The British fashion industry is facing its toughest times as noted designers including JW Anderson, Erdem and Christopher Kane have opted out of this year’s London Fashion Week that begins today. And Burberry, which plans to participate in the show, will release only its menswear collection, deferring the release of women’s wear to a later date, says a report by the Womens Wear Daily.

In times like these, the industry is looking outward for solutions. British Fashion Council has roped in new sponsors in its tech companies, TikTok and Clearpay, besides launching London Fashion Week in Seoul, South Korea, through collaborations with multibrand retailer Boon the Shop. Supported by the British government’s Great Campaign, this project aims to showcase 11 designers including Alessandra Rich, Alighieri, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, JW Anderson and Wales Bonner. It will include an online forum, to be co-hosted by BFC and WWD Greater China that will focus on British fashion businesses in the region.

No single advantage to British brands

The industry is currently in a mess as fashion houses are being made to fill out multiple value-added tax forms; decide who pays VAT, and bankroll the extra charges on materials and supplies they import from regions such as Asia, and then later export as finished goods to the EU.

The industry is not offering a single advantage to brands, says Stefano Martinetto, CEO and Co-Founder, Tommorrow London, which had to take extra warehouses in the UK besides paying duties on all deliveries to retailers outside UK. This doubled operational costs. However, the brand remains committed to protecting customers’ rights.

Another brand Temperley London had to organize a logistic platform in Italy to ensure the consistency and competitiveness of deliveries. Large brands such as Burberry, Next and Asos have to pay trade experts to pick through the complex rules of origin and VAT costs of doing business with Europe; while businesses sourcing and manufacturing outside the UK have to pay additional costs for everything from couriers to suppliers. In addition, these brands face delivery delays as the government has not expressed clear support to the industry.

European retailers ‘wait and watch’

European retailers are also being watchful while buying British goods. Luxury Italian retailer Modes Group is following the digital London Fashion Week before it decides to buy from British brands while Federica Montelli, Head-Fashion, La Rinascente aims to continue supporting British designers even though Brexit has made things complicated for the industry. Online retailers, outside UK, are returning their goods as they don’t want to pay extra charges. This leaves brands with no option but to destroy their goods, says Carlota Barrera, an emerging men’s wear designer.

Last year, the British government repealed tax-free shopping scheme for outsiders, adding to woes of the ailing industry. According to Tamara Cincik, CEO, Fashion Roundtable, if the government doesn’t revise its VAT policy, the British Fashion industry will remain in trouble long after lockdown eases. Buyers outside the EU continue to support London fashion houses. As Roopal Patel, Senior Vice President and Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue says, she looks forward to discovering new talent at London Fashion Week while Mia Young, Chief Merchant, Lane Crawford, wants to see British brands’ innovativeness this season.

Inditex has collaborated with the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC), to accelerate large-scale, real-world implementation of solutions to address the threat of climate change. The MCSC brings together leaders from a broad range of industries to work together, and with MIT, to build a process, market and ambitious implementation strategy for environmental innovation.

Inditex will work alongside other global companies to cooperate in trying to find a solution to the climate crisis. Through leadership from MIT’s School of Engineering and in collaboration with students, faculty and researchers from across MIT, the MCSC aims to drive down costs and lower barriers to adoption of best available technology and processes; speed retirement of carbon intensive power generating and materials-producing equipment; direct investment where it will be most effective; rapidly translate best practices from one industry to the next in an effort to deploy social and technological solutions at a pace more rapid than the planet’s intensifying crises.

Inditex currently also collaborates on investigative projects linked to sustainability and corporate management with Tsinghua University, the Universities of a Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Comillas Pontifical and the Polytechnic University of Catalunya, among others.

German footwear and lifestyle brand Birkenstock has opened its first mono-brand retail outlet in Bengaluru.

As per Fashion Network, the store measures 170 square metres and is spread over two floors, housing over 320 models from Birkenstock’s classic and seasonal collections.

The launch of the Bengaluru store is a stepping stone to strengthen the brand’s presence across India and continue with its growth plan for the year ahead. Birkenstock has recently launched stores in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. The brand plans to continue expanding across India’s metros to strengthen its brick-and-mortar presence in the country.

Birkenstock, which has a history dating back to 1774, uses sustainable core materials for its footwear including natural cork, natural latex milk, and jute. Birkenstock’s Bengaluru store launched with a display dedicated to orthopaedic footwear as well as a display for its vegan collection.

An Eco Passport by Oeko-Tex certification has been granted to the performance materials divisions of BASF, a German chemical company and one of the largest chemical producers in the world.

As per reports, the certificate offers many competitive advantages to the chemical giant. It aligns with the company’s future and long-term sustainability goals, which include providing solutions that help reduce material consumption in application, extending their life cycle and committing and engaging to end plastic waste.

Two of BASF’s products named Haptex, which are innovative synthetic leather solutions, have successfully achieved the Eco Passport by Oeko-Tex certifications with ZDHC MRSL Conformance Level 3. During a multistep process, it is analyzed, whether each individual ingredient in the chemical product meets the statutory requirements and if it safe to human health.

The BASF Group has subsidiaries and branch offices in over 80 countries and production sites on five continents. The performance materials division in Singapore brings together BASF’s entire materials know-how regarding innovative, customised plastics.

