Netherlands will assist the growth of Bangladesh’s apparel industry. Relationships between the two countries will be strengthened to increase business and investment. The Netherlands cooperates with Bangladesh to improve living conditions of the poor, particularly in three areas: water, sexual and reproductive health and rights and food security. The other priority is labor conditions in the readymade garments sector.

Cooperation between the Netherlands and Bangladesh is reinforced by research institutes in both countries. Bangladesh has sought Dutch support under the broader framework of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to mitigate long-term flood risks and the adverse impacts of climate change. This would occur through basin-wide water management, land reclamation, river-dredging, building the capacity of Bangladesh’s River Research Institute, and developing knowledge via education and training.

During fiscal 2017-18, Bangladesh’s apparel exports to Netherlands stood at over 935 million dollars. The knitwear sector contributed 520 million dollars and 414 million dollars was received from the woven segment. For more than five decades, the Netherlands has been involved in the development of the water sector in Bangladesh. The present vision of the Netherlands cooperation is to promote the management of rivers from salinization, land reclamation and the integrated flood management, for poverty alleviation and improved socio-economic development for a sustainable environment.

The Japan Fashion Week (JFW) Organization, will operate the Japan Pavilion at the Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics 2019 Spring Edition. The Japan Pavilion will comprise business booths by 21companies as well as PR booth introducing the trends in Japan along with the representative textiles produced by the exhibiting companies.

The event will be held from March 12-14, 2019 by Messe Frankfurt (HK) and The Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT at the China Textile Information Centre and National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai

Karl Lagerfeld, who died yesterday at 85, leaves behind an extraordinary legacy as one of the greatest designers of our time. He was also an unstoppable eclectic creative mind, artist, illustrator, publisher, interior designer, photographer and unique style icon.

In addition to being the creative director of his namesake brand, Karl Lagerfeld was the creative director of both the Chanel and Fendi houses respectively since 1983 and 1965.

Along with his prestigious creative direction of the two high-end brands, he also kept the same position at the Karl Lagerfeld brand, which conveyed his own vision and aesthetic through aspirational, accessible collections, an ethos that will continue to remain at the core of the brand.

His last appearance on social networks happened on February 5, 2019, through his own Instagram page thanking his fans after he had reached one million followers. Virginie Viard, a long-time and close co-worker of Lagerfeld, will succeed in his role at Chanel.

The designer had aroused some worries about his state of health among fans and insiders a few weeks ago when on January 22 he did not show up at the end of the Chanel show in Paris. He simply commented on his absence explaining he was feeling extremely tired.

During leading fashion trade event Moda at NEC Birmingham, the ITE Group announced a three-year plan of investment, support and growth to offer exhibitors and visitors incredible events to promote trade and offer unique platforms for all fashion buying needs.

This three-year plan will include investment across the shows including new appointments, shared intelligence and data analysis, the development of its educational content programmes and the continued commitment towards sustainability through our Power of One campaign. Working together as a portfolio, each show benefits from the knowledge and experience of the teams and their networks, but they will continue to be run separately as they are each unique.

The group is committed to investing in each of the shows, building on its visitor acquisition programme, delivering newness, innovation and creativity. Each event is tailored to meet the specific needs of buyers across the UK, in Europe and around the world.

Cotton procurement by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) crossed 8.5 lakh bales in the ongoing 2018-19 cotton season as prices remained below the minimum support prices (MSP) due to weak global prices and low exports. The Corporation expects procurement to touch 15 lakh bales by the end of the season.

A majority of this stock had been procured from Telangana and Maharashtra where farmers are now coming forward to sell to the CCI instead of approaching traders. Cotton is also being bought from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha. Daily arrivals were 13,000-16,000 bales. As per CCI, this increase in procurement is due to a drop in prices. Prices have been declining in the global market. On the Intercontinental Exchange, the price hit a 15-month low last week, while on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India, prices are currently ruling at 10-month lows.

Accord wants an extension beyond its five-year operation term. Pressure has been mounting on Bangladesh to let Accord continue operations. Accord, the platform of European buyers and retailers, wants time to make a prepared transition of its factory inspection and remediation work to the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC).

