Vietnam and Norway have economic, trade and investment relations. Two-way trade represents a year-on-year rise of 13.67 per cent. In the first four months of 2019, trade between Vietnam and Norway was up 14.4 per cent year on year. Vietnam mainly exports garments, textiles, footwear, cashew nut, and wood and timber products while importing aquatic products, machinery, equipment, and other spare parts from Norway. To boost exports to Norway, Vietnam will advise businesses to focus on improving the quality of products and studying the market to address trade and technical barriers as well as meeting strict requirements on the traceability of products, social responsibility, environmental protection, and business ethics. Also planned are meetings with distributors and large-scale supermarkets to set up long-term partnerships and promote the export of Vietnamese goods.

Norway has 42 direct investment projects in Vietnam. Possible areas of cooperation are in the fields of maritime, shipbuilding, aquaculture, renewable energy, and tourism. At present, Norwegian enterprises are particularly interested in cooperation in developing aquaculture and processing aquatic products in Vietnam. They are also interested in oil and gas production projects.

Vietnam’s exports have depended on foreign directed investment enterprises, which account for 70 per cent of total turnover.

AEPC has partnered Social & Labor Convergence for the launch of the Social and Labour Converges programme (SLCP) operations in NCR & Tirupur. The Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) is an initiative led by the world’s leading manufacturers, brands, retailers, industry groups, (inter)governmental organisations, service providers and civil society organizations, to eliminate audit fatigue by replacing current proprietary tools with a standard-neutral Converged Assessment Framework. The mission of SLCP is to improve working conditions by allowing resources that were previously designated for compliance audits to be redirected towards the improvement of social and labor conditions.

The Converged Assessment Framework provides a data set with no value judgment or scoring. It is however compatible with existing audit systems and codes of conduct. This means that the same data set can be used by a wide-range of stakeholders & interpreted according to their interests and criteria. This eliminates the need for repetitive audits to be carried out on the same facility.

Apparel Textile Sourcing Miami (ATSM) Show, to be held from May 28-30, 2019, at the Mana Wynwood Convention Centre, will feature 300 international apparel and textile exhibits and attract 4,000 visitors over three days. The show will provide an unprecedented platform for Miami’s designers to meet the manufacturing sector, for investors to discover brands, and for apparel producers to find retail opportunities — reinforcing Miami as the fashion capital it has become.

The ‘Best of Miami Fashion’ show on May 29 will showcase the latest creations by the city’s most renowned talent, including: ready-to-wear designs by Renee Ruiz, Julian Chang, Luis Aponte and Viviana Gabeiras (knits); sportswear by Lucky in Love and Peace, Love, World; swimwear byBianca Coletti; menswear by Cubavera; evening wear by Mayda Cisneros; and bridal designs by Maria D’Ocon. Making a debut on the runway will also be innovative designs by some of Miami’s top rising young fashion stars.

At the Trending Fashion Lab Talks, industry’s top experts and influencers — both local and national —will discuss latest fashion industry trends, the challenges today’s designers face, and the evolving shopping preferences of today’s consumers. Presenters will provide unique insight into topics such as new digital shopping channels, emerging technologies that change the way consumers interact with brands, e-commerce, experiential retail, changing consumer attitudes regarding environmental consciousness and corporate responsibility, the critical role of social media in the world of fashion, and how to create a Made in the USA fashion line in 2019.

Senior executives from more than 75 businesses in the United States, including apparel powerhouses Gap, Levi’s and Nike, have arranged to meet with a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers to debate on a meaningful climate legislation — including a national price on carbon.

The Lawmaker Education & Advocacy Day (LEAD) on Carbon Pricing, which features companies with a combined market valuation of around $2.5 trillion, is the most substantial business gathering on Congress to implement new climate legislation in more than a decade. The organisations participating in LEAD include 21 Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and SMEs from across all 50 US states. Aside from their collective valuation, the firms involved also employ over one million American citizens.

The goal of the talks is to make business case for a strong and effective federal carbon price and to share the private sector’s view on how best to tackle the climate crisis. All 75 business representatives, of which eight are CEOs, will hold one-on-one meetings with lawmakers and congressional staff with both party affiliations to discuss the economic impacts of climate change and the need for more effective national climate policies.

Guatemala is preparing for an increase in business from the United States-based apparel brands that might need to shift sourcing partnerships away from China. With demand for sustainable sourcing from apparel brands, mills in the region are preparing to meet that need. Guatemala’s textile industry is more high end. The quality—whether in fabric or sewing and cutting—is a lot higher than other parts of Asia or even in Honduras or Haiti.

A hot topic of discussion at the 28th annual Apparel Sourcing Show, held from May 14–16 at the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel and Convention Center, was the escalating United States–China tariff war and greater sustainability options across the supply chain. Exhibitors with sustainable offerings were able to accommodate the growing demand for eco-friendly supplies. Liztex, one of the largest textile manufacturers in Central America, located in Amatitlán, Guatemala, saw strong trend toward producing fibers from recycled sources.

But while Guatemalan companies are excited about a growing opportunity to increase apparel and textile production, they are also concerned about whether their country can compete with China’s enormous production capacity. Investments to expand the country’s capacity would be necessary to accommodate demand that could result from the trade war.

