Reebok and Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group plans to takeover British fashion retailer Ted Baker.

Ted Baker has 376 stores worldwide and its own lines of running shoes and athleisure wear for both men and women.

Investing in well-established properties is no stranger to ABG, which owns fashion, athletic apparel, and equipment brands Nine West, Prince Sports, Tapout, Volcom, and others.

In January, ABG reportedly purchased a 55 per cent stake in David Beckham’s DB Ventures for $271 million. DB Ventures controls the soccer star’s deals with Tudor watches and Haig whiskey. In March, ABG completed its acquisition of Reebok from Adidas in a deal valued at $2.5 billion.

In January, ABG canceled plans for an IPO, according to an SEC filing. Instead, the conglomerate raised money through private sources and is valued at $13 billion after an investment in November 2021 from CVC Capital Partners and HPS Investment Partners.

The company still plans to go public, but will likely do so in 2023 or 2024, says Jamie Salter, CEO.

The textile mills in Tamil Nadu are expecting a reduced price for Cotton yarn that is to be announced in May.

Presently, the price of cotton yarn in Tamil Nadu for all varieties is in the range of Rs 400 per kg.

The cotton bags have started arriving at the Mulanur cotton market in Tiruppur district from various parts of the state like Dindigul, Tiruchi, Erode, and Coimbatore.

MDinakaran, Senior Superintendent, Mulanur Cotton Market, in the past few days, more than 10,000 bags of cotton have arrived in the Mulanur market. Each bag contains 30 to 40 kg of cotton and the arrival of cotton in huge volume is expected to reduce the price of yarn which will give a big boost to the textile industry.

He said that during the same period last year, only 7,000- 8,000 bags had arrived in the Mulanur cotton market in a week.

Generally, cotton arrival commences from May - June months, but this year, the cotton has started arriving from April 1 and with good rains, farmers have started cultivating cotton in good volumes.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the-based CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) plan to collaborate to promote Bangladesh’s RMG sector by showcasing its success stories in the international arena.

The willingness was expressed during a meeting between Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA and a team of CNNIC in the presence of Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, at Dhaka.

The CNNIC team included James Hunt, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Client Solutions; Robert Bradley, Senior Vice President and Head - APAC, LATAM AdSales and International Digital Strategy; AbhijeetDhar, Director, Sales and MeherAnand, Account Manager.

They discussed how BGMEA and CNNIC can collaborate to present Bangladesh’s RMG industry’s success stories to the global audience, especially by portraying the enormous contribution of the industry in driving Bangladesh forward.

Their discussion also covered how CNNIC could support in telling the impressive stories of Bangladesh’s garment industry, along with its strides in the areas of workplace safety, environmental sustainability and workers’ wellbeing.

Hassan apprised the CNNIC team of the upcoming event ‘Made in Bangladesh Week’, scheduled to be held at Dhaka in November 2022.

Egypt's cotton production may rise by 14 per cent in the marketing year beginning August 2022 through July 2023, says the US Agriculture Department said.

Production is expected to increase to 320,000 480-pound bales from 280,000 bales this year. The area harvested is forecast to grow to 97,000 hectare from 85,000 hectare.

Higher demand in 2021--which has remained high into 2022--and a surge in prices, have encouraged farmers to plant cotton, the report said.

Prices in Egypt have increased nearly 100 per cent this year, with the upper-long staple varieties at 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($269.32) a quintar. A quintar is 50 kilograms of lint cotton. Lower-long staple cotton reached EGP3,000 a quintar, it said.

Domestic consumption is expected to drop by 9 per cent, to 500,000 bales this year, and imports are forecast to remain unchanged at 550,000 bales in 2022-23.

The country plans to set up the world's largest spinning and weaving factory in Mahalla al-Kubra, at a cost of about EGP900 million.

Leah Swan, Chief Operating Officer, The Children’s Place is set to retire from June 1. Swan joined The Children’s Place around six years ago and currently oversees IT, logistics, store operations, real estate, legal and other areas, including social and environmental responsibilities. As per a Retail Dive report, the pandemic hit The Children’s Place hard as it led in financial and operational losses. By last fall, however, the company recovered its financial health, as seen from RapidRatings data.

Last year, the company’s sales not only bounced back from 2020 but surpassed 2019’s sales as well. The pandemic accelerated the company’s long-running digital transformation, notes Jane Elfers, CEO. Its digital sales in the fourth quarter grew by 48 per cent of the total sales, compared to 31 per cent in 2019.

Paolo Gnutti, CEO, PG Denim Project and Denim Consultant have joined hands with global denim manufacturer Isko to launch a new fabric collection called ‘Isko Luxury By PG.’ As per The Spin Off reports, the collection will be unveiled at the Denim Premiere Vision in Berlin, on May 17-18. The collaboration aims to focus on creating a new collection based on Isko's technology in the world of sustainability and PG's creativity and innovation, says Gnutti. It will primarily focus on fabrics though it will also offer other collections.

The initial focus will be on countries where the luxury segment is more prominent such as Italy, France, the UK, Germany, the US and Japan, says Marco Lucietti, Director-Strategic Projects, Sanko Holding Isko Division. And adds working with Isko will ensure a sustainable collection for the company as per its DNA. The PG world will bring creativity, while respecting at the same time the use of sustainable materials.

Together, we aim to bring to the market a highly sustainable, luxury collection. Our motto is to offer Responsible Luxury' which helps us cater to a luxury but conscious consumer, adds Luceitti.

Revenues of RMG manufacturers in India are set to grow on account of supply chain disruptions in markets such as Sri Lanka and harsh pandemic-induced lockdowns in China. As per a CRISIL report, RMG revenues could grow 16-18 per cent this fiscal. Manufacturers may also witness higher apparel sales with rise in domestic demand and discretionary expenses.

