According to Accenture's 'COVID-19 Consumer Pulse Research' that surveyed 2,500 consumers in India between March and June (among 45,000 globally), 85 per cent of consumers in the country said they shopped more health-consciously while 85 per cent said they were focused more on limiting food waste.

The pandemic has taken a toll on brand loyalty and as consumers make more socially and environmentally sustainable and healthy choices, consumer goods companies must tailor their offerings accordingly and refresh their brand promise to meet these new requirements, said Anurag Gupta, Managing Director and Lead, Strategy and Consulting, Accenture in India.

The survey found that the pandemic is causing more people to shop for groceries online. While 71 per cent felt that quality, safety and trust are the most considered brand attributes in purchase decisions, 75 per cent said that they're being more cost-conscious when shopping for products.

According to the survey, demand for local goods and local brands is growing in the country. Seventy-four per cent of Indian consumers bought locally-sourced products while 79 per cent of consumers wanted to shop at closer neighbourhood stores

Superdry has agreed a new €70 million lending facility to help get it through the coronavirus crisis and traded ahead of its expectations in the latest quarter.

The group, whose share price has plunged 77 per cent so far this year as its stores were shuttered due to the pandemic, said the asset backed lending facility was agreed with its existing lenders HSBC and BNPP and runs to January 2023.

The retailer, which sells sweatshirts, hoodies and jackets adorned with Japanese text, said that while trading in the 13 weeks to July 25, its fiscal first quarter, was materially impacted by the crisis, the 24.1 per cent fall in group revenue was better than its initial expectations.

Around 95 per cent of Superdry's stores have now reopened. It first quarter store revenue fell by 58.1 per cent, while wholesale revenue was down 31 per cent. E-commerce made up some of the shortfall with revenue growth of 93.2 per cent.

According to Apparel Resources, US registered a 47 per cent increase in T-shirt imports in June ’20 on a monthly basis, owing to gradual rebound of the apparel market. The country imported T-shirts worth $902 million during the month. However, imports on a Y-o-Y basis during the January-June’20 period, fell by 32.38 per cent to $7.09 billion worth of T-shirts as against $10.49 billion in the first half of 2019.

All major shippers to the US registered a growth in T-shirt export on monthly basis in June ’20 over May ’20, but their imports fell on a Y-o-Y from June ’19. Vietnam shipped $195.12 million worth of T-shirts in June ’20, noting 26.05 per cent increase from May ’20. However, the country’s shipments declined by 36 per cent from June’19. China too noted 66.13 per cent increase in its T-shirt exports to the US in June ’20 on monthly basis. However, its shipments declined by 59 per cent from what it valued in June ’19.

Bangladesh also upped its T-shirt exports to the US by 20.95 per cent in June ’20 over May ’20 and hit US $ 28 million revenue. Y-o-Y exports declined 59.6 per cent as compared to June ’19. India’s T-shirt exports to the US surged by 54.66 per cent in June ’20 over May ’20. It clocked $22.27 million revenue from T-shirt shipment to US in June this year. However, its shipments on Y-o-Y basis fell by 72.60 per cent from June ’19.

With a 15 per cent upside potential, the apparel sector is trading at acceptable prices. The sector upside is entirely due to Inditex and M&S. In a €120 billion market cap sector made up of six stocks including Inditex worth €70bn, the post lockdown action was limited to Zalando, a €14billion ecommerce brand. Investors have remained on the side-lines since early June when consumers were effectively free to return to stores.

The crux of that misfiring is due to Inditex, as it is five times bigger than Zalando. Following its Q1 earnings, its target price was raised by about 10 per cent. The retailer booked a 95 per cent increase in online sales when 90 per cent of its stores were closed. The lack of performance of the sector at large may well indicate that investors are less concerned by the percentage of revenues derived from online, than by whether consumption will hit another COVID wall when stay-at-home policies combine with unemployment to bring down discretionary spending.

Before COVID-19, the sector had the profile of a rising annuity largely determined by Inditex. Only Zalando and Asos still have to become dividend payers and offset the shortcomings of M&S.

Levi’s has launched jeans made from the Circulose material. This is a part of its Wellthread collection made from reconstituted cotton derived from old recycled jeans and combined with biodegradable wood pulp. It has been made in collaboration with Renewcell, the Swedish startup behind Circulose. Available in the 502 for men and High Loose for women, the jeans are crafted out of both Circulose and organic cotton, and are dyed using a water-saving method.

Each part of the jean – from its trimming to the thread – is also designed to ensure it can be fully recycled and eventually turned into a new product in the future, making it the brand’s most circular design to date. In February, Swedish fast fashion giant H&M became the first retailer to use the recycled fabric to make a dress in its Conscious Exclusive collection.

It’s a part of H&M Group’s ongoing cleanup of its role in fuelling the global fashion industry’s pollution. Since last year, the brand has launched a number of circular initiatives, from transforming its Stockholm flagship into a rental, repair and recycling concept to introducing other innovative upcycled materials such as Vegea, a plant-based leather made using wine waste.

