IKEA and its research and design lab SPACE10 have launched EverydayExperiments.com.

The explorative, surprising and playful experiments can be perceived on the platform, that demonstrates how homes can be experienced in extraordinary ways through the means of technology. Conducted by some of the world’s most innovative design and technology studios, the experiments focus on AI, machine learning, augmented reality and spatial intelligence.

Technology is quickly becoming a vital part of the IKEA customer experience and home furnishing offer. Being a values-driven brand, IKEA focuses on people and planet. As it enters a new digital era, it is also exploring new ways to create a better everyday life at home, while protecting people’s privacy.

Leading German circular knitting machine builder, Terrot reports that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chemnitz headquartered company is forging ahead with its R&D activities, whilst supporting its customers.

In spite of limited travel activities Terrot keeps the contact to clients and its ability to act by 100 per cent. In a direct cooperation with clients and external partners, the company is testing new technical features and puts them into practice. In addition to its core business, Terrot is also continuing with the production of mouth-nose masks. Together with regional and international partners, the company is producing high quality masks according to customer requirements

New research from global animal protection organisation Four Paws finds that the fashion industry falls short between what they say and what is delivered, with only 21 per cent of brands tracing even a portion of the animal derived materials for animal welfare. To raise awareness and recognition of these fundamental issues, Four Paws has developed the world’s first Animal Welfare in Fashion Report.

This report is based on a study of 77 leading Australian and global brands, with the majority owned by nine of the world’s top 20 publicly listed fashion companies which have an estimated market value of over US$550 billion. The FOUR PAWS Animal Welfare in Fashion Report assesses the extent to which companies are addressing animal welfare risks in their supply chains, with a focus on four key spotlight issues of material consideration – wool, down, exotic leather and fur.

Using analytical rigour and evidence-based research, the report highlights the risks of animal-based supply chains in fashion, to animals and brands and retailers.

Luxury brand Chanel’s 2020 revenues and profit would be significantly hit by COVID-19

Like rivals, Chanel had to shut shops across the globe and idle manufacturing sites as the virus first emerged in the sector’s key market of China and then spread to the rest of the world.

Some 85 per cent of the group’s stores have now reopened and it has seen sales rebound in China - by over 100 per ce nt in some weeks. Shoppers were returning in Paris, Milan and Berlin, he said.

Chanel, which still expects to turn a profit this year, is reducing advertising and promotions by more than a quarter, cutting production and has cancelled or transformed some events like fashion shows this year, including by streaming them online.

Chanel would forgo dividend payments in 2020, Blondiaux added. These payouts largely go to Chanel’s billionaire owners, brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, and almost doubled in 2019.

The European Union (EU) dwindled both volume-wise and value-wise in its apparel imports during January-March 2020 period. The imports fell in the aftermath of the COVID-19 in Europe.

EU imported € 19.58 billion worth of garments in the first quarter of 2020, falling by 11.46 per cent on the yearly note. While the import volumes plunged by 12.69 per cent, the unit values (per kg of the garments) escalated by 1.41 per cent to € 18.72.

The Chinese shipment to EU tumbled by18.69 per cent in Q1 ’20 and clocked € 5.16 billion revenue. Volume-wise, China exported 282.52 million kg of garments to EU only to see 20.81 per cent downfall on Y-o-Y basis.

Unit values of the Chinese shipment surged by 2.69 per cent and stood at € 18.27 in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period.

Bangladesh’s fall in its apparel shipment to EU was comparatively less. The country exported € 4.27 billion worth of garments to EU, noting 10.63 per cent fall, while volumes declined by 10.33 per cent in Q1 ’20.

Interestingly, Bangladesh stayed ahead of China in terms of values of knitted garment exports to EU. Chinese export in knitted segment was € 2.34 billion (down 16.75 per cent), while Bangladesh was marginally ahead with € 2.37 billion (down 9.11 per cent) worth of shipment.

In woven clothing, China was far ahead of Bangladesh with € 2.81 billion (down 20.23 per cent) worth of shipment to EU, while latter could manage to ship just € 1.90 billion (down 12.46 per cent) worth of woven garments to its largest export destination.

Turkey’s growth too decelerated by 11.02 per cent in shipment values and 12.41 per cent in volumes. The country shipped 98 million kg of garments to EU worth € 2.311 billion.

India and Vietnam too noted fall in their respective apparel exports to EU. Vietnam plunged substantially by 11.35 per cent to clock € 780.82 million from its RMG shipment to EU, while volumes shipment stood at just 30.61 million kg in Q1 ’20, falling 12.65 per cent from a year earlier.

India’s fall was significant both in volumes (down 18.39 per cent) and values (down 19.77 per cent). The country shipped 57.49 million kg of garments to EU in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period worth € 1.18 billion.

The major fall was reported in the month of March when EU declined by 19.20 per cent in volume terms due to drastic fall in the Chinese shipment. The import values also fell by 21.40 per cent, while UVR reduced by 2.60 per cent.

Chinese shipments tumbled by 33.20 per cent in volume terms in March on Y-o-Y, while the values were down by 28.47 per cent. The fall in shipments from rest of the world was much lower to that of China both in volumes (down 14.86 per cent) and in values (down 19.37 per cent) in the month of March.

