'Recent Trends in Utilization of Fiber, Yarn, Fabrics and Computer Technology in Fashion Designing and Management'

'Recent Trends in Utilization of Fiber, Yarn, Fabrics and Computer Technology in Fashion Designing and Management'

Recent trends in fiber, yarn and fabric management in Textile-Apparel-Distribution network require a very accurate estimation of consumption pattern and sourcing management to minimize their costs and satisfy their customers. For such strategy, fashion designers rely more on fashion forecasting system to respond to the versatile textile market. However, the specific constraints of the textile consumption and sales (numerous and new items, short lifetime) complicate the forecasting procedure and distributors prefer to use intuitive estimation methods of the sales rather than the existing forecasting models.

In this paper we firstly discuss the different aspects used for improving the accuracy of fashion product development and forecasting process, use of computer technology in management of fiber, yarn and fabrics for estimation of their consumption. We also demonstrate a decision aid system, based on neural networks, which automatically performs item sales forecasting of textile items with two models being demonstrated for silk fabric consumption and cotton-textiles fabric consumption. Performances of our model are evaluated using real data released by authorized agencies. Network forecasted results show excellent correlation with real data emphasizing the its advantages over traditionally, statistical time series methods like moving average, auto-regression or combinations of them used for forecasting apparel and fashion product sales.
Keywords: Fashion forecasting, 2-D and 3-D cad system, Neural Network forecasting model, time series, Texture mapping.

Introduction
Introducing new products of Apparels made from different variations of fibers, yarns and fabrics can provide a competitive advantage as well as a long-term financial return on investment. New product development is thus vitally linked to a company's competitive strategy and consequently to the new product sales forecasting of apparels and textiles that provides quantitative information on the expected return from development efforts. Sales forecasting of apparels and textiles attempts to decrease uncertainty, providing input for the decisions made about introducing of new products and offering feedback for the new product development process. The significant correlation between new product development and new product sales forecasts makes new product forecasting extremely important.

Traditionally, statistical time series methods like moving average, auto-regression or combinations of them are used for forecasting fashion trends and sales of fashion products. Since these models predict future sales only on the basis of previous sales, they fail in environments where sales are heavily influenced by exogenous variables, such as economic conditions, climatic conditions, competitive activities, advertising and several factors. Although traditional statistical models characterize the above mentioned factors, they are essentially linear in nature and don't characterize the nonlinear nature of apparel sales and analyse fibre, yarn, fabric consumption trends.

Fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks coupled with latest applications of computer technology for fashion design and management and genetic algorithms(Gas) offer an alternative approach by taking into account both endogenous and exogenous variables and allowing arbitrary non-linear approximation functions derived(learned directly from the previous data).

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

In the obscure town of Bethlehem in the desolate province of Judea in the great empire of Rome, a baby was born in about 4 B.C. to a young woman named Mary and her fiance, Joseph. The child's mother, Mary was a young virgin who had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Joseph was a carpenter and a man of great integrity. When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant prior to their marriage, he decided quietly to break the engagement. In a dream he was told by an angel that the child was from God and that he should proceed with the marriage. IncarnationMary's baby was born at night in the stable. Mary and Joseph named him Jesus.

There was no cradle for him, so they wrapped him in strips of cloth and he slept in a manger. Though there is controversy on the real date of Jesus birth, but world over people celebrate Jesus's birthday on 25th December every year. The night when Jesus was born, some shepherds were looking after their sheep on the hills when suddenly an angel appeared.

The shepherds were terrified, but the angel said, "I bring good news. God's Savior has been born tonight. You will find the baby lying in a manger". Soon the shepherds arrived at the stable in Bethlehem - Jesus birth place, to see the baby and told Mary and Joseph about the angel's message. She knew this was a very special baby. The Wise MenAfter the birth of Christ some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking the place where the newborn king of the Jews has arrived. They have seen the star as it arose, and had come to worship him. These men were probably astronomers from Mesopotamia.

The "star" they followed may have been a comet or a supernova. Gold, Frankincense, And MyrrhThe gifts the wise men, or Magi, brought to Jesus were of such value in the ancient world that a poor family would have considered them treasures. Gold, of course, continues to be a consistently valuable commodity.

The practical use of myrrh and frankincense, processed from aromatic plants are used to make perfumes, incense, and other scented products. Frankincense was sometimes used for religious ceremonies and myrrh for funerals, so some have seen symbolic meanings in the gifts.

