January, 16-31, 2016

Buyers are upbeat for the year 2016 as our Team AOdiscovered when talking to various buyers working in different markets and products. Though the year gone by was a challenging one for the industry but overall the picture has been positive for the apparel segment, while the textile segment has not been so upbeat. A report (in August 2015) by credit rating agency ICRA predicts that India’s apparel exports are likely to increase to US $ 20 billion in 2016, up from US $ 18 billion currently. Our H2F section gives space to ‘women power’… as Apparel Online talked to a few women entrepreneurs who are running some of the leading home furnishing export businesses in the country independently or are fully involved in the same, and the bottom-line is that be it small- or medium-level export house, or a huge setup, these passionate women are happy with their overall working as well as whatever they have achieved… Fashion quilting is back in business, as the trend has peaked again with the recent Pre-Fall 2016 runways, emerging in varied designs and depths to suit all styles in every product category. Our ‘Value Addition’ segment covers the story in detail… Besides the above, our regular columns of Mind Tree, Fashion Trends, Industry Wire, Resource Centre, Export Statistics, etc. make the issue worth reading.