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By Max W. Sung

Age of Austerity: Just over a year before he became prime minister of Britain in May 2010, David Cameron, then leader of the opposition Conservatives, addressing the party's 2009 Spring Forum promised to "stand up for responsibility and thrift" and to ensure that Britain is ready for the new age of austerity. The ruling Labour party was yet to call for elections, but a confident Mr Cameron promised that a Conservative government would herald a complete change of direction, "a whole new never-been-done-before approach" to the way Britain is run. "Over the next few years, we will have to take some incredibly difficult decisions on taxation, spending, borrowing - things that really affect people's lives," he stated. "The days of easy money are over, and we have no option but to weed out spending that is not essential."

The age of austerity thus began to herald, eventually, the end of what Mr Cameron called "the age of irresponsibility" with country after country in Europe adopting and implementing austerity measures. For Greece, Ireland and Portugal, it was in return for bailout loans from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce their budget deficits. Since 2010, Greece has received a total of 240 billion euros to fund the budget deficit up to 2014. In return, the Greek parliament has approved austerity measures which included cutting 15,000 jobs in the public sector, liberalisation of labour laws for closed professions, and lowering the minimum wage by 20%. These measures were not well received; they precipitated massive protests and demonstrations, particularly in the face of 20% unemployment that kept nearly half of all the Greek youth out of jobs. Other countries in the European Union, including Italy, Spain, France and Britain, have also followed suit with their own austerity measures in order to bridge budget deficits and stave off potential debt crises. Common to these austerity measures are cutting public sector spending, including jobs, social and healthcare services, pension reforms and increases in taxation to generate revenue.

How is the European consumer of apparel and textiles reacting to austerity measures?
According to a report from Visa Europe EU Consumer Spending Barometer, consumer spending in the European Union in the last quarter of 2011 showed a 0.1% fall in the year-on-year rate of growth. The growth rate in the previous quarter was 0.4%. Consumer spending registered marked declines in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, while in Italy it fell by 2.8%, in the UK by 0.4% and in France by 0.1%. Germany on the other hand registered a 1.8% growth. Other reports cited consumer spending falling in the 4th quarter of 2011 by 2.9% in Ireland, by 1.1% in Spain, while the Christmas season in Italy registering 30% drop for the clothing and shoe sector. Last year, a survey of British lifestyles by the leading market research company, Mintel, reported a significant rise in women investing in quality clothes. Some 23% bought fewer items. They were, however, better quality garments. That was nearly double the size, one in eight, in 2010. For menswear, supermarkets have become the most popular outlets with 38% men and up to half of them aged 45-54. In general, brand loyalty is the first to be bypassed with 51% of people switching from their preferred brand if they see a better deal in another.

For the average consumer in most developing economies and for those in developed countries who have experienced the Depression and the World Wars, austerity is nothing strange and people have developed creative solutions to extend the longevity and wearability of their clothes. Instead of discarding clothing and spending on replacements, clothes can be altered to fit and fashion, given to succeeding generations, reused in the second hand clothing market, or recycled for other uses of the fabric and fibre. The durability of garments that can survive repeated washings and have more extended longevity will assume more importance.

Austerity is even becoming the new buzz for the fashion and apparel industry. There is the austerity chic at the Paris Haute Couture shows for the spring and summer seasons last year, with the sombre conservative outfits covered to the neck, reminiscent of the reserved style of the Quakes and the Amish. There is upcycling, a term coined by Suzy Menkes, the fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, as textile waste such as swatches, off-cuts and leftovers are used to create a product of higher quality. Upcycled fashion is a major theme in the EcoChic Design Award, a sustainable fashion design competition organised by Redress for Asia's emerging design talent.

While all these might be good, the decline in consumer spending on clothing can cause a serious impact on economies that rely heavily on textile and apparel exports to the EU and US. The European Union alone imported 83.7 billion euros of textiles in 2010, primarily from Asian and African countries. For India, 80% of its $13-billion apparel exports go to European and US markets.

