Israeli intimates and apparel giant Delta Galil has signed a deal to acquire major intimates online retailer Bare Necessities. The retailer can significantly enhance Delta Galil’s presence in the digital world, as it continues to pursue growth online.

Bare Necessities is a 22-year-old New York-based business that was acquired by Walmart in 2018. It sells more than 160 brands and 6,400 styles in intimates, women’s swimwear, shapewear, lingerie, sleepwear, and hosiery, among others.

The labels it sells include Wacoal, Chantelle, SPANX, Calvin Klein and Miraclesuit, with exclusive collections including Birdsong and Camio Mio.

Importantly for its new owner, the site will also offer Delta Galil’s own brands once the deal is complete. Delta Galil’s labels include Schiesser, Eminence, Athena & Liabel.

The company also designs, develops, markets and sells branded denim and apparel under the 7 For All Mankind label, and womenswear under the Splendid and Ella Moss brands.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has urged Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal to hike customs duty on Chinese imports, plug alternate routes which can be used by China for pushing its exports to India and implement mandatory mentioning of country of origin with each product sold on e-portal from September 1, 2020. It has also urged the government to ban Chinese apps that can threaten national security, and debar Huwaei and ZTE Corporation from participation in 5G network roll out in India.

B C Bhartia, President and Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General said the next four months beginning September are 'purchasing months' and the government needs to increase purchase of Indian goods to support vocal for local and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. CAIT recommended a logical hike in import duty on the products like gold idols, electric goods including decorative electric bulb series, decorative articles, toys, textiles, home appliances, textiles, electric & electronic gadgets, cameras, solar modules, batteries and cells, inverters, cleaning equipment, furnishing fabric, furniture, aluminum utensils and other aluminum goods, paper & stationery, beauty products, FMCG goods, consumer durable and other related sections of retail trade.

International trade fair for the leather goods industry, Internationale Lederwaren Messe (ILM) is scheduled to take place in Offenbach, Germany from September 5-7, 2020. The fair will offer its offers exhibitors and visitors cost benefits. All exhibitors who operated a booth for ILM’s edition in March 2020 will receive a one-time 50 per cent discount on the basic rent for their existing space for the upcoming ILM. Each new registration will receive a 20 per cent discount on the basic rent. Exhibitors who choose a basic rental booth will receive a one-time 50 per cent discount on the basic rent for the next edition.

ILM has also decided not to charge admission fees for visitors. To avail of this free admission, visitors will have to register online for the fair. The cost of their parking tickets will also be waived and special conditions will be negotiated with hotels and restaurants.

The dates for the ILM 2021 fairs have also been fixed. Accordingly, ILM Winter Styles will be held from March 06-08, 2021 while ILM Summer Styles will take place from September 04-06, 2021.

IBES data from Refinitiv indicates, Nordstrom is confident of improving sales in the second half of the year and beyond. The retailer reported a bigger-than-expected loss and a 53 per cent fall in sales in its second quarter ended August 1 as stores were shut for about half of the reported quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is currently focusing on amplifying relevant categories, brands and trends to meet customers' changing preferences.

Like many of its peers, Nordstrom suffered tremendously from a pandemic-induced months-long closure of its stores across the United States, bringing foot traffic to a standstill. The company’s bottom line took a hit after the retailer moved its popular Anniversary Sale from the second to the third quarter. The move impacted its online sales which declined by 5 per cent.

The Seattle-based company posted net sales of $1.78 billion for the second quarter compared with $3.78 billion, a year earlier. It reported a net loss of $255 million, or $1.62 per share, compared with a profit of $141 million, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier. Its total revenue fell by 52 per cent to $1.86 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of $2.38 billion.

The Kassa Trade Organization or Kassa Trade has adapted its business to accommodate social media and ecommerce industry. The company works directly with South American factories to minimize costs and provide lower prices to retailers and designers who need inventory. It offers the ‘Influencer Program’ to social media influencers who wish to capitalize off their audience. Through the program, social media influencers are able to create their own clothing line to sell directly to their audience. The process is all handled by Kassa Trade, with no upfront cost to the client.

The Kassa Trade Organization was founded by childhood friends, Bowei Oki and Phil Dawit. Oki and Dawit are members of the African diaspora who have settled in the Washington Metropolitan Region. Oki is a Nigerian immigrant who moved to the United States via Canada. He is an industrial engineer who holds experience working in the supply chain industry. Dawit is the son of Ethiopian immigrants and the first American born member of his family. He holds experience working in the commercial real estate industry.