Voltas and Shima Seiki have opened an experience zone in Tirupur. The zone has state-of-the-art machines that not only help customers understand total fashion and whole garment technology but will also act as a local center for education, hands-on training and post-sale support center. The foremost objective of the experience center is to make the customer experience whole garment machines and find for themselves the various possibilities to make the whole range of garments directly from machines. This innovation will help the industry save time as the garment is manufactured by the machines directly from the yarn. Whole garment machines can also give remarkable fashion and meet all quality guidelines in terms of grip, finishing and more. The experience zone also is equipped with a hands-on lab with a high-tech total fashion system where customers can design their virtual sample in the computing device provided in the lab and in the process the time for sample-making is reduced. Currently customers have to go through multiple levels of approvals.

After the experience center in Ludhiana, Tirupur has the second experience center by Voltas which is looking at opening a similar center in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Leading denim producer Isko will enter a new market in the United States next month when it introduces Isko Vital, a four-way-stretch fabric that provides compression technology. After launching the fabric for European customers during the International Trade Fair for Sports Equipment and Fashion in Germany in February, Isko is currently in discussions with brands to integrate Isko Vital into their designs. At the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Denver June 18–20, the Inegöl, Turkey–headquartered Isko will unveil Isko Vital to the North American market.

The company says it is now ready to unveil Isko Vital stateside as the first woven fabric to offer a compression-technology system of this kind. Using its existing Blue Skin fabric, which has been used in the company’s denim, Isko created Isko Vital by blending this textile with polyester and Lycra. The material stretches in four different directions, giving 360-degree freedom of movement.

While Isko focused on developing a more technologically advanced performance fabric, the company remains committed to sustainable practices. A recipient of the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel for pieces in its Earth Fit denim collection, Isko is also a member of ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals), the Amsterdam-headquartered group that challenges companies to eliminate hazardous chemicals throughout the supply chain.

As a member of the global apparel-manufacturing community, the company recognises its responsibility to ensure that its fabric is created with sustainability in mind. Noting that consumers are demanding more from companies, in addition to the lack of brand loyalty among generations Y and Z, Cortazzi recognizes that her company must distinguish its products from the competition by offering eco-friendlier options.

The new Inditex CEO is Carlos Crespo. He will lead technology (systems, data and digital), IT security, logistics and transportation, construction and works, legal, procurement and sustainability. In addition, he will be responsible for defining the company’s global strategy. Crespo joined Inditex in 2001, when he was in charge of accounting within the financial administration department. After having been tasked with the administrative management of stocks in the group’s logistics centers, Crespo was put in charge of internal auditing in 2015. In 2018, he was promoted to the position of general director of operations.

Inditex, the owner of Zara, is the world’s biggest clothing retailer. Unlike many in the troubled apparel sector, Inditex, based in Spain, has been able to avoid heavy discounting thanks to its tightly controlled inventory and its ability to get looks on sale in a few weeks allowing it to respond to fast-changing trends. The company launched Zara online in 106 new markets in November and benefited from favorable comparisons to unseasonably cold weather last year. The company operates with a very special kind of business model. Every division commits initially to a small quantity for fashion merchandise and then replenishes it in response to customer demands and preferences.

For the first four months of the year, Coats’ sales rose two per cent on both a currency-neutral/organic basis. The fashion sector was key to business in the period as the rise was driven by its strength in its apparel and footwear unit as well as in performance materials. The two per cent growth in apparel and footwear unit came as underlying retail markets remained mixed but overall supportive. It saw a robust performance in the core thread business, which grew three percent as it continued to deliver high service levels to customers. Geographically, key Asian markets performed best, with some offset in Latin America.

The four per cent growth in performance materials was driven by double-digit rises in hi-tech end uses (for example, wire and cables, including Gotex), with some ongoing offset from traditional end use segments in North America, as well as the phasing of certain customer programs.

Thread leader Coats entered 2019 in a strong position, with continued positive momentum in its core apparel and footwear and hi-tech performance materials businesses. While the company remains cautious around the current macroeconomic uncertainties, based on its current assessment of business trends it anticipates delivering 2019 full-year performance.

Bangladesh has not been receiving high prices for its garments. The main reason is its exports of products like woven shirts and bottoms have many competitors. To get better prices Bangladesh apparel manufacturers need to make value-added apparel items and improve their negotiation skills. As buyers have alternatives, they pay low prices. Competitors like Myanmar and Ethiopia manage better prices than Bangladesh.

After the Rana Plaza building collapse Bangladesh’s apparel sector has improved a lot. Apparel manufacturers are working to brighten the image of the country and have been following compliance strictly and strengthening workplace safety. But the positive image has not been projected properly in the West. Only 20 per cent of the exports now are value-added garment items. Bangladesh will get more prices if it manufacturers outwear, lingerie, jackets, suits etc. The ease of doing business has to be substantially improved. At the moment Bangladesh is one of the lowest performers on ease of doing business. At the moment Bangladesh is one of the lowest performers in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. It is 176 out of 190 countries. The country needs improving its rankings. Human capital transformation is a must as the efficiency level of workers is enhanced. It is nearly 50 per cent whereas in other countries it is 80 per cent.