At the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 18, the managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, proposed a partial solution. She said: "Countries with current account surpluses, whether advanced or emerging, also have a role to play - primarily by shifting to domestic demand to support global growth." After all, she said, "global deficits will shrink only if surpluses shrink too." Acknowledging that the Chinese government has in the recent 12th Five Year Plan already embraced these goals, she added: "We are all interconnected and we are all affected by each other's policy actions. We need to prepare for success together. If we stand together, the whole will be more than the sum of the parts. And, in this, China is a leader of the global economy - leading by example, leading by responsible economic policy, leading by engagement."

Special Reports

• Interstoff Asia celebrates twenty-five glorious years: Hong Kong played a vital role in the internationalisation of Messe Frankfurt, Germany. Interstoff Asia, its first textile event in Asia was debuted in Hong Kong in 1987 with 169 companies from 16 countries attracting 5,000 visitors from 29 countries.
  
  One of the objectives of establishing Interstoff Asia was to assist exhibitors of Interstoff Frankfurt to break into markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The three-day 25th anniversary fair held in Hong Kong last month saw some 246 suppliers from 13 countries and regions, including six country pavilions from Africa, China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan presenting their latest innovations. It attracted 7,625 visitors. China ranked as the largest exhibitor group. The keen interest from the mainland of China and the debut of the Origin Africa pavilion this year reflected the usefulness and importance of Interstoff Asia as a platform to reach international buyers.
  
  By Vicky Sung
  
  
• A forum for genuine sharing: The annual Prime Source Forum which just concluded its seventh edition discussed wide ranging topics from the aftermath of the global economic crisis and the knock-on effect of political changes in the Middle East to changing consumer trend in China.
  
  Some of the highlights of the event included updates on sustainability, technological advances, changed business models to accommodate new developments in both sourcing and retailing, identification of the next-best-thing to China for order placement, then the evergreen interest in finance and minimising risks. Some were disparaging and as in the past, dismissive of what seems, perhaps from an outsider's point of view even cynical about developments in areas such as corporate social responsibility which, according to one speaker was now a cross between a 'tick box' and public relations exercise.
  
  By Gail Taylor
  
  
• Action of China and India could affect cotton market: China is holding a stockpile of 4.7 million tons of cotton, well over one fifth of it foreign cotton, while India has banned export to stock up for feeding domestic mills.
  
  Global cotton stocks, excluding the stocks held by China, may rise by 5% to 9.4 million tons this season, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). At the same time, mill use globally is projected to increase by 4% to 24 million tons in 2012-13, driven by improving economic growth and lower cotton prices. Production will exceed consumption again, and global cotton stocks could rise by 11% to 14.6 million tons, or 61% of global mill use. The projected accumulation of cotton stocks will weigh on international cotton prices in 2012-13, but the extent of this downward pressure will depend in large part on how the Chinese national reserve is handled. The size of the Chinese national reserve, ICAC points out, creates significant uncertainty for the global cotton market for months and, maybe, years to come.

Exhibitions and Conferences

• World's top apparel show marks 20th anniversary: CHIC - China International Clothing and Accessories fair - is the annual meeting point for Chinese garment producers seeking a larger share of the expanding domestic market as well as foreign brands eyeing for a share of the same market. Last month it held its 20th display, the biggest so far.
  
  When CHIC premiered 20 years ago it had 400 exhibitors, one-quarter of them from overseas. Three of the world's leading haute couturiers, Pierre Cardin, Valentino Garavani and Gian Frank Ferre were also invited to that event. CHIC's rising significance to the textile industry since then was abundantly clear at 20th anniversary fair. Overseas participation has been increasing year after year; and more than 1,000 exhibitors from USA, Canada, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as well as China and its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau came for this 20th anniversary event. China's fashion industry is still in its infancy, at the most a teenager; there is plenty of room for growth and expansion to meet the unfulfilled desires of the growing middle class in China that has much to learn about fashion taste and sense. The time has come for China, the factory of the world to become the market of the world.
  
