Gap Inc plans to sell a $1.5 billion junk-bond to help it buy back expensive debt raised earlier in the pandemic last year. The deal will slash the company’s borrowing costs as it focuses on growth after COVID-19 hurt clothing sales. As per a Business of Fashion report, split in two parts, the company’s new note will help fund a tender offer to buy back three secured bonds that Gap issued in April of 2020 with coupons ranging from 8.375 percent to 8.875 percent. The existing notes are backed by a first-priority claim on the company’s real estate, intellectual property and equity interests of some domestic units, and helped the company shore up liquidity last year.

Gap’s tender offer will be funded by proceeds from the new note sale and cash on hand, according to a news release. The company will pay investors a premium ranging from 106.25 to 116.5 cents on the dollar, depending on the notes and by which deadline investors say yes. The early deadline for the tender offer is Sept. 24, and the final deadline is on Oct. 8.

The company is also asking investors to accept changes to bond documentation that includes eliminating certain restrictive covenants and releasing the collateral for the notes. Its existing bonds currently trade well above par, ranging from 109 to almost 116 cents on the dollar.

Global fast-fashion retailers are expanding their footprint in new Latin American countries, including Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay. H&M opened a 2,200-sq. mt. store in the Multiplaza Mall in Panama after postponing its 2020 launch due to the pandemic. Latin America has become one of the fastest-growing markets for the Swedish retailer, which is also present in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.

Mango plans to open three stores in Uruguay. The first of these will debut in November at Montevideo Shopping, a mall in the country’s capital. Meanwhile, Bimbay Lola entered Guatemala in July; less than a month after its first opening in Peru.

Sports giant Decathlon is gearing up to open a store in Uruguay in November. The brand has already established its presence in other countries of South America including Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. The French company also plans to open a second Uruguayan store in 2022.

India’s leading PPE manufacturer, Mallcom India will inaugurate a new production line for nitrile gloves in its Falta SEZ unit.

The company anticipates larger export order volumes and has started ramping up its production capacity by setting up a new protective apparel manufacturing plant at Ghatakpur, Kolkata with a capacity to produce 2 lakh units per month, which should go live by April 2022.

The company is also working on CSR front as it has spent Rs. 31.51 lakh in CSR initiatives in FY20-21. It took a host of measures such as providing pandemic insurance of Rs. 1 lakh per employee, providing flexible working hours and continuous IT support to those working from home.

Revenues of Mallcom India grew by 14.3 per cent in FY20-21. In this fiscal, its profit after tax (PAT) increased by 39.8 per cent from Rs. 1,826.07 lakh in FY19-20 to Rs. 2,552.24 lakh.

In just five years, the company increased its production capacity in almost all segments and further strengthened its leadership position in PPE segment.

Despite facing certain challenges on account of cheaper imports, domestic oversupply and weaker realizations, Mallcom reported a capacity utilization of around 82 per cent, amongst the highest in India’s competitive PPE sector.

Its subsidiary, Mallcom Safety started production of high-performance outerwear and rainwear at its new unit at the Apparel Park SEZ in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories, VF Corporation announced the 2021 winner of the Redress Design Award.

The first prize winner of the Redress Design Award, Jessica Chang, impressed the judges with her collection, which incorporated waste materials into designs to connect with and inspire consumers.

Chang will receive an opportunity to design a sustainable capsule collection with Timberland® available for sale in 2023.

One of the most prestigious sustainable fashion design competitions, the Redress Design Award reflects VF’s drive to foster the next generation of forward-thinking, environmentally-conscious designers in the apparel and footwear industry.

The virtual events took place from 1 to 11 September and 10 finalists from the US, UK, Germany, India and Greater China participated in the same. The event included educational challenges and master classes on advancing sustainability and circular design in the fashion industry through a variety of sustainable production solutions.

With a broader focus on the reduction of waste, the emerging designers secured their place in the competition by impressing judges with entries that offered climate positive apparel through zero-waste patterns, prolonged garment lifecycles, end-of-life disassembly, upcycling and minimal washing needs.

US’ T-shirts imports grew by 37.97 per cent Y-o-Y to $ 9.78 billion during the January-June ’21 period, as per OTEXA reports.

The volume of these imports surged by 46.37 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis to 287.62 million a dozen during the period, reports Textile Focus. The highest imports were recorded by Vietnam whose exports surged by 21.82 per cent to $1.72 billion while exports from China grew by 43.59 per cent Y-o-Y to $1.56 billion.

