Fashion Design TechniquesBy

Apparel Resources which act as a bridge between 

the manufacturer and the retailer.

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E  D   I    T   O   R   I    A   L

Deepak Mohindra Editor-in-Chief

Read and comment on my blog athttp://stitchworldmagazine.blogspot.com

www.apparelresources.com JULY 2016 StitchWorld 7

The month of June has been like a roller coaster ride with some good news punctuatedin-between the events that are disturbing and reason for concern. But the best news first... Apparel Resources launched its flagship brand Apparel Online in Vietnam this month. It was a proud moment for the team and the warm response that the magazine received from the local industry, the textile and garment association and the Indian expat community in the country was an icing on the cake.

There are many Indian expatriates working in Vietnam garment industry, leading both buying offices and factories. The feedback I got from them only makes my resolve firmer to explore Vietnam and present it to the world as the next big sourcing hub of Asia.

The other news that makes me very happy is the appointment of Smriti Irani as the Union Textiles Minister of India. Coming very close on the heels of the ‘Special Package’ announced by the Union Cabinet for the apparel industry, I sincerely hope that the industry willfinally get its due recognition through a combination of firebrand leadership and timely policy interventions including some relaxations in labour laws that have been a long standing demand from the industry... However, I do hope that she is not diverted to look after UP politics.

The announcement indicates that finally two things have been clearly understood by the Government – the enormous capability of this sector to generate employment, and the other is that the apparel export sector is not to be clubbed together with handloom.

But among these reasons to rejoice, the exit of Britain from the EU is a matter of deep concern for many exporters as the Pound fell 15 per cent in just a few days riding on negative business sentiments. Exporters whose payments are yet to come will be hit hard, unless they had anticipated and hedged the risk in advance or negotiated payments in Euro…, which I doubt many have done!

‘Brexit’ also means that the negotiations with the EU for FTA will have to start afresh... Many also believe that with the UK out of the EU, the FTA would not be as impactful. Of the US$ 16-17 billion apparel exports from India, Europe accounts for 45 per cent, within which the UK holds the largest share of 40 per cent. For made-ups, the share of Europe is 20-25 per cent, of which the UK forms 15-20 per cent.

The most worrying development however has been the eruption of terrorist activities in neighbouring Bangladesh. After the terror attack on a cafe in the elite locality of Gulshan in Dhaka that left 20 hostages dead, most of whom were foreigners working in the country, put us all under shock... But the firing and blast at Eid prayers have left the country as well as its well-wishers numb. This will certainly put fear into everyone and buyers may start working with factories closer home or at safer destinations.

Is Bangladesh going the Pakistan way...? Will an industry that is roaring to grow be ‘killed’ by anti-human forces...? I hope not. I have always propagated that the Indian sub-continent is a thriving hub for garment sourcing with each country having its own strength making forone comprehensive region..., but if the terror attacks in Bangladesh are not nipped out soon, we could be getting into an era of business boycotts that would impact the whole region.

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Ethiopia & Myanmar

The sourcing options for apparel retailers have never been so diverse. Even as the fraternity makes peace with China’s mounting wages, the pace at which Bangladesh has developed and Vietnam is being developed is enthralling. The wage bomb is ticking anyway at these locations as well, and since the economy in both the countries is improving, the opportunities in other sectors will soon start weaning away the workforce from apparel factories to other emerging sectors. Simultaneously, Ethiopia and Myanmar have emerged as the next two hot and actively pursued manufacturing destinations.

Ethiopia is said to be a place where one cango for fibre to factory, and cheap plentifullabour at US $ 52 a month, inexpensivepower, and a Free Trade Agreement with US augment the country’s business case. Top it up with vast land ripe for cultivation of cotton which will serve as a source of raw material. The biggest challenges that remain however are the production inefficiencies and lack of a competent local sourcing network rather than the widespread perception of being a corrupt nation and not being as dexterous as Asians.Though the export is a mere US $ 60million at present, the companies that have

established their presence in Ethiopia are building capacities which will translate to exponential growth. Despite the fact that there is no comparison between Ethiopia and Myanmar, Ethiopia is considered the first choice destination to set up a factory.Myanmar, on the other hand, starts witha minimum wage which is lower than that of Bangladesh and thus wins over the buyers. Producing high-tech sportswear, shirts, and formal suits, Myanmarexports 75 per cent of its produce mainly to Japan and Korea as the US and EU withdrew the trade benefits when Myanmar was gripped by military regime. Thus, a country that has worked slowly

and steadily to build a sizable US $ 1.4billion export turnover for the last yearrelying significantly on these markets, is potentially an apparel manufacturingpowerhouse. If the ongoing talks with the EU and the US manifest in Myanmar’s favour, the status quo will be altered significantly for even higher export figures. The challenge that must not be ignored is the lacklustre banking infrastructure which restricts the loan sanctioing authorities of foreign banks in the country.

