Authentic Brands hopes to relaunch Forever 21 in the UK. There is no current Forever 21 business in the UK but at one time the UK had as many as eight stores. It expanded too quickly in the UK and had too many large format stores in shopping centers with poor footfalls. Forever 21 had a strong brand image and had a dedicated customer base but over-bought and ended up with stock issues.

Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy toward the end of 2019. It was shut down and then bought by Authentic Brands. The new ownership gives Forever 21 the opportunity to try to start again with a clean slate in the UK since there is a recognisable brand and brand equity. Forever 21 will have an opportunity and advantage over other brands, which don’t have that strength to be able to negotiate on favorable terms with lower rents, shortage leases with break clauses. But the apparel market in the UK is having difficult times at the moment. There is serious competition from online retailers apart from rivals. If Forever 21 decides to relaunch in the UK, it will need to begin with pop-up stores to get a feel for what customers want.

The European market imports over 45 per cent garments produced in Myanmar. The European Union accounts for more than 30 per cent of Myanmar’s total exports.

Myanmar currently enjoys tariff-free access to the EU bloc for all exports except weapons and ammunition under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The garment industry has emerged as one of the major beneficiaries of these trade privileges. The EU’s special trade status to Myanmar is critical to attracting more manufacturers setting up factories in the country as manufacturers move their supply chains from China to Southeast Asia. The recent US-China trade tension along with Coronavirus outbreak is speeding up the process of major industries shifting manufacturing bases to southeast Asia from China. With Vietnam and Indonesia seeing a looming shortage of workers for low skilled jobs, more manufacturers are looking to Myanmar as a production base as part of risk diversification measures.

A compliance assessment has been launched in Myanmar, starting with two pilot factories. The checklist helps manufacturers conduct self-assessments on whether working conditions satisfy international legal and labor rights standards, including those from the EU and the US. Last year, a law was passed addressing concerns on child rights.

Agfa and TFL have jointly developed an inkjet printing solution to decorate high-quality genuine leathers used by the fashion, upholstery, automotive, aviation and nautical industries. The solution named Alussa enables decoration of leather in such a way that it retains high flexibility and scratch resistance.

Agfa develops inkjet printers and dedicated inkjet inks as well as the software to manage and monitor the printing process. TFL provides custom-developed coating chemistry. The Alussa leather printing solution incorporates both Agfa’s vast expertise in the field of inkjet technology, graphic workflow and color management, and TFL’s in-depth knowledge of coating chemistry and coating application techniques.

Alussa is the sum of a number of perfectly matched components. Alussa enables the leather industry to decorate high-quality leather in such a way that it exhibits the excellent performance required in terms of flexibility and scratch resistance. It is the first industrial inkjet printing solution outputting decorated leather that can handle up to 1,00,000 flexes. Alussa can print both white and full-color designs with photographic quality on diverse types of leather. As it is a digital printing solution, it is ideal for customising and personalising leather products, thus catering to a global trend. Also, it just as easily allows for the creation of one-offs eg samples as of large volumes.

"A result of the overlap of Academy Awards with the New York Fashion calendar, the global fashion tour of Autumn/Winter 2020 fashion collection began in Los Angeles this season despite it being a part of the New York Fashion Week. At one of such events, designer Tom Ford launched his collection with an Oscars-after party like catwalk rather than a fashion show. Ford grabbed massive media attention with his sheer number of stories which proved to be valuable return on his investment."

A result of the overlap of Academy Awards with the New York Fashion calendar, the global fashion tour of Autumn/Winter 2020 fashion collection began in Los Angeles this season despite it being a part of the New York Fashion Week. At one of such events, designer Tom Ford launched his collection with an Oscars-after party like catwalk rather than a fashion show. Ford grabbed massive media attention with his sheer number of stories which proved to be valuable return on his investment.

Prior to Ford, designer M Missoni had held a dance-a-thon presentation at the famous Pink’s Hot Dogs on La Brea Avenue to showcase his Spring 2020 collection. Dozens of beautiful people lounged about in M Missoni’s vivid knitwear at the event. It looked as though they were staged for the Italian brand’s next advertising campaign, and images were immediately released on social media.

