India's policy to facilitate trade in rupees is gaining attention from more countries, as eight countries including Sri Lanka have opened 50 Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs) in the last six months.

With this arrangement, Indian importers can make payments in rupees for their imports from the partner country, which will be deposited in the concerned country's bank's vostro account. Based on the payment, the partner country's supplier will receive payment in their local currency. The deposited amount in the vostro account will be utilized for imports by the partner from India, which will reduce the demand for US dollars, ensuring that the currencies of India and its partner countries do not face downward pressure.

Sri Lanka, one of the eight nations with vostro accounts in India, will have better access to the Indian market once trade in Indian rupees commences. This is particularly beneficial for Sri Lanka, which recently faced an economic crisis and did not have enough foreign currency to import essential goods. This shortage had a major impact on the country's garment industry, which heavily depends on fabric supplies from India and other neighboring countries.

In the second half of last year, Sri Lanka's fabric imports from India decreased to $256.266 million compared to imports of $336.994 million in the first half of 2022 and $307.430 million in the second half of 2021. However, imports increased to $593.261 million in 2022 compared to $565.848 million in 2021. In 2020, Sri Lanka imported fabric worth $410.881 million, $485.160 million in 2019, $426.046 million in 2018, and $374.214 million in 2017.

The trade facilitation in rupees will enable Sri Lanka to overcome its foreign currency shortages, especially for its garment industry, which is a major contributor to the country's economy. It will also improve the trade relationship between India and Sri Lanka, providing more opportunities for bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

H&M US has partnered with ThredUp to launch its first-ever resale scheme for the US market, known as "H&M Pre-Loved".

The collaboration will enable the retailer to promote circularity and encourage customers to access pre-owned pieces in good condition through ThredUp's Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS) programme.

H&M aims to promote circularity by dismantling linear business models, which are the norm in the fashion industry. The company intends to extend the lifespan of products by introducing a circular business model.

H&M has taken several initiatives towards this goal, including its garment collecting program, launched in 2013, and its digital hub, called "H&M Take Care," which educates consumers on how to care for their garments to prolong their wear time.

In 2019, the company became the majority owner of Sellpy, a second-hand retail platform that has grown rapidly in recent years.

Coats, the global leader in thread and structural components for apparel and footwear, has opened a new Sustainability Hub in Madurai, India.

The state-of-the-art spinning and twisting pilot plant will further the company’s sustainability commitment and help achieve its new targets for 2026. Over the past four years, Coats has made significant progress in the areas of energy, materials, water, waste, and people. Emissions reduction across the company’s entire value chain is at the heart of the new targets.

The Madurai hub will work with the Coats Sustainability Hub in Shenzhen, China to accelerate the transition to recycled and renewable materials. The two hubs will innovate new generation materials for sustainable sewing threads for apparel, footwear, and performance materials. The Sustainability Hub in Madurai will also support customers and other stakeholders in creating sustainability in the industry.

The new facility is part of Coats’ $10 million investment over the next five years in scaling up the development of green technologies and materials to achieve its ambitious sustainability targets.

The new spinning and twisting pilot facility is located in the heritage site of Coats in Madurai and covers 10,000 square feet, with the infrastructure to process multiple fibers, blends, and high-performance fibers like aramids.

YKK Corporation, a global leader in fastening solutions, has been recognized as a “Supplier Engagement Leader” by the international environmental non-profit, CDP, for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout its supply chain.

YKK’s recognition places the company in the top 8% of companies evaluated for supplier outreach on climate change. The annual Supplier Engagement Rating (SER) by CDP assesses how effectively companies engage with their suppliers on climate change issues. YKK’s governance, targets, and initiatives to collaborate with suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the YKK supply chain, all contributed to the company’s recognition as a “Supplier Engagement Leader.”

Asako Yoshioka, Vice President, Sustainability Department, YKK Corporation, said, “We aim to replicate this in the next fiscal year and beyond by continuing to promote sustainability through our business activities, products, and technologies with the goal of solving climate change and other societal issues and helping realize a healthy global environment.”

