands of many small runs and tighter tolerance demands by their customers. Implementing standard operating procedures and proper training in process execution go a long way towards achieving consistency in producing high quality parts with minimal waste. This is especially true when comparing part variations produced by multiple operators with different skill levels.

For recurring jobs, setup sheets can help achieve consistency and efficiency as they capture previous knowledge of best practices, help eliminate errors of omission, and help efficiency as one doesn't need to figure everything out from scratch each time. The setup lists can include tools required, setup sequences, settings and other specific information about the job.

A setup procedure might contain these 7 steps:
1) Review the drawing: This needs to be done the first time a job is run and then the information captured for review on subsequent runs. Basics are: Material thickness and type, any flange dimensions and tolerances, angles required and the inside radius, plus blank size. On many drawings the inside radius is not specified but this is very important for determining the type of tooling required and in some cases which press brake.
2) Select the tooling depending if bottom bending, coining, air bending or some other application is called for.
3) Determine tonnage requirements depending upon the bending method selected in the previous step.
4) Position tooling either centered or off-center as appropriate and make any adjustments. This step is typically the most time consuming but care is required for accuracy.
5) Set the program parameters for the press brake control system. This area is another efficiency training opportunity as this step can be time consuming but little time is dedicated to training, especially on the more sophisticated features available today.
6) Perform a test bend and make any adjustments. Use scrap whenever possible to save on material costs. A properly trained operator can make adjustments quickly and efficiently. Once a good part is formed, don't allow any further adjustments in the settings.
7) Start the run but set a sampling interval to make sure the part continues to be produced with the proper tolerances.

The use of consistent training methods can help operators become more efficient when working with equipment and the general process. This simple tactic enables fabrication shops to alleviate the rising cost of materials while still producing a consistently high quality product. Utilizing the specialty control features of the modern press brake, human knowledge, and consistent production process will result in reduced scrap and increased productivity.

RFID, Radio Frequency Identification of products and the Internet makes it possible to insure that any single product can only be sold once. Cryptography is not necessary to insure that a once only sold item is not a counterfeit.

If a product can be tracked from the producer to the end user with a unique identification, and a data base maintained when that product is sold, then it is a simple matter to prevent counterfeiting. The pharmaceutical companies and their customers would benefit greatly by solving the counterfeit problem.

When a product is scanned at the sales counter, that information would be sent to the company data base and recorded as sold. If that identification were ever reported as sold again, it would then be flagged as counterfeit. If an identification were reported as sold that was not produced by that company, it would be flagged as counterfeit. This process could be used through the entire distribution chain to insure that counterfeit product are not introduced at the distribution level. When the same identification shows up in two different locations then it would signal that one of them was counterfeit.

If the retailer scans the product and reports the transaction to the company that produced the product, the buyer could be assured that the product is genuine.

Cryptography is useless because anyone with the right equipment can copy or produce the Data Security Tag. So just being able to read the tag does not insure that it is not a counterfeit. You would have to know if that was in fact produced by whom you think produced it and know that there is not another one out there waiting to be sold or already sold.

This solution is only valid for products that should be sold to the end user once, such as pharmaceuticals. I would hope that if pharmaceutical companies are not already studying this approach, they would do so now so that I can be assured that I will get what I pay for.

Recently, in cotton and cotton industries, the highest frequency of appearance may be the US Cotton Association International and the African cotton.

When people open textile media, in cotton and cotton textile sectors, they often see the coverage of US cotton and African cotton. People are concerned largely about the recent activities of the US Cotton Association International in China, while African cotton comes into people's vision due to the grand opening of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.

When these excitements gradually retreated into quietness, people should embark on some consideration.

US Cotton Marketing Inspiration

US cotton merchants and US Cotton Association International have taken great pains to explore Chinese market, as China is the largest market to US cotton.

US cotton has its advantage in price and quality, so it has won the favor of many textile enterprises.

However, with the further opening of Chinese market, Australia and other countries and regions have entered China's cotton market. The market share of US cotton imports in China dropped to 45 percent from 50 percent in 2005-2006.

