The 125th exhibition of Canton Fair Brand Zone (Canton Fair or "the Fair") has achieved a trade volume of $8.56 billion accounting for 28.8 percent of total turnover. Companies at the fair presented their accelerated research and development capabilities offering technological breakthroughs, product innovations and brand cultivation by showcasing quality and value-added self-owned branded products at the Fair.

Buyers showed a growing interest in home-grown technologies, with an emphasis on quality and service rather than price. Some of the best sellers this year included a robot vacuum, real-time voice translator, and virtual reality gaming and full-screen home theatre devices.

Value-added products were also widely appreciated by international businesses at the Fair. Pearl River Bridge, one of the earliest brands of Soy Sauce for the global market, now presents in over 120 countries and regions, launched the brands first organic soy sauce and gluten-free product range as a response to growing demand. The demonstration of its innovation development helped the brand to establish its businesses in BRI countries and raise profits in Russia by more than 10 percent.

One of the key factors driving the wool market is increasing disposable income across various geographies, which has significantly boosted spending capacity on apparels and interior textiles. Other favorable conditions, such as textile production, the availability of raw material and significant growth of the manufacturing sector in China, are expected to boost the consumption of wool from textile industries. A prominent share of global wool production is consumed by textile producers located in China. East Asia, with a significant contribution from China, is expected to provide attractive opportunities for the growth of the global wool market.

Growth in demand for wool apparel is further boosted by increasing retail sales of clothing across different geographies. Growth in the retail sales of clothing has been substantial over the past few years owing to changing lifestyles of consumers. Aggressive marketing strategies are being adopted by clothing industry participants, which have boosted the popularity of woolen athleisure among the young population. In regions such as North America and Europe, consumer awareness about clothing fibers has increased. Consumers are now more concerned about the adoption of apparels made from natural fibers. This factor has significantly increased the sales of textile products made of wool.

The US has introduced a new integrated data collection, measurement, and verification procedure for the cotton industry. Its objective is to document US cotton production practices and their environmental impact. The data will benchmark farmer gains towards the industry’s sustainability goals of 2025 as well as provide the global textile supply chain additional assurances that the cotton is produced in a responsible manner.

A pilot program will be fully implemented for the 2020 cotton crop year. Practising growers will have to adopt data tools that allow quantitative measurement of sustainability metrics like FieldPrint Platform, a pioneering assessment framework along with a self-assessment checklist.

US cotton is already among the most sustainably produced in the world. Though US cotton growers continue to embrace new technologies and management techniques that reduce impact and increase yield, the trust protocol is meant to address that need with a tangible and transparent snapshot of US cotton growing practices and the gains resulting from them. For the next decade and beyond, US cotton producers and industry organizations are setting new environmental targets to keep pushing the frontier of sustainability and leading the worldwide effort in responsible cotton production. Target areas and goals are established using science-based evaluations, including key performance indicators for producing each pound of cotton and pathways to achieve them.

Uniqlo’s June sales have grown 26.9 per cent. The June performance was helped by much heavier visitor traffic to the company shops and its webstore. The average purchase per customer was also higher than the year as a whole.

Uniqlo brands itself as LifeWear, as opposed to fast fashion, emphasizing functionality and lifestyle. Uniqlo wants to be known as an important and influential player in the fashion industry. It wants to be Japan’s answer to Zara or H&M. Meanwhile Uniqlo plans to double its number of stores in Southeast Asia and Oceania to about 400 by 2022. The emphasis is on standalone suburban stores meant to extend the brand's reach beyond shopping malls. Standalone suburban locations were key to the chain’s growth in Japan. The Japanese retailer aims to triple revenue generated in the region in the year ending August 2022. That would mark a faster rate of growth than for Uniqlo overall, which expects revenue to double over the same period. Besides Thailand, Uniqlo’s presence in the Asean region covers Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The brand has two stores in Thailand. More are planned for other southeast Asian markets. The next promising countries are the Philippines and Malaysia.

According to the data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) indicated that the country’s textile exports declined by 0.09 per cent to $12.315 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.

This decline came amid a massive slump in exports of non-value added segments including raw cotton which declined by 67.19pc to $18.876 million, cotton yarn by 16 per cent to $1.048 billion, and cotton cloth 3.65 per cent to $1.94 billion.

On the other hand, value-added segment posted a 5 per cent growth during the cumulative period as exports of knitwear grew by 9 per cent to $2.45bn, bed wear by 2 per cent to $2.08 billion, readymade by 4per cent to $2.44bn whereas exports in the towels fell by 1per cent to $731million and tents and canvas by 3 per cent to $78 million.

