Sports equipment and fashion group Nike has announced changes in the financial and operational directions, as well as in the area of consumption and marketplace, due to the retirement of its current managers. The succession will be done in an orderly manner and will be completed by the end of 2020.

Heidi O’Neill, president of Nike Direct, has been appointed as the new president of consumer and marketplace departments. He will lead the entire business of direct sales to the consumer, as well as the global activity in the four geographic regions in which the company segments its business: North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; China; Asia Pacific, and Latin America Latin. The executive will assume the role after being part of the Nik’s team for more than 21 years in the group, where she has undertaken various senior roles.

Andy Campion, Chief Operating Officer, will lead Nike’s global technological and digital transformation, technological development, supply and manufacturing, demand and supply management, distribution and logistics, purchasing, sustainability and design, and connectivity in the workplace. The executive joined Nike in 2007 as vice president of global planning and development and held finance and strategy positions before becoming chief financial officer in 2015. Prior to joining Nike, he worked at Disney.

Mathew Friend, financial director of the operating segments will work on corporate strategy and development. In 2011 he was CFO of emerging markets, then assumed that corresponding role for global categories, products and functions, and ultimately for Nike as well.

These three changes in senior management are the most relevant that have occurred since the Oregon multinational announced the succession of Mark Parker. The chosen one was Donahoe, former president of eBay, with a clear objective to deepen the online offensive of the brand and its commitment to have a more direct relationship with consumers.

British luxury brand is setting up training programs that seek to foster and protect artisanal skills for British fashion manufacturing. The British luxury company has opened a training center at its factory in Castleford, West Yorkshire. The goal is to nurture talent and protect the traditional, artisanal skills that underpin Yorkshire’s textile industry.

Over the last 50 years, Burberry has created some of the most iconic products in Castleford. The brand believes in protecting artisanal skills, nurturing talent and investing in British fashion manufacturing. It is partnering with the UK Fashion and Textile Association to provide a set of training opportunities for their own manufacturing teams as well as enabling new routes in the industry for the local community.

The Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGPMEA) says the country’s garments accessories and packaging sector may incur a loss of Tk 1,200-1,500 crore if import deadlock from China continues for three to four more months. About 40 per cent of raw materials for the sector are procured from China. Importers have suffered losses of over Tk 200 crore due to extension of Chinese New Year holidays. While some of the goods have reached the ports, their documents are missing. In some other cases, there are documents but no goods.

At present, 1,744 registered institutions operate in the garments accessories and packaging sector in Bangladesh. The sector provides employment to over 7.5 lakh people. About 35 types of raw materials, including yarn, fabric, duplex board, white liner, thermoplastic mould, carton, sewing threads, etc, are imported from China.

Companies in the garments accessories also supply raw materials for leather and pharmaceuticals industries alongside the apparel sector, said the association. Moreover, the association member companies cannot import materials as per their will every now and then, which adds to the problem. Even if they find alternative sources, that will add to the cost and time of procurement.

Old Navy plans to exit China. The brand owned by Gap will be closing all its stores in the country. Old Navy serves a core audience of value-seeking families. Children’s clothing is often an entry point to the brand. The brand has focused on increasing its size range, too, and has built an infrastructure that quickly feeds stores with what customers want rather than serving the same assortment to everyone. Old Navy first arrived in China in 2014 and currently operates ten stores in the country. The retailer is the latest in a series of international brands to beat a retreat from China in the last few years, including Forever 21, Asos and New Look.

In February 2019, Gap announced it was planning a spin-off of the Old Navy brand as a separate company, so that the consistent strong performer could concentrate its efforts into growth-oriented strategies and expansion. However, the future of the planned split was put into question when momentum at Old Navy began to slow and, in January of this year, Gap revealed it would no longer go ahead with the separation, since the cost and complexity of the operation had thrown the company’s ability to create value from the split into doubt.

The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association says, garment factories in the country face the risk of shutdown as Coronavirus has restricted imports of all major raw materials. Myanmar imports up to 90 per cent of raw materials from China and the rest from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea for the garment industry which largely uses a cut-make-package (CMP) model.

The number of deaths from the Coronavirus outbreak in mainland China has risen by 136, pushing the nationwide death toll to 2,004. There are over 70,000 confirmed cases across the country. Many businesses, including suppliers for Myanmar’s factories, are struggling to function properly.

Majority of clothing factories have stopped running overtime due to dwindling stocks. Normally clothing factories run 10 hours on weekdays, which include two hours of overtime, as well as overtime on weekends. But many factories are closing on weekends and not running overtime on weekdays.

