The Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGPMEA) says the country’s garments accessories and packaging sector may incur a loss of Tk 1,200-1,500 crore if import deadlock from China continues for three to four more months. About 40 per cent of raw materials for the sector are procured from China. Importers have suffered losses of over Tk 200 crore due to extension of Chinese New Year holidays. While some of the goods have reached the ports, their documents are missing. In some other cases, there are documents but no goods.

At present, 1,744 registered institutions operate in the garments accessories and packaging sector in Bangladesh. The sector provides employment to over 7.5 lakh people. About 35 types of raw materials, including yarn, fabric, duplex board, white liner, thermoplastic mould, carton, sewing threads, etc, are imported from China.

Companies in the garments accessories also supply raw materials for leather and pharmaceuticals industries alongside the apparel sector, said the association. Moreover, the association member companies cannot import materials as per their will every now and then, which adds to the problem. Even if they find alternative sources, that will add to the cost and time of procurement.

Old Navy plans to exit China. The brand owned by Gap will be closing all its stores in the country. Old Navy serves a core audience of value-seeking families. Children’s clothing is often an entry point to the brand. The brand has focused on increasing its size range, too, and has built an infrastructure that quickly feeds stores with what customers want rather than serving the same assortment to everyone. Old Navy first arrived in China in 2014 and currently operates ten stores in the country. The retailer is the latest in a series of international brands to beat a retreat from China in the last few years, including Forever 21, Asos and New Look.

In February 2019, Gap announced it was planning a spin-off of the Old Navy brand as a separate company, so that the consistent strong performer could concentrate its efforts into growth-oriented strategies and expansion. However, the future of the planned split was put into question when momentum at Old Navy began to slow and, in January of this year, Gap revealed it would no longer go ahead with the separation, since the cost and complexity of the operation had thrown the company’s ability to create value from the split into doubt.

The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association says, garment factories in the country face the risk of shutdown as Coronavirus has restricted imports of all major raw materials. Myanmar imports up to 90 per cent of raw materials from China and the rest from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea for the garment industry which largely uses a cut-make-package (CMP) model.

The number of deaths from the Coronavirus outbreak in mainland China has risen by 136, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,004. There are over 70,000 confirmed cases across the country. Many businesses, including suppliers for Myanmar’s factories, are struggling to function properly.

Majority of clothing factories have stopped running overtime due to dwindling stocks. Normally clothing factories run 10 hours on weekdays, which include two hours of overtime, as well as overtime on weekends. But many factories are closing on weekends and not running overtime on weekdays.

Mango has joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an international alliance within the textile, footwear and clothing industries that aims at sustainable production and seeks to improve practices in the supply chain and measure the environmental and social impact of brands. In 2011, the SAC launched the Higg Index, an indicator of the value chain measurement for retail companies, brands and facilities. The objective of the tool is to calculate and rate the social or environmental sustainability performance of a company or product. Currently, the SAC initiative has seen the participation of more than 250 companies in 35 countries including Asos, Aldo, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, among others.

Mango, based in Spain, is immersed in a sustainable transformation plan. In 2019, the company joined the Fashion Pact, a global association formed by around 250 international brands that aims at boosting the environmental sustainability of the textile and fashion sectors. In addition, Mango is also part of the Better Cotton Initiative program, an initiative that promotes the production and responsible cultivation of cotton, focusing on environmental, social and economic factors. Founded in 1984, Mango has an international presence in over a hundred countries. The company ended 2018 with sales of $2.4 million.

As per Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) affiliated with the US Department of Commerce, Bangladesh's apparel export to the United States (US) grew 9.83 per cent year-on-year in 2019, strengthening its position as the third-largest supplier to the American market, after China and Vietnam.

Bangladesh collected nearly $6 billion from apparel export to the US from January to December, 2019 against $5.40 billion earnings in the corresponding period 2018. Export increased amidst a price hike of Bangladeshi ready-made garments, caused by the elimination of US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility. Bangladesh has been operating without the facility since 2013.

Bangladesh's readymade garments export grew because of the ongoing US-China trade war, prompting both the countries to impose additional tariffs on their respective products, according to industry insiders.

Between January and December 2019, Bangladesh shipped 2.01 billion square meters of apparel to the US. The figure was 1.93 billion square meters in the previous calendar year.

Kingpins Transformers is now the Transformers Foundation. As a foundation, Transformers will actively address and facilitate change in key areas of the denim supply chain including social responsibility, sustainable cotton, responsible chemical management and consumer education. The first step for the foundation is to recruit leaders throughout each of these areas and create an action roadmap for 2020 and 2021.

