Every cloud has a silver lining and the rise of online shopping during the pandemic has proved just that. Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) companies are currently raking in profits like never before as a large number of customers used to the ease of online shopping, still prefer it over visiting physical stores. D2C companies specialize in selling products directly to the end consumer by cutting out middleman and this has completely transformed the online fashion industry in India.

Easy internet accessibility improves sales

With a consistent increase in internet accessibility with providers like Jio with their exceptional infrastructure and reasonable pricing, even rural customers have smart phones. With increased aspirations for a better lifestyle, over 42 per cent global consumers are spending notably more time browsing social media than before Covid times.

D2C brands are keeping authentic in-stock garments along with easy and quick home delivery courier service. These brands can deliver in remote locations as well as Tier II, III cities. This growth has also led to the establishment of various companies offering integrated services like delivery, logistics, and warehousing. These brands are able to easily gather valuable consumer data, which can be used in a faster feedback cycle and an in-depth understanding of customer preferences that can improve overall product and service development.

Smaller D2C fashion brands have an advantage over bigger ones as they can have a personalized product portfolio that has unique collections for different festivals, seasons, and geographical locations across India. For small independent brands, the online potential consumer is a huge unlimited market that can be lured to buy at little to no cost, unlike the reach of a physical store.

Focus on customized fits and improved mobile shopping

With focussed consumer targeting and intensive digital marketing, some D2C brands are crossing the $100 million a year revenue threshold which is a far cry from the $20 million/per year before Covid. However, the road to success is not of gilded gold as they need to overcome some of the biggest industry challenges, which include managing product content across various sales channels, sustainability issues, sophisticated customer relationship programs, and re-creating the in-store experience with online product videos, editorial images, and 360-degree product views. These include: hi-tech solutions for a personalized fashion experience with customized tailoring, bespoke fits, and more options to choose from in length and sleeves and catering to more customers with specific preferences.

As per a recent KPMG report, Fable Street, G.O.A.T. Brand Labs, Twenty Dresses, Bombay Shirt Company and Bombay Trooper are just a few of the over 800 D2C brands in India. This report has valued the segment at $44.6B in 2021 and projected to reach $100B by 2025. The way forward will require the brands to use more high-tech video commerce with the virtual world coming to the forefront while 5G and mobile shopping play a big role in facilitating live online purchases.

As competition gets more intense, DTC companies will also need to focus on keeping their prices at par and improving their quality and customer care to stand out from the regular brands sold at physical stores. Wellness and fitness apparel will be another important segment with a focus on sustainable packaging and recycled and environmentally friendly products. With customer retention and brand loyalty being the biggest challenge, DTC brands must concentrate on making their online shopping experience bigger and the best than many of their rivals in the actual world.

Fashion brand Zara has decided to venture into the business of pre-owned clothing.

The company will start to offer repair, resale and donations services in the UK. This move into a more sustainable approach is a departure from its fast fashion image. As part of the new offering, customers will have the option to repair their Zara clothing from any season which includes replacing buttons, zips and seams both online or in a physical Zara store.Customers can also resell and purchase worn Zara garments utilising a new secure platform and make a clothing donation of any brand to charity.

This initiative starts in November. Clothing items can be donated through home collection and they will be sent to the Red Cross, an organization which reuses or recycles them.

Launching of resale platforms for fashion brands have become more common in this day and age. Fast fashion brands look to come across more sustainable given the textile industry contributes around ten per cent of global carbon emission. The growing issue of ethical fashion has thrown a spotlight on the sustainability of fast fashion and in turn guided the fashion industry down a road toward a more sustainable fiber use.

Tunisia’s revenue from textile and clothing exports increased by 11 per cent from January 2022 to September 2022. However, the quantities of goods exported by the country fell by 27 per cent.

Knitwear exports grew by 24 per cent in tons and 34 per cent in dinars. Exports of clothing in warp and weft jumped 12 per cent in tons and 18 per cent in dinars.

