StitchWorld Editorial Issue February 2019

ASW is launched to give impetus to our journey as industry’s knowledge partner

Did you notice the change from the usual routine... We have for the first-time ever in the history of the magazine put on the front cover our sourcing show – Apparel Sourcing Week 2019. This highlights our thrust as a group, which understands the apparel industry and its intricate details comprehensively to give qualitative, industry-focused shows to India...

From our years of interaction and involvement with the global apparel and retail industry, we are well aware that it’s not just about manufacturing at a certain price, offering good quality or timely delivery but also about the marketing and product that make the merchandise sell and become the preferred choice for buyers... Apparel Sourcing Week is a boutique show that will provide a platform for such products.

We aim to fill in the requisite gaps and become the much needed bridge to bring Asian manufacturing under one roof for Asian markets along with the traditional markets, besides, allowing companies to interact and discuss business in an atmosphere that is charged and engaging.

No, we have not lost our focus to be the knowledge partner to the industry! In fact the focus is now even stronger and ASW is the first in the series of our planned shows. You can see everything related to ASW at www.apparelsourcingweek.com

With time, you will see many more shows coming up which will be niche and focused and targeted to specific group of people within the industry,based on the inherent understanding and needs of the segment. And technology can never be behind when talking of industry’s directions. In this issue, Team StitchWorld takes a closer look at today’s trend of how apparel businesses are working and being driven by technology trends like Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Beacon technology and a lot more.

Significantly, retailers have been making substantial investment in these technologies to be able to provide a seamless experience to their customers and manage business like never before. The first part of the article –‘Technology trends driving seamless retail’ – will take its readers through 15 retail technologies available in the market that are driving the current retail trend. The second part of the series covering the next set of 15 more such technologies will be included in the upcoming issue of StitchWorld.

The current issue also captures details on the recently concluded technology fairs – DTG and Garmentech – held in Dhaka and the interesting technologies that were there on display. The momentum towards technology in Bangladesh is indeed noteworthy and an inspiration for all manufacturing nations, including India.

StitchWorld Editorial Issue December 2018

Apparel Sourcing Week 2019 – The new initiative from Apparel Resources

Apparel Resources, the publisher of StitchWorld and Apparel Online, has always explored ways to communicate with the industry, be it through in-depth articles in the magazines, workshops and seminars or through industry forums. Now the time has come to take another leap, and it gives me great pride to announce our latest initiative from Apparel Resources – the Apparel Sourcing Week 2019.

The concept is a first-of-its-kind platform to bring together the manufacturing excellence of countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sri Lanka to India for the upward moving Indian retail market.

The growth of fashion in Indian retail is a story of multi-dimensional opportunities, and not only the traditional strongholds of retail, the metropolitan cities are seeing exponential growth in this domain, but also the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are showing affinity to branded clothing, resulting in the creation of a whole new market segment of people.

As of today, the Indian fashion retail is worth US $ 49 billion and is projected to reach US $ 75 billion by 2025. The market is being driven by a strength of 1.2 billion people of an average age of 29, having the purchasing power that makes for a robust economy that is projected to became the fourth largest economy in the world very soon and a potential market for manufacturing nations.

On one hand, this expanding market of people who have the purchasing power to indulge in fashion is pushing demand for regular basic garments, due to which one can see and also anticipate growth in categories like trousers, denim jeans, shirts and T-shirts.

What will see equal, if not bigger splurge in demand, are the products in the newer categories that cater specifically to the needs of the upward mobile millennials, like jackets, innerwear/intimatewear, athleisure, activewear/sportswear. Manufacturers will need to get their act together to be competitive and partner with retailers/brands from Indian retail and international players.

If global names like Zara, H&M, Mango, Guess, United Colors of Benetton, GAP, forever21, Levi’s, adidas, Nike, etc., have already made their presence felt, at least 100 more brands/ retailers are set to make their foray in this market in the next couple of years to cash in on the big opportunity. Alongside the global biggies coming up strongly, are the home-grown stalwarts, adding to the new-found market’s vibrancy and escalation.

The Apparel Sourcing Week ’19 will be held in the IT hub of India, Bengaluru, which also happens to be the nerve centre of Indian retail. Over time, Bengaluru has become the testing ground for all major retailers. Apart from its diverse demographic, retail executives say the city has a large white-collar workforce and tech-savvy consumers open to new ideas.The fact that Bengaluru is India’s tech and start-up hub, makes it easier to hire tech talent.

Excitement for the event is building up with retailers upbeat on the opportunity to see a unique and wide mix of manufacturers from Bangladesh, Vietnam and China with their equally diverse product portfolios under a single roof which is sure to make sourcing more exciting and dynamic.