Textile Fibres

Food, shelter and clothing are the basic needs of everyone. All clothing is made from Textiles and our shelters are made more comfortable and attractive by the use of textiles. Textiles have such an important bearing on our daily lives that everyone needs to know something about them. From earliest times, people have used textiles of various types for covering or modesty, warmth, personal adornment, to display personal wealth and even for biomedical and technical purposes.
A study of textiles will show, for example why certain fabrics are more durable and serviceable for specific purposes. Complete knowledge of textiles will facilitate an intelligent appraisal of standards and different qualities of textile products.

The word "textiles" comes from the Latin term textere, "woven". Today the word textile is more generalized to refer to product made from fibres.

A "fibre" is defined as any product capable of being woven or otherwise made into a fabric. It may be thought of as the smallest visible unit of textile production 'or' a fibre can be defined as a pliable hair like strand that is very small in diameter in relation to its length. Fibres are the fundamental units or the building blocks used in the making of textile yarns and fabrics.
Where as "yarns" are produced by twisting or spinning of the textile fibres and in turn a fabric is a planar structure produced by interlacing or interloping of yarns.

The textile industry uses many fibres as its raw materials. As a result of the development of new fibres, difficulties arise in textile industry in terms of identification, classification. Hence, classification of textile fibres was compounded by the trained manufactures to identify each of the fibres with the different trademarks. Textile fibres are classified according to the source and the length of the fibres.

Fabric used in EDEN totes

Fabric used in EDEN totes

EDEN is one U.S. company striving to reduce the number of plastic bottles tossed in our landfills. Just launched in November, each of their tote bags uses recycled plastic bottle fabric produced here in the U.S. Eco-fi is a high-quality polyester fiber made from post –consumer recycled plastic bottles. EDEN’s Mission: Act Today. Impact Tomorrow. TM They trust action today will impact our environment tomorrow. Every ten minutes in the U.S., two million plastic bottles are used. Scientists have shown it will take 700 years before these plastic containers start to decompose.

EDEN committed to using the USA recycled plastic bottle fabric in their bags.The American-made fabric used in EDEN totes starts as plastic PET containers saved after use and routed to community recycling centers. These bottles are then sorted by color and type and stripped of their labels and caps. Next, the bottles are washed, crushed, and chopped into small flakes. This flake is melted and forced through a nozzle similar to a shower head to create the fiber.

The fiber is crimped to add body and stretched for strength. This yarn is then ready to be processed into fabric for a wide array of uses. “We’re introducing this line of tote bags for two reasons,” states Jan Verploeg Petsch, founder of EDEN bags. “Our primary goal was to impact our environment by using recycled fabric. Our next desire was to help our economy by using U.S. labor and materials.” EDEN bags are the only American-made bags of their type based completely on the use of USA recycled PET plastic.

Petsch found when searching for U.S. textile mills that many had closed their doors, unable to compete any longer with imported goods. This strengthened the company’s desire to use domestic fabrics. Not only is the Eco-fi fabric produced here in the U.S., but the cotton prints used are created here as well. The bags are manufactured in Michigan. “We could have reduced our production costs substantially if we had gone overseas, but then we’d be part of our country’s problem. We committed to investing into our own labor force,” states Petsch. Unlike many of the tote bags currently on the market, the EDEN tote bags are large and roomy, with the ability to hold up to 7 two-liter bottles or the equivalent of three standard plastic bags.

The totes roll up and secure for easy storage and are lightweight enough to carry in a handbag or backpack. Each bag states the number of plastic bottles recycled to create the fabric used in the tote. The names of the EDEN bags conjure up feelings of playful beauty such as Tango and Box Step in the Rhythm collection or Onyx Moon and Midnight Topiary in the Black and White Nights collection. The impact of EDEN goes further than our environment and supporting our economy.

The company has committed to donating a portion of their profits to “Feeding America's Hungry Children”, a charity that distributes food and grocery products to over 100 charitable hunger relief agencies. EDEN bags use U.S. recycled plastic bottle fabric, along with USA cotton prints to create colorful and eco-friendly totes. These totes collapse, fold and roll making it possible to always have one at hand ready for any use.