Skechers has been declared women’s brand of the year at the Drapers Footwear Awards. The brand stood out from the competition as it drives growth through constant innovation and consistent marketing. This is the third time Skechers has been recognized by Drapers. The Drapers Footwear Awards acknowledge outstanding performance and innovation among retailers, brands and individuals.

Skechers has always been a strong and in-demand brand for women. Skechers started as a men's brand and now offers shoes for women and children. It also has men’s and women’s street wear. The men's collection has trainers, sandals, boots and shoes for every occasion, whether one is out playing sports, walking or needs some casual shoes with style. The brand is known for stylish footwear that doesn't compromise on comfort. The UK is the brand’s largest market in Europe and continues to grow year on year. Skechers offers two distinct footwear categories: lifestyle with comfort-focused, trend-right product for men, women and children, and Skechers Performance for elite athletes and sports enthusiasts. Celebrity product endorsees for Skechers' collections include actress Kelly Brook, multi-award winning singer Camila Cabello, boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard, and baseball slugger David Big Papi Ortiz.

Prym Fashion has launched eco-friendly snaps. The snaps, available in EcoWhite or EcoGreen, offer earth-friendly solutions for sportswear, outdoor performance apparel and children’s and babies’ wear manufacturers. The EcoWhite snaps are made from recycled water bottles to eliminate the use of crude oil used in the production of virgin products, a process that also diverts single use plastic from the waste stream. A single water bottle can produce 13 snaps. The EcoGreen snap is green in color but also green because it is sourced from plant materials, such as potato starch. As a result, this snap is both biodegradable and recyclable. An EcoBlue snap is on the horizon, which will source recycled ocean plastic for production.

The fashion industry is well-known for wasteful practices in manufacturing, including excessive water consumption and chemical run-off. Smaller details such as snaps can have a large manufacturing and waste impact as do larger fashion components. Today’s consumers expect brands to offer products that are completely sustainable, including the fabric and the trim. As brands and retailers in the textile industry continue to raise their sustainability goals, details like trim will become increasingly important. Prym Fashion is committed to making snaps that make a difference.

Performance Days will be held in Germany on November 13 and 14, 2019. The trade fair for functional fabrics and accessories for the sport and fashion sector has long been committed to sustainability. This is evidenced by several recent focus topics, which have included subjects like recycling, biodegradability, responsible use of water in textile production, and renewable functional materials such as wool. The trade fair itself will be generally more sustainable. A comprehensive overall concept is designed to avoid unnecessary waste, for example, generated from disposable products. Performance Days has taken up the promotion of sustainable development in the industry. In the past it stimulated exhibitors to create new developments. It now looks forward to guiding fabric manufacturers in the right direction and inspiring yet more innovation. And the show has the leverage to make a difference in the entire value chain.

The topic of sustainability will highlight 24 of the most innovative sustainable fabrics, each accompanied by a comprehensive explanation. Performance Days will host the first international sustainability conference for the textiles industry and, in particular, for the sportswear sector. International guests will explore all aspects of sustainability in an exciting and entertaining lecture and discussion series, introducing them to the audience of trade professionals.

Concerned about increasing imports from Bangladesh, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), an association of more than 560 textile establishments with a combined turnover of over Rs 40,000 crore has sought the help of the central government in getting supply contracts from Indian retailers and brands.

The companies are worried that the increasing imports of readymade garments might hurt them in the local market even as they grapple with tepid growth in exports. They believe that Indian clusters can better serve the sourcing needs of both Western and Indian brands than products sourced from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year Pakistan’s textile exports grew 19 per cent in quantity and three per cent in value.

Incentives will be provided to the textile sector to boost value-added exports. The aim is to boost value-added textile exports to 30 billion dollars over the next five years. The aim is to increase exports, boost the domestic economy, accelerate industrialisation and create job opportunities. The six major sub-sectors of the textile sector, including spinning, weaving, processing, printing, garment manufacturing, and yarn manufacturing, are expected to benefit by adopting value addition and modern techniques. The special energy package will continue for the five zero-rated sectors. The drawback of local taxes and levies scheme will continue for the five zero-rated sectors. Exporters of textile products will be entitled to free-on-board value of their enhanced exports on an incremental basis if exports increase more than ten per cent over the previous year’s exports.

Financing under the subsidized export finance scheme and long-term financing facility will be increased. A five per cent customs duty will be applied on raw cotton imports from July 2019. Support price will also be announced for raw cotton based on export parity.