There was development in value and weight for clothing exports in warp and weft concerning the main markets — Germany (28 per cent in weight and 34 per cent in dinars), Italy (ten per cent in weight and 21 per cent in dinars) and France (four per cent in weight and 12 per cent in dinars).

Exports of Tunisia’s textile sector dropped 50 per cent in tons and 34 per cent in dinars. While the African nation’s textile exports to France dropped by 52 per cent, exports to Italy rose by 13 per cent.Textile and clothing imports grew by 29 per cent by the end of September 2022 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2021. However, quantities of imports dropped by 16 per cent.

Textiles are a pillar of the Tunisian economy and contribute more than 20 per cent to the GDP.

Pakistan’s textile sector is facing serious difficulties after a portion of the cotton crop was washed away by floods.

Pakistan imported three million cotton bales last year and needs to import at least five million bales during the current fiscal year due to damage to the crop by recent floods.Current estimates of losses to the cotton crop due to floods are 3.5 million bales, accounting for 36 percent of the expected yield this year.

Pakistan decided to reverse the competitive power rates for industries. In protest, textile millers have decided to shut down all textile industries in the country. More than 1000 textile mills have already been closed down. Almost 50 to 75 processing mills are closed and almost ten printing mills are closed in Faisalabad region. Similarly 50,000 looms mills closed due to the high price of electricity. Factories received bills at rates per unit which were too high. Almost 300 to 350 embroidery machines have been closed till date. The closure of the textile industry will cause a huge loss to domestic exports.

Five million employees will lose their jobs and 30 million people will be affected due to the closure of textile industries. The industry wants electricity and gas to be provided at competitive rates and without interruptions.

India has decided not to levy an anti-dumping duty on Monoethylene Glycol (MEG).

MEG is a major raw material used for the manufacture of polyester staple fiber. The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) has welcomed the decision since adequate availability of polyester staple fiber at an internationally competitive rate would fuel the growth of technical textiles. This, SIMA says, is necessary as with the cotton shortage, several hundreds of spinning mills, weaving mills, knitting and garment capacities in India are switching over to polyester textile clothing manufacturing. So the decision sustains the financial viability of these segments apart from protecting the jobs of several lakhs of people.

The Production Linked Incentive Scheme encourages large scale investment in the manmade fiber segment.Globally, the ratio of consumption of manmade textile fiber and cotton is 65:35. In India it is the opposite. India’s major growth of textiles is expected to come from manmade fiber industry. Once a stage is reached where the entire demand is fulfilled by domestic supply, raw material can be made available to lakhs of weavers involved in the polyester value chain, thereby leading to enhanced production of finished goods, enabling realization of the export targets. Expansion of production capacity of key raw materials for manufacturing of polyester viz Purified Terephthalic Acid and Monoethylene Glycol is essential for increased production of the downstream industry.

White Milano will be held in Italy, February 24 to 27, 2023. The decision was taken after the successful edition of September 2022 when the event registered the presence of 16,000 visitors, 23 per cent more than those registered in September 2021, and 18 per cent more international buyers, when compared with the corresponding edition of last year when the show took place in five different locations, hosted 400 brands and presented 65 side initiatives including special projects e-events.

The decision of postponing the event by one day aims to respond to the strategic need of facilitating fashion operators with their schedules, yet still aligned with the dates of international fashion weeks. The organizers came to this decision after carefully analysing the needs of customers, the flow of buyers and international press, the schedules of buyers and the international media. The change is meant to facilitate the operations of professionals and appointments planning. All the show locations expect to host a higher number of trendy international brands, established labels, new generation designers, innovative formats and a rich schedule of events linked to the world of sustainability.

The organisers feel the change will facilitate the work and appointments planning of the entire professional involved.

Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics A/W edition will be held in China, August 28 to 30, 2023, while Spring Edition will be taking place from 8 – 10 March 2023 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai.

The event allows for integrated business interactions and promotes the advancement of the industry. As a global flagship for the industry, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics is regarded by many suppliers as their go-to textile trade fair.