YKK’s sustainability goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The 55th edition of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts’ ‘Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair’ kicked off on March 15th at the India Expo Centre & Mart in New Delhi.

The fair is witnessing an overwhelming response from buyers from 110 countries, making it one of the largest and most prestigious trade fairs in the country.

The event was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Textiles and Railways, Darshana V Jardosh, and is spread across 16 halls showcasing a range of accessories, homeware, handicrafts, and other products from different parts of India. The fair is an opportunity for Indian exporters to showcase their unique products and craftsmanship to the world.

EPCH chairman, Raj Kumar Malhotra, called the event a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of their member exporters who have been promoting Indian handicrafts to the world for nearly three decades.

The IHGF is designed to act as a global platform for the Indian handicrafts sector to promote exports and boost international business. Exhibitors can network with international buyers to expand their distribution networks across the world while forecasting trends in the industry.

The fair promises to be a significant step towards a more vibrant and robust handicrafts sector in India.

Lucky Brand, the denim and lifestyle brand, has teamed up with Laura Ashley, a quintessential British-inspired style and iconic floral print brand, to create a limited-edition women's fashion collection.

The collection celebrates self-expression for a new era while staying true to the hallmark styles of both brands. The 15-piece collection features a range of pieces, including jeans, dresses, shirting, shorts, and jackets, embellished with patchwork, embroidery, and floral patterns.

The collaboration highlights the best of both brands, bringing together Laura Ashley's iconic British designs and Lucky Brand's classic American style. The festival-ready denim corset lined with a pink floral print, mid-rise distressed denim boy shorts, and loose jeans set the tone for the denim offerings. The collection also includes spring-ready white denim shortalls with embroidered blue florals and two workwear-inspired sleeveless coverall shorts in charming floral prints pulled from the Laura Ashley archives.

The standout piece in the collection is the coordinating trucker jacket and jeans adorned with faded floral accents, perfect for seasonal transitional dressing. The collection also features a romantic floral midi dress and jumpsuit, two boyfriend-style relaxed button-down shirts with floral patches, and a pair of floral corset blouses. The tiered baby-doll dress featuring complimentary prints rounds out the collection.

Inditex, the Spanish fashion retailer, achieved a significant increase in sales in 2022, with sales reaching €32.6 billion, an increase of 17.5 per cent compared to 2021.

Sales in constant currencies increased by 18 per cent. The company's gross profit increased by 17% to €18.6 billion, with a gross margin of 57 per cent. Inditex's EBITDA increased by 20 per cent to €8.6 billion, and EBIT increased by 29 per cent to €5.5 billion. PBT increased by 28 per cent to €5.4 billion, while net income increased by 27 per cent to €4.1 billion.

Inditex reported that its store and online sales in constant currencies between February 1 and March 13, 2023, increased by 13.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. Adjusting for the operations in the Russian Federation and Ukraine in 2022, store and online sales in constant currency increased by 17.5 per cent.

In 2022, store sales for Inditex grew by 23 per cent, reflecting increased footfall and store productivity. The company opened stores in 33 markets during the year, with 201 openings, 186 refurbishments, including 94 enlargements, and 349 absorptions. At the end of FY2022, Inditex operated 5,815 stores. Online sales also increased by 4 per cent to reach €7.8 billion.

Inditex ceased operations in 514 stores and online platforms in the Russian Federation on March 5, 2022, and 82 stores and online operations in Ukraine remain closed since February 24, 2022.

Mills in Surat reported a substantial drop in business around Diwali 2022. The estimated decline compared to the same festive season of 2021 was 60 per cent, a near death-knell for the synthetic textile sector in Gujarat’s second largest city. What are the main reasons for this sharp decline in an otherwise buoyant economy? The South Gujarat Textile Processing Association points out three key factors: GST, high inflation and sharp increase in prices of raw material.

Known as India’s synthetic textile capital, Surat used to supply 90 per cent of synthetic material produced by India annually. The President of the South Gujarat Textile Processing Association disclosed production per day is 250,000,00 meters a day whilst a year ago the figure was 450,000,00 per day. This situation has had a large impact nationally as over 100,000 migrant workers from the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were rendered jobless and forced to return to their home states.

