Separating garments from textile

There has been strong contention between the value-added segment of ready-made garments and their suppliers lower down the value chain. The weaving and spinning sectors have been able to have policies that benefit the mostly large scale manufacturing units (LMUs), much to the detriment of small and medium enterprises operating in the garments industry.

Most of the garment sector players BR Research have spoken to have called for separating garments and textiles since the issues faced by both are different. This was also confirmed at the policy talk held by the Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR) on spurring growth in garments manufacturing.
According to Sajid Saleem, CEO of Delta Garments Limited, there is a dearth of quality fabric in the local market where the weaving and spinning sectors have been only been able to supply cotton based fabric. At the same time global preferences have shifted towards garments made of man-made fibre apparel.

Talking about the innovations achieved globally in fabric production, Sajid highlighted the intensely competitive global garments industry where cotton products fetch paltry margins. The preference has shifted towards synthetic apparel globally. Currently, oil-based synthetic fibers have the lion’s share of 60 Percent of the world fibre market whereas cotton’s share is about 25 percent.

Taking the US as an example the share of manmade fibres as a percentage of US apparel imports increased from 36 percent in 2006 to 54 percent in 2016. Companies like Adidas are using fourth-generation fabrics using innovative digital weaving processes. These allow garments with enhanced strength and stretchiness to be manufactured.

However, in Pakistan garment manufacturers have had limited options due to the dominance of cotton-based fabrics. The majority of participants including economists, industry stakeholders and academics advocated the need to ease imports of synthetic fibers so that garment manufacturing can become internationally competitive.’

Being responsible for the end consumer product, readymade-garments manufacturers have the onus of keeping in touch with global fashion preferences. In order to claim being the choice supplier of international brands, they can only vie for market share if they can produce garments according to the ever-evolving world of haute couture.

Sajid emphasised the time bound nature of the garment industry where new choice of fabrics and trends necessitates a reliable means of procuring man-mad fibers.

However, most manufacturers have complained to this column of the difficult procedures and time delays that still continue to cripple moving to global standard readymade garments. Given the highest value addition segment, the government would do well to facilitate garment exporters.