September, 16-30, 2016

There has been an ongoing debate on ‘relocation of industries’ with various sections of the industry – from big exporters to medium level players, to technology providers to consultants, and even people in the corridors of power. Even though there is a consensus on the fact that growth can no longer happen unless companies relocate themselves from the metro cities. Recently two top officials of the Government of Odisha spoke to Apparel Online and showed keenness to establish garment industries in their state. Apparel Online had been incessantly reporting that there seems a prima facie conspiracy repeatedly to defame the Indian apparel exporters’ image at the international level by some organisations in collusion with local trade unions… But at last there is now a sigh of relief for the Indian apparel exporters…! Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) India Country Study 2016, in a detailed 56 pages report, states that there is ‘no child labour in the country’s garment industry today’. The report also gives thumbs up to fair practices claiming that there is no discrimination either on religion or caste, and women are paid equal wages for equal work. An interesting news of Elections at AEPC are again the talk of the industry… and this time there is a challenge to the same old set of members who have been continuously governing the AEPC for decades. Besides two fair reviews – Gartex India 2016, organized in Delhi and Garment Technology Expo, Bangalore find interesting coverage. Besides the above, our regular columns of Mind Tree, Fashion Trends, Industry Wire, Resource Centre, Export Statistics, etc. make the issue worth reading.