Besides continuing its events, Transformers Foundation will begin to produce annual reports, white papers, consumer testing and industry honors for outstanding achievements in denim. Its first event as a nonprofit will take place April 24, 2020, in Amsterdam.

What started in 2014 as a way for denim professionals to discuss ideas for change launched a spin-off event for students in 2019. And it’s changed once again—this time, into a nonprofit.

The industry cannot agree on facts or what is right and what is wrong. There is confusion and green-washing, misinformation and dishonest marketing along the supply chain all the way through to the consumers. Brands and retailers use resources when buying their products which are never replenished. The industry needs to understand and pay the true cost of a product, including environmental and social costs. And each day has new reminders that the clock is ticking and environmental change is needed immediately.

Texprocil organized Ind Texpo will be held in Tamil Nadu from March 17 to 19, 2020. This is a reverse buyer-seller meet. Over 75 Indian companies will exhibit their products, which would include quality yarn, apparel fabrics, denim fabrics, choicest home textiles and textile innovations, so as to make sourcing simple and under one roof. The event would also feature exclusive B2B meetings for exhibiting companies, facilitating the exchange of high-quality market intelligence to support industry efforts to attain a competitive edge and move up the value chain with renewed vigor and a better understanding of global trade.

The meet would open up opportunities for Indian companies to explore business potential. Over 100 importers from over 25 countries are expected to visit Ind Texpo. Buyers from Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, UAE, Middle East, Ethiopia, Kenya are expected. Importers in the EU are interested in sourcing Indian yarn, fabrics and home textiles.

The event assumes significance as a good number of textile importers are understood to be looking at alternative sources of supplies following the shutdown in China due to outbreak of the coronavirus. This is the second edition of the event and it is being organized by Texprocil.

Korean retail company Shinsegae offers a variety of retail technology solutions like CloudPOS, Smart Vending Machine, Self-Checkout (SCO) and Self-Scanning Robot. CloudPOS is a cloud-based solution that offers POS essentials to the retail business. The company’s SCO technology has been developed to take various payment methods including credit cards, cash and gift cards, while the Smart Vending machine allows selling of a wide range of products like fresh produce, cosmetics and smart devices.

Shinsegae, founded in 1955, is Korea’s first department store. The flagship store is an iconic place that symbolizes Shinsegae’s traditions and values and its elegant architecture recalls its long history. The company operates two businesses: E-Mart discount store and department store. The E-mart discount stores mainly provide foods, drinks and household products. The department stores mainly provide brand clothes, with seven branch stores throughout Korea. The company has overseas branch offices in China, Japan and the United States. Shinsegae believes in enriching the everyday lives of customers by delivering long-lasting values and commitment. With a network of over 860 stores nationwide, it provides exceptional retail experience for customers across its fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. The company has been working ceaselessly to modernize the distribution industry of Korea.

For the fourth quarter Puma’s net sales went up 20.6 per cent. There was double-digit growth in all regions and product divisions. Gross margin improved to 47.3 per cent led by small positive mix effects as well as slightly positive currency effects. Operating expenses rose 19.4 per cent in the fourth quarter. Net earnings increased 55 per cent.

Sales for the full year increased 18.4 per cent. Sales in the footwear division increased 16.8 per cent. The strongest growth was achieved in the sportstyle, running and training, and motorsport categories. In the apparel division, sales increased 22.6 per cent and was also driven especially by strong growth in sportstyle, running and training as well as motorsport categories. The accessories division showed a sales increase of 13.5 per cent. Higher sales of legwear, bodywear and cobra golf clubs contributed to the increase. Wholesale continued to drive growth with an increase of 15 per cent. Direct-to-consumer sales increased 22 per cent. This was driven by like-for-like sales growth in Puma’s own stores, the expansion of Puma’s retail store network and a continued strong growth of its e-commerce business. Direct-to-consumer sales represented a share of 25.4 per cent of total sales in 2019 compared to 24.3 per cent in 2018.

The National Cotton Council’s 39th Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey says, US cotton cultivation is likely to drop 5.5 per cent to 13.0 million cotton acres this spring. Upland cotton intentions are likely to fall by 5.6 per cent to 12.8 million acres while extra-long staple (ELS) intentions will decline by 2.7 per cent to of 224,000 acre.

Aimed at 13.8 percent for the United States, Cotton Belt harvested area totals 11.2 million acres. Using an average US yield per harvested acre of 848 pounds generates a cotton crop of 19.8 million bales, with 19.1 million upland bales and 675,000 ELS bales.

The NCC questionnaire was mailed in mid-December 2019 to producers across the 17-state Cotton Belt. It asked producers for the number of acres devoted to cotton and other crops in 2019 and the acres planned for the coming season.