ICGTITD 2020, the international conference on global textile industry and textile design aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of the global textile industry and textile design. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of global textile industry and textile design.

ICGTITD 2020 has teamed up with the Special Journal Issue on global textile industry and textile design. According to this alliance, a number of selected high-impact full text papers will be considered for the special journal issues. All submitted papers will have the opportunity to be considered for this Special Journal Issue. The paper selection will be carried out during the peer review process as well as at the conference presentation stage. The final decision for paper selection will be made based on peer review reports by the Guest Editors and the Editor-in-Chief jointly. Selected full-text papers will be published online free of charge.

As per China customs, in June 2020, China's exports of uncombed polyester staple fiber declined 43 per cent year-on-year to 48,600 tonne while imports increased by 33.6 per cent to 17,400 tonne. In the first half of 2020, China’s exports declined 32.5 per cent to 334,000 tonne while imports declined 1.6 per cent to 98,400 tonne.

Imports from Vietnam reached 19,196 tonne in 2019. In Jan-Jun, 2020, imports from the country reached 8,400 tonne. Imports from Thailand tripled in 2019 compared to 2016, to 45,000 tonne during the Jan-June period, its imports reached 24,913 tonne.

China’s imports from the whole Southeast Asia reached 43,754 tonne during Jan-Jun 2020 while the country improted 98,390 tonne in 2019. Imports from The African market has also gradually risen in recent years. Especially in 2018-2019, some domestic production lines have also been transferred to Africa. Shandong Shenrunfa transfered its 17kt/year capacity to Nigeria, Guangdong Junfu’s 40 kt/year capacity to Nigeria and Guangdong Sanlong’s 20kt/year to South Africa.　

In 2020, China aims to increase its imports from Ethiopia. In June, the country imported 98 tonne of uncombed polyester fiber from Ethiopia.

According to the US Department of Commerce, US apparel imports from China dropped from almost 30 per cent in value to 20 per cent in the first half of 2020. The erosion of the Chinese position in the US fashion supply chain partially reflects growing tensions, as American fashion firms are forced to reduce their exposure to Chinese suppliers in response to the trade war, Coronavirus pandemic and deteriorating bilateral relations.

A survey by the United States Fashion Industry Association, which polled 25 executives from leading fashion companies in the second quarter, found while most imported from a mixture of countries, including China and Vietnam, 29 per cent said they sourced more from Vietnam this year. Concerns over forced labor within the clothing manufacturing industry in China’s far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been the latest obstacle holding back US imports of apparel and other textile goods from China.

Worsening ties between the US and China has also accelerated the move of Chinese manufacturers and exporters to shift some productions out of China to nearby countries to take advantage of lower labour costs and avoid American import tariffs. While US fashion firms have been reducing their reliance on Chinese products for several years, it will remain a key base for sourcing in the near future, particularly after the coronavirus pushed many firms to cut costs dramatically. Around 70 per cent of respondents to to survey expected to decrease their sourcing from China through 2022.

US’ apparel imports from NAFTA countries, Canada, Mexico fell by 38.22 per cent on yearly basis during the first half of 2020, according to OTEXA. These apparel imports were valued at $1.16 million during the period. However, as markets in the US picked up from late May this year, the US’ imports from these two countries increased by 90.65 per cent in June ’20 over May ’20.

US’ apparel shipments from Mexico totaled $1 billion falling by 37.21 per cent on Y-o-Y basis during H1 2020, while in June ’20, Mexico’s shipments grew by over 90 per cent to $179.46 million garments. On the other hand, Canada apparel’s shipments grew by 87.78 per cent growth in June ’20 to $19.63 million while the country fell in its apparel shipment by 43.91 per cent on yearly note in January-June ’20 period.

Many Asian workers working for suppliers to global fashion brands retailers including Hennes & Mauritz, Topshop and Gap, have allegedly received only partial or no wages at all in the three months ending May, according to a report by labor union alliance Clean Clothes Campaign. The average worker in the 50 million strong Asian supply chain for garments has lost about a fifth of pay, representing roughly $5.8 billion in unpaid or lost wages, says the data gathered by the group.

When pandemic lockdowns hit Europe and the US, many of the world’s largest retailers demanded heavy retroactive discounts or refused to pay for orders, as they struggled to sell clothes and revenues slumped. Reports of workers’ pay being withheld began in February, after the pandemic broke out in China and severely hampered the flow of textiles, zippers, buttons and other accessories used in the Asian garment industry. As per Christie Miedema, Clean Clothes Campaign, things worsened after this as Bangladesh manufacturers lost out on more than $3 billion in payments for clothes already produced or sourced, according to the BGMEA.

In March, nearly 1million Bangladeshi garment makers were sent home without any pay at all, with suppliers reporting that the vast majority of buyers refused to contribute to severance pay. In some parts of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the average garment worker made roughly half of normal pay in the three months ending May.

Excluding China, where workers have access to more support from the government, garment workers in Asia have seen their pay drop by more than a third, representing roughly $3.2 billion in unpaid or lost wages, the report found.