Each manufacturing destination has its strengths and weaknesses, and based on these inherent strengths, which could be like available resources, infrastructure, trained manpower or even sensibility of the players, the countries have developed capabilities in different product categories, and buyers too look at these countries for those categories. However, in recent times each base has found some success in newer categories and these categories could be the growth drivers in future, supplementing consistent growth in regular ‘hot’ sellers.
While India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar are seeing consistent growth, Pakistan has yet to emerge from its reputation as an ‘unsafe’ state, though it does have inherent strengths, which has severely impaired its competitiveness. On the other hand, the garment industry in Sri Lanka is not growing at the base. It is only that a few companies are holding up the country’s flag and that too in very niche products. Of this, lingerie is the key driver for which buyers are investing in the country. Both these countries are not seen as opportunity destinations for technology providers.
To sustain the core strength and to support the growth in emerging product categories, it is expected that certain types of technologies will be in demand. The core strengths and emerging categories supplemented by machinery and equipment that will be in demand in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar are analyzed below for both technology providers and visitors at Texprocess.
India: Fashion products for women – an established strength…
Core strengths
The country has the reputation of being a fashion destination for major markets, and all products that are difficult to make because of style and have value addition, are the forte of the exporters in the country. Consequently, the country has seen consistent growth in women’s wear categories like ladies dresses, blouses and skirts, with blouses or tops being the biggest of the three. Besides these categories, India is also strong on circular knits with T-shirts being the largest category of exports from the country. In all these categories, the growth was single digit but consistent in both markets, EU and US.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in consistent demand
Multi head computer embroidery with sequin, lace, braid, tape, and even bead attaching will see a consistent demand with rising innovation in value addition. Increasing use of lightweight synthetic fabrics in dresses, blouses and skirts will demand variable top feed lockstitchers and overlockers for pucker-free seams. There will also be constant requirements of attachments like puller feeds and anti-puckering work aids. Traditional washing machines with water conservation feature as well as dry wash (laser etching) and ozone wash will be in demand to support the sustainable drive.
Emerging products – Babieswear, nightwear and sweaters
Over the three years period, from 2012 to 2014, besides consistent growth in the traditional categories, three other products have emerged as potential growth areas – babieswear, nightwear and sweaters.
While exports of babieswear to the US registered 8.83% growth in 2013, the growth in 2014 was an exceptional 58.84%. Similarly, in nightwear the growth of 14.02% in 2013 increased to 31.60% in 2014.
Flat knits, which have not traditionally been the strength of India, have registered good growth over the last year in both the US and EU markets. While values increased a whopping 152.78% in the US and 17.51% in the EU; volumes increased 55.51% and 21.83%, respectively in 2013.
Flat knits, which have not traditionally been the strength of India, have registered good growth over the last year in both the US and EU markets and there has also been a noticeable influx of flat knitting machines to complement the interest in this product.
While values increased a whopping 152.78% in the US and 17.51% in the EU; volumes increased 55.51% and 21.83%, respectively in 2013. In 2014, the growth of exports in sweaters was 153.04% in value and 124.78% in volume in the US… Astonishing growth, no doubt!
Machinery & Equipment to cater to Emerging products
For babieswear, cylinder bed overlocks and flatlocks, decorative overlocks like shell stitch and blanket stitch and narrow overlocks and anti-curling features, while overlocking soft knit fabrics, will be in demand. Decorative multi-colour overlock, zebra stitch from Pegasus may be strong bet to value add in babieswear. There will be requirement of flatlock machines with stitchlock mechanism. Plastic snap button, cloth covered shank button consumption and related machinery will also surge.
Quality nightwear requires cord embedded waistband elastic, faster manufacture technique will demand four thread overlocker with backlatch mechanism. Spaghetti making machine, edge curling overlockers drawstring inserting machine may also see surge in demand. Premium nightwear category may see increasing use of seamless Santoni machines. Wholegarment technique of sweater manufacturing will see growth.
Bangladesh: Trousers, shirts and sweaters key products
Core strengths
Riding on three major advantages – cheap labour, industry pro Government policies and GSP status in the Europe (earlier they also had similar status in the US), the country has gone from strength to strength in the last two decades. In 2007, garment exports from Bangladesh earned US $ 9.35 billion, and in 2014 the earnings were to the tune of US $ 24.46 billion, the target now is to reach US $ 27 billion by the end of 2015.
The products that have given maximum boost to Bangladesh exports are men’s shirts, trousers, sweaters and T-shirts. Even in the last two years which have been difficult for the country with exports in many categories taking a downward plunge, especially in the US, these four categories have remained growth drivers, though the momentum did slow down.
In trousers, while the country registered 14.72% growth in value of exports in 2013 over the previous year, in 2014 the growth was of only 3.78%. Similarly, in men’s shirts value growth in 2013 was of 15.69%, while in 2014 it was only 2.13%.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in demand
Men’s shirts and casual trousers are gradually becoming the mainstay of Bangladeshi manufacturers, the newer players are going to embrace the basic technology while the seasoned players will move on to embrace advanced level of technology for scaling up and value addition.
