The value of merchandise returned to retailers in 2021 was up 78 per cent compared to that in 2020.So says retail tech company Narvar. Apparel and footwear account for 46 per cent of returns.

Poor fit remains the top reason for returns. Consumers are increasingly adopting third-party drop-off locations. Third-party drop-off adoption has grown steadily for four years now, from 11 per cent in 2019 to 19 per cent in 2022, reflecting shopper demand for a wider range of convenient return methods.

Shoppers are willing to pay for added convenience such as scheduled home pickup when returning items but less than half of retailers currently charge any kind of return shipping or restocking fee. Shoppers are benefiting from retailers’ generous return policies. Return windows are getting longer, refunds are happening faster, and technology is making returns easier than ever before—boosting customer satisfaction. There is a significant opportunity here for retailers to increase loyalty and retain revenue by offering differentiated and personalized return policies that meet different customers’ needs.

Categories with the highest return rates are similar to 2020 metrics: auto parts (19 per cent), apparel (12 per cent) and home improvement and housewares (tied at 11 per cent).

The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has launched a project to evaluate the existing status of the Indian garment industry, encourage wider reach of beneficial measures among medium and small units, hand hold units with demonstrations and solutions, enhance the brand visibility of sustainable companies on a global platform, and brainstorm the necessary policy focus.

Global garment production is forecasted to increase by 63 per cent by 2030. This will bring with it an ever-growing global concern on the detrimental impact that the fashion industry brings. Further, with growing consumer awareness on sustainability and the gaps in global markets, there is a need for the Indian apparel industry to take steps for sustainability.

The industry has to face severe competition from Bangladesh and Vietnam and the emerging economies of Cambodia, Myanmar and even Africa. But these are also the times for innovating in design, structuring, promotions and supply chain efficiencies.

The global garment export industry is changing and in order to remain competitive the Indian garment Industry will have to develop capabilities to tackle both larger volume orders and manage rapid turnarounds with short lead times for diverse fashion garments. The industry will have to develop capabilities to offer better value propositions to buyers in terms of designs and products that align with their market needs.

The textile dyes market is growing by six per cent a year. Rapidly evolving fashion trends are prompting manufacturers to include new color combinations and designs, pivoting sales.The market posted impressive gains over the last five years.

Manufacturers are expected to primarily focus on Asian markets, with prominent countries such as India and China emerging as lucrative growth hubs.Prominent manufacturers are increasingly capitalizing on organic textile dyes, attributed to rising concerns over the detrimental impacts of using synthetic chemicals, furthering expansion prospects.

Demand for direct textile dyes is expected to remain high. Reactive textile dyes are experiencing fast growth. Dyes for viscose fibers are expected to have a compound annual growth rate of around six per cent. Polyester textile dyes are expanding impressively.

The US is likely to register heightened textile dye sales. India, South Korea, Australia and are generating huge revenues across the textile dyes landscape. India’s textiles industry contributes seven per cent to industry output. China’s chemical fiber production exceeds 50 million tons, comprising over 66 per cent of global production. Such trends are motivating prominent players to increase their foray across these markets.

Some key textile dye manufacturers are Huntsman, Atul, DyStar, Colorant, Kiri, Jay Chemical, Organic Dyes and Pigments and Archroma.

Global Fashion Summit was held in Singapore, November 3, 2022.

It assembled over 250 stakeholders representing manufacturers, garment workers, retailers, brands, suppliers, NGOs, policy, and innovators and built on dialogues from the June edition in Copenhagen and gathered leaders from across the entire value chain to elevate diverse voices and foster alliances within the fashion industry and beyond to drive sustainable impact.

The edition facilitated conversations with manufacturer and supply chain voices to discuss crucial challenges and opportunities around working collaboratively with brands on equal terms. The program featured bold panels, case studies, masterclasses and leadership roundtables reflecting on topics including data scarcity, better wage systems, community and circularity, connecting the EU textiles strategy with the value chain and energy transformation.

Global Fashion Summit was held outside of Copenhagen for the first time in its 13-year history. The summit was presented by Global Fashion Agenda, which is a non-profit organisation that fosters industry collaboration on sustainability in fashion to accelerate impact. With the vision of a net positive fashion industry, it drives action by mobilising, inspiring, influencing and educating all stakeholders. The organisation has been leading the movement since 2009.

Global Fashion Agenda will build upon summit discussions to reflect on how the industry can accurately measure and communicate sustainability performance.

Pakistan targets to be net zero carbon by 2050. The Net Zero Pakistan program aims at forming a national coalition of pioneering companies, public institutions, and sectoral experts.

This year, 2022, Pakistan had devastating climate related floods which resulted in damage to Pakistan’s cotton crop. How far private industry in Pakistan is willing to commit to the idea of netzero is unknown. About 30 per cent of Pakistan’s textile production capacity for exports has been hampered because of cotton and energy shortages. Pakistan’s textile sector, which exports about 60 per cent of its production, is also facing poor demand in the domestic market due to fragile economic conditions.

As of now Pakistan emits just one per cent of global carbon emissions but faces the risk of being removed from the global supplychain as a result of its carbon footprint. When the whole world moves towards net zero, Pakistan doesn’t want to be left behind in the global supplychain. Cotton crops are being lost as a result of climate devastation.