Exports from India grew by 35 per cent Y-o-Y to $494.44 million in value while the volume of India’ shipment stood jumped by 55.2` per cent to 14.62 million from the same period of 2020. The volume of Bangladesh’s exports increased to 19.18 million dozen while value increased to $471.19 million, noting 62.85 per cent surge in values on yearly note.

India’s leading apparel exporters Shahi Exports, Orient Craft and leading textile company Pallavaa Group plan to apply for the Production Linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

These exporters believe that the scheme will benefit 1,350 textile companies in India having annual exports of over Rs. 100 crore.

Vijoy Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, says, the ministry has decided to disallow non-GST and non-banking channel sales in calculating the annual turnover. So, no one can claim cash sales arguing that sales happened through a shop without generating bill.

The Ministry of Textiles (MoT) is expected to issue detailed guidelines of the scheme following which applications from the industry will be invited. This is expected to start from November 2021.

Rise in demand for winter clothing is expected to boost prices of China’s 32/1 combed cotton yarn and India’s 30/1 combed cotton yarn during the peak season for textiles and apparel. The demand for new cotton is also expected to move up in China and will likely be procured immediately by the country’s spinners.

As per a China Textiles report, prices of the 32/1 combed cotton yarn surged from 24.26 CNY/kg in January 2021 to 26.57 CNY/kg in June 2021. It further increased by 6.89 percent to 28.40 CNY/kg in August 2021. The price is expected to touch 30.04 CNY/kg in November 2021, recording a rise of 5.77 percent.

The price of 30/1 combed cotton yarn increased by 4.62 per cent from Rs254.81 per kg in January 2021 to Rs266.59 per kg in June 2021. It further grew by 4.13 percent to reach Rs277.59 per kg in August 2021.

The price is now likely to grow by 3.71 percent to reach Rs287.89 per kg in November 2021.

Major global player in the 4.0 Industry for the fashion, automotive, and furniture market, Lectra has joined the Brand & Retail program of the Plug and Play network, the world’s leading innovation platform connecting startups, investors, and pioneering companies.

As per a Textile World report, the merger will enable Lectra, to achieve its ambitions: to become a benchmark player in the 4.0 industry’s markets, particularly fashion. It will also facilitate a dialogue between startups and the brand, the emergence of innovative solutions, and also the development of a network of talents and mentors. Additionally, Lectra will benefit from the ecosystem developed by Plug and Play Brand & Retail in France for more than three years, bringing together the best French and international startups specialized in retail.

The accomplishments and pilot projects deployed will be part of the co-creative actions initiated at the Innovation Lab. The brand will benefit from this opportunity to work with the most promising French and international startups and renowned companies, says Philippe Ribera, Innovation Director, Lectra.

Originally scheduled for December 6-7, Kingpins New York has been cancelled due to COVID-related travel and health concerns. The show was set to mark Kingpins return to physical shows since the pandemic began in 2020. Organizers have decided to cancel this event as it fail to offer exhibitors and attendees the level of access, insight and inspiration that they have come to expect from Kingpins Show.

Kingpins Show will continue to offer digital shows and seminars with Kingpins24 Global to be held on October 19-21, while Kingpins24 Latin America will occur on November 9-10. Kingpins is an information, ideas and innovation network for the denim industry that provides a forum for the international denim community. Since the launch of the first jeans supply chain in 2004 in New York, Kingpins has grown in its mission to connect the community and taken its concept around the world.

Turkish denim mill Isko plans to develop new sustainable technologies to use waste and cellulose-based materials for denim production. The mill has partnered with Swedish research and development company MoRe Research, a part of Rise Research Institutes of Sweden for this initiative. The partnership calls on MoRe Research’s expertise to find ways to repurpose the clean and toxic-free cellulose powders produced by decomposed cotton and recycled polyester, and put it back into fabric production. Fatih Konukoğlu, CEO, Isko says, the collaboration has the potential to make a big impact at scale.

Isko has centered its focus on innovations like this as part of its Responsible Innovation strategy, and is celebrated for its R-TWO program using recycled fibers as well as reused cotton that comes from its own production loss. The mill also recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign project and announced a licensing agreement for Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel’s (HKRITA) award-winning Green Machine, a technology that fully separates and recycles cotton and polyester blends at scale.