AGI Denim and Panda Biotech have entered a global production partnership. As per Textile World, the partnership will combine AGI Denim’s innovative and industry-leading denim manufacturing technologies with American-grown industrial hemp processed and cottonized at Panda Biotech’s state-of-the-art facility in the United States.

The collaboration will allow both companies and their brand partners to identify, track and trace the hemp fiber as it moves along the supply chain from raw to finished goods. AGI is already engaged in developing innovative alternatives to traditional denim manufacturing and processing methods. This year, the company was awarded with Gold Level, Cradle-to-Cradle Certification for its latest hemp-based fabric material, Hemp X. Panda Biotech’s proprietary cottonization process will allow the company to utilize more environmentally friendly materials in their upcoming denim collections. With the company’s exclusive one-year deal with Panda, AGI Denim expects to further scale its use of sustainable raw materials at its new facilities.

Zipper and fastening products leader YKK has launched a new digital showroom to enhance its customers’ engagement with the brand.

As per Apparel Resources, the online showroom is modeled on YKK’s bricks-and-mortar showroom in London. It features six floors which are represented in the showroom’s logo and look like a zipper.

All floors of the showroom feature latest trends and automotive; sustainable products; fastening products for high-function applications like outdoor, backpacks, water protective and luggage; fasteners for apparel in the categories of jeans, fashion, leather and kidswear; and company information.

One of the floors is dedicated to region-specific items, which will be added later. The customers can view products through close-up photos, video and catalogues and meet online with YKK representatives.

The platform will also be used to host webinars and other learning opportunities in the near future. The company further expects the digital showroom to be an incubator for innovation and creative design.

In line with the recent announcements and new measures in place to tackle resurging cases in Mumbai, Messe Frankfurt Asia has decided to rescbedule all leading industry shows such as Gartex Texprocess India, Screen Print India, ISH India powered by IPA, Media Expo and LED Expo have been rescheduled.

While the Delhi editions of Gartex Texprocess India, Screen Print India, LED Expo and Media Expo continue to be on schedule, the new dates for the Mumbai editions will be announced in coherence with government guidelines, as soon as the venue is made safely accessible.

The state government’s recent advisories aimed at breaking the spread of the second wave as well as the on-going vaccination programmes have led to the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) simultaneously doubling up as a jumbo care centre as well as a vaccination centre. Inaccessibility of the venue and the new measures put in place by regional governments make it impossible to host large-scale trade shows in the coming months.

Despite the new lockdown restrictions, the Indian economy reeling under the negative impact since the onset of the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down the business momentum which has been picking up in 2021. The vaccination progress in many countries is being closely watched and is an encouraging sign that the situation will ease soon.

Russian Fashion Week (MBFW Russia) kicked off with a show from local womenswear brand, Ruban. As per Business of Fashion, this edition will combine physical runway shows in the Museum of Moscow as well as livestreams from other Russian cities and abroad.

The show will feature well-known Russian brands, including Julia Dalakian and Rogov by Alexanger Rogov, as well as emerging designers Lena Kаrnauhova, Sasha Gapanovich and St. Petersburg’s Lyubov Babitskaya. Designers from 19 other countries will also show via livestream.

This season, MBFW Russia’ will host 14 sustainable Russian fashion labels that have embraced upcycling, recycling, slow fashion or zero waste as part of their brand ethos. Attendees can also donate their old clothes at events to be transformed into new items to be shown at the next edition of MBFW Russia.

The event will be sponsored by TikTok, which will livestream shows on its platform for five days. A series of livestreams, centred on sustainability, will explore topics from how brands were started to organize runway shows in the format of a reality shows featuring insiders like fashion editor Olga Mikhailovskaya, Head, Russian Fashion Council’s global talents initiative, and journalist Madonna Mur, who founded the fashion-centric Telegram channel MUR.

Macy’s is reengaging its core customers besides adding new ones in the first quarter.

As per Home Textiles Today, the brand is beneffing from the government’s stimulus package and vaccine rollouts, though the impact varies by market.

The brand’s average spend from the core customer – defined as the credit card loyalty base – has increased by 7 per cent so far this year compared to the same period in 2019.

While the overall number of core customers shopping Macy’s remains lower than it was in 2019, he company has seen a 19 per cent jump in new customers – particularly driven by digital. Retail closures are also providing new customers in select categories at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

The strong trends in home merchandise are still holding up in the first quarter. That’s especially true in furniture and textiles, while sales are still gaining in housewares, tabletop and home décor.

Macy’s has been reeling in 500,000 to 700,000 new Bronze loyalty card members each month this year and now has 12 million in total, up 20 per cent from the year-end. Some 38 per cent of them are below 40, and their spending is approximately 13 per cent higher than in 2019.