Cotton prices threaten global economy

Cotton prices threaten global economy

Cotton is quickly getting added up to the list of scarce commodities. Cotton is the basic raw material for many value added products in the textile sector. The recent past has seen a drastic increase in the prices of raw cotton. International cotton scenario witnessed an upturn during the past few months. Due to this unprecedented hike in cotton prices, farmers have suffered huge losses, which resulted in a lower acreage of cotton. While US continues to move higher in a steady manner, local markets in China, Pakistan, and India prices exploded and traders are trying to cover short positions.

Mr. A. Sakthivel, President, FIEO/TEA proposes the Indian Government to strike a balance between the volume of raw cotton to be exported, and availability of the same to fabric, and garment exporters. The Government may consider allowing 50 lakh bales for exports in a year with monthly ceiling of 4 lakh bales so that raw cotton exporters ensure regular export supply to maintain their markets and simultaneously ensuring adequate supply of raw cotton at reasonable price to end user domestic industry. He speculates a further increase in the prices of cotton as the exporters have purchased nearly 20 lakh bales of cotton.

Textile exports of Pakistan saw a remarkable improvement due to the shipments of raw cotton and cotton yarn.
However, these products have become a matter of concern for the value-added textile products due to elevated prices of these items. In the Chinese market, future contracts for May 2010 surged by RMB 210 per ton to RMB 15,620 per ton. According to cotton experts of China, cotton crop in the country is expected to reduce by 10 % during the current year, which is approximately 7 million ton less. Despite releasing 500,000 tons of cotton from its state reserves, the dragon nation was not able to suppress the bullish price rally in the cotton markets

Farmers from Bangladesh expect good results for their cotton crop with new varieties introduced in this season.Rupali HSC and Lalteer cotton varieties, which are less susceptible to pests, have the capacity to produce two times more volume of cotton than the CB-9 and CB-10 varieties. These varieties can produce maximum 7 tons per hectare, or 7 to 8 maunds per bigha, while high-yield Rupali HSC and Lalteer varieties can produce 18 to 20 maunds. Bangladeshi farmers are optimistic about an increase in price between Tk 2,200 and Tk 2,400 per maund, this year, which is comparatively higher than the Tk 1,800 to Tk 2,000 per maund of the previous years. They are expecting to generate a profit of Tk 15,000 per bigha, during current season.

In Zimbabwe, soaring prices of cotton lint and high duty imposed on imported raw materials and other inputs have caused many textile companies to collapse. This poses a threat of massive job losses and a failure in tapping the export market.

Color for Beauty

Color for Beauty

Black is a color that is often misunderstood. It is even defined as an absence of color. Both positive and negative, it is used for expressing grief, and by youngsters as rebellion. It might appear a little skeptical to think that black is an all time favorite color.

But be it a punk, classy, preppy or chic style; black is the color that will make one stand out in a crowd. It is a dark color that absorbs more light, and makes the wearer look even hotter. A silent and concealing shade, black is a mixture of many other colors.

Black is a timeless color and is regarded as the most stylish hue in the world of fashion. A dramatic black outfit gives a thinner appearance to the wearer and is mostly a preferred choice of creative people. In the commercial society, black is considered as a hue representing power and authority.

With regards to formal wear, no color is acceptable as black. This hue is considered as the most elegant choice. This silent, and dictating shade s flattering to all skin tones and body types and gives an elegant look.

Clothing

Clothing

In the beginning, clothing was used for covering the body. But with the span of time, it was also expected to fulfill other functional aspects. As the expectations regarding clothing underwent a transformation, manufacturers came up with innovative solutions to attract the consumers. Clothes with special functions known as performance apparels made their debut in the apparel sector. Today, performance apparel is one of the fastest growing segments in the global clothing area. Growth of the industry is fuelled by the technological advancements, and introduction of new fibers, and processes.

Growth Drivers:
Market for performance apparels is getting a consistent boost by the rapid changes in the lifestyle of the people. Increase in the amount of disposable income, more individual families, and duel income in majority of the households have attributed to the growth of the market. As per the current trends, people have the tendency to spend more money on leisure activities. New fabrics are being developed for sporting activities which is also a reason for the reason for the growth of the industry.

Performance Apparel as a Sports wear:
Market for performance apparel as a sportswear has seen a perceptible shift with a growth rate of 19.4% over the last four years. Current market is estimated to be around $6.40 billion USD, and is further anticipated positively to grow and reach 7.6 billion USD by 2014. More and more people involve in sporting activities such as cycling, hiking, swimming, mountaineering, athletics, and aerobics etc. The aerodynamic nature of these sporting activities requires garments with flexible nature.