Baja East showcases A/W collection at Hollywood inspired hotel

Three days later, New York based brand Baja East showcased its Autumn/Winter collection at the Edition hotel in West Hollywood, which had a ceiling full of disco balls and, for the show, a floor strewn with colorful woven rugs. That was a fitting location for this hipster-ease label, which exudes a stoned-on-the-beach-after-all-night-partying sensibility. The brand’s collection taps into a wider tale of two cities locked in a rivalry to lead America in cultural relevance.

Generating $6.1 million of media value

A few hours after Baja East, the fashion-going crowd moved several miles east to central Hollywood, where Tom Ford revealed his AW2020 collection. This created a wholly different front row where Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos was seated in the place of honor beside Anna Wintour. Super agent and Creative Artists Agency partner and managing director Bryan Lourd chatted with producer Brian Grazer. Guests included Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Jon Hamm, Jason Momoa and so many more that it’s easy to see why Ford chose LA over New York. He owned the city and the fashion internet that night.

The event generated $6.1million of media value after the show. This was a 36 per cent increase on $4.5 million Launchmetrics estimated Ford’s show to have generated in September 2019. To hold an event in LA was a daring move by Ford, who has been newly appointed as the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Many in the industry felt he should remain loyal to New York’s Fashion Week to be more supportive of other designers. However, it’s hard to argue with his results.

Media influence remains strong

Designers who lack Ford’s might, need to learn new ways to generate returns from a fashion show. This is rarely studied by brands that often lack the finances or know-how. Diving deeper into numbers suggests that breaking away from the fashion week pack can be highly beneficial to a brand. According to Launchmetrics, the stories that came out of Ford’s Hollywood runway focused exclusively on Ford, rather than counting him amongst other New York designers. In fact, the analysts calculate that, despite the benefits offered by celebrities and influencers, the influence of media accounts for a stunning $9.7million rather than the $6.1million measured within the fashion context.

The Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak is wreaking havoc on Southeast Asia’s garment supply chain. Transport and supply chain disruptions in China are spilling over into Southeast Asia. Uniqlo’s shipments from Vietname suppliers have been delayed by about two weeks. Uniqlo has already pushed back the launch of some new product lines. Garment makers in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar still depend on China, Asia's biggest economy, for raw materials – 60 per cent of the materials used for Vietnam’s sewn products, for example, come from China. More than 60 per cent of raw materials for Cambodia’s apparel industry come from China. These garment makers have become increasingly important to global fashion brands. May 10, a supplier for brands such as Gap and Tommy Hilfiger, imports 50 per cent of raw materials from China and is facing difficulties meeting March and April orders. Saigon 3 Garment, which produces for Uniqlo and Nike, has only enough materials for production until March.

Textile production is more capital intensive than sewing, and China remains dominant in material production even as brands diversify their manufacturing bases. Factories in China are operating at a reduced rate due to staff shortages caused by restrictions on movement of people.

The impact of the virus will likely have a legacy on how companies source in future. Having yarn/fabric/product finishing all done domestically will reduce future risks to global supply of materials.

The International Cotton Conference Bermen will take place in Germany from March 25 to 27, 2020. The conference will showcase latest developments and promising topics of the cotton textile supply chain and discuss the resulting challenges for the market. Science and industry will be equally represented. A session on alternative and previously little-known uses of this natural, renewable and biodegradable raw material in highly innovative and useful products will be hosted. The session will show that the use of cotton goes far beyond household textiles and clothing. In fact, thanks to its intelligent properties, cotton can also be found in technical products or in smart textiles. Cotton can be equipped with fluorescent, super-magnetic and water-repellent properties. This is not brought about by a chemical change, but biologically through the implementation of a specially developed glucose molecule in cotton. The development has the potential to be used in large formats in cotton-based functional materials and textiles. Padding for use in furniture is not made from oil-based synthetic fibers but from cotton and other bio-based natural fibers and are used in the area of home textiles (e.g. wallpaper) or for functional components for technical textiles and for clothing development.

