Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA says the association has adopted a safety protocol prepared in consultation with the International Labor Organization and the Director-General-Health, Bangladesh government. As per Huq, the government’s stimulus package will help the industry. At the same time, other steps that will help include apparel manufacturers die-hard engagements with buyers who canceled orders and get them back on negotiation table. This has resulted in 80 to 90 per cent of the $3.18 billion canceled work orders been reinstated.

Huq says, COVID-19 has unleashed many truths which were never uncovered, some of those are about the country’s internal deficiencies which need to be overwhelmed, and some of those are about how manufacturers deal with their shareholders with proper policy measures.

Also the industry has learned about several disadvantages like a lack of proper contractual protocols between buyers and suppliers, and we did not even have any backup to reply to an emergency crisis. This pandemic has also shown its overdependence on the garment sector and the need for immediate diversification. She suggested exploring new opportunities that COVID has opened up like the market for personal protective equipment and also how more funds can be drawn in Bangladesh, and how the industry can diversify its product basket.

American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) says, the US government alongwith its allies and stakeholders can end the terrible situation arising out of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). At a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee trade sub-committee, Steve Lamar, CEO urged US government to use tools at the country’s disposal properly. He urged them to use withhold release orders (WROs) and other sanctions tools to declare all cotton from the XUAR ‘in part or in whole’ as products made with forced labor. Such a WRO would wreak unending havoc to human rights, economic development, and legitimate supply chains—which are already battered by COVID-19—all over the world, he said.

Lamar said, the government needs to keep the pressure focused on those actors in China that are perpetuating this system. It needs to evaluate its joint efforts through the lens of what would help them get their end goal. He called for a partnership between te industry, NGOs, unions, Congress, the US government, and other governments to take a comprehensive approach to resolving the horrific situation in XUAR,

The Indian MMF industry needs to work with the government to push MMF garment exports, says A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC.

According to Sakthivel, MMF garment exports in India total $1.6 billion whereas the world trade is about $200 billion. To increase share in the global MMF garments business, AEPC has initiated a dialogue with Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), he added.

He informed that AEPC will host a series of webinars on how to increase the export of MMF garments. Ronak Rughani, Chairman, SRTEPC, said that while cotton was the primary fiber for universal usage, MMF has surpassed cotton as the dominant fiber since the mid-1990s and has continued to grow faster thereafter as compared to all other fibers.

The domestic fiber consumption ratio in India at present is 40:60 between manmade fibers and natural fibers, which is almost opposite to the global fiber consumption trends, he added.

After witnessing a sharp decline since April, India’s ready-made garment exports are on a road to revival. This recovery is largely driven by the European Union (EU) markets. Capacity utilization has increased to 60-80 per cent with customers placing new orders based on the season and the number of stores that opened have globally.

Raja N Shanmugam, President , Tiruppur Exporters’ Association, said enquiry levels are more than last year’s. Brands are now looking for alternatives from China. According to him, Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) will not impact apparel exports since it has been withdrawn last year itself.

SP Apparels’ factories are operating around 60 per cent capacity due to social distancing norms imposed by the authorities. The company managed to address labor shortage by providing migrant workers with accommodation and food in the hostel premises. The depreciation of the rupee in the fourth quarter impacted the company’s hedged positions and resulted in hedging losses.

The Government has approved the creation of National Technical Textiles Mission for a period of four years with an outlay of Rs.1480 crore. The focus of the Mission would be on developing the use of technical textiles in various flagship missions, programs of the country including strategic sectors. The use of technical textiles in Jal Jivan Mission; Swachch Bharat Mission; Ayushman Bharat will bring an overall improvement in cost economy, water and soil conservation, better agricultural productivity and higher income to farmers per acre of land holding in addition to promotion of manufacturing and exports activities in India. The use of geo-textiles in highways, railways and ports will result in robust infrastructure, reduced maintenance cost and higher life cycle of the infrastructure assets.

Promotion of innovation amongst young engineering /technology/ science standards and graduates is proposed to be taken up by the Mission; alongwith creation of innovation and incubation centres and promotion of 'start-up' and Ventures'. The research output will be reposited with a ‘Trust’ with the Government for easy and assessable proliferation of the knowledge thus gained through research innovation and development activities.

A sub-component of the research will focus on development of bio degradable technical textiles materials, particularly for agro-textiles, geo-textiles and medical textiles. It will also develop suitable equipment for environmentally sustainable disposal of used technical textiles, with emphasis on safe disposal of medical and hygiene wastes.

The Indian government’s decision to cap incentives under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) at Rs 2 crore per exporter for four months till December 31 is likely to likely affect 700-750 exporters of textiles, engineering items, automobiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas.

The cap was introduced as the government found MEIS had failed to deliver the desired result of boosting exports, which were worth around $300 billion in the last five years despite its liberal application across sectors.

The government said 98 per cent of the exporters who claim MEIS would be unaffected by the changes as per an analysis of claims in the same period of 2018-19.