In terms of its physical store footprint, Macy’s Inc. has shuttered 65 stores of the 125 doors slated for closure, with the remainder still scheduled to go dark. Afterward, 85 per cent of its store sales will be generated from A and B malls. Digital sales continue to expand, and the company believes its nameplates can generate $10 billion in annual e-comm sales by 2023.

To make its business model more sustainable, Swedish furniture giant Ikea has partnered with circular denim brand Mud Jeans.

As per Sourcing Journal, both the companies have jointly launched a denim couch cover made from upcycled denim. The cover, specially fitted for the retailer’s popular Klippan sofa, contains 40 percent post-consumer recycled denim (or the equivalent to two pairs of jeans), a classic medium wash and actual jean pockets on the sides.

The couch cover is a limited offering that’s exclusively sold in nine European markets, including the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K., Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy.

Since its launch, Mud Jeans has also been on a mission to extend the life of denim. It offers consumers the ability to “rent” jeans and repair them as needed to keep denim from ending up in a landfill. The brand also recently launched a collection of upcycled denim consisting of 60 percent organic cotton and 40 percent recycled denim.

Global jeanswear and casualwear icon, Wrangler has launched the WeCare Wrangler sustainability platform that builds off the brand’s long-standing commitment to protecting the planet.

As per reports, the program unites the brand’s legacy of sustainability with measurable goals designed to bring consumers the apparel they know and love while reducing the brand’s environmental impacts, said the company in a press release. The platform is guided by three key focus areas – planet, product and people. The company is dedicated to challenging itself to leave less of an impact on the planet, constantly thinking how its products are made and what they are made of and treating workers throughout its worldwide supply chain fairly and with respect.

The brand has also launched the new Retro Green Jean assortment made of a variety of natural fibres, recycled hardware and eco-friendly materials. It drives sustainability in the supply chain with strategic alliances that propel apparel development forward. In addition to signing onto the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign guidelines last year, the brand also joined its Make Fashion Circular initiative, which drives collaboration between apparel industry leaders to ensure clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, new business models increase their use, and old clothes are turned into new.

The closure of Primark stores led to 17 per cent drop in revenues of its parent company Associated British Foods in the first half.

As per Fashion Network, the company’s revenues fell to £6.313 billion and adjusted operating profit fell by 46 per cent to £369 million in the 24 weeks to the end of February. Pre-tax profit fell 8 per cent to £275 million.

With Primark having no online operation to fall back on, the closure of it shops has meant the business effectively went into hibernation in multiple markets. But the company remains committed to its business model.

In the past year, Primark has lost £3 billion+ worth of sales and £1 billion+ of profit. It has also seen huge cash outflows with a £650 million outflow in the first half of this year alone”. Over the six-month period, Primark saw 40 per cent revenue decline to £2.232 billion. And it’s adjusted operating profit declined by 90 per cent to £43 million.

It was hit hard by UK and European lockdowns, but there was no point at which all of its shops were shut, unlike in the first wave of lockdowns. The company estimates that H1 ‘lost’ sales of £1.1 billion during closures, and restrictions while they declined by 15 per cent when stores reopened.

Since its launch in October 2019, direct-to-consumer lingerie brand Parade has sold over 1 million pairs of underwear through a guerilla-ish marketing strategy.

Now, it’s entering the lingerie category for which it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round, led by Maveron Ventures’ Jason Stoffer, that values the company at around $70 million. Other participants in the round include Lerer Hippeau, Greycroft, Cassius, Vice Ventures and Shrug Ventures, as well as several early-stage angel investors.

On Wednesday, the company, which has raised over $20 million to date, will launch its first bralette, a significant step. The style is wireless, but engineered to securely fit cup sizes beyond a D. Cami Teflez, Co-founder, Creative Director and CEO said, wireless bras that fit properly are a frequent request from her customer base, which hit close to 100,000 in the venture’s first year in business, making it one of the fastest-growing product startups of the past decade.

Brands including Zara, Sandro and Maje owner SCMP, Skechers and Uniqlo have accused of allegedly encouraging and profiting from the forced labor of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

As per Sourcing Journal, a complaint has been filed against these brands by a group of nonprofits and a former Uyghur detainee.

According to Sherpa, the Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette and the Uyghur Institute of Europe, who are represented by the law firm Bourdon & Associés, the complaint aims to expose the impunity of multinational businesses that subcontract part of their production to the northwestern region or market goods using cotton cultivated there.

As per Sourcing Journal, the complaint is supported by Members of European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann and Reinhart Butickhofer, along with the World Uyghur Congress, is just the first of a series of filings that the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) will be submitting in other European countries in the coming months, the organizations said.

A December study by the Centre for Global Policy estimates, half a million Uyghurs are forced to pick cotton by hand through a state-sponsored “poverty alleviation” scheme. Other mass labor-transfer programs install Uyghurs from Xinjiang in factory jobs across China, with the purpose of reducing their population density and influencing, and assimilating Uyghur minorities into the dominant Han culture.