Global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories, VF Corporation announced the 2021 winner of the Redress Design Award.

The first prize winner of the Redress Design Award, Jessica Chang, impressed the judges with her collection, which incorporated waste materials into designs to connect with and inspire consumers.

Chang will receive an opportunity to design a sustainable capsule collection with Timberland® available for sale in 2023.

One of the most prestigious sustainable fashion design competitions, the Redress Design Award reflects VF’s drive to foster the next generation of forward-thinking, environmentally-conscious designers in the apparel and footwear industry.

The virtual events took place from 1 to 11 September and 10 finalists from the US, UK, Germany, India and Greater China participated in the same. The event included educational challenges and master classes on advancing sustainability and circular design in the fashion industry through a variety of sustainable production solutions.

With a broader focus on the reduction of waste, the emerging designers secured their place in the competition by impressing judges with entries that offered climate positive apparel through zero-waste patterns, prolonged garment lifecycles, end-of-life disassembly, upcycling and minimal washing needs.

US’ T-shirts imports grew by 37.97 per cent Y-o-Y to $ 9.78 billion during the January-June ’21 period, as per OTEXA reports.

The volume of these imports surged by 46.37 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis to 287.62 million a dozen during the period, reports Textile Focus. The highest imports were recorded by Vietnam whose exports surged by 21.82 per cent to $1.72 billion while exports from China grew by 43.59 per cent Y-o-Y to $1.56 billion.

Exports from India grew by 35 per cent Y-o-Y to $494.44 million in value while the volume of India’ shipment stood jumped by 55.2` per cent to 14.62 million from the same period of 2020. The volume of Bangladesh’s exports increased to 19.18 million dozen while value increased to $471.19 million, noting 62.85 per cent surge in values on yearly note.

India’s leading apparel exporters Shahi Exports, Orient Craft and leading textile company Pallavaa Group plan to apply for the Production Linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

These exporters believe that the scheme will benefit 1,350 textile companies in India having annual exports of over Rs. 100 crore.

Vijoy Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, says, the ministry has decided to disallow non-GST and non-banking channel sales in calculating the annual turnover. So, no one can claim cash sales arguing that sales happened through a shop without generating bill.

The Ministry of Textiles (MoT) is expected to issue detailed guidelines of the scheme following which applications from the industry will be invited. This is expected to start from November 2021.

Rise in demand for winter clothing is expected to boost prices of China’s 32/1 combed cotton yarn and India’s 30/1 combed cotton yarn during the peak season for textiles and apparel. The demand for new cotton is also expected to move up in China and will likely be procured immediately by the country’s spinners.

As per a China Textiles report, prices of the 32/1 combed cotton yarn surged from 24.26 CNY/kg in January 2021 to 26.57 CNY/kg in June 2021. It further increased by 6.89 percent to 28.40 CNY/kg in August 2021. The price is expected to touch 30.04 CNY/kg in November 2021, recording a rise of 5.77 percent.

The price of 30/1 combed cotton yarn increased by 4.62 per cent from Rs254.81 per kg in January 2021 to Rs266.59 per kg in June 2021. It further grew by 4.13 percent to reach Rs277.59 per kg in August 2021.

The price is now likely to grow by 3.71 percent to reach Rs287.89 per kg in November 2021.

Major global player in the 4.0 Industry for the fashion, automotive, and furniture market, Lectra has joined the Brand & Retail program of the Plug and Play network, the world’s leading innovation platform connecting startups, investors, and pioneering companies.

As per a Textile World report, the merger will enable Lectra, to achieve its ambitions: to become a benchmark player in the 4.0 industry’s markets, particularly fashion. It will also facilitate a dialogue between startups and the brand, the emergence of innovative solutions, and also the development of a network of talents and mentors. Additionally, Lectra will benefit from the ecosystem developed by Plug and Play Brand & Retail in France for more than three years, bringing together the best French and international startups specialized in retail.

The accomplishments and pilot projects deployed will be part of the co-creative actions initiated at the Innovation Lab. The brand will benefit from this opportunity to work with the most promising French and international startups and renowned companies, says Philippe Ribera, Innovation Director, Lectra.

Originally scheduled for December 6-7, Kingpins New York has been cancelled due to COVID-related travel and health concerns. The show was set to mark Kingpins return to physical shows since the pandemic began in 2020. Organizers have decided to cancel this event as it fail to offer exhibitors and attendees the level of access, insight and inspiration that they have come to expect from Kingpins Show.