The issue of GST

A controversial subject, GST, according to the sector’s experts has been identified as a problem that has contributed to the sharp decline in business. The GST’s inherent structuring and stringent compliance has unsettled a vast number of mills as prior to the implementation of GST, they were conducting business in a more informal way. As traders are required to pay taxes and keep track of them at every stage, the Surat hub was ill-prepared to become a part of the Indian government’s bid to formalize its economy. This in turn had traders in a situation wherein they were unable to submit returns on time or just not be able to pay on time.

The Surat hub has a two value-chain functioning and in it, the first value chain is comprised of huge number of small-scale garment manufacturing factories of which many actually knit, print and embroider as well. Then there are others that not only produce yarn but also transform the yarn into textiles. With about 70,000 textile traders in this mix, the formalized GST system created chaos as small companies that didn’t play with a formal system ran into unknown grounds and were at a loss.

Rising cost of raw material and operations

Synthetic textile manufacturers have witnessed raw materials getting costlier by two to five percent over the past months due to a sharp increase in crude oil prices. A further increase in prices of raw materials in the short term is also on the cards. Due to an increase in crude oil prices, polyester staple fibre prices have risen by 10 percent over the past two months to S 1 per kilo. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) is a crude oil derivative and an input for polyester fibre has increased by 4.5 percent in November 2022 and three months later shows no signs of contraction.

MEG (mono-ethylene glycol) has also become costlier by 2.8 per cent in November 2022, priced at $ 9 a kilo. China, a large producer for recycled polyester staple fibre produced from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, has stopped procurement of such bottles, resulting in a shortage of raw material for their fibre manufacturing plants. Hence, prices of recycled polyester staple fibre have gone up.

Operational cost from high-inflation is another major issue. Prices for commercial use of water have been increased in a bid for the local state government to generate more revenues to fund the state’s ambitious infrastructural projects at the cost of textile mills. Lignite coal, the staple source of energy powering these mills is another bone of contention between the state government and the mill owners as they continue urging the government to increase supply and decrease prices. Today lignite costs between $ 47 and $ 67 per ton compare to between $ 33 and $ 26 per ton.

In light of so many issues hitting all at once, synthetic textile manufacturers are not only feeling the heat but also questioning the reason to continue operation or abandon to manufacture something more lucrative.

Indonesia's Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Teten Masduki has firmly rejected the sale and purchase of imported used clothes or "import thrifting" to safeguard the textile micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and shoe textile products.

The import thrifting trend poses a risk to jobs because the textile industry is a labor-intensive industry that employs many workers, Masduki explained. He urged customs to be stricter and improve their monitoring of illegal imports of used clothes, which have been banned.

Masduki stressed that the government has a strong rationale for rejecting imports of used and illegal textile products. He added that such imports are not aligned with the government's drive to encourage local product consumption through the Proud of Indonesian Products National Movement.

Under this national movement, the government has implemented a policy requiring 40 percent spending on MSME products in goods procurement. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), this policy could lead to national economic growth of 1.85 percent and the creation of 2 million jobs without new investment. Masduki believes that similar efforts can improve national economic growth when it comes to household consumption.

The global market for textile fibers is expected to reach $66.5 billion by the year 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6% over the analysis period of 2022-2030, according to a recent report by Research And Markets.

The market, which was estimated to be worth $41.7 billion in 2022, has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global recession, but future prospects remain optimistic.

The United States market for textile fibers is estimated to be worth $11.4 billion in 2022, while China, the world's second-largest economy, is projected to reach a market size of $14.6 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.7% over the same period. Japan and Canada are also expected to experience growth at rates of 3.3% and 4.8%, respectively, over the 2022-2030 period. In Europe, Germany is forecasted to grow at a rate of approximately 4% CAGR.

The Asia-Pacific region remains the dominant consumer of textile fibers, while synthetic fibers are expected to post healthy expansion. The scarcity and volatility of natural fibers production drive demand for synthetic fibers. The cotton fibers market is also discussed, along with cellulosic fibers and their sources.