Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine September Issue 2018 | Page 54

BEYOND BD APPAREL RESOURCES NEWSLETTERS FACEBOOK FRIENDS To subscribe, send us an email at [email protected] Join more than 10,000 people who are already fans of Apparel Resources on facebook. Search for Apparel Resources at https://www.facebook.com/apparelresources/ Vietnam's denim export to US clocks US $ 110 million in H1 '18 Denim apparels produced in Vietnam continued marking notable presence in the US market. During January to June 2018 period, Vietnam exported denim apparels to USA worth US $ 110.71 million, marking growth of 44.79 per cent over the last year. Vietnam added another US $ 34 million from what it exported to USA in the same period last year. According to the latest figures released by OTEXA and analysed by Apparel Online, Vietnam posted surge in all four categories: Skirts, Jackets, Mens & Boys (MB) jeans and Women & Girls (WG) jeans, of denim apparels. Continuing the upward trend, WG jeans exports from Vietnam to USA valued at US $ 75.43 million (up 46.90 per cent), while MB jeans export fetched US $ 32.23 million (up 33.30 per cent). According to the latest figures released by OTEXA, Vietnam posted surge in all four categories: Skirts, Jackets, Mens & Boys (MB) jeans and Women & Girls (WG) jeans, of denim apparels. As far as quantity of jeans is concerned, Vietnam exported 12.14 million units of jeans to the USA in H1 ’18. MB jeans export was 3.50 million units, while 8.68 million units of jeans were exported to the USA market in WG category by Vietnam. On the other hand, denim skirt exports were up 302.41 per cent to clock US $ 2.674 million. Denim jackets clocked US $ 0.387 million for Vietnam in the USA market. Though value was not anything near to what can be said commendable, the growth percentage (47.11 per cent) was impressive. However, there is a lot of scope for Vietnamese denim exporters in the US market but they have not been able to capitalise on the same. Vietnam’s denim apparel export share in the USA stands at just 6.58 per cent of the overall denim apparel import value of USA which indicates Vietnam has a long way to go to beat the top denim exporters to USA such as Mexico and Bangladesh. Garment workers in Myanmar refuse to sign employment contract Nearly 150 workers at Panda Textile Factory in the township of Hlaing Tharyar, Yangon, protested vehemently after the factory refused to rehire them if they did not sign the employment contract. The employment contract clearly stated that the workers will have to vacate their houses if they are sacked by the factory management. The workers were demanding to not only rehire the sacked workers, but Most of the workers were angry as some of the clauses and conditions mentioned in the contract were unfair to the workers and were not even discussed with the union. Substantiating further on the above, Daw Zar Zar Latt from factory labour union said that ever since the ownership of the factory was moved from Government to private, the workers did not have houses to stay. 54 Apparel Online Bangladesh | September 2018 | www.apparelresources.com also to take legal action against the owners of the factory for violating the law. Reportedly, four workers were sacked recently. The factory was initially run by the Government; however, in 2012 it was privatised. Daw Tin Tin Shwe, who works as General Manager at the factory, said that a notice was issued to the workers by the factory on 20 July 2018. The notice clearly said that the contract was instigated by the Government and not the factory. She further added that rules were in favour of the workers and were written only after consulting the factory coordination committee.