  By Vicky Sung, Beijing
  
  
• CI presents the many benefits of cotton: Cotton Incorporated was present for the first time at CHIC. With the theme Comfort and Performance, it presented the story of performance cotton products created By Nature and By Design. CI decided to participate because it wants, according to its vice president responsible for supply chain marketing in Asia, Katsuro Ishida, to find out and evaluate the key players and influential apparel supply chain pipeline in China.
  
  
• ITBAF is now a top apparel fabric platform: Intertextile Beijing Apparel Fabrics show has developed into a premium show with a refreshing new image. The cooperation its organiser, Messe Frankfurt Hong Kong, has forged with the Italian show organiser, Milano Unica, came timely to lift the fair up to a higher level.
  
  The growth of the show so far has been phenomenal. It can be said that it grew with China's dynamic economic growth and fuelled by the role China took on as the world's apparel factory in the past but more recently by China's growing middle class' demand for quality apparel. The show has reached the status of being the biggest and the most comprehensive apparel textile fair in the world, now moving towards being more refined and sophisticated.
  
  By Vicky Sung, Beijing
  
  
• Larger ITMA Asia + CITME in the making for June: Preparations are moving at full speed for the third edition of the ITMA ASIA + CITME exhibition, which is scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, from June 12 to 16 this year. More than 1,300 exhibitors are expected to take part in this show which is set, like its forerunners, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). And they are gearing up to present a huge display of cutting-edge solutions for textile manufacturing as well as other technology essential to sustainability processes and energy-efficient production methods.
  
  
• Qingdao garment fair in May: One of the largest textile and garment export trade fair in northern China, known as the China (Qingdao) Garments and Textiles Export Fair, will hold its 9th presentation from the 4th to the 6th next month in Qingdao, Shangdong province.
  
  
• ANEX in Seoul in June: The Asia Nonwovens Exhibition or ANEX which the Asia Nonwoven Fabrics Association (ANFA) organises every three years will hold its fifth edition in Seoul, South Korea, from June 13 to 15 this year. This event will also include a conference that the Korea Nonwoven Industry Cooperative (KNIC) will host for promoting Korean nonwovens market.
  
  
• Symposium on wearable electronics: The International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) for broadening the scope of on-body and mobile technologies will hold its 16th annual session in Newcastle, UK, from June 18 to 22, this year.
  
  This conference where researchers, product vendors, fashion designers, textile manufacturers, users and related professionals will share information on wearable technologies and related issues will cover wearable systems including electronic textiles and their application in fashion as well as in sports, wellness and healthcare. Prof. Elias Siores who is provost and director of research and innovation at the University of Bolton will give a keynote presentation on smart materials in energy conversion for technical textile systems and devices.
  
  
• GMS and GFT in Bangkok: Two textile and garment industry trade fairs - the second edition of the Garment Manufacturers Sourcing (GMS) expo and the 17th edition of GFT - will take place side-by-side from June 21 to 24, this year at BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand. Both events are organised by Reed Tradex.
  
  
• BIFF & BIL: The annual Bangkok International Fashion Fair and Bangkok International Leather Fair (BIFF & BIL) will take place this year from June 27 to July 1 at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani Nonthaburi, Thailand. - Who's Next set for June: The second WHO'S NEXT Prêt-à-Porter Paris is set to be held from June 30 to July 3, 2012, in Paris, France. It is organised by WSN Development and comprises several segments - namely Fame (for women's wear), Private (for brands), Premiere Classe (for accessories), Le Cube (for leather goods and luggage), Mr Brown (for urban and men's fashion), and Mess Around (for traditional retail).
  
  
• Fashion marketing symposium: The Korean Academy of Marketing Science (KAMS) and the US-based International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) will jointly hold a symposium on globalisation and fashion marketing at COEX Seoul, Korea on July 19-22, this year.
  