The top 50 exporters from these sectors account for around 20 per cent of the benefits under the scheme, the outgo under which was 45,000 crore in fiscal 2020.

The new Import Export Code obtained on or after September 1 would be ineligible to submit any MEIS claim for exports, and the ceiling would be subject to a downward revision to ensure that the total claim didn’t exceed the allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the period.

As international trade shows are gradually getting back on schedule in China, this year’s Yarn Expo Autumn will also open on September 23. The fair will house over 410 exhibitors from six countries including China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, US and Vietnam, in hall 8.2 of National Exhibition and Convention Centre (Shanghai).

Apart from the all-encompassing range of high-quality and innovative yarn and fiber products on offer, a number of themed areas and events will also take place during the fair to reveal the latest developments of different industry sectors, as well as offer valuable knowledge exchange opportunities.

Amongst the 410-plus exhibitors this year are some big-name players, which include: Cotton Council Internationalh 8.2-C56): will promote quality and traceable US cotton using their Cotton USA brand; Texperts India; Orient International (Holding) Co; Nantong Doublegreat Textile Co will showcase the company’s newly developed polylactic acid blended yarn; and Hmei Thread Co Ltd of Yibin Sichuan (8.2-H95): will highlight their dyed viscose spun yarn which uses top quality viscose staple fibre as a raw material, and is spun by a first-class spinning process.

More highlighted exhibitors such as M.ORO Cashmere (8.2-A56), Hi-Tech Fiber Group (8.2-A108) and Sateri (8.2-C58) will also be at the fair and present some of the highest quality cashmere products and regenerated fibre technologies.

This year’s Yarn Expo Autumn has launched a new online business matching service for all pre-registered visitors. This online platform offers access to the exhibitor search platform as well as allows users to meet with their targeted visitors or buyers virtually. In fact, as those who can attend the fair can also use this online service to start their sourcing early and schedule meetings with potential suppliers in advance, it will increase buyers’ sourcing efficiency and boost the exhibitors’ exhibit results.

Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo has unveiled the first products to be launched from its Re-Uniqlo initiative that collects the brand’s clothing no longer needed by customers and gives them new life and new value.

It will launch Recycled Down Jackets in Japan on November 2 as the first offering from the initiative. These items use “rejuvenated down” taken from 620,000 jackets gathered around the country since September last year. In Japan, they’ll sell at ¥7,990 (€64/£59/$76).

The company will also launch a new down product-collection campaign in stores across 21 markets, including Japan, from the end of this month.

As part of the new drive, in Japan, customers handing in used Uniqlo Down merchandise to store cashiers will receive digital coupons of ¥500, which can be used for purchases totalling ¥5,000 or more (plus consumption tax). The coupons are applied to a smartphone app where customers are registered as members and can be spent at all of the brand’s stores in Japan and on uniqlo.com. It will issue the digital coupons from September 25 through December 3. The coupons will be valid until February 28 and it will continue to collect down items even after the coupon offer ends.

British fashion stalwart Next expects a pre-tax profit of $388 million for 2020. Notably, the midpoint of Next’s earlier forecast was $252 million. This is the second time the retailer has raised its outlook since the pandemic. In April 2020, its worst-case scenario was loss of $194 million and its midpoint was for no earnings. It further upgraded the outlook in July following reopening of stores.

Despite the pandemic crisis, the retailer’s sales continue to be better than expected and a major part of this owes to cooler weather in August that has made people come out and shop for autumn dresses.

Additionally, with restrictions imposed on foreign travel, domestic apparel sales have got a huge boost in the UK.

However, Next has warned that the strong sales witnessed ever since the stores reopened may not continue for long. The Government’s wage support programme, which may end in October, could hit the sales again.

The 2020 BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands report released by WPP and Kantar reflects the impact of the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The top 75 brands together were valued at $216 billion, a decline of 6 per cent over the 2019 ranking value. The slowdown in valuation has been caused by a significant decline in the brand value of banking and auto sector brands.

HDFC Bank was India’s top brand worth $20.3 billion, claiming the top spot for the seventh consecutive year, and contributing to banking being the leading category in this year’s ranking worth a total of $42.1 billion in brand value. The bank was also ranked number 59 in the 2020 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report.

Flipkart and D-Mart saw their brand value increase significantly, while instant food brand Maggi had one of the highest brand value growth figures (46 per cent) this year. Reliance Retail was the fastest riser this year, up 30 places.

Airtel (no.4, +36 per cent, $13.9 billion) was the top telecom brand, while Jio saw its value increase 26 per cent. One of five new entrants, BSNL (no. 75, $583 million) also benefitted from the overall uplift in the telecom category, which contributed $25.5 billion to the ranking this year.

The banking sector which has 20 per cent share of the brand value of the top 75 brands saw a decline of 21 per cent. In case of banking too, the decline is the result of the issues the sector has been facing over the past couple of years, compounded by the crisis caused by the pandemic.

The outlook for the coming months is on the positive side since key sectors like FMCG and auto are already seeing some recovery. If this continues, the overall brand value recovery will be faster.