Performance Days, Germany, November 3 to 4, 2022, will focus on CO2 Neutrality.

As part of a roadmap, the topic will accompany exhibitors on their way to climate neutrality. To coincide with the winter fair, the event organizers will now move on to phase 2 of a 3-phase plan.

In the Performance Forum, focus topic category, the green light to participate was exclusively given to fabric innovations that could certify initial values in CO2 reduction for the submitted fiber innovations. In combination with the current Higg Index, the aim is to make it possible in the future to achieve a better assessment of the CO2 balance in the production and development of new materials and fibers for the industry itself.

Among the issues are comparing the values of natural fibers such as wool with those of recycled polyester, bio-based nylon or recycled wool, dealing with the various qualities on the one hand and with different strengths on the other and the importance of such factors as the production site and production processes within this context. Additional performance codes such as CO2 neutral and CO2 reduced are intended to make the approaches to CO2 reduction visible also for the winter edition.

The 2023 edition of Cisma will have intelligent sewing tech and digitalization solutions as its theme.

Cisma is a sewing technology exhibition that takes place in China. The edition in 2023 will provide a much better and bigger platform for technology companies to tap the rising demand for Chinese sewing equipment worldwide.

Cisma 2021, which attracted 22,304 visitors despite Covid restrictions in the country, proved to be a platform for companies to display intelligent and automated sewing technologies, particularly automatic adjustment of stitch distance, presser foot pressure, thread tension and material thickness sensing. China is a global manufacturing base of sewing equipment. Since 2019, China’s export of sewing equipment has surpassed domestic sales.

Over time the sewing machine industry has expanded from clothing, home textiles and traditional industries to automotives, industrial textiles as well as aerospace and other fields.

Cisma will provide a one-stop business experience platform. The layout of the exhibition hallwill be based on product category, the actual development of the industry and the entire industry chain. The exhibition will display different types and models of machines, differentiated brands, and distinctive products.Thesewing machine industry, after a sustained downturn, is once again facing a market demand, a huge customer base and is ready with innovation, thriving enterprises and exciting products.

China’s cotton market is set to close at a two-year low. A strong dollar and weak demand have hit trade. The country’s persistence with Covid Zero is hurting consumption and disrupting supply, and soaring global inflation has sappedthe demand for cotton products.

China is the world’s biggest consumer and importer of cotton and the top exporter of apparel and textiles. It produces about three-quarters of the cotton it needs for processing and imports the rest, mainly from the US, though annual imports through September have fallen about a fifth from last year.

The battle to contain a jump in virus cases is putting renewed pressure on China’s economy. More and more places are becoming subject to curbs. Demand for clothing is weakening as people stay at home and spend less, shrinking operating rates at textile mills, which in turn are buying less of their raw material.On the supply side, lockdowns in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the source of almost all of China’s crop, has slowed the purchase and transport of the commodity, again forcing manufacturers to cut production. The amount of cotton processed in China is almost 50 per cent below last year’s levels. Expectations of a bumper domestic crop this autumn are adding to the pressure.

Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve its apparel export targets for the fiscal year 2022-2023.

For one, demand for apparel has decreased in the major markets, including European Union and the United States, due to the high trend of inflation. Global buyers are placing a decreasing volume of orders due to inflation. Readymade garment exports in October 2022 are expected to have fallen by nearly 20 per cent compared to that of the same month last year.

Export earnings from readymade garment exports in fiscal year 2021-2022 were 21 per cent higher than the target for that year. Also there is a shortage of energy in the country.The ongoing crisis of gas and electricity has pushed the production cost high as manufacturers have been trying to continue their production through diesel-run generators. Generators in factories are also being crippled due to their frequent use. So factory owners have been forced to negotiate orders with low prices in order to pay workers’ wages as the flow of orders has decreased in recent months.

The newly opened Center for Innovation, Efficiency and OSH is expected to help Bangladesh's garment sector transform its challenges into opportunities. A reduction of the export tax is also expected to help and there is a call for this.

Some American sports and athleisure brands have been served legal notices for using a chemical beyond safe limits in their clothes.

The chemical is called BPA and the brands include Athleta, Nike, Fila, New Balance, and Reebok. BPA can emulate hormones like oestrogen and block other hormone receptors, altering the concentration of hormones in our body and resulting in negative health effects.Even low levels of exposure during pregnancy have been associated with a variety of health problems in offspring. These problems include abnormal development of the mammary glands and ovaries that can increase the likelihood of developing breast or ovarian cancer later in life. These effects occur even at low levels of exposure. BPA has been found in polyester-based clothing with spandex, including socks made for infants. BPA can be absorbed through skin and end up in the bloodstream after handling paper for seconds. Since sports bras and athletic shirts are worn for hours at a time,high levels of BPA in clothing are a matter of concern.

Toxic chemicals can cause a range of diseases that include cancer, diseases of the heart and lungs, and reproductive impairment. Prevention of these impacts is most effectively achieved by phasing out the use of toxic chemicals.

