Sharon Graubard, Founder and Creative Director, MintModa, sees men’s wear fabrics in the upcoming fall season moving more towards casual and activewear. According to him, tailored pants along with hardwoven are being replaced by soft sweats and gym shorts, most with adjustable waists.

As per a Souring Journal report, Graubard believes, Corduroy is making a comeback, particularly in plush wide-wale versions, and is being used in pants, jackets and outerwear. New shirt fabrics have a bit of shine, mostly in lustrous cottons. Fabrics for outerwear weights tend to be dense, with a boiled-wool effect. Blanket plaids are key, generally large-scale buffalo checks or tartan yarn-dyes, sometimes with a soft brushed surface.

Graubard adds that similar to women’s wear, leather and leather-like looks are key in men’s, not only for moto jackets but for leather pants and leather shirts. Some leathers or leather alternatives have a shiny or metallic finish, which adds a bit of edge to informal ensembles.

According to Edited’s latest blog addressing ‘3 Winning Narratives for Neutrals in Men’s Wear’ neutrals are taking a front seat in men’s wear. Retailers are ramping up investment in neutral comfort stories across both regions. T-shirts remain the top stocked category, followed by shorts and hoodies. Edited notes, investment in outdoors-inspired products and staycation stories are likely to grow in importance if lockdowns continue.

Linen proved to be a standout trend this season, said the Edited report. Use of this fabric grew by 9 percent year over year across retailers in the second quarter. It will continue to remain in focus in future too.

Streetwear also maintained a foothold in the mass market and neutral palettes remain important, Edited noted. The Fall 2020 collection will focus on the functional aspects of clothes with details like pockets, zips, buckles and tech fabrics being at the fore.

Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) has organized a two-day online streaming event featuring six premium textile firms in collaboration with the Bureau of Foreign Trade. The six firms are presenting their latest sustainable innovations and displaying Taiwan's competitive advantage in functional and sustainable textiles to the global textile industry.

The two day online streaming event is being held via TTF's Textile Export Promotion Project (TEPP) official Facebook and Youtube from November 11-12, 2020.

According to UN Conference on Trade and Development, considered the second most polluting industry in the world, the fashion industry releases half a million tonne of microfibers every year. This is equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil being dumped into the ocean. The industry uses roughly 20 per cent or about 93 billion cubic meter, of global waste water annually.

Taiwan textile firms have been quick to act to minimize environmental footprints and be more socially responsible. Through innovative research and development, thes firms are developing sustainable fabrics from waste bio-based materials and PET bottles to help lessen the burden on mother earth.

The ongoing Gurjar agitation in Rajasthan and the farmers’ agitation in Punjab and Haryana has cast a dark shadow on the plans of Surat textile traders as buyers are cancelling orders and transporters are refusing to deliver goods. As per reports, northern states including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan account for nearly 45 per cent of the total turnover of the textile fabrics supplied from Surat. In the last four days, half a dozen-odd buyers in Punjab and Haryana have cancelled orders to the tune of Rs 10 lakh due to the farmers’ agitation.

Narendra Saboo, President, Surat Mercantile Association says, the agitation has destroyed the city’s textile trade. Only few days are left for the Diwali festival and the supply of goods from Surat has almost stopped. Champalal Bothra, Secretary, Federation of Surat Textile Traders’ Association (FOSTTA) informed, transporters in Surat have completely stopped taking the delivery orders to the northern states due to the ongoing agitations, roadblocks and protests.

Public bodies and textile firms working across Amsterdam and civic authorities have signed an agreement to manufacture denim products more sustainably. Known as the denim deal, the new international collaboration focuses on making post-consumer textile recycling the new standard in the industry and has been signed by 30 parties.

Signatories to this deal include the Amsterdam city, the Amsterdam Economic Board, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the municipalities of Haarlem and the Zaanstad and brands including Mud Jeans, Kings of Indigo, House of Denim and Scotch & Soda. These signatories have committed to meet certain sustainable standards a part of their operations. This includes agreeing to work as quickly as possible towards a standard of using at least 5 per cent recycled textile in all denim garments.