Faced with this development trend and the rapid growth of China's cotton textile capacity, US cotton traders and their servant agency US Cotton Association International continue to launch offensive of marketing and after-sales service, in addition to price and quality.

Perhaps this is not an exact saying, because in 2003, they already introduced US cotton logo into China’s mainland, aiming at creating US cotton brand and cultivating Chinese consumption habits to US cotton.

From 2005 onwards, they bring their annual ‘Cotton Day’ into China, purposely to guide US cotton fashion deep into the hearts of Chinese people.

Now, in addition to offices in Hong Kong and Beijing, the US Cotton Association International has set up another office in Shanghai, to further expand cotton trade.

Recently the US Cotton Association and China Cotton Association also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation, with commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of cotton.

To allow more Chinese companies to understand US cotton, US Cotton Association International launches a Chinese websites. In addition, they also undertake a ‘Supply Chain Marketing Action’ project, which will introduce to the global clothing buyers of Chinese textile enterprises. In their words, they will realize the marketing in the whole industry chain.

Their activities indicate that the US cotton is pervasively penetrating into Chinese market.

Regarding the offensive of US cotton, many industrial insiders are worried. They are anxious that China’s cotton could not survive the impact, they even recommend China to appeal to anti-dumping measures again US cotton.

This is self-justified, in comparison to US cotton, the weakness of domestic growth is unavoidable and evident. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that in the next few years, China's textile industry will maintain a rapid growing momentum. And cotton shortage will exist for a long time, it is impossible to eradicate cotton imports.

Since China is impossible to resist the US cotton, why not reflect on our own weakness, and learn the strongpoint from others?

On the price side, the price of US cotton is lower 1700-2000 yuan /ton than China cotton. To cotton enterprises, this is the greatest attraction. Domestic textile industry has called on the connection with international market, but they still could not resist the charm of US cotton, if the price gap is not narrowed.

Speaking of quality, different fibers have become the watershed between US cotton and China cotton. The serious problem of ‘three foreign fibers’ has turned many textile enterprises to become US cotton users. Of course, China cotton has its own strengths, such as low rates of short fiber content. As some experts think China cotton still has certain competitive edge, if the problem of ‘three foreign fibers ‘could be improved,

Of course, there are many deep-rooted reasons for the problems with price and quality, they should be gradually resolved, and also require a package of supporting measures.

In comparison, the marketing methods of US cotton are easier for China to learn and use for reference.

Not long ago, at the 12th China International Textile Asia Expo held in Shanghai, executive director of the US Cotton Association International AllenA. Terhaar said to the media, American Cotton Association International would promote brand influence among consumers and continue to seek more partners in China, so to maintain the stability of US cotton exports to China. These two aspects have really summarized the main contents of US cotton marketing program.

In order to expand the influence of American cotton, in recent years, US cotton merchants often work with some domestic institutions to organize conference releasing fashion trends and to guide textile enterprises with technical upgrading.

In addition, the US has vigorously promoted US cotton logo, and assists textile enterprises, which have obtained US cotton logo, to promote their products and expand production.

To visit customers and collect feedback is the after-sales service that many enterprises have adopted, but US cotton merchants pay great attention to customer’s satisfaction, and they could make reaction in a very short time, that is not a job that every enterprises does.

As to cotton purchase, in order to shorten the delivery time for Chinese enterprises and adapt to Chinese habits of seeing goods before buying, from the end of last year, the US changed its model of cotton exports to China, they transformed the means from the past of quoting price, seeing sample, signing contract, making shipment, completing delivery and other complex links to direct shipment to Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin Port Bonded Areas, thus reducing transaction links. Now, for manufacturers, it is more convenient to obtain US cotton than to purchase China cotton.

Not only that, they also organize relevant training courses to teach enterprises how to buy US cotton and how to identify cotton quality. As one textile enterprise general manager said, "low priced products, coupled with good after-sales service really makes it very difficult to reject."

Such mature, systematic and thoughtful marketing means could not be caught up with by many advanced large-scale enterprises in China, not to mention local cotton industry. And there is something for Chinese cotton industry to consider and get certain inspiration from what the US Cotton Association International does in China.