Workers in more than a dozen countries say Adidas indulges in unfair practices.

Workers who make Adidas products are demanding an end to pervasive wage theft and union-busting.In Myanmar, striking workers called on Adidas supplier Pou Chen, which dismissed 26 union members, to stop retaliating against their union and agree to a wage increase.

Demonstrations in Germany brought together activists in dance flash mobs. In Italy a public poster campaign raised awareness about Adidas' responsibility to the workers who make its products. Garment worker unions have been demonstrating for months to bring attention to the brand’s long history of wage theft and anti-union repression in its apparel and footwear supply chains.

Workers in Cambodia have been fighting for years for the compensation they’re owed. They say Adidas refuses to end wage theft in its supply chain, prioritizing profits over people. Garment workers are calling on consumers to make this wave of activism just the beginning of holding Adidas to account.

On the other hand Adidas, one of the largest sports apparel companies in the world, severed ties with Kanye West in response to West’s controversial behavior, including making anti-semitic comments, and said it does not tolerate anti-semitism and any other sort of hate speech.

The Cotton Association of India (CAI) wants the period for duty-free cotton imports to be extended to November 30, 2022.

Recent disruptions in the global supply chain have delayed the India-bound cotton imports from Australia and the US. Shipments are expected to reach Indian ports after a delay of about four weeks.

Extension in the period of duty-free import, says CAI, will facilitate importers to receive the natural fiber and will also mitigate the sufferings of Indian importers. Acute shortage of containers has also added to the problems of importers.

India had decided to waive the import duty on cotton till September 30, 2022, when the new season began, and the period was later extended till October 31. Now, the Cotton Association of India has urged that the period be extended for another month.However, cotton prices have dropped by around 44 per cent. So it will be very difficult to decide when the peak arrival season will begin in India. Cotton prices are expected to further drop when arrivals increase in the weeks to come. The cotton textile industry contributed significantly to achieving last year’s merchandise export targets. India’s cotton production in the 2022/2023 season is likely to be up 12 per cent from a year ago.

Bangladesh and South Korea have a partnership in the apparel and textile sector. They have identified innovation, diversification and technological upgradation as the key strategic priorities for their future growth.

The collaboration also seeks to promote direct or joint venture investments from South Korea to Bangladesh in high-end garment items, non-cotton textiles, woven textiles and garments, and skills development and innovation.

South Korea is one of the emerging markets for Bangladesh, which aims at hiking apparel exports to South Korea. South Korea currently sources 34 per cent of its apparel items from China, but due to rising costs, apparel production is increasingly moving out of China, and Bangladesh’s entrepreneurs now have an opportunity to capture the South Korean market. Bangladesh’s apparel shipments to South Korea have experienced a positive growth over the past five years despite the pandemic-led slowdown. But a big push will be taken this year to capture a bigger share of the South Korean marketwith diversified items such as underwear, denims, shirts, jackets and pullovers as South Korea has a great demand for high-value winter clothing and denim. Other potential products that have good demand in the country include non-leather footwear, home textiles, jute and jute products etc.

Essentials is H&M’s attempt at slow fashion. The collection is antithetical to the fast fashion agenda and has a tightly-edited, season-less line of wardrobe staples.

The idea is to slow down. Instead of creating wastefully, H&M has made garments that are designed to stand the test of time. Every style in the collection is individually numbered, and the brand plans to never feature more than 20 at a time. These are classic men’s wear pieces like T-shirts, jeans, shirts, coats, jackets etc and considerable development and fabric research have gone into creating these garments. This means, for instance, adding a smidge of stretch to jeans to ensure comfort or getting fit details like the lengths on T-shirts just right.

Fast fashion leaves a large environmental footprint. So this is Swedish giant H&M’s attempt at making some concerted steps towards righting some wrongs. 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.

Fast fashion is a term coined to the quick turnaround times between runway, manufacture and retail which can be as short as ten days.The average fashion designer now creates anything between 18 to 25 collections a year.

A conference on Protech (Protective Textiles) will be held in New Delhi, November 16, 2022.

Protective textiles are a segment of technical textiles. The conclave will provide a platform for buyers and sellers to interact and come up with an action plan to benefit from the ongoing demand for protective textiles. Personnel from defence, paramilitary, fire brigade forces, oil industry, steel, aluminium industry, security sector, entrepreneurs and professionals from the technical textiles industry especially Protech, technical officers, R&D personnel, machinery manufacturers and faculty from well-known textile institutes will also take part in the conclave.

To benefit the participants and keep them abreast of the latest technologies and innovative products, an exhibition will be arranged along with the conclave in which around 30 companies/agencies will participate and will showcase the innovative products in the field of protech. So the exhibition will provide an opportunity for manufacturers to showcase their developments and innovations.

The National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) and Production Linked Incentive schemes are a few of the major steps taken in India to promote the technical textile industry. Market development, market promotion, international technical collaborations, investment promotions and the Make in India initiative are also there to promote this industry. Metakey: protech, trade show, technical textiles, The National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM), conference, exhibition