For Pakistan, the spend is in the range of billions of dollars and now the step is about finding solutions or ideas that can help the country mobilise that kind of capital and avoid future disasters.

China is the top supplier of apparel to the Middle East. During January 2022 to June 2022, China ranked first on the suppliers’ list followed by Bangladesh, Turkey, Italy and India. Supplies from the top five countries to the region surged in the first six months of 2022 over the same period of the previous year.

Imports from China grew by 31 per cent from January 2022 to June 2022 on a yearly basis, compared to the mild growth of 0.88 per cent in January 2021 to June 2021. Middle East’s apparel imports from Bangladesh rose to 62 per cent in the first half of this year from 0.46 per cent during the same period of last year. The share of Bangladesh in the total imports by Middle East in the first half of this year was 11 per cent. The share of Turkey, Italy and India stood at nine per cent, six per cent and five per cent respectively. Morocco, Vietnam, Georgia, Spain, and Cambodia take the next five spots on the list of the top ten apparel supplier countries to the Middle East.

Asia-Pacific was the largest sourcing region for the Middle East with imports amounting to 62 per cent of total imports. The Asia-Pacific region supplies about two-thirds of the total apparel imported by the Middle East.

Home textile manufacturers are struggling to get export orders. They foresee tough times for almost six months, due to high raw material prices and high inflation in key exports markets such as Europe and the US. The US accounts for more than 55 per cent of India’s home textile exports. The home textile business has seen high inflation affecting demand from the US and Europe. High inflation has resulted in lower inventory for supermarkets in the US and Europe and retail consumer spending has decreased.

Margins have fallen significantly and even after the start of the new cotton season, the situation has not improved. Gujarat is a large manufacturer of home textiles and around 80 per cent of the production is meant for export. However, order levels are currently low. High raw material costs and low demand has affected margins of manufacturers significantly.

Once cotton prices stabilize, Indian players are expected to be in a better situation. This year, Indian cotton was more expensive than global rates so the playing field was not level for Indian manufacturers. But demand is expected to improve in the coming months and exporters are hopeful of getting the advantage of lower cotton prices with strong cotton arrivals this season.

Also, India’s share in the global home textiles market is low, so there is a huge opportunity for Indian manufacturers.

Some 20 key enterprises from Hubei will be present at Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada.

Hubei is a prominent apparel and textile manufacturing province in China. These enterprises are from weaving, printing, dyeing, cloth trade, clothing design, and manufacturing. With a marketing strategy that focuses on professional development and standardization of their products, they are preparing to expand their market share at ATSC.

For example, Shunfu Textile specializes in the R&D of denim fabrics. RoadStar is a sports brand focusing on skating equipment. Consumers expect brands to adopt digital solutions to enhance services and provide consumers with a better and more convenient experience. This exhibition is a key step for Hubei’s textile and garment industry to achieve a digital breakthrough in going global.

Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) will be held November 7 to 9, 2022. The exhibition has attracted more than 150 exhibitors from China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mongolia, Canada, the United States and other countries and regions. ATSC is the only international sourcing event focused on the Canadian and North American apparel, textile and fashion sectors. The product profile covers fashion accessories, men’s and women’sapparels, garments, children’sapparels, intimate wear, denim, home textile and decor, bedding and bath, leather and footwear, apparel fabrics and yarn, shawls, scarves, knits, cotton, garment accessories and many more.

Karnataka is inviting a series of investments in the textile sector. Manjushree Garments has committed Rs 340 crores and Shahi Exports Rs 150 crores.

The sector is expected to generate 36,457 jobs in the coming years. The state is offering incentives such as five per cent interest subsidy to mega industries and micro, small and medium units, incentives and concessions up to 100 per cent, and enhancement of wage subsidy, which varies across regions.

Four textile parks based on the PPP model are being set up in areas beyond Bangalore, for which tenders will be called shortly. Out of seven mega parks planned by the Centre one isexpected to come up in Karnataka. The state is taking a big leap in becoming the garment capital of the country since it is only the garment industry that gives back 30 per cent of its revenue to the communities.

However the industry in the state has a long way to go as all machinery, including sewing and knitting machines, is being imported. All raw materials, especially dyes, are from China. No textile machine, except spinning machinery from Coimbatore, is being made in India and huge amounts are being paid to import them.

Diesel’s new flagship store in Japan aims to mark a new high for the brand. The store’s first floor boasts a sprawling bright space with bone-white and red walls, reminiscent of the brand’s iconic red logo hue, and galvanized metal racks that line the perimeter of the store. Sculptural shelving, modern-industrial modules and ample beanbag seating can be found throughout the open shopping area.Along with that the open see-through façade generates an inside-out feeling amplifying the retail experience.The entire space underlines elements of renewal, disruption and transformation that can be seen all through the store. The space contains reality captured elements to re-create scenes of the everyday life with the aim to generate a unique shopping experience.

The store carries Diesel's fall /winter 2022 collection, featuring a wide range of items for men and women and a selection of looks from the fall/winter 2022 runway show. The offer includes also the six looks capsule Red Look unveiled during the fall/winter 2022 runway show held last June, which are exclusive to Diesel Ginza and will be available for pre-sale.

For Diesel, Japan is one of its most important markets and Diesel has more than 100 direct operated stores in Japan.