HubReview

The next‘powerhouse(s)’ of sourcing

Even as existing hubs become expensive, the sourcing options for buyers have never been so diverse

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explored the global opportunities agree that today Ethiopia is the place to be. The country is currently the No. 1 sourcing location, according to the apparel sourcing company Duty Free Sourcing Inc. Also the Indian entrepreneur Sidarth Sinha, the Founder and Owner of Vogue and Velocity Group, who is in processto create a ‘garment township’ in Ethiopia, believes that no other country can presently beat Ethiopia.

The principal arguments to move into Ethiopia are well known: the abundant availability (at least theoretically)of cotton and hydro-energy, the

free entrance of Ethiopian textile products to the US-market under AGOA and to the EU-market under the Everything But Arms system, the strong engagement of the Ethiopian Government as formulated in the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (2015-16 to 2019-20) and demonstrated by the establishment of the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI) and the industrial area Bole Lemi, both in Addis Ababa, and of course the very competitive labour cost.The low Ethiopian labour cost (average monthly wages for operators

reportedly vary from US $ 45 to 60/ month) are, however, significantly offset by low labour productivity and high personnel rotation. The extension of AGOA for 10 years, in June 2015, was of course of crucial importanceas well for foreign textile and garment manufacturing groups as for American buyers to bet on Ethiopia for the long-term.

Ethiopia is one of the few countries which is utilizing the duty-free and quota-free export benefits under AGOA to the fullest, and where95 per cent of the garment imports are open to the ‘third country’ fabric

FACTORS WORKING IN FAVOUR OF ETHIOPIA

Cheap Labour & Educated Workforce: Abundant availability of labour at US $ 45 per month for a skilled labour as well as significant number of educated youth for mid-management positions, which presents an ideal opportunity for labour-intensive garment manufacturing.

Bulk interest rate: The minimum capital required for a foreign investment is US $ 200,000 per project; the same is US $ 150,000 per project if the project is in partnership with domestic investor. Up to 70 per cent of the total project cost maybe funded by banks @ 8.5 per cent interest rate and balance is expected to be invested by the investor.

Customs Benefits:100 per cent exemption from the payment of

customs duties and other taxes levied on imports of all capital goods.

Exemption from the payment of customs duties on import of spare parts worth up to 15 per cent of the total value of the imported investment capital goods, provided that the goods are also exempted from the custom duty.

Investor granted with a customs duty exemption allowed

importing spare parts duty-free for five years from the date of commissioning of a project.

Investor can also buy capital goods or construction materials tax free from local manufacturing industries.

Investment in capital goods imported without the payment of custom duties and other taxes can be transferred to another investor enjoying similar privileges.

Income Tax Exemptions:All investments in textiles and textile products

sector are exempted from income tax for a period of 6 years depending on the geographical region of the setup.

Investment in designated regions attracts special exemptionof 30 per cent in income tax for three consecutive years even after the expiry of the income tax exemption.

Income tax exemption of 50 per cent is also given in case of factory expansion in volume or adding new product or introducing a new service provided that it is 100 per cent of an existing enterprise.

Investor, who exports 60 per cent of his products, or services,

or supplies to an exporter, is exempted from income tax for additional 2 years.

Export Incentives:No export tax is levied on textile and garment

export products of Ethiopia.To safeguard domestic textiles industry,

Government has imposed 35 per cent duties on imported fabric used for domestic consumption.

Duty drawback schemes offer 100 per cent exemption (drawn back at the time of exports) from the payment of customs duties and other taxes levied on imported andlocally purchased raw materials used in the production of export goods.

Provisions for Bonded Warehouses whereby exporters are licensed to operate such warehouses in importing of raw materials duty-free.

Exporters who don’t enjoy facility of bonded warehouse are given vouchers with monetary values. Such vouchers can be used in lieu of duties and taxes payable on imported raw materials.