Scotch & Soda, Mud Jeans and Kuyuchi have also pledged to jointly make three million denim garments containing at least 20 per cent recycled textiles. The city of Amsterdam will support this aim by collecting old textiles from residents and ensuring as many people as possible recycle their denim correctly. The deal will run for three years and at the end of each year a report will be compiled to assess all of the activities undertaken and the results.

Pushing industry stalwarts Brooks Brothers and Lord & Taylor to bankruptcy, the global luxury fashion market is crumbling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, says a The New York Times report. Experts are reexamining business models followed by luxury fashion brands. They are also questioning the validity of fashion weeks and urging for a reset of current fashion cycles.

As per Boston Consulting Group estimates, global luxury sales are expected to contract by 25 to 45 per cent this year. The industry is unlikely to achieve pre-pandemic growth levels before 2023 and designers cannot afford to showcase new collections.

Pandemic affects smaller brands as sales drop

At the latest fashion week in New York, small-scale or online only presentations replaced blockbuster catwalk shows. Now, a few Italian and French brands plan to host physical events to showcase their creations. As Antoine Arnault, Head-Communications, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton explains, these shows should not be underestimated as thousands of freelance makeup artists, seamstresses, drivers, security guards and photographers depend on them for their livelihoods.

The pandemic has affected smaller standalone businesses more than large groups like LVMH which recorded a strong uptick in summer sales from Asian countries like Mainland China, Japan and South Korea. However, the group’s fashion and leather goods sales dropped 37 per cent, as international tourism ground to a halt and footfall into global stores was slow to recover.

Turnaround brands remain worst affected

Brands engaged in turnaround efforts like Ferragamo and Burberry have been worst affected by the pandemic. Most of these companies are currently struggling with a large glut of unsold inventory from the spring and summer collections this year. To rid themselves of unsold stocks, brands are using brick and mortar discount outlets and online marektplaces like the Dutch start-up Otrium, said Stefano Todescan, Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group.

Todescan opines, brands that leveraged data to manage stocks fared better. Data usage enabled them to move supplies from the West to better performing regions like the Asian markets. Brands like Hermes and Chanel, who do not offer discounts, are not trend-drive and have a wide product range emerged in particularly good shape.

Analysts expect the importance of Chinese luxury market to grow as North American and European markets continue to remain unpredictable. More offline retailers are expected to go online as consumers move to digital shopping. Amazon aims to collaborate with global luxury brands as it launched a mobile-only luxury store with one brand: Oscar de la Renta.

Brands to fast-track digital commitments

Jose Neves, Chief Executive, Farfetch believes, convenience and safety are the top priorities of customers in 2020, prompting brands to fast-track their digital strategies. The digital marketplace saw a 60 per cent surge in traffic for the second quarter compared to the same period last year — and 500,000 new customers.

TikTok plans to host own online fashion month for a potential audience of roughly 800 million users, with shows by Saint Laurent and JW Anderson. The show will include smaller collections with more timeless pieces. Many brands also expect people to start buying high-priced items despite a severe recession and ongoing layoffs. It is difficult to predict future luxury demand. However, the industry needs to move on and create fashion that lasts for a long time.

Israel based cleantech company UBQ Materials, which develops technologies to transform waste into sustainable materials, will partner up with multinational retail solutions provider Mainetti. The joint venture will see the companies collaborate on introducing eco-friendly and sustainable raw materials for the global fashion industry and retailers.

Founded in 2012 by Chairman Yehuda Pearl, who also founded Sabra, the leading hummus brand in the U.S.; and CEO Jack Bigio, UBQ’s proprietary technology converts residual household waste into a sustainable bio-based substitute for oil-based plastics.

By diverting landfill-destined waste, UBQ’s solution helps prevent methane emissions, groundwater contamination and other social and environmental harms associated with the proliferation of landfills, all while creating a novel raw material with a climate-positive impact. Essentially, the company turns your unwanted leftovers and trash into turtle-friendly materials for the retail world.