April data is likely to reflect further collapse in EU’s import of clothing as the European countries were under lockdown after the massive spread of COVID-19.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), to benefit from tax slashes in the EVFTA, Vietnamese textiles and garment industry must source materials from Vietnam or the EU, and the cutting and sewing processes must take place in either, too. The EVFTA also allows materials sourced from South Korea, with which the EU and Vietnam have an FTA, to be eligible for tax incentives.

Still, VitaJean was not qualified for preferential tariffs as it mainly sources materials from Taiwan and mainland China. If the company sourced materials from elsewhere, it would face another challenge in quality and design. For example, Thai materials generally do not have versatile design and quality like those from China. It is also difficult to import materials from Thailand than China due to higher logistics costs and slower delivery times.

On the same note, Garmex Saigon Corporation is going to be in a tough position once the EVFTA comes into force as it will not meet the EVFTA’s fabric-forward rules because it mainly relies on Chinese materials. At present, the EU market accounts for 40 per cent of the company’s export revenue.

British clothing label Superdry is set to quit the Mainland China market after five years of mounting losse.

Superdry launched in China in September 2015 with a catwalk show at the British embassy in Beijing. In partnership with Trendy International Group which has around 3000 stores on the mainland, Superdry originally planned to open two to five stores in the first year. Each of the two companies pledged to invest £9 million each over 10 years to develop the brand.

Since April 1, about 90 per cent of Superdry China employees, from store roles to head office, have been under pressure to take unpaid leave, while management and directors have accepted a 25-per-cent salary reduction.

Textile and apparel companies recorded worst sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 leading to a slew of bankruptcies and severe declines for manufacturers. Fibers firms Lenzing and Unifi saw their quarterly revenues decline on soft demand and weak pricing, causing profits to tumble. In the case of Unifi, its net loss grew 264 percent to $41.1 million.

For basics apparel manufacturers like Gildan Activewear and Hanesbrands that own most of their own production, sales were down 26.4 percent for the former and 11.9 percent for the latter, but earnings nosedived more than 100 percent and profit margins suffered. For Hanesbrands, which like many companies pivoted a share of production to personal protective equipment, earnings fell 109.7 percent to a net loss of $7.87 million.

For jeans mavens Kontoor Brands and Levi Strauss, revenue declines were less dramatic–Levi’s actually pulled off a 5 percent gain–but earnings tumbled, again with the exception of Levi’s, which posted a 4 percent increase. Wrangler and Lee parent Kontoor Brands saw earnings fall 118 percent to a net loss of $2.71 million, while earnings at VF declined a staggering 475.6 percent to a net loss of $483.8 million.

Specialized brands saw an equally unfortunate fate. Columbia Sportswear’s sales in the quarter were down 13 percent, but net income decelerated 99.7 percent to $200,000. Puma’s sales fell a slight 1.3 percent, but the sneaker-driven athletic company saw earnings decline 62 percent to $39.2 million.

Istanbul’s Laleli, Osmanbey and Merter districts expect up to a 40 per cent decline in overall trade volume over the course of 2020, in the wake of the normalization process after the coronavirus outbreak shuttered business activity.

According to a report published by Turkish daily Dünya, the number of closed businesses in Laleli has even increased after June 1, when the country started to reopen its economy by gradually lifting most of the previously imposed restrictions.

Gıyaseddin Eyyüpkoca, chairman of the Laleli Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (LASİ-AD) which represents some 2,500 tradesmen in Laleli, said the district recorded approximately $3 billion (TL 20 billion) of trade in 2019. Eyyüpkoca told Dünya that a significant part of the trade was carried out during the coronavirus restrictions through applications such as WhatsApp.

Eyyüpkoca, however, noted that the full normalization is also up to developments in countries such as Romania, Poland, Serbia and Russia, which are among their important commercial partners, noting that they had worked hard for the summer season, however, all those products remained unsold.

According to a report by India Ratings and Research, the domestic textile demand could revive in the third quarter of the current financial year with the onset of the festive season and reopening of retail spaces. However, export demand would depend on global economies such as the US and UK.

The agency expects a huge revenue downfall for textile companies in the first half of the current fiscal and a moderate recovery only over the second half of fiscal year 2022. With the stoppage of production and shortage of labour due to the lockdown, revenue is likely to bottom out over first half of the current fiscal. The report said the consumption demand is unlikely to revive in the current fiscal.

This is likely to result in a fall in EBITDA in the range of 20-50 per cent YOY, depending on the segments, leading to deterioration in credit metrics. Furthermore, players in spinning, readymade garments carry high debts on account of stretched working capital cycles with low cushion to borrow. The agency expects the working capital cycle to stretch for textile players over the next 9 months due to delays in collections and a longer inventory. WWF has welcomed the launch of the proposals for an EU Green Recovery Plan in the textile, apparel and footwear industry.

The proposals were developed by the Policy Hub a joint effort of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) and Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) – and will help countries and this critical industry to ‘build back better’.

WWF agrees with the Policy Hub that the pandemic has occurred in a period when sustainability programs and commitments are increasingly becoming the norm in the industry, and how relevant these are to efforts to prevent and mitigate future crises. Given this fact, and the opportunity that the EU Green Recovery Plan presents, there is a need to ensure this progress is maintained and strengthened in the recovery phase.

WWF expects that the COVID-19 recovery plans will strengthen the progress of recent decades in water stewardship and in addressing climate change, air and water pollution, ecosystem degradation and other environmental challenges.