Hub Review

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HubReview

Addis Ababa (16)

Bishoftu (1)

Oromia (1)

Ethiopia

WeaknessesBeing landlocked, the country is

dependent on its neighbouring country Djibouti for its sea imports and exports

Missing raw material suppliersLack of technical knowhow might

limit the expansions and productivity

BRIEF CASE: ETHIOPIAStrengthsAbundant availability (at least theoretically)

of cotton and hydro-energyFree entrance of Ethiopian textile products

to the US market under AGOA and to the EU market under the Everything But Arms System

Competitive labour costEfforts being made by regional

Governments to expedite foreign investments

Areas with major presence of apparel manufacturers (figures in brackets indicate the number of factories in that region)Source: Data extracted from Ethiopian Textile and Garment Manufacturers Association

rule of origin, which allows garment manufacturers to utilize raw materials from any origin for export purpose. In addition to this, preferential tariff rates have provided Ethiopia the freedom to export to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreement, indicating that majorityof ‘Made in Ethiopia’ products are eligible to enter into these markets which are quota- and duty-free.Besides, availability of land on a leasehold basis of up to 99 years depending on the geographical region, type of investment and class of land, is also aiding the country’s growth in the apparel sector. In order to expedite foreign investments, regional Governments are putting

efforts and are able to allocate land to investors within 60 days of receiving their applications.

Mostly Asian investmentsIn October 2015, the Indorama Group, the world's largest integrated manufacturer of polyester, was said to be discussing with the Ethiopian Government the setting up of a polyester plant in the country. This rumour has not yet been confirmed.In March 2015, the Indian denim giant Arvind started manufacturing denim bottoms, 12,000 pcs/day in the textile industrial zone of Bole Lemi (nearthe airport of Addis Ababa). Exports

were initially destined to the US, but at the end of 2015 negotiations were underway with potential European customers like H&M and

Benetton. Besides, Arvind was said to be working on an integrated supply chain in Ethiopia, starting from cotton cultivation to spinning and weaving.However, beating Arvind to the pole, Kanoria Africa Textiles, a subsidiary of the Indian group Kanoria Chemicals & Industries, on 24 October 2015 inaugurated a brand new denim fabric factory – the first in Ethiopia – with an annual capacity of 12 millionmetres in Bishoftu, 37 kms from Addis. The factory, started with less than500 workers, has plans to extend activities to jeans manufacturing.

Kanoria will ultimately employ some 2,000 people in Ethiopia. According to Ethiopian media, India’s Raymond Ltd., the world’s largest integrated manufacturer of worsted fabric, has concluded an agreement with the Ethiopian Investment Commission to invest US $ 100 million in Ethiopia. The East African country hopes that Raymond’s engagement in Ethiopia will attract other investors.The vertically integrated Taiwanese group New Wide Garments, which is already employing more than 1,000 people in a knitwear factory in Addis, plans to ultimately employ 5,000 people in three factories in Ethiopia. The Dubai-based Atraco Group started

manufacturing woven and knitted clothing in the Bole Lemi Industrial Park in Addis in October 2014. In the course of 2016, employment isplanned to increase from 400 to more than 2,500 workers. Also Shin Textile Solutions of South Korea movedinto the factory park at Bole Lemi in October 2014, with the intention to gradually employ 3,000 people.Foundation Garment Pvt. Ltd. (Jinadasa Group), from Sri Lanka, is currently investing in Kenya where it will reportedly put 6,600 workers on the payroll (3,600 in Nairobi and 3,000 in Mombasa). However, it also has firm intention to invest in Ethiopia, where a factory employing 3,000 workers is scheduled to start in January 2018.The Ethiopian factory should produce1.75 million pieces of clothing per month, for companies like H&M, PVH and Victoria’s Secret. The Turkish garment manufacturer Ayka has also set up a branch in Ethiopia, in which it has invested US $ 160 million. It employs around 7,000 people and plans to scale up to 10,000.Several important investments are taking place in Mekele, in thenorth of Ethiopia. This is the case for investments by DBL and Velocity, among others. DBL Group, from Bangladesh, a vertically integrated knit garments manufacturer and exporter, is investing some US $ 100 million in a factory (garments, knitting, dyeing) in Mekele. The factory should be operational in the second half of 2016. Initial employment is estimated at 5,000-6,000 workers. Among DBL’s customers are H&M, Esprit, Puma,and Walmart.The most ambitious investment project in Mekele is that of the Indian entrepreneur Sidarth Singa. His company Velocity intends to keep its existing five factories in Egypt at work, with around 4,000 employees, but it will expand forcefully in Ethiopia. A new garment factory in Mekele with 3,000 workers will mainly manufacture knits and denim articles. Velocity plans to ultimately employ some 10,000 people in Ethiopia. Customers of Velocity are brands like Levi's, Vanity Fair, Target, Zara, and H&M.