Jan Van Mossevelde has been appointed new Global Brand President VF Corporation’s brand icebreaker®. Van Mossevelde will succeed Greg Smith, who quit to pursue new opportunities. He will be based in Auckland, New Zealand and report to Martino Scabbia Guerrini, President - EMEA region. Since 2019, Van Mossevelde has served as the Vice President and General Manager of the icebreaker® in the EMEA region. Before joining as General Manager, Global Brand Management and Demand Creation in 2015, he served as Vice President, Strategy, for VF’s EMEA region.

Prior to VF Corp, Van Mossevelde was employed with Procter & Gamble for 15 years. Here, he held numerous marketing and brand leadership roles. His experiences included P&L portfolio management, driving global innovation design for the billion-dollar category of laundry detergent pods, and serving as Chief Marketing Officer for the company’s Germany, Austria and Switzerland operations.

Twin exhibitions DyeChem World and KnitProcess will be held jointly in Tirupur from October 22-24, 2021. To be organized by Tirupur’s NIFT-TEA College of Knitwear Fashion, AIC NIFT TEA Incubation Centre for Textiles and Apparels and Textile Excellence; SDC International India will be the co-organizer of the event. Covering the entire range of textile dyes, chemicals, finishes and technologies, DyeChem World will create a platform for interaction and knowledge sharing between the dyes and chemicals and textile industry.

KnitProcess exhibition will help the industry explore and adopt latest innovations in knitting and post processing sector. The exhibition will cover the entire value chain of knitwear processing technologies till garmenting. The important highlight of the events will be the CEO Summit which will bring together all the head honchos from the global textile and apparel, fashion brands and retail industry.

The primary aim of the meet is to facilitate an interactive and candid networking for business. However, it will also discuss core issues of sustainable practices, sourcing and adopting it to supply chain.

As per Allied Market Research’s new report, titled, ‘Maternity Wear Market,’ COVID-19 outbreak has led to a decline in sales of maternity wear across the globe. The main reason for the decline is disruption in export and import activities all over the globe. Disruption halted trade of major clothing and apparel exporters China and India. Customers are not getting their products on online channels.

However, after the lockdown ends, the industry is expected to see an upward growth and products will also be easily available on retail outlet as well as e-commerce platform. The maternity wear industry is expected to boost market growth. However, low birthrate remains an obstacle in the growth of this industry.

Alaska, Washington, and Monaco have recorded the lowest birthrate, hampering the growth of the maternity wear market in these regions. North America holds the maximum revenue of maternity clothing wear because of celebrity influencers over social media and high disposable income. There is high demand for formal wear in North America because of a large number of population being women, which again boosts the need for maternity clothing during pregnancy. Asia-Pacific is also a potential market for maternity wear because of increasing pregnancy photoshoots, which increases demand for purchasing branded maternity wear in countries like India and China.

These countries also have high birth rates, which, in turn, increases the need for maternity wear, boosting sales and revenue of this industry

Strengthening its international presence, fashion start-up Stylumia has entered new markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The company has appointed Gautam Kotamraju as the country head for United Kingdom operations while for the Australian and New Zealand markets it has partnered Evanpoynt which offers AI-driven business solutions in merchandising and supply chain for retailers.

As per Ganesh Subramanian, Founder CEO, Stylumia, Kotamraju’s 20 years plus experience will help the startup understand and serve the local market. On the other hand, Evanpoynt will offer a good mix of people with proven market understanding, deep technology, and business development experience combined with a passion for retail and Stylumia’s vision. With a combined worth of around $100 billion per year, the UK and ANZ fashion, footwear, and accessories market is a significant addition to Stylumia’s global growth ambitions, Subramanian added.

Ganesh Subramanian, former Chief Operating Officer, Myntra founded Stylumia in December 2015 in Bengaluru after working on Myntra’s artificial intelligence fashion solutions. The business aims to increase sustainable production and business practices in the fashion industry.

Founded in 1989 by Louis Vuitton owner LVMH and French billionaire Bernard Arnault private firm L Catterton has launched a blank-check firm to raise about $250 million in an initial public offering. As per Business of Fashion, The firm has launched a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp to target firms in the consumer technology sectors across Asia. Led by managing partners of L Catterton Asia, the SPAC will sell 25 million units, made up of shares and warrants, priced at $10 a piece on the Nasdaq.

L Catterton currently has $22 billion in assets under management and has invested in companies such as Indian telecom firm Jio, exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Inc and online used car seller Vroom Inc. A SPAC is a shell company that raises money in an IPO to merge with a privately held company that then becomes publicly traded as a result. SPACs have emerged as a popular IPO alternative for companies looking to go public with less regulatory scrutiny. Credit Suisse is the underwriter for the offering.

Jharkhand government plans to sign a MoU with apparel exporter KPR Mills to provide workforce to the company. The MoU entails, Jharkhand will provide KPR Mills 12,000 laborers to expand production lines, including a new mill in Tirupur in Erode district. Most of these laborers will be women. In the first phase, the company will hire nearly 2,000 women.

KPR Mills will provide these laborers a monthly remuneration of Rs 12,000 and take care of their food and lodging. Led by Hemant Soren, Chief Minister, the Jharkhand government is working on a method to document laborers going out of the state and monitor their financial conditions and well-being. It has also pledged to provide jobs to most of the returning migrants within Jharkhand.

A Muthukumar, Labor Commissioner, said based on calls made by them, around 4.5 lakh migrant workers had returned to their homes last year. Through the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), the government has been able to map the skills of 20,000 migrant workers. It now plans to find suitable employment opportunities for them.

The department plans to period visits at the production units of the Coimbatore-based company to assess the condition and well-being of the workforce which will be hired.