The AW fair will feature pavilions from Germany, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan while companies will be presenting their products at group pavilions. These include Lenzing, the manufacturer of plant-based fibres; Sorona, the high-performance polymer producer; and Hyosung, the end-to-end international textile maker.To enable more targeted sourcing, the fair will make use of featured product zoneswith domestic exhibitors also grouped by product end use. This is a place to meet all upstream and downstream customers to discuss technology, innovative ideas and to imagine the future.

Intertextile Apparel is a large-scale and comprehensive fair with both product and trend displays. The fair is a one-stop platform for big trading businesses. Intertextile Apparel’s Trend Forum, seminars, panel discussions and product presentations will cover topics on sustainability issues, design and trends, market information and business strategies as well as technology and solutions.For added value, fairgoers can make use of online business matching services.

India’s cotton yarn exports declined by 42 per cent from April 2022 to August 2022. The decline was majorly contributed by the top export destinations Bangladesh and China where exporters saw a drop of 36 per cent and 93 per cent respectively. Cotton yarn shipment from India to Portugal too came down drastically by 56 per cent. On the other hand, Indian cotton yarn exports to Egypt rose by five per cent while exports to Italy were up by 132 per cent.

While India’s yarn exports showed a downward trend this year, its imports from Vietnam have jumped.The far-eastern country was earlier one of the major markets for Indian cotton yarn. The scarcity of cotton along with a comparatively higher price in India has resulted in a shift in its trade dynamics with Vietnam.

Cotton prices in India are still ruling higher than those in the international market.India’s yarn exports to Vietnam dropped to $6.485 million in July 2022 from $18.084 million in February 2022. India’s yarn exports to Vietnam had registered growth during the preceding years.

But fiscal year 2022 had proved to be a great one for Indian cotton yarn exporters as they managed to tap 92 per cent growth on a yearly basis.

In the second quarter GHCL’s net profit climbed by 212 per cent. Net revenue grew by 73 per cent during the second quarter. The company’s inorganics chemical division’s revenue grew by 98 per cent. Textiles business revenue rose by 11 per cent. The company’s ebidta increased by 159 per cent.

GHCL is an Indian chemical and spinning company and sees its robust performance in the quarter as testimony to its focus on operational excellence and sustainable business practices. These factors coupled with a positive demand and the ability to leverage its manufacturing expertise has been instrumental in ensuring strong topline and profitability trends.

GHCL believes it is well poised to channelize its experience and expertise to demonstrate an industry leading performance in the years to come. The chemical and textile company will set up 40,000 ring spindles in Tamil Nadu to produce synthetic and synthetic blended yarn to cater to the knitting and weaving segments.

GHCL also plans to develop an extra high tension power transmission facility to ensure uninterrupted power supply.It will install another 40,000 ring spindles with 24 knitting machines in Madurai district to produce 100 per cent cotton yarn and knitted fabrics. The company has a commitment towards sustainable business practices and reducing its carbon footprint.

ColorJet has appointed Arun Varshney as vice-president and business head textile.

Varshney has an experience of over 28 years in the textile industry. He started his professional journey with Voltas in 1994 as textile engineer. He is expected to add value to ColorJet’s textile business. With this key appointment, the company is looking forward to expansion in new market segments along with driving growth in the existing markets.

ColorJet, about 25 years old, is known for clean, efficient,profitable manufacturinghas a technologically advanced and innovative product line and offers solutions to those looking for more environment-friendly textile printing processes. The company has a 70 percent share of textile printing products sold in India, has machines catering to the apparel industry and the home textile industry. Within the apparel industry it has machines for direct to fabric and sublimation along with machines for reactive ring, dispersing. The company’s business is growing since customers are shifting from conventional printing technology to digital printing technology. This has the advantage of low operating cost, low maintenance. Also job runs are getting shorter by the day. And the strains on spinning, weaving and big process houses are driving people to digital printing.