The low Ethiopian labour cost (average monthly wages for operators reportedly vary from US $ 45 to 60/month) is, however, significantly offset by low labour productivity and high personnel rotation

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Rahman Hasibur, MD, Solstice (a US $ 70 million Dhaka-based apparel export house), is championing a radical shift in the problem solving paradigms. The framework proposed by him derives from the ‘Design Thinking’ ideology by David Kelley – a Stanford University Design Post Graduate, and Tom Kelley – a Management Post Graduate from Universityof California, Berkeley. The essence of Design Thinking is extremely simple – when you commence your journey, you should keep every odd in mind, and based on that you should be prepared for every eventuality. One segment Rahman is targeting is training, which he believes is more about repetition than skills... Exclusively for StitchWorld, Rahman discusses his training methodology, which aims to de-stress workers in apparel manufacturing…

Science of Apparel Manufacturing: Design Thinking

The success of training In a garment industry, lies in the methodology.most training schedules have a very short span – of one day, so it is important to make a lasting impact through proper methodology. In the course ofresearch, it was found that religion is very powerful in teaching a certain perception and the only thing which has made religionso powerful today is repetition. You say the same thing so many times that you start believing it. In industrial behaviour, it would imply observation, imitation and repetition.In garment manufacturing, nobody is doing a new thing everyday, yet whenever we go to the shopfloor we see work piling up and operators continuously shunting around. Humans by nature are divergent, and no human being is the same. The objective of education is to put them in a convergent situation.

Role of the education is to bring in conformity, so that all of them can do the same thing. In the industrial production environment, conformity is the key, but with shifting thought processes, brought on byoverdrive of knowledge, getting conformity is a challenge. Every day, labour is exposed to new beliefs, changes and thinking. In such case, if there is no correct methodology to keep them in the workplace, or motivate them correctly to work in the garment industry, then it will be very difficult for Bangladesh to retain the low-cost environment that it thrives on.Also migration and worker attrition rate is very high in Bangladesh and India. Even after almost 36 years, since Bangladesh got into garment manufacturing, you will not find any elder person in the system. They move out very fast, as the work is at the cost of their lives. It is very difficult to putRahman Hasibur, MD, Solstice

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your attention at the needle for 8 hours a day, it is very stressful. Women always feel giddy. They have childrento feed, malnutrition and a lot of social issues. They cannot sleep properly atnight and there is no proper environment for dwelling. There are so many things that are not taken care of. On the other hand, they are bound to do this arduous work for survival. There is lot of pressure to perform. Not many realize that there are many ways and processes toease their efforts. This can be done by simply shifting their mindset or providing them with proper set of knowledge tools. Then they will be happy to work and also give you the best stress-free productivity.

Changing the worker’s mindset to enjoy the work they unanimously find stressful...Most of the workers in our industry are uneducated and if you give them a set of lectures and sheets to fill up and practice, they won’t do it. There is only one single methodology that can work for them...: teaching them to do the work rightly. They are only doing one task –stitching, and they are taking it as a marathon, which isnot the case; it is a series of sprints. So you only stitch one single perforation at a time and this is the change

in mindset that’s what they need to have. The philosophy is simple, stitching involves one single needle and it never shifts, and it is onlythe way of handling which is shifting. If you have a set of guides, even if you try, you will not be able to push the fabric in any other way.Even when turning the fabric in a circular dimension, the operator need not care about the circular motion, because the machine has the guideto stop the edges and the needle is routinely piercing right after one centimetre and this is one single process. The operator is stitching dot by dot and only adding dots per inches, nothing more. So even if stitching an armhole, he/she is attaching 100 stitches – one after another. So this is basically like a process of making a garland, one flower added oneafter the other without any change in action. We are not giving them this silly lesson. Everybody is asking them to hit the target and stitch as a whole process, putting strain on them.