Market for sportswear will experience a positive growth more for men comparatively over women's apparels. Much of the growth will be seen in EU, East Asia, and North America. Inner wear, weather resistant, and fleece products will outshine other apparel categories in this segment.

Textile exports witness recovery on raw cotton and yarn export

Textile exports witness recovery on raw cotton and yarn export

Textile export witnessed some recovery after a long time in October when its export increased by 19.42 percent over the same month of last year.This recovery was also seen in the export of textile goods during the month of October over the preceding month of September with the growth of 11.33 percent, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) reported on Thursday.This improvement in the textile export also impacted the first four months’ export figures positively with the marginal fall of 4.72 percent in its overall export over the corresponding months of last year.

The recovery in textile export was mainly attributed to major export of raw cotton and cotton yarn during these months that has now days become a major source of concern for the value-added textile component because of high prices of these items in the local market affecting their performance.Exporters commenting on the textile export growth said that it should not be viewed as a positive development as we are exporting raw material, which can fetch better price if exported after value addition.

The unit price fetched by exporting raw cotton and cotton yarn is much lower than the price obtained by the value-added product.Figures suggested that export of raw cotton increased phenomenally almost 79 percent in the first four months of current fiscal over same months of last year whereas export of cotton yarn also grew 14.06 percent during the months under review.The export of yarn other than the cotton yarn also recorded 82 percent growth during July-October of current fiscal.When it comes to export of value-added products, the bleak scenario is still prevailing on the export of these items as export of knitwear was down almost eight percent during the months under review.

Export of bedwear decreased nine percent during these months. Towel export declined 9.82 percent, tents, canvas & tarpulin 13.07 percent. Export of cotton cloth was down 30.41 percent and cotton carded or combed 90.31 percent.Export of readymade garments was up by 5.44 percent and art, silk & synthetic textile 74.23 percent during these months.

KEY TO SUCCESS

KEY TO SUCCESS

The first day of the two day “Texcellence ‘09”, the conference with a focus on textile and allied sectors had an array of distinguished speakers along with a wide spectrum of interesting subjects which they broached upon. One interesting topic; “Influence of Technology and Automation in Textile-Apparel Industry”, which has utmost importance to the optimal and holistic growth of the textile and apparel sector, was presented by Mr Venkat Subramanyan.

Mr Subramanyan is the Executive Director of www.fibre2fashion.com, which is an online B2B portal for the textile, apparel and fashion sector. He began the presentation by outlining the trends in the industry, namely, Geographical shifts, Transnational Corporations, Lean retailing and Speed-to-market. He next delved on the “Need of Information Communication Technology” in the textile and allied sectors, which can help in easy exchange of information exchange, synchronized planning, better workflow coordination, help in synchronizing supplier – buyer relation and most of all facilitate integration of order management activities.

The other big valuable assistance it provides is in access, process and sharing of real time information globally. He then shared with the rapt and attentive audience the attributes of the internet, which is emerging as a valuable information source. He listed out; Better reach; Ability to target; Better Interactivity; Awareness-Interest-Desire-Action cycle (A.I.D.A.) and Response driven among the qualities of the medium. He then informed the participants about the features of a B2B website from the perspective of a buyer as well as the seller.

According to Mr Subramanyan, the buyer can search new suppliers, post buying requests, search new goods and keep himself updated on new trends. From the seller’s point of view, he is able to find new buyers, offer products for sale, search through tender databases and gather market information about competitors.

HANDBAG

Next to diamonds and shoes, handbags are a woman’s best friend. Women’s handbags serve two folded purpose. One as the containers of their valued possessions and the other as their fashion statements. Handbags are often used to express moods, individuality, style and status and have been one of the requisites of life for women ever since recorded history began. Articles found in a purse have ranged from ornate sewing scissors (17th century) to today’s compulsory cell phone and credit cards.

Even though, it is not really worn so close to the skin but handbags of different shapes and styles flatter your figure by adding or reducing the weight that you appear to carry. There are so many handbags on offer for you to select from to complement your figure and go with most of your outfits. Having the right handbag that appropriately matches with the style you are sporting is the most important part of your outfit.

Whenever you are deciding to grab one of your designer handbags it is important to purchase the correct size that would match your outfits. For instance a large bag is very casual and should only be carried when you are wearing loose top or a skirt to match with whereas small bags with a shoulder strap are great match to a sun dress or jeans with a close-fitting top. A clutch is a very versatile purse especially if it is black and can be matched with anything from a dress to an evening gown.

