Digital disruption has resulted in a radical shift in consumer shopping behavior, their beliefs, and expectations. Consumers have become more demanding than ever. Their growing need for ease of shopping, prompt service, and personalised solutions has left retailers with the only option, ‘either go digital or die’. It has become imperative for retailers to redefine their traditional business models, embrace digitisation and unleash tremendous opportunities provided by emerging new ecosystems.

In today’s complex business environment scenario, luxury retailers need to work towards re-inventing consumers’ shopping experience by understanding their pain points, needs, desires, and aspirations. Retailers should embrace technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, smart sensors, computer vision, chatbots and facial recognition to solve problems like counterfeiting, delayed check-outs, queuing, product navigation, waiting time for product returns, delays in online order pick-ups and late order fulfillment.

Darshan Kochar, President,Solapur Garment Manufacturers Association says, Solapur in Maharashtra aims to be the world's uniforms sourcing hub by 2022, with plans to establish 2,000 garment units in the city. Kochar was speaking at the third edition of the 'Uniform, Garment and Fabric Manufacturing Fair 2019. Uniform-manufacturing sector in India is estimated at Rs 18,000 crore per annum, with Rs 10,000 crore from machinery and fabrics while the rest is from sales supplying to local schools through retailers and institutions.

Well-connected across the country with rail and road networks and airports in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad, Solapur has emerged as the investment destination in the state for the uniform garment industry in the country. The third edition of the 'Uniform, Garment and Fabric Manufacturing Fair 2019' was held from January 8 to 10 in Bengaluru. The three-day fair promoted Solapur and Maharashtra as the uniforms sourcing hub.

Many overseas buyers from the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia have shown interest in our uniforms. Buyers from the United States, Dubai, Ghana, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam participated in the event.

New research has found that most Japanese apparel companies fall short on human rights issues. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and Human Rights Now, an international human rights NGO based in Japan, surveyed the human rights policies and practices of the top 62 apparel companies operating in Japan.

The survey found that a small number of leading companies have policies and procedures in place to prevent and remedy negative impacts their business activities may have on human rights. Aside from that small group, however, most companies, it was found, are yet to take adequate measures – for example, of the 21 that responded, nine still do not have human rights policies that make concrete reference to international human rights standards.

Several companies have no procedure for remedying human rights abuses, and of those that do, most provide for them only in Japanese. Only four companies that responded to the survey have a remedy procedure accessible in languages other than Japanese.

Of the 21 companies that responded, 12 companies have a human rights policy or procurement guidelines in line with international standards. Among these are Fast Retailing, Gap, H&M, adidas, Asics and Patagonia. On the positive side, several companies stated they have started strengthening their human rights measures, at least partially because of the survey.

For spring/summer 2020 fashion has no problem playing with bizarre ideas and questionable aesthetics. So says Premiere Vision. It’s a happy-go-lucky attitude that’s inviting new ideas and fresh concepts. The season is committed to eco responsibility and high technology; creativity and collaboration; notions of happiness and simplicity working together in concert. The result is a spirited and fun season enhanced by vivid color stories, fruit skins, fantastical takes on tropical plants and preppy maritime ideas.

Impactful reds, pale lime yellows, sugary pinks and electric blues are bolstered by bright white across women’s wear, men’s wear and active wear. Transparency and gradients remain important, as designers continue to play with color filters and watercolor effects. The forecast includes graduating tones on quilted fabrics, rainbow effects over rustic textures and semi-transparent silks with blurred florals.

Shine takes on a slippery look with transparent coatings that don’t mask the natural weave of the fabric. Rather, the coating magnifies the fabrics’ natural irregularities and leather grains. Instead of intense metals, women’s fashion and footwear are moving toward mermaid-like effects. Lightly colored yarn, vaporized metallic and pearl coatings offer a fresh new look for glammed-up fashion. This season’s accessories are brightened up with shine that combines different effects like pearly pastels, iridescence, milky tones and metallics that highlight the weaves of the materials.

Guess has partnered Colombian singer J Balvin for its ready-to-wear capsule for both men and women. Everything in the capsule is inspired by South Beach just before the turn of the century and borrows heavily from the look and feel of Vibras, Balvin’s new album.

The 42-piece capsule, which will be released in February, includes both apparel and accessories, including a tie-dye fanny pack that instills Balvin’s colorful, risk-taking aesthetic into a collection that feels right at home in the tropics. Women can expect plenty of cut-offs and cropped tees to beat the heat as the summer comes back into view, most of which brandish vibrant primary colors.

In keeping with the beach aesthetic, the women’s side of the capsule will include bodysuits, bandeaus, tank tops and track pants found in shades of hot pink and green. A collection of swimwear rounds out the offering. The men’s collection echoes Balvin’s own style in color-blocked denim jackets and leisurely track suits. The men’s tees are purposefully oversized, a common component in street wear capsules, and come in two styles: tie-dye in reds, yellows and greens or multi-striped and imbued with the album artwork from Vibras.

Beyond wanting to buy clothing that doesn't make a person feel guilty, more consumers are showing a desire for alternative, creative fashion that is made in limited numbers. The rise of upcycling among new designers and businesses is likely due to a youth-driven consortium within the fashion industry which is poised to support brands that create things in a positive way. With this, the process works well for younger, smaller brands who find it easy to buy deadstock or vintage garments for the purpose of upcycling in place of expensive fabrics that often require minimum orders. Moreover, a smaller-scale brand with upcycling baked into its DNA means it's easier to maintain and less expensive to produce, unlike bigger brands who may have trouble adopting these processes due to the traditional setup of their supply chain.

