French luxury goods group LVMH plans increase its stake in fashion company Tod’s to 10 per cent.

As per Fashion Network, LVMH plans to buy a 6.8 per cent stake from Tod’s founder and Chairman Diego Della Valle. The Italian luxury leather goods maker has performed worse than most rivals as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Its January sales had fallen by almost a third last year, marking the fifth year in a row of falling annual sales.

The group, known for its loafer shoes, launched a new strategy in late 2017 to revamp its brand and lure younger consumers, but the health crisis has hampered its efforts. Earlier this month, Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni joined its board, in a move that pushed its shares sharply higher and was seen as a bid to rejuvenate its image.

There has been recurring market speculation that Tod’s could be the target of a takeover by a bigger group, although Della Valle, who has increased his stake in the company in the past couple of years, has repeatedly denied this possibility.

China Cotton Association (CCA) has issued a set of production standards for China's cotton industry to fill up any gaps and promote the image of Chinese cotton.

Through these standards, the association aims to create Chinese cotton products of fine quality by Chinese brands, allowing more people to better understand Chinese cotton, according to media reports.

Through the new standards, the association is also helping growers to further improve production methods, ensure the supply of high-quality cotton and safeguard the rights and interests of workers.

Data provided by the China Cotton Industry Alliance show that cotton produced in Xinjiang in 2020 accounted for 20.8 percent of global output while China's raw cotton consumption reached 7.99 million tons the same year.

Global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories, VF Corporation has appointed Matt Puckett as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He will serve on the company’s Executive Leadership Team and report to CEO, Steve Rendle. He has completed 20 years with company. He joined in 2001 as a Senior Accountant in the finance organization. In the following years, Puckett held a series of finance roles including being appointed in 2009 as CFO of VF’s Sportswear Coalition, which comprised the Nautica® and Kipling® brands.

After VF’s 2011 acquisition of the Timberland® brand, Puckett was appointed CFO of Timberland® and helped guide the brand’s successful integration into VF. In 2015, he was named CFO of VF International in Stabio, Switzerland, where he was responsible for all aspects of financial management for VF’s business across the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions. Puckett returned to the US in 2019 and has been serving as VF’s Vice President, Global Financial Planning & Analysis.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) plans to question Levi Strauss & Co (LS&Co) for its use of leather patches in its jeans. At the brand’s annual general meeting, Tracy Reiman, Executive Vice President, PETA plans to urge LS&Co to scrap these patches in favor of the paper patches it already uses on most of its jeans, reports Sourcing Journal.

The organization claims, leather production requires the use of 130 different chemicals including cyanide, and produces huge amount of the greenhouse-gas emissions. Denim brands such as Kings of Indigo. It terms Levi’s use of leather as especially unnecessary since most of its jeans already have non-leather patches.

Responding to these allegations, LS&Co said, leather comprises just a small fraction of its collections as the brand strives to source all materials responsibly.

Lenzing’s Veocel™ brand has introduced the industry’s first carbon neutral Veocel™ branded fibers to support nonwoven industry partners and product brands in reducing climate impact through the use of fibers with a net-zero footprint. Robert van de Kerkhof, Board Member, Lenzing, says, the new carbon neutral Veocel™ Lyocell fibers will play a big role in contributing to Lenzing’s goal to become a net-zero company by 2050. These fibers are certified as CarbonNeutral® products with a carbon footprint reduced to net-zero according to The CarbonNeutral Protocol.

Achieving certified carbon neutrality was the result of Lenzing’s ambitious carbon reduction efforts over the last years and the collaboration with Natural Capital Partners, a recognized global leader in the design, development and delivery of corporate climate action programs. These Veocel™ branded fibers reinforce Lenzing’s commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative around reduction of total global carbon emissions, a quest driven by the UN Paris Agreement.

Hamilton International has returned as an independent supplier to the polyester industrial yarn segment. As per Business Wire, the company provides innovative textile solutions to its customers besides supporting their uninterrupted supply chain. It is led by Art Hamilton who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and is able to leverage a worldwide network of sourcing relationships to meet client needs.

The company’s approach to the market allows it to negotiate the best pricing, meet a customer’s precise requirements, and mitigate supply chain issues. It works with suppliers in several countries, and invests to keep the supply chain full. Hamilton International is a North American supplier of innovative textile solutions to customers across industries by sourcing products and investing in strategic production. The company was founded in 2008 by Art Hamilton following years in the industrial textiles industry.