J Crew Group has won court approval for its plan to shed debt and handle control of the business to lenders. J Crew’s plan conforms to Federal bankruptcy rules. The retailer expects to officially exit bankruptcy in September. To do so, it will swap more than $1.6 billion of old secured debt for ownership in the company. The plan also provides for a new $400 million credit facility and will turn J. Crew’s bankruptcy loan into $400 million of term loans.

J Crew’s new owners will include Anchorage Capital Group LLC, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LLC and GSO Capital Partners LP. J Crew filed for bankruptcy in Virginia in early May The bankruptcy plan will wipe out equity stakes of TPG Capital LP and Leonard Green & Partners LP, which bought J. Crew in a 2011 leveraged buyout.

The company operates 170 J. Crew stores along 141 Madewell stores. Before furloughing most of its employees in April, the company employed about 13,000 around the world. The “vast majority” of its store associates had returned to work as of August 9, 2020.

At a seminar organized jointly by the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), International Labor Organization (ILO) and Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), Ismail Suttar, President, EEP urged the industry to counter the negative propaganda about employing child labor in its textile sector. He informed that a campaign had been launched against Pakistan accusing it of employing child laborers in Sialkot’s football industry. He urged industry leaders to become part of the strategy to eliminate child labor from the textile sector by the year 2030.

Sattar pointed out Pakistan was facing new challenges on the continuity of GSP Plus facility as UK is no longer a member of EU. He also elaborated on the Multinational Enterprises Program and informed that with better training and skills more job opportunities could be created for competent workers. Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam, President, FCCI said there was no child labor in the organized textile sector. However, in the unorganized sector there may be child labor and the industry must make concerted efforts to eliminate it.

Sindh was already implementing a proposal to give 40 per cent representation to employers, 40 per cent to employees and 20 per cent to the government in the board of social security, but it was still being headed by the minister concerned, Azam said.

As global operations slowly resume, 15 major companies, brands and organizations have published an open letter stressing on the need for the sector to build back better and more sustainably from this crisis. Launched during 2020’s virtual World Water Week, the letter’s signatories include multinationals such as H&M, Tchibo, Burberry, PVH, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Primark as well as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, ZDHC, Alliance for Water Stewardship, CDP and WWF. Other companies, brands and organizations can also sign up to the Open Letter to add their voices to the call for a more sustainable future for the industry

It calls on companies, brands and organizations in the fashion, apparel and textile sector to support and encourage governments to deploy green economic recovery plans; maintain and strengthen corporate sustainability commitments; recognize the importance of WASH and pledge action; recognize the importance of nature, particularly freshwater ecosystems, in maintaining human wellbeing; increase brand-led sustainability efforts and ensure a role for circularity; enhance and strengthen supplier relationships; and enhance traceability and transparency

Simco Spinning & Textile, manufacturers of Cyclo recycled fibers, has collaborated with The Movement to become nominated spinner of the Aware Integrity Solution in Bangladesh. Aware’s Integrity Solution combines tracer and blockchain technology to help move the industry forward. By adding Aware tracer particles to the certified recycled Cyclo Fiber, Simco can scan the final garment to verify that genuine Cycloe yarn has been used for the final product. Cyclo recycled fibers of Simco Spinning & Textile has pioneered the production of fibers using recycling technology from cutting waste.

Netherlands-based The Movement company offers innovative branded sustainable fiber and yarn solutions for the textile industry. Its Polylana Fiber and Aware can be embedded in various kinds of sustainable materials. Genuine sustainable materials are verified by unique tracer particles and validated by secure blockchain. These yarns are available directly at nominated spinners in several locations across the world.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has amended the export policy for 2/3 ply surgical masks, medical coveralls of all classes and categories from ‘restricted’ to ‘free’ category, and stated that from now, all these items can be freely exported.

The Centre removed the prohibition on export of medical coveralls for C-19 last month, allowing a quota of up to 50 lakh units to be exported every month against licenses issued by the government. However, India’s PPE manufacturers and the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) had urged the Centre to lift restrictions on exports on PPE coveralls since they were losing a significant amount of the export business to neighboring countries.

The Council had claimed that manufacturers of PPE coveralls, who invested crores in PPE manufacturing equipment, were facing difficulties since prices were crashing due to oversupply. A Sakthivel, chairman of AEPC welcomed the move. However, the council also wants curbs on N95 masks export removed.