This uptick in younger sustainably minded brands could possibly stem from design schools, too, which have been adding more sustainability-focused courses into their curriculums, training their students to adopt new ways of thinking about fashion systems. Programs teach young designers to think critically about how fashion is made and consumed, and to reconsider both its processes and outcomes.

Applications are open for the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund 2019. Established in 2008, the fund aims at discovering new talent and accelerating growth over a twelve-month period through mentoring and awarding a cash prize.

Applications are strongly encouraged from all over the UK. The application process encourages brands to think strategically about the fund’s core objective of business growth. All shortlisted designers will receive a full mentoring program through the BFC’s business support team, with access to funders and industry experts. The fund will award one winner and help bring new knowledge to designer businesses and the finance to put towards a full time or consultant team member but also to advise on areas such as accountancy, merchandising, business strategy, international growth, retail and e-commerce.

The fund provides a huge opportunity for both the shortlisted designers and the winner to gain invaluable knowledge and incredible monetary investment to grow and develop their brand on a global stage. Applicants need to be over three years in business, based in the UK, and their collection should consist of women’s wear and/or women’s wear accessories. Applicants should have both UK and international stockists and should be able to demonstrate support from media.

"The sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $ 31 billion. The number of non-selected and African descent models has increased significantly, on global runways for fashion’s biggest brands. They are featured in leading fashion magazines and among most of the world’s land breaking advertising campaigns. In 2018, Amitoy Lagum of Uganda and Harith Paul of Tanzania will see the continual increase in African models of fashion."

Cotton, textile and apparel manufacturers in 18 sub-Saharan African countries are backing a new initiative to boost confidence in Africa as a sourcing location and attract buyers and investors. These manufacturers also plan to resolve the issue of poor supply discipline, the lack of international partners and the challenges of inferior infrastructure promptly.

The sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $ 31 billion. The number of non-selected and African descent models has increased significantly, on global runways for fashion’s biggest brands. They are featured in leading fashion magazines and among most of the world’s land breaking advertising campaigns. In 2018, Amitoy Lagum of Uganda and Harith Paul of Tanzania will see the continual increase in African models of fashion.

Raw materials, labor and expertise boost footwear industry

Although the African market for footwear industry is still young, the continent is heavily involved with raw materials, extraordinary talent and affordable labor, which is the perfect push to build an extraordinary footwear industry. Countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria lead the revolutionary footprint of the continent. In 2015, Ethiopia earned more than $30 million from shoe exports, and achieved ninth place in leather products industry worldwide. And this is just the beginning. In 2018, one can expect to see further growth in Ethiopia and other African countries, as the African footwear industry is likely to touch $1 billion in the next decade.

Increasing acceptance, changing perception of fashion

Even though very few universities across the continent offer a degree in fashion, perception across the continent is improving with African fashion being increasingly accepted and adopted globally. According to Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, South Africa is developing a master plan for the growth of apparel, textile, footwear, and leather retail value chain, targeted at creating 60,000 jobs. The plan may be announced early next year. Thanks to the upward trend of Africa’s clothing exports, especially thanks to the Bangladeshi investors, there has been a threat to the second position in the world’s clothing business. Under the African Growth and Scope Act (AGOA), the United States enjoys duty-free and quota-free access for certain goods with clothing.

Abuses are rife in the wool industry though there are companies that claim their materials are responsibly and ethically sourced. Though farming wool does not require killing animals in the same way that farming fur does, there is no really humane way to shear sheep for wool.

Though the vast majority of farms around the world raise sheep in a happy and protected environment, respecting the welfare of the animals and the health of the land, the shearing process can be harmful to sheep. Animals are beaten, kicked, punched and mutilated in front of each other in gruesome ways.

There are no synthetic equivalents available today that provide the same feel and technical capabilities of wool, and as a natural fiber, wool offers many environmental benefits over oil-based fibers. Wool is one of the most environmentally low-impact fibers there are. With plant-based fibers, the land has to be plowed up and a lot of soil carbon is lost. Also, synthetic materials contribute to fast fashion's overproduction problem while wool last longer and is recycled more often.

But a counter-argument to stopping the use of wool posits that choosing synthetic materials over animal products may be better for animals, but those same synthetic materials are harmful to the environment.

This year Vietnam’s garment and textile export turnover is expected to be up 10.8 per cent from last year. To this end, Vietnam is focusing on products with a high competitiveness in the world market, and improving its garment and textile supply chain. Investments are pouring into the Vietnamese weaving, dyeing, material and accessory segments. Vietnam’s export earnings in 2018 were up more than 16 per cent from 2017.

Its main export markets include: Asean, Japan, South Korea, the European Union and the United States. However, the country has had to spend heavily on importing cotton, yarn, fabrics, materials and accessories for production of garments, textiles and footwear. Vietnam is the world’s third biggest garment and textile exporter.

With the results achieved in 2018, Vietnamese textile firms have witnessed positive signals for orders in 2019. Many businesses have already received orders for the first six months of 2019 and some for the whole year. The upcoming enforcement of new generation free trade agreements is a positive factor supporting production and business activities of the sector in 2019.

In 2019, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is expected to boost many industries of Vietnam, including the textile and garment sector. In addition, the textile and garment sector is also waiting for more orders to be shifted from China due to the US-China trade war.