Very dressy handbags should only be matched with upscale evening wear. Regarding your figure even though large bags are in fashion now, go for a round or square shaped purse if you are slim and tall and bottle shaped handbag if you of middle height. Make use of adjustable handles if it is provided with your bag and try to keep your handbags at your hip level or waist line

MIXED FEELINGS TOWARDS GLOBAL RECESSION

MIXED FEELINGS TOWARDS GLOBAL RECESSION

The global economic recession has affected Asian garment exporters, and Indian garment exporters pointed to a looming crisis.

The global recession has hit orders and price realisation. Our quarterly turnover is down from Rs 300 crores to Rs 250 crores. Orders are going to Vietnam and Bangaladesh, which have lower costs.

Particularly small-scale units, may be pushed to the wall. Already hit by underutilisation of capacity, these small units may face threat of problems.

Nonetheless, Bangalore, One of India's major apparel export centres, reported remaining intact so far.

There was a slowdown in work between past months and in the following months the situation seems to have improved.

SANTEX (SHANGHAI) TEXTILE MACHINERY

SANTEX (SHANGHAI) TEXTILE MACHINERY

Santex (Shanghai) Textile Machinery will show a number of machinery:

Santastretch Plus, which is a continuous hydroextracting, overstretching and wet compacting machine for tubular knitted fabrics

Samtacompact CK, a leveling, steaming, and compacting calendar machine for open width knitted fabrics

Santashrink progress which is tensionless shrinking and relax drying machine for knitted and woven fabrics

Santabrush a surface treatment machine for knitted and woven fabrics

SM6 sueding machines for knitted and woven fabrics

Plurima, a dry and wet sueding machine for wrap knitted and woven fabrics and

Cavitec coating and laminating machine for technical textiles.

EUROPE PROMOTES SUSTAINABLE APPAREL CONSUMPTION

EUROPE PROMOTES SUSTAINABLE APPAREL CONSUMPTION

The European commission and the European retail sectir launched a Retail forum as part of their drive to promote more environmentally sustainable consumption patterns this March. Meanwhile the Retailers Environmental Action plan (REAP) was launched.

The forum aimed to generate a better understanding of the practical measures needed to promote sustainable consumption and production. Over time the result should be greater availability of environment-friendly and energy efficient products in shops and better information to consumers on how to use products(e.g. apparel) in the most ecological way.

Representative of the European Retail Round Table (ERRT), Pierre-Oliver Beckers from, President and CEO, Delhaize Group, commented:"Despite the very difficult economic climate, the move towards sustainable consumption will only deepen and accelerate... Indeed, the younger generation of consumers and of our staff associates are even more demanding in terms of what they want us to do. They will keep the pressure on us in to the future, a pressure we accept and welcome.

TEXTILES

A textile is any kind of woven, knitted, or tufted cloth, or a non-woven fabric (a cloth made of fibers that have been bonded into a fabric, e.g. felt).
Textile also refers to the yarns, threads and wools that can be spun, woven, tufted, tied and otherwise used to manufacture cloth. The production of textiles is an ancient art, whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by mass-production and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques. An ancient Roman weaver would have no problem recognizing a plain weave, twill, or satin.
Many textiles have been in use for millennia, while others use artificial fibers and are recent inventions. The range of fibers has increased in the last 100 years. The first synthetics were made in the 1920s and 1930s.
Commonly used natural (deriving from plant or animal) fibers and textiles include:
Wool fiber
Felt cloth
Cotton fiber
Linen fabric, made from flax fiber
Silk
Some examples of artificial (polymer-based) textiles are:
Acrylic fiber
Lurex
Spandex, tactel, lycra and other 'stretch' fabrics
Nylon fiber
Polyester fiber
Polypropylene (comes under various common trade names such as Olefin or Herculon)
Rayon fiber
Velvet is a fabric can be made from either natural (eg, silk) or artificial (eg, rayon) fibres.
Applications of cloth
Arts and crafts
Carpet
Clothing
Cleaning cloth
Curtain
Dish-cloth
Flag
Floor-cloth
Handkerchief
Parachute
Projection screen
Tablecloth
Tarpaulin
Tea-cloth
Tent
Towel
Wall tapestry
Washing glove
Windscreen