Domestic RMG demand is expected to grow 20 per cent, says Anuj Sethi, Senior Director, CRISIL Ratings. Meanwhile, export demand will grow around 12-15 per cent, despite the higher base of last fiscal, as overseas players continue to diversify their supplier base. Following Sri Lanka’s crisis, Indian apparel exporters have been receiving orders from the UK, European Union, and even Latin American countries. This will boost operating margins of RMG makers by 75-100 basis points year-on-year to 7.5 per cent-8.0 per cent this fiscal, adds Sethi.

CRISIL analyzed data from 140 readymade garment makers with aggregate revenues of Rs 20,000 crore. The ratings firm, however, said, a rise in raw material prices such as cotton may hike apparel prices.

Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) aims to enhance competitiveness of SMEs in the apparel and textile sectors by increasing their digital capacities and providing environmentally friendly solutions. As per an International Apparel Federation report, established within the scope of the project, The Digital Transformation Center, in cooperation with Istanbul Fashion Academy and İHKİB, provides digital transformation services in the sector besides planning new training courses in fashion design and presenting them to designers and SMEs, with the competencies acquired in the digital field. Established in 2017, Istanbul Fashion Academy (IMA) will play a crucial role in order to keep these trainings sustainable. The project will focus on raising awareness of the sector in the field of social responsibility and conducting pilot applications.

The project will develop new methods to detect harmful particles threatening both human and the environment in the content of textile products. It will conduct research and development studies on methods to test Organic Turkish Cotton. EKOTEKS Laboratory established by İHKİB in 1998, will be strengthened by the use of technological products and the development of new analysis methods in more eco-friendly environment.

Global multi-stakeholder nonprofit alliance for consumer goods industry, Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has partnered Fair Wear and the Ethical Trading Initiative to introduce collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. Launched under The Industry We Want (TIWW), the initiative aims to ensure dignity for workers by providing them with decent jobs, growing their businesses along the supply chain, and making a positive impact on the planet.

Helping TIWW develop new strategies

TIWW measures actions against the three pillars of social, commercial and environmental by developing a set of metrics for the garment and footwear industry. To be presented in TIWW’s first ever industry dashboard, these metrics will be updated annually and function as a “temperature check” for the entire sector. TIWW’s environmental pillar will be led by SAC which will update the dashboard data annually in partnership with the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii). The SAC will also help TIWW develop overall strategy, communicate with partners, support TIWW led events and identify improvements by evaluating the project annually.

The partnership will help SAC achieve its vision of developing a sustainable fashion industry, It will also enable the industry to cater to needs of people, says Amina Razvi, Executive Director, SAC.

Achieving science based targets

Through this partnership, SAC will able to support organizations to achieve clear science based targets (SBTs). The coalition will be able keep the industry on track of fulfilling its climate change commitments, particularly, its targets to reduce GHG emissions by 45 per cent.

Launched by Fair Wear and the Ethical Trading Initiative in early 2021, TIWW aims to explore the full potential of the garment and footwear industry. Its dashboard’s first iteration was based on data from Aii’s & WRI’s report ‘Roadmap to Net Zero: Delivering Science-Based Targets in the Apparel Sector’, based on SAC’s and Textile Exchange data. Created in collaboration with the WageIndicator Foundation and the Better Buying Institute, the dashboard presented metrics on the living wage gap and purchasing practices in the sector.

Tracking industry progress

Fair Wear and ETI’s partnership with SAC ensures the industry makes required progress on environmental impact as well as on commercial and social practices, believes Alexander Kohnstamm, Director Fair Wear and Peter McAllister, Director, ETI. To explore the details of GHG metric, TIWW will host a Deep Dive Session on May 12 . The event will explore the metric’s methodology and ways to accelerate progress towards net-zero for a sustainable garment sector.

Removal of the 11 per cent duty on cotton imports has failed to benefit spinning and composite textile mills as cotton prices continue to hover around Rs 90,000 per candy. As predicted, duty removal has not boosted India’s cotton imports as international prices continue to remain high. The industry could have benefitted if the decision was taken before February, opines Cotton Association of India.

Limit cotton hoarding and futures trading

Current cotton rates are unaffordable for spinning mills as they do not get such high prices from weavers, says Saurin Parikh, President, Spinners Association of Gujarat (SAG). The surge in prices can be attributed to hoarding of 60 lakh bales of stock by a handful of multinational companies and cotton futures on platforms like MCX and NCDEX. The government needs to limit cotton storage and future cotton trading to protect the entire textile value chain, he adds. If prices do not decline quickly, the spinning industry will have to wait for fresh stocks to arrive, says Parikh. Buying at current rate may prove unprofitable and impact bottom lines over the next six months, he adds.

By the time, import duty was suspended, a lot of foreign trading and funding firms had already cracked deals, explains Chintan Thaker, President Welspun Group. The deals would be finalized by April by then, cotton rates may decline. In case, they don’t, the government will have to suspend cotton exports and crackdown traders engaged in cotton hoarding.

Cotton production to remain low

This season, farmers may have to carry forward nearly 40 lakh bales of cotton stocks, opines Atul Ganatra, President of CAI. They are still holding 15 per cent crop with 7 to 10 lakh bales still expected to arrive in the market from June to August from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This will ease cotton supply in the next two to three months, he adds.

From Rs 48,000 per candy in the beginning of current season, cotton prices have almost touched a high of Rs 98,000 per candy. Cotton production in the country may remain low at 335 lakh bales, says Ganatra. Exports are likely to touch 45 lakh bales while imports will total 15 lakh bales, he adds. Spinning mills may consume 340 lakh bales this year, Ganatra believes. According to him, cotton sowing will increase by 15-25 per cent with farmers in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab shifting from other crops to cotton.