Breaking down the process into small fragments…In our society, we have a wrong way of judging things. We say ‘practice makes a man perfect’. I don’t buy that... perfect practice brings in perfection, but we have never taught them the way of doing things correctly,

how work is broken down to elements to make it easier. We are always teaching them the wrong way. There is no ‘correct book’ or ‘master’to teach them this work. My job is for a day only and the process they gothrough is focused on – ‘how to go through one single perforation correctly’ and rest they will be able to do by themselves. I also introduce workaids, if needed. The basic thing is knowledge to understand the ‘kinesthetic’ between left hand, right hand and right leg. They are not given a proper training for such things and thus it becomes stressful for them. Whenever a good driver is driving his car, he is driving it effortlessly. But, car driving is stressful if you do not know your controls properly.Every factory owner feels they have a different solution; however, it is not so. Every worker will have the same solution because the process is same. At the end of the day, it is stitching and everybody is performing the same thing. As mentioned before, no needles are shifting; it is only the fabric which is shifting and done by an operator with the help of his two hands. So they have to know how touse their hands. We are trying to teach them how to see carefully and in a proper way so that they need not put a lot of stress. Garment workers are always concentrating at the needle, as such putting huge stress on their eyes.

Religion is very powerful in teaching certain perceptions and the foremost is the value driven from repetitions,doing the same thing over and over again.In industrial behaviour, it would imply observation, imitation and repetition..., an ideal tool to teach sewing operation.

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Contrary to a popular belief, it is not your brain or any limb of your body, but the human eye which ‘eats up’ the maximum energy of your body, around 20%. Human eyes can process 57 GB of data in one second. A critical question to ask is when the workers go back home, are they really replenishing the food they need for their eyes? No...! Because they do not know that it is their eyes which need replenishment.Everyday, their visual cortex is being sapped; on the top of it, malnutrition is a major concern today. So if you need to improve the garment worker’s health, serve him food which helps him deal with eye strain. You have to give them some ‘brain food’.I don’t think people are aware of this, or are thinking in this

Contrary to a popular belief, it is not your brain or any limb of your body, but the human eye which 'eats up' the maximum energy of your body, around 20%. Human eyes can process 57 GB of data in one second. A critical question to ask is when the workers go back home, are they really replenishing the food they need for their eyes?

on what food they should eat and how to lead a better life. That is all part of a one-day training schedule... Nobody is going to give you 3 days’ time... Nobody is caring about the amount of energythey are putting in, and at the end of the day this is energy business. The human system is all about energy. You are taking their energy, building the nation, talking bigthings, but not caring for our people..., which is sad.

Start slow to build perfection and speed...To de-stress the job, we advocate the sequence of Observation, Imitation and Repetition. In the eraof ‘pace’, the ‘Observation’ and ‘Imitation’ portionis foregone for speedy

‘Repetition’, which has a neurological cost. Theoperators only know that they need to work faster and faster. But one must start slow in order to be a fast processor – just aswhen one learns to drive a car. When operators start slow, they must observe and imitate the process and handling methodology, slowly, and then repeat.With the accurate imitation, the operators will now be in a position to practice the perfect material handling.The repetition will take the excellence to the next level, because there isa neurological angle to it. Neural connectivity is popularly explained withthe phrase – neurons that fire together, wire together. Each neuron is connected to the other through electrical conductivity between these dendrites, which are the nerve endings. Every time a certain action is repeated, the connection between the two neurons grows thicker. This thickening facilitates faster conduction between neurons upon more repetition. Soon electricity passes through the neurons so rapidly that the process/action is picked up autonomously by limbs. So you have to have your neurons fired together.Instead, right at the beginning the operators are pushed for speed and thus they are unable to actually

Every factory feels they have a different solution, however it is not so. At the end of the day, everybody is performing the same thing

way. Your eyes are always in action, they are giving you directions. Every calculation that you are making is with the help of your eyes. You are not giving any breakto your eyes… In China, they teach children how to massage their eyes. There are six steps to eye massage, but in our system nobody knows that there is such a thing called ‘eye massage’and that the garment workers should compulsorily have this activity after every 2-3 hours to de-stress themselves.We have a research library where we are creating these modules with the help of animators. We are making visual presentations. We just show them a 15-minute video on how they have to do these things. And afterwards we will give them a little speech

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