Company Details
What are the current developments in the denim industry worldwide and in Pakistan? How big is the market & how do you see its growth potential? What difficulties do players of your kind come across?
Development
is especially important in the denim market because of demands for novelty and
performance. There are 2 aspects to product
development of fabrics. Product development is usually thought of as
creating a product for the market with significantly different colors,
appearances (flat, slubs), hands (soft, raspy) or performance (stretch,
permanent press).
The
other aspect of product development, equally important, is product improvement, which includes
reducing defects, improving performance (shrinkage, stretch, reducing costs).
The
leading denim companies in the U.S. conducted extensive research into solving
the mysteries of denim production, especially in dyeing and finishing. Outside
the U.S., there are some denim companies in countries like Italy, Turkey and
Japan that are well-known for their quality.
While
most of the denim factories in the U.S. were closed by the late 1990’s, there
are still 4 operations remaining, no large establishments are left, only 2
small and 2 medium operations.
The
2 small operations (Cone and Denim
North America) are dedicated to
high-fashion denim, while the 2 medium-sized companies rely primarily on
producing large quantities of a few basic styles, but with high levels of
quality.
One
of the medium-sized operations, Mount
Vernon, also produces significant quantities of non-denim fabrics which provide
financial stability and flexibility in textile markets. The other, American Cotton Growers, also produces
a line of fashion denims that are in strong demand.
Producing
the highest-level quality denims may be the surest route to long-term success.
The higher-fashion market is
unpredictable and makes sudden changes that have had the effect of a
financial earthquake on denim producers that struggle with specialty denim.
Mixing basic and specialty denim in the same production operation can
complicate manufacturing to the point where effective control is lost.
There
have been thousands of different denim fabrics produced and only a few hundred
have experienced significant commercial success.
With
the exception of minor variations, such
as the use of unusual fibers like bamboo or application of special chemicals
like polyurethanes, very little truly original denim has appeared in many
years.
For
the most part, the same denim fabrics are re-cycled in cycles of perhaps 5 or 10 years. They merely seem to be
new because of their long absence from the market. An excellent example of this
is “antique” or “authentic” denim as it is called. Around1980, the U.S. denim
industry had nearly eliminated all shuttle-weaving in favor of rapier or
projectile weaving. The denim that we were weaving on the shuttle looms was
less than a meter wide, which was no longer acceptable to the market. All
of the shuttle looms were sent to the warehouse and no one expected to see them
again.
(Contd.)
Published on: 09/07/2012
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.