With billions of hangers produced globally each year, the impact that this retail mainstay alone can have on the environment is significant.

The development of Mainetti garment hangers containing UBQ material has resulted in hangers with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. These sustainable products are currently pending Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) certification, which is a globally recognized measure for the production of safe and eco-friendly products.

Mainetti’s exclusive collaboration with UBQ for hangers offers brands across the fashion and retail industries a cost-effective method to significantly reduce their carbon footprint and a new way to put action towards the current waste crisis.

It also provides these brands with another route to connecting with consumer audiences who are armed with information and whose buying habits are an extension of their environmental values.

Two major US synthetic yarn producers–Unifi Manufacturing and Nan Ya Plastics Corporation America–recently filed petitions alleging that dumped imports of polyester textured yarn from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are causing material injury to the domestic industry. The purpose of the petitions is to establish conditions of fair competition in the US market.

The petitioning domestic producers have asked the US government to investigate the dumping and injury and to impose anti-dumping duties on the imports of polyester textured yarn from the four countries, according to a press release from international law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

The products affected by this case are made by Unifi at its production facility in Yadkinville, North Carolina, and by Nan Ya at its production facility in Lake City, South Carolina.

The petitions were filed concurrently with the United States Department of Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission.

The filing is in response to surging volumes of unfairly-priced polyester textured yarn imports from the four nations. In January 2020, anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders were put in place on imports of polyester textured yarn from China and India.

Texbrasil (Brazilian Textile and Fashion Industry Internationalization Program), which held a virtual business round between July and August, executed business worth $840,000 from its 179 meetings with 64 buyers.

A total of 22 companies were present on the rounds, among them: 2 Rios, Arrazantty, Bia Brasil, Brandili, Charmosa, CMJ Têxtil, Daniela Tombini, Fakini, Hering, Hy Brasil, Kyly, Upvest (Lua Morena), Mari M, Maria Pavan, Maryssil, Malharia Cristina, Serpentina, Silvia Schaefer, Sling, Texneo, Têxtil J.Serrano and Vitor Zerbinato.

The round was so positive that a second version was announced, this time for buyers from the USA, which will start on October 12. Arrazanty, which recently joined Texbrasil, participated for the first time in an action with the Program, and has already confirmed its presence in the second round.

According to the brand’s executive director, Renan Tolotti, many contacts were made at the event. The company decided to join the Program to expand its sales channels and work on private label services.

In its annual ranking of sustainable wood procurement, the Canadian environmental organization Canopy gave highest ranking for its continuous leadership over the last number of years.

The Lenzing Group scored a total of 30.5 points and received for the first time a leading dark green shirt, the highest Hot Button ranking category.

Lenzing once again convinced the non-profit organization Canopy with its innovative vision with regard to circular economy and REFIBRA™ technology, its high level of transparency in wood and pulp sourcing, as well as its active contribution towards protecting forests and preserving biodiversity. In this widely recognized ranking, Canopy grades the world’s 31 largest producers of wood-based fibers with respect to their sustainable wood and pulp sourcing, their efforts with regard to using alternative non-wood feedstock and their achievements for lasting conservation in critical forests around the globe.

At a recent webinar Bangladesh’s Cotton Development Board (CDB), an independent body responsible for Bangladesh cotton industry has affirmed it plans to raise raw cotton production to 20 lakh bales by 2041 from the current annual production of 1.71 lakh bales. Besides raising cotton production acreage to two lakh hectares, and increasing production per hectare up to 10 bales instead of 6.15 bales, CPB also aims to import 71 lakh bales of cotton annually from abroad at a cost of over Tk 30,000 crore.

The webinar was attended by notable personalities like Kai Hughes, Executive Director, International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC); Robert D Simpson, FAO Representative, Bangladesh; SM Bakhtiar, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Al Sayeed Negom, Professor, Cotton Research Institute in Egypt and Keshob Kanti, Head-Information, ICAC.

Established on December 14, 1972, by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Cotton Development Board plans to boost cotton cultivation across the country on agro-forest land, salt, char and hilly areas.