H&M plans for Indian market

Swedish fashion retail giant H&M has started work on entering India. The $15-billion Hennes & Mauritz AB, abbreviated as H&M , began business development talks with India's leading mall developers and corporates with interests in fashion as it looks to open the first stores within 24 months, said industry sources familiar with the process.

Global fashion and retail brands have revived their interest in India on hopes of relaxed foreign direct investment norms, and buoyed by the country's relatively robust consumer sentiments as they battle tentative growth in the west. H&M's main fast fashion clothing rival globally and Spanish fashion behemoth Zara made an aggressive entry into India last year, grabbing the attention of its peers worldwide.

Zara has four stores operating and has plans to add more in the near future.

Sources said H&M has had recent meetings with mall developers like Phoenix and DLF besides holding talks with ITC Group and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance. These discussions were informal as H&M is keen on firming up a viable business model for a key growth market like India. An emailed questionnaire to H&M did not elicit any response.

"H&M is at the preliminary stages of firming up their India plan. I will be surprised if we get to see the first H&M stores before fall winter of 2013," said a person briefed on the matter. "They are trying to come up with a business model and are obviously interested in this market after Zara's arrival," added a second source who did not wish to be named.

The Indian government officials have talked up sentiments to reform the country's FDI regulations in retail. At present, FDI is barred in multibrand and general merchandise retail while it is restricted to 51% in single-brand retail. Another iconic Swedish retailer IKEA had dropped its $1-billion India plans until the FDI regime was revamped.

H&M's concerns will include Zara's aggressive 'home pricing' —meaning parity of pricing with stores in Spain—that is 12-15 % cheaper compared to their globel operations. "The common mistake fashion brands do is with regard to pricing in India. Marks & Spencer learnt this the hard way. H&M is known for selling quality merchandise at an affordable price and should keep the Indian audience in mind before deciding their pricing strategy," says R Kannan, president of Ramms, a retail consultancy firm.

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6/24/2011 | 0 comments

All Orissa Textile Merchants' Association protest against textile VAT

On Tuesday (7/6/11) the All Orissa Textile Merchants' Association had called protest strike by all textile stop. the protest was called for immediate withdrawal of textile VAT. The Union Budget 2011 allowed states to impose tax on sugar and textiles, which were earlier exempted from VAT and were covered under the Additional Duties of Excise (goods of special importance) Act 1957. Over 550 items are covered under VAT. This VAT is said to cause the price of clothes in the state of Orissa  is up by six per cent as the state government is collecting entry tax of two per cent besides VAT. The trader want the tax to be withdrawn immediately by the government.

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6/07/2011 | 0 comments

New labelling rules for European union

The European union has passed new labelling rules,  After today's (11-05-2011)  approval by Parliament, the new textile labelling rules on textile labelling must still be formally signed by the Member States. The new regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Journal. However, for the new labelling requirements, such as the rules on labelling of fur parts, there will be a 2 � year transition period to allow the industry time to adapt.

Fur and leather must be mentioned

Any use of animal-derived materials will have to be clearly stated on textile product labels. Fur is often used to trim relatively inexpensive garments and it is often hard for consumers to distinguish between real fur and good quality fake fur. Parliament has ensured that textiles containing such products must be labelled "contains non-textile parts of animal origin" to enable consumers to identify them. Allergy sufferers, for whom fur is a potential health hazard, will be among the beneficiaries. The Commission is also asked to carry out a study, by 30 September 2013, on hazardous substances to assess whether there is a causal link between allergic reactions and chemical substances (e.g. colourings, biocides or nanoparticles), used in textile products.

"Made in" labels

Parliament had sought to make origin labelling mandatory for textile products imported from third countries. This proposal proved very controversial for some Member States. Although Parliament pushed throughout the negotiations for this requirement to be included, the Council did not agree. However, the Council did agree to ask the Commission to present a study, also by 30 September 2013, on the feasibility of an origin labelling scheme to give consumers "accurate information on the country of origin and additional information ensuring full traceability of textile products".  This assessment report may be accompanied by a legislative proposal.

Possible new labelling requirements and new technologies

The Commission's report should also assess the feasibility of harmonising care labelling requirements (currently voluntary), an EU-wide uniform size labelling system for clothes and the indication of allergenic substances. Parliament also stresses the need to assess how new technologies, such as micro-chips or radio-frequency identification (RFID), could in future be used instead of traditional labels to convey information to consumers.

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5/11/2011 | 0 comments

Zara profits from China and India

The company that owns the Zara retail chain appears to be profiting from its aggressive expansion into emerging markets such as China and India. Inditex, the world's largest clothes chain, has posted a 32% jump in annual net profit to 1.73bn euros

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3/23/2011 | 0 comments

USA and European retailer increase retail price by 20 - 30%

The USA and European retailer on account on raising cotton price they have increased the prices by about 20 - 30%. The Chinese supplier have informed the retailers that the cotton cost has gone up by about 70%. They have increased the price by about 5% - 30% in order to compensate the raising cotton price.

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11/15/2010 | 0 comments