Men’s shirts and casual trousers are gradually becoming the mainstay of more and more manufacturers, the newer players are going to embrace the basic technology while the seasoned players will move on to embrace advanced level of technology for scaling up and value addition. In basic level multi needle chainstitch (Kansai Special, Juki), auto-jig pattern sewer (Racing, AMF Reece, PFAFF), cuff and collar turning and blocking (Ngaishing) and pucker free gadgets will be in high demand. In advanced level, automats for back-yoke attach (Juki), breast pocket attach (PFAFF), buttonhole and button sew indexer (Brother, Zoje, Hikari and Weishi, Shakho), small parts creasing and folding (MAICA, Ngaishing) may see a surge in demand.
In casual trousers, cargo and jeans, automats for double colour back pocket attach, double colour J-stitch in fly, decorative stitch in pocket, pouch pocket attach (Vibemac, PFAFF, Nissin, AGM) will be in regular demand and even continuous zip attaching workstations (YKK) may see few takers.
Use of medium weight (for shirts) to heavy weight (for trousers) fabrics in large volume will see increasing requirement of automatic spreader and CNC cutter (Gerber, Lectra, Tukatech, Morgan, Bullmer, IMA). Auto arm cutter may also be a surprise winner. As scale is becoming the differentiator, the tunnel finisher for shirts and form finisher for trousers will be in great demand.
Regular wet washing technology will gradually give away to dry washing technology for casual garments like LASER (GSK, Tonello), Ozone wash (GSK).
Emerging categories – Foundation garments and suits & ensembles
Suits are emerging as a strong category for Bangladesh. While there was 2.12% growth in exports of suits in 2013 to the US; in 2014, despite slowdown in exports to the country, Bangladesh registered an increase of 15% in this category.
Though foundation garments is a very small category as of now with volume of exports in 2014 being 3,143,656 dozen in the US and 3.64 million kg in the EU, worth US $ 77.41 million and Euro 111.72 million respectively, the growth in the last two years shows that it is definitely a direction for many exporters. In value terms, the growth of the category in the US was 10.51% in 2013, followed by 18% growth in 2014, while in the EU, the value growth was 55.90% in 2013 and 21.17% in 2014.
The other segment that is emerging as a strong category for Bangladesh with many manufacturers looking at the option is suits. While there was 2.12% growth in exports of suits in 2013 to the US; in 2014, despite slowdown in exports to the country, Bangladesh registered an increase of 15% in this category. In the EU too, exports in this category increased 30.86% and 9.74%, respectively in 2013 and 2014.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in demand
Growth opportunity for Vietnam includes its membership of Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. It is estimated that exports from Vietnam would increase approximately by US $ 12.5 billion if TPP is approved.
Foundation garments have two distinct varieties for top, structured bra and sports bra; panties use more or less same technology. Structured bra will require single to three step zig-zag lockstitch machines (Juki, Brother, SunStar), almost all machines will require elastic metering device, tape feeding device (Racing). There will be requirement of edge pairing zig-zag machines (PFAFF, Rimoldi & CF). Specialized attachments like under fabric tape feeder for double needle lockstitch, double layer tape feeder for 3 step zig-zag machines (Rimoldi & CF) will also be in demand.
Specialized workstations like hook and eye attach; buckle insertion in elastic tape (Hams, Japan) will also find in sports bra category along with traditional sewing machines will see increasing use of sew-free welding and bonding machines (Ardmel, Macpi, Schips, PFAFF, H&H).
Suits manufacturing requires vast variety of special sewing machines and automats. Single bindstitch and double blindstitch machines (Strobel, Maier, Duerkopp Adler) are a must. Variable top and bottom feed machines (Juki, Duerkopp, PFAFF, SunStar), zigzag machines, vertical edge trimmer lockstitch, double handstitch machine, tandem needle chainstitch machine, single needle chainstitch machine will be in great demand. In buttonholing and sewing category also there will be great variety of requirements like multiple slant buttonhole without cut, eyelet buttonhole with cut, button attach with thread shank, button wrapping machine (Loiva), etc. Automats like welt pocket making (Duerkopp, Juki, PFAFF, Typical), trouser panel serging (Duerkopp, Juki, PFAFF, Typical), post bed jacket sleeve mounting (Duerkopp, Juki, PFAFF, Typical), dart sewing (Duerkopp, Juki, PFAFF, Typical), and auto-jig sewing (Duerkopp, Juki, PFAFF, Typical, AMF Reece) will also find great demand.
Overhead material handling unit production system like ETON, INA, and Smart-MRT may find a great opportunity to add value to suit manufacturers.
Vietnam: Jackets, a core product in export basket
Core strengths
Working mostly (85%) on CMT, exports in apparel mainly consist of jackets, T-shirts, trousers and dress shirts. The total jacket export value in 2013, reached US $ 3.88 billion, increasing by 19.6% compared with the same period in the previous year and accounting for 21.6% of total export value of apparel. With impressive growth in 2013, T-shirts and trousers have growth rate of 23.7% and 25.8%, respectively over the same period.