Mango has joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an international alliance within the textile, footwear and clothing industries that aims at sustainable production and seeks to improve practices in the supply chain and measure the environmental and social impact of brands. In 2011, the SAC launched the Higg Index, an indicator of the value chain measurement for retail companies, brands and facilities. The objective of the tool is to calculate and rate the social or environmental sustainability performance of a company or product. Currently, the SAC initiative has seen the participation of more than 250 companies in 35 countries including Asos, Aldo, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, among others.

Mango, based in Spain, is immersed in a sustainable transformation plan. In 2019, the company joined the Fashion Pact, a global association formed by around 250 international brands that aims at boosting the environmental sustainability of the textile and fashion sectors. In addition, Mango is also part of the Better Cotton Initiative program, an initiative that promotes the production and responsible cultivation of cotton, focusing on environmental, social and economic factors. Founded in 1984, Mango has an international presence in over a hundred countries. The company ended 2018 with sales of $2.4 million.

As per Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) affiliated with the US Department of Commerce, Bangladesh's apparel export to the United States (US) grew 9.83 per cent year-on-year in 2019, strengthening its position as the third-largest supplier to the American market, after China and Vietnam.

Bangladesh collected nearly $6 billion from apparel export to the US from January to December, 2019 against $5.40 billion earnings in the corresponding period 2018. Export increased amidst a price hike of Bangladeshi ready-made garments, caused by the elimination of US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) facility. Bangladesh has been operating without the facility since 2013.

Bangladesh's readymade garments export grew because of the ongoing US-China trade war, prompting both the countries to impose additional tariffs on their respective products, according to industry insiders.

Between January and December 2019, Bangladesh shipped 2.01 billion square meters of apparel to the US. The figure was 1.93 billion square meters in the previous calendar year.

Kingpins Transformers is now the Transformers Foundation. As a foundation, Transformers will actively address and facilitate change in key areas of the denim supply chain including social responsibility, sustainable cotton, responsible chemical management and consumer education. The first step for the foundation is to recruit leaders throughout each of these areas and create an action roadmap for 2020 and 2021.

Besides continuing its events, Transformers Foundation will begin to produce annual reports, white papers, consumer testing and industry honors for outstanding achievements in denim. Its first event as a nonprofit will take place April 24, 2020, in Amsterdam.

What started in 2014 as a way for denim professionals to discuss ideas for change launched a spin-off event for students in 2019. And it’s changed once again—this time, into a nonprofit.

The industry cannot agree on facts or what is right and what is wrong. There is confusion and green-washing, misinformation and dishonest marketing along the supply chain all the way through to the consumers. Brands and retailers use resources when buying their products which are never replenished. The industry needs to understand and pay the true cost of a product, including environmental and social costs. And each day has new reminders that the clock is ticking and environmental change is needed immediately.

Texprocil organized Ind Texpo will be held in Tamil Nadu from March 17 to 19, 2020. This is a reverse buyer-seller meet. Over 75 Indian companies will exhibit their products, which would include quality yarn, apparel fabrics, denim fabrics, choicest home textiles and textile innovations, so as to make sourcing simple and under one roof. The event would also feature exclusive B2B meetings for exhibiting companies, facilitating the exchange of high-quality market intelligence to support industry efforts to attain a competitive edge and move up the value chain with renewed vigor and a better understanding of global trade.

The meet would open up opportunities for Indian companies to explore business potential. Over 100 importers from over 25 countries are expected to visit Ind Texpo. Buyers from Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, UAE, Middle East, Ethiopia, Kenya are expected. Importers in the EU are interested in sourcing Indian yarn, fabrics and home textiles.

The event assumes significance as a good number of textile importers are understood to be looking at alternative sources of supplies following the shutdown in China due to outbreak of the coronavirus. This is the second edition of the event and it is being organized by Texprocil.

Korean retail company Shinsegae offers a variety of retail technology solutions like CloudPOS, Smart Vending Machine, Self-Checkout (SCO) and Self-Scanning Robot. CloudPOS is a cloud-based solution that offers POS essentials to the retail business. The company’s SCO technology has been developed to take various payment methods including credit cards, cash and gift cards, while the Smart Vending machine allows selling of a wide range of products like fresh produce, cosmetics and smart devices.

Shinsegae, founded in 1955, is Korea’s first department store. The flagship store is an iconic place that symbolizes Shinsegae’s traditions and values and its elegant architecture recalls its long history. The company operates two businesses: E-Mart discount store and department store. The E-mart discount stores mainly provide foods, drinks and household products. The department stores mainly provide brand clothes, with seven branch stores throughout Korea. The company has overseas branch offices in China, Japan and the United States. Shinsegae believes in enriching the everyday lives of customers by delivering long-lasting values and commitment. With a network of over 860 stores nationwide, it provides exceptional retail experience for customers across its fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands. The company has been working ceaselessly to modernize the distribution industry of Korea.