Nearly 200 investors and the Clean Clothes Campaign have been spearheading demands for an extension of Accord’s tenure and have called upon global partners to coerce action against Bangladesh on the Accord issue.

Accord’s five-year-term to remediate Bangladesh’s apparel factories ended on November 30. But apparel industry leaders are unwilling to let it stay on in Bangladesh any longer. They say Accord has forced many of them to undergo expensive remediation work, but even after such expensive remediation work, buyers, though they are happy with the compliance work, are not paying a fair sum to enable factories to recover their costs.

Some other actions of Accord – like terminating ties with over 500 factories for noncompliance – have also been highly criticised. Bangladesh wants to impose conditions on Accord—but international rights groups say this will strip it of its independence. Accord’s petition challenging the directive to stop activities will be heard by the court on April 7.

Bangladesh is facing the pressure from buyers to deliver cheap apparel. Exporters say they cannot afford to refuse orders and buyers know this and exploit this weakness and mount pressure. The apparel industry is Bangladesh’s single biggest export earner and accounts for about 83 per cent of Bangladesh’s total exports.

But the country’s apparel exporters are hoping retailers and brands pay a fair price for their products. For one, say the exporters, they have spent huge amounts on beefing up workplace safety and that has increased the cost of production by 25 per cent to 30 per cent. Their complaint is that buyers always demand higher compliance at the factory level but do not want to increase the prices of products.

One reason Bangladesh’s exporters do not get fair and reasonable prices is the lack of negotiation skills. Exporters get lower prices for readymade garment products than what Cambodian and Vietnamese exporters from global buyers. Buyers do not want to pay higher prices, although the cost of production will go up further with wage hike, port congestion and higher transportation cost. Factories in Bangladesh that need to relocate have to bear the relocation costs and do not receive financial support from buyers, the government or their industry associations.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) is investing Rs 114 crore to set up a new apparel manufacturing plant in Rayagda district of Odisha with potential to create over 2750 jobs. This unit will have a capacity to produce 3.6 million pieces of apparel per annum. The plant will be financed 30 per cent by equity and balance 70 per cent by term loan. The project will be implemented within 24 months from the date of approval.

ABFRL sells in-house brands such as Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Peter England and also operates the fashion retail chain Pantaloons. The company’s first unit in Odisha has a capacity of four million shirts per annum and employs around 2,000 employees who are mostly women.

Bangladesh’s earnings from exports of readymade garments rose 14.51 per cent in July to January period compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year. Earnings from the sector were 7.65 per cent higher than target. Export earnings of knitwear products rose by 13.86 per cent. Export earnings of woven products rose by 15.18 per cent.

Relative peace in the country, US-China trade war, and improvement in safety conditions in the readymade garment factories are the main reasons behind the increase in readymade garment exports. Earnings from specialized textile sector was up 41.11 per cent while earnings from home textile fell 0.79 per cent. Earnings from leather and leather goods fell 11.71 per cent and earnings from jute and jute goods fell 24.66 per cent.

India, Brazil, Mexico and Chile are also turning into major export destinations for Bangladesh. Similarly, China, the largest apparel supplier worldwide, has also been turning into a major export destination for Bangladesh. China also allows duty-free access to over 5,000 Bangladeshi products, most of which are garment items.

Bangladesh’s garment exports to non-traditional markets have been growing since 2010-11 and have been made possible by a stimulus package and duty-free market access.

AATCC research committee RA111, Electronically-Integrated Textiles, recently approved its first evaluation procedure. The AATCC EP13, Evaluation Procedure for Electrical Resistance of Electronically-Integrated Textiles, is one of the very first international standards for e-textiles.

The procedure provides detailed instructions for measuring resistance of e-textiles—a key indicator of functionality. It also includes guidance and calculations for determining change in resistance after laundering, stretch, or other treatment.

AATCC EP13 is currently available for purchase from the AATCC website as a downloadable PDF. It will be included in the 2019 AATCC Technical Manual Mid-Year Supplement published this summer.

AATCC standards are developed, approved, and periodically reviewed by a global team of volunteer subject matter experts. All stakeholders are welcome to participate in this consensus-based process. The standards are recognized and used around the world.