Growth opportunity for the country includes its membership of Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement which also includes the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It is estimated that exports from Vietnam would increase approximately by US $ 12.5 billion if TPP is approved.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in demand
The newer players is going to embrace the basic technology while the seasoned players will move on to embrace advanced level of technology for scaling up and value addition in dress shirts, trousers and jackets. In basic level multi needle chainstitch (Kansai Special, Juki), auto-jig pattern sewer (Racing, AMF Reece, PFAFF), cuff and collar turning and blocking (Ngaishing) and pucker free gadgets will be in high demand.
Interestingly, ladies garments like dresses and blouses have shown growth over the last three years indicating fresh demand for the categories from international buyers, especially in the EU.
In advanced level, automats for back-yoke attach (Juki), breast pocket attach (PFAFF), buttonhole and button sew indexer (Brother, Zoje, Hikari and Weishi, Shakho), small parts creasing and folding (MAICA, Ngaishing) may see a surge in demand.
Overlockers with backlatch mechanism and flatlockers will remain the backbone of T-shirts manufacturing (CF Rimoldi). Large volume manufacturers may go for placket making (Uzu, Pegasus) sleeve hemming, sleeve closing and bottom hemming automats. Localized transfer printing, up steam table will also be in great demand.
Emerging categories
Interestingly, ladies garments like dresses and blouses have shown growth over the last three years indicating fresh demand for the categories from international buyers, especially in the EU. While exports of ladies blouses have grown 19.46% in 2013 over the previous year, the growth was 57.18% in 2014. Similarly, in dresses the growth registered in exports in 2013 was 3.96%, but in 2014 it increased to 17.33%. It is anticipated that the much awaited EU-Vietnam FTA, which will help reduce existing tariffs that EU imposes on Vietnam garment products from 11.6% to 0%, will specifically benefit five popular garment products for exports – male and female suits, male and female jackets, and knitwear.
In the US also ladies wear seems to be the emerging category with increase in exports being 40.23% in 2013 followed by double digit growth of 16.91% in 2014. In ladies dresses the growth in exports was 10.03% and 16.43% in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in demand
Use of polyester based lightweight fabrics for dresses and blouses will demand variable top and bottom feed lockstitch and overlock machines (Pegasus, Yamato, Siruba, Juki, Typical), puller feed (Racing) and various anti-puckering workaids.
Myanmar: An emerging manufacturing base ready to be moulded for any product…Woven products dominate
In 2007-08, garment exports brought in US $ 401 million; this has grown at a CAGR of 16.1% to US $ 845.9 million in 2011-12. At present, Myanmar’s garment manufacturing is dominated by woven products which account for more than 90% of the total manufacturing. There are approximately 400 garment manufacturing units, each with a varying number of machines. Most of these garment manufacturing units cater to the domestic market and have a vast scope for improvement on the efficiency, processes, quality and compliance front. Some suits manufacturing factories have been set up by Japanese and Korean companies that cater to markets in those countries. Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Turkey are the major garment export destinations, comprising about 85% of total garment exports.
Presently, Myanmar enjoys an LDC status with Japan, Laos, Bangladesh and Cambodia. This helps gain a tariff exemption of up to 10%. In September 2012, the EU placed Myanmar in its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
Some suit manufacturing factories have been set up by Japanese and Korean companies in myanmar that cater to markets in those countries. Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain, the UK and Turkey are major garment export destinations, comprising about 85% of total garment exports.
Presently, Myanmar enjoys an LDC status with Japan along with other export countries such as Laos, Bangladesh and Cambodia. This helps gain a tariff exemption of up to 10%. In September 2012, the EU placed Myanmar in its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), thereby granting duty- and quota-free access to the European market for clothing. The US though is also taking steps to ease its own import ban, but it is still a small importer of goods from the country.
Since the industry is at the evolution stage, skills and technology for almost any product can be developed. However, statistics indicate that the biggest growth drivers for the country today are trousers, men’s shirts and jackets. Other potential categories are lingerie and sweaters, both of which have shown consistent growth.
Over a period of three years export of trousers have increased consistently; while in the EU there was 6.02% growth in 2013 over the previous year, the growth in 2014 was an impressive 54.30%. In the US, which is a very new market for the country, the category saw over 800% growth in exports in 2014 over 2013, indicating the potential.
In men’s shirts, the EU registered 27.19% growth in imports of the category from Myanmar in 2013, while the increase in imports of the category was 56.81% in 2014. Similarly, in jackets Myanmar registered 25.17% growth in 2013 and 52.37% in 2014.
Machinery & Equipment that will be in demand
Being the most nascent market with cheapest labour wage, basic technology for men’s shirts, manufacturing will see surge in demand. Direct drive, dry head technology for lock and chainstitch (Juki, Typical) may be a surprise bet for this market to habituate the low skill workers with de-skilling technology.
Multi needle chainstitch (Kansai Special, Juki), auto-jig pattern sewer (Racing, AMF Reece, PFAFF), cuff and collar turning and blocking (Ngaishing) and pucker free gadgets will be in high demand.
Casual jackets will demand use of needle feed machines and various anti-puckering technology and Teflon presser foots.