Kingpins Show will continue to offer digital shows and seminars with Kingpins24 Global to be held on October 19-21, while Kingpins24 Latin America will occur on November 9-10. Kingpins is an information, ideas and innovation network for the denim industry that provides a forum for the international denim community. Since the launch of the first jeans supply chain in 2004 in New York, Kingpins has grown in its mission to connect the community and taken its concept around the world.

Turkish denim mill Isko plans to develop new sustainable technologies to use waste and cellulose-based materials for denim production. The mill has partnered with Swedish research and development company MoRe Research, a part of Rise Research Institutes of Sweden for this initiative. The partnership calls on MoRe Research’s expertise to find ways to repurpose the clean and toxic-free cellulose powders produced by decomposed cotton and recycled polyester, and put it back into fabric production. Fatih Konukoğlu, CEO, Isko says, the collaboration has the potential to make a big impact at scale.

Isko has centered its focus on innovations like this as part of its Responsible Innovation strategy, and is celebrated for its R-TWO program using recycled fibers as well as reused cotton that comes from its own production loss. The mill also recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign project and announced a licensing agreement for Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel’s (HKRITA) award-winning Green Machine, a technology that fully separates and recycles cotton and polyester blends at scale.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) plans to open a Centre for Innovation, Efficiency and OSH (CIEOSH). The centre will help Bangladesh bridge knowledge gap in the industry by connecting stakeholders and driving innovation in product and process of Bangladesh apparel industry. The center will assist Bangladesh's apparel industry to move to the next level. The innovation center is expected to be launched at the newly-built BGMEA building at Uttara in December 2021.

With over 40 years of experience, Bangladesh's apparel industry has established a strong foothold. It has an experienced workforce, a strong backward linkage, and resilient entrepreneurs who have contributed to the growth of this approximately $31 billion industry. However, Bangladesh's apparel exports remain concentrated in top five products: trousers, T-shirts, men's shirts, women's shirts, and sweaters, mostly made of cotton, account for roughly 73 percent of Bangladesh's total apparel export. As a result, Bangladesh needs to explore man-made fiber products. Its shift to more high value man-made fiber products will also boost margins for the exporters.

Zara-owner Inditex has surged past H&M in its second quarter sales. Inditex’s recovery during the quarter was boosted by remaining best-in-class in speed and from a strong overall recovery in its core market Spain. Better sales in China helped Inditex race ahead of H&M, which suffered owing to criticism of alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

As per an analysis by Refinitiv SmartEstimates, Inditex’s sales during the second quarter increased 48 per cent year-on-year to € 7.02 billion. Growth during the quarter was supported by lower store closures and slightly improved backdrop. The group’s net profit during the quarter increased 307 per cent year-on-year to €872 billion. Analysts at Alantra Equities say, lifting of travel restrictions, unwinding of remote working and the return of social are expected to boost demand for fashion apparel across Europe.

Third quarter sales of Swedish H&M's sales during the June-August period increased by 14 per cent year-on-year, adds Refinitiv SmartEstimates. The brand’s sales in China were hit in March as it was wiped off Tmall and domestic phonemakers' app stores after it expressed concerns about alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region in 2019.

Lacklustre rainfall throughout July and August will lead to one per cent year-on-decline in India’s cotton production to 28.3 million 480lb bales in 2021-22, predicts analyst Fitch Solutions. The recent outbreak of pink bollworm in Bhatinda and Mansa will also drag down yields, says a Fitch Solutions report. However, the analyst expects production to bounce back in 2022-23, if weather normalizes and the outbreak of pink bollworm is adequately contained.

At a global level, Fitch revised its 2021 average cotton price forecast to USc90.0/lb (USc87.0/lb previously). The near-term supply outlook has worsened, it said, Meanwhile, Fitch said global demand will rise strongly in 2021, and subsequently revised up its demand forecasts in Bangladesh and Turkey. The recovery in these two countries has been somewhat better than originally anticipated. Fitch sees global demand rebounding 14.1 per cent y-o-y in 2021 compared to 12.7 per cent growth in its last update in June following the 13.3 per cent COVID-19-related drop in 2020.

The analyst estimates the deficit to be 4.4mn 480lb bales this year compared to a previous estimate of 1.8 million bales. This will put downward pressure on global stocks and provide some support to the price. In the long term, Bangladesh and Vietnam will gain significant market share in cotton consumption as their textile sector expand significantly, says Fitch.