Karl Mayer’s new RDJ 6/1 EN has piezo jacquard technology for producing stylish shoe fabrics. Almost 90 per cent of the jacquard shoe fabrics currently produced can be manufactured on the RDJ 6/1 EN. The new machine has a better price and operates faster than the higher-bar version. The configuration of this new machine makes it ideal for producing engineered spacer textiles. The RDJ 6/1 EN is available in gauges of E 22 and E 24 and has a working width of 138 inches and the distance between the knock-over comb bars can be adjusted continuously from two mm to eight mm. This is a flexible production machine with five guide bars and one split jacquard bar. It can also produce an extensive range of fabrics. Dense structures can be worked, as well as a wide range of patterns with holes, which can be of any size and placed in any location.

The result is attractive shoe fabrics with a specific breathability. If the split jacquard bars are moved in a counter lapping operating mode, the contours of the openings are exceptionally clear. In this case, the yarn is fed from two sectional warp beams. This facilitates yarn drawing-in and doubles the yarn running times – with a positive effect on productivity.

US denim apparel imports fell by 3.16 per cent in 2019. Mexico’s denim shipments to the US fell 1.84 per cent and China’s fell 25.68 per cent. Mexico and China are the top two denim apparel exporters to the US. Bangladesh’s denim shipments grew 3.50 per cent. Vietnam’s denim shipments grew 25.60 per cent. India’s denim shipments grew by 21.80 per cent. Ethiopia saw a massive growth of 464.76 per cent in its shipments. Ethiopia is an emerging manufacturing hub. Denim imports from Pakistan rose 8.69 per cent in volume while increasing 5.13 per cent in value. Imports from Egypt rose 12.7 per cent in value and increased 8.96 per cent in volume. Denim imports from Nicaragua were up 16.91 per cent in value terms while volume was down 3.73 per cent. And denim imports from Cambodia increased 11.8 per cent in value as volume decreased 0.49 per cent in the year.

The balance of power in denim manufacturing took a dramatic turn in 2019, leading to a decline in volume and value for the top three suppliers–China, Mexico and Bangladesh – and strong upswings for the next three – Vietnam, Pakistan and Egypt. American imports of denim apparels constitute blue denim jeans, blue skirts and blue denim jackets.

Stitch and Tex in Egypt will consist of two trade fairs, February 27 to March 1, 2020, and March 5 to 8, 2020.

The first trade fair is dedicated to garment processing technologies including sewing, embroidery, fabrics and accessories. The second is dedicated to textile processing technologies including weaving, spinning, knitting and dyeing machinery, technologies and spare parts.

Stitch and Tex is Africa’s most important trade fair and platform for textile technologies. Global players, innovative newcomers and providers of niche technology will all represented here. Brands will demonstrate textile technologies that will be revealed for the first time in African markets. Visitors can explore unprecedented profit-making business hot spots. For the first time in the history of textile technologies trade fairs in Africa, the event will feature the presence of buyers and factory owners from Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, South Africa, Madagascar, Tanzania, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. They can have open channels of communication directly with the exhibitors within a well set bilateral business meetings program. Flow of 40,000 visitors from 16 countries will be welcomed into the trade fair. Over two-thirds of these visitors work in upper and middle management in their companies and as such have a direct influence on on-site procurement decisions.

European Parliament of the European People’s Party (MEP) in cooperation with the Bangladesh Embassy in Brussels held a multi-stakeholder event titled ‘EU-Bangladesh Apparel Trade: A Time for a Reality Check’ create a platform to discuss the current state of the European Union-Bangladesh garment trade. At the event, former BGMEA President and Advisory Committee member of the Commerce Minister of Bangladesh Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin addressed some of the issues raised later on subcontracting, the fire safety standard and the Rana Plaza tragedy.

State Minister Shahriar Alam said that the sea change in Bangladesh’s RMG industry over the past seven years, especially as a result of the concerted efforts of many dedicated actors and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina envisioned a Bangladesh where prosperity and social justice coexist in a prosperous economy and our social partners work together to manage industrial relations in harmony. He called on Brussels stakeholders to help set a positive agenda for EU-Bangladesh trade relations beyond ‘disseminating relentless misinformation by some malls’.

Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has proposed to raise the bulk tariff of electricity by 23.28 per cent from this year and the minimum wage increased 51 percent by now. In this current situation, Bangladesh RMG must highlight the fair price of products to sustain the RMG industry.