Industrial and business consulting company AMAC is strengthening its position in new textile-based developments in partnership with the Institute for Textile Technology, (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University. As per Innovation in Textiles, ITA develops complete solutions, from manufacturing fibres to the processing of textile intermediates with thermoplastic and thermoset resins and textile-based parts manufacturing, based on technologies such as braiding, pultrusion and the in-situ impregnation of textile preforms. The company focuses on transportation industry, particularly the e-mobility sector, as well as building and construction and wind energy. Its partnership with AMAC will help it benefit from its network in the composites industry.

ITA is a one-stop source for composite solutions from the fibre to the cost-efficient manufacturing of final parts. With 250 different technologies at is machine-park in Aachen, it offers further valuable networking opportunities to the composites industry as well as access to relevant complementary fibre-based excellence.

As per a survey by Euromonitor International, around 74 per cent of global retail and consumer brand professionals expect the crisis-led rise in online shopping to become permanent. Respondents also expect half of the absolute value growth for the global retail sector over 2020-25 period to be digital. Of this, China and the US will account for 55 per cent of that value growth. Emerging e-commerce region Latin America is likely to see increase adoption of e-commerce adoption with more consumers shopping online to obtain necessities.

In 2020, the region posted the strongest growth in goods sold online with 60 per cent jump. MercadoLibre was one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of the digital shift in Latin America. Euromonitor expects the region to continue growing during the forecast period, propelled by Mexico, which is narrowing the gap between itself and the region’s largest e-commerce market, Brazil. Traditionally, e-commerce in Mexico was driven by the travel sector. However, the desire to shop online out of safety concerns led consumers to overlook some of the hurdles like fraud and logistics that had previously dampened online sales.

The Lyrcra Company has launched a range of fibers made from 100 per cent textile waste. Known as CoolMax and Thermolite, these fibers are made from recycled PET bottles. They have been developed in collaboration with Itochu Corporation, a general trading company with holdings in consumer-related sectors, including the textile business.

As per Sourcing Journal, this is the first of several innovations that The Lycra Company is working on in textile and garment recycling. The company aims to lay the foundation for a more circular future for its Planet Agenda Sustainability platform.

The fibers provide consumers with the performance attributes they seek. They are made with a unique depolymerization and refining process which consists of scraps from garment manufacturers, into fibers with properties comparable to virgin polyester. The company will continue to offer these products in parallel with those made from textile waste.

Fast fashion brands, Uniqlo, Inditex, Skechers USA and French apparel group SMCP have come under fire after a French legal association Sherpa, human rights NGO Collectif Ethique Sur L’etiquette, the Uyghur Institute of Europe and an individual Uyghur victim filed a complaint against them with the Paris Prosecutor Office. As per The Fashion Law, the complaint accuses these brands of encouraging forced labor by maintaining ties with Xinjiang suppliers despite evidences of systematized forced labor in the region. The failure of these companies to cut ties with Xinjiang suppliers exposes their apathy towards human rights, says Sherpa.

Skechers says, it maintains a supplier relationship with Dong Guan Lu Zhou Shoes, a manufacturer employing Uyghur individuals. The company also conducted multiple audits of Dong Guan Lu Zhou Shoes in 2017, and found no evidence of forced labor. The Uyghurs at Lu Zhou factory are employed on the same terms and conditions as all other factory employees, and are free to leave whenever they wish to, the company added.

Legal action against violators

Meanwhile, Sherpa has decided to initiate legal action against these companies to highlight their role in exploitation of Uyghur people. The organization is being supported by members of European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann and Reinhart Butickhofer, as well as by the World Uyghur Congress.

The complaint filed by Sherpa is likely to have many legal ramifications for the accused. The French Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law, particularly in lieu of an EU-wide ESG due diligence law directs French companies with over 10,000 employees to regularly monitor their supply chains for human rights and environmental protection violations.

Maintaining safety and health standards in factories

The law also directs companies to maintain proper health and safety standards in factories. It allows third parties like trade unions and NGOs to seek an injunction against violators of this law and force them with compliance. The law also introduces a corporate negligence cause of action for harm suffered due to non-compliance of this law.

Since the passing of this law, 11 French and American NGOs filed cases against French retailer Casino for its alleged involvement in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Currently, the case is being closely monitored by NGOs and fashion companies.