  
• Texworld USA: The biannual Texworld USA which is regarded as a key platform in North America for apparel fabric buyers, R&D and product development specialists, designers, merchandisers and overseas sourcing professionals, is scheduled to hold its 13th edition from July 24 to 26, this year at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, USA.
  
  
• Première Brasil, which Première Vision organises biannually together with Fagga GL Exhibitions, a subsidiary of GL events of France, will mark its sixth edition on July 26-27, this year, at Expocenter Norte in São Paulo, Brazil.
  
  
• Munich Fabric Start, a global marketplace for fabric fashion and trends that Munich fabric start exhibitions organises as the biannual central meeting point of Germany's fashion industry will hold its 33rd edition from September 4 to 6, this year, at the Munich M,O,C, and adjacent Zenith Hall in Munich, Germany.
  
  
• 51st Dornbirn MFC in September: The Dornbirn Man-made Fibres Congress, the annual event of the Austrian Man-made Fibers Insitute (MFI), will take place from September 19 to 21, this year. More that 700 participants from 30 countries are expected to take part in the event where over 100 presentations discussing the latest developments and trends in the man-made fibres will be made.
  
  
• Printed electronics and smart textiles fair: The UK-based IDTechEx will hold the 5th edition of the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia in Tokyo, Japan, on October 2 and 3 this year. Designed specifically for potential users of emerging printed, organic and flexible electronics technologies this event will provide the opportunity to see new products and learn how these new devices can be incorporated in existing products.
  
  
• ICAC plenary meeting: The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has scheduled its 71st plenary meeting from October 8 to 11, this year, in the city of Interlaken, Switzerland.
  
  
• Sports Source Asia: Sports Source Asia, a trade fair focussed on sports and fitness industry, will hold its sixth edition at Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo from October 28 to 30 this year. It will offer manufacturers and agents dealing with sportswear and accessories as well as sporting goods and equipment the opportunity to meet buyers, sell sub-contract manufacturing services, enter into partnerships or joint ventures, and explore franchises or licensing agreements.
  
  
• Textile fair in Egypt: Egypt-based Vision Fairs is organising the 4th international exhibition for textiles, sewing and embroidery machinery and accessories - Egy Stitch & Tex - in Cairo on December 20-23 this year. It will cover a wide range of textile machinery and textile products, including fabrics, garments and accessories.
  
  
• Domotex in January: Domotex Hannover, the fair about floor coverings that Deutsche Messe organises annually, will take place from January 12 to 15, 2013. - Geosynthetics 2013: The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has scheduled its next biennial Geosynthetics conference and trade show for April 1-4, 2013 at the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, California, USA. .
  
  

Technical Features

• Effects of solvent in dyeing nylon fibre with vat dyes: Dyeing nylon with cellulosic dyes is not an easy process. However, this study has found that nylon fibre's ability to absorb and retain colour can be improved with vat dye and phenolic solvent.
  
  By S R Shah, J N Shah and D V Patel, all of the Department of Textile Chemistry, Faculty of Technology & Engineering, M S University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat. India.
  
  
• Treatment of cotton fabrics using microwave and subsequent dyeing: This study investigating the influence of microwave irradiation in cotton fabrics dyeing concludes that microwave treatment indeed helps to enhance the fabric's dyeability as well as the colour strength.
  
  By Mohamed A. Ramadan and Alsaid Ahmed Almetwally of the National Research Center, Textile Research Division, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt; Ghada A. El Sayed of Special Education Faculty, Zagazig University, Egypt
  
  
• Effect of spinning cot hardness and saddle gauge setting on cotton yarn: Change in front top roller cots diameter reported to impact on yarn properties like count strength product, unevenness, imperfections, tenacity and elongation. This study examines the data.
  
  By P. V. Kadole, P. B. Malakane and M. S. Kulkarni, all of the Department of Textiles, DKTE`s Textile and Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji, India.

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