The US has suspended GSP benefits for India. The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference program and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries. Under the GSP program, nearly 2000 products including auto components and textile materials can enter the US duty-free if the beneficiary developing countries meet the eligibility criteria. India was the largest beneficiary of the program in 2017.

Now the US wants to ensure that American companies have a level playing field. The country wants India to address policies including data localisation and e-commerce measures that stifle international investment from top tier companies. The US does not want to see market access barriers to American firms in India when Indian companies currently enjoy largely unfettered access to US markets. Depending on progress India can have GSP benefits restored.

There has been a significant growth in the bilateral trade relationship as well as a narrowing of the trade deficit. The bilateral trade is now at about $142 billion. Last year, the US exports increased 28 per cent. Trade deficit for goods and services stands at about $24 billion, which is about a 11.9 per cent reduction.

The United States is no longer the world’s most competitive economy. As per IMD World Competitiveness Center, China is hurting the ability of US companies to compete globally. The ongoing trade war with China is hurting companies in the United States more than in any other country. While the US dropped in the rankings, Asian-Pacific countries fared much better. Both Singapore and Hong Kong have more competitive economies than the US. Eleven of the 14 regional nations analyzed stayed the same or rose in the evaluation. Indonesia and Thailand both experienced significant rises. Some Middle Eastern nations also experienced significant progress in the rankings, with Saudi Arabia leaping 13 places and Qatar rising four to earn its spot as the world’s tenth most competitive economy.

High fuel prices and fluctuations in the dollar’s value have diminished the confidence-boosting impact of American tax policies. The ongoing trade war between the US and China has inflicted uncertainty upon, and caused rapid fluctuations among, global financial markets. Global markets plunged and oil prices dropped when the US announced tariffs increases on Chinese imports. In a single day, the Dow dropped 470 points before making up most of its losses. The next day, after the US confirmed it would be levying the tariffs, markets again plunged.

There will be a special session on denim production at Planet Textiles on June 22, at Itma, Barcelona. Discussion n key changes on jeans production and some of the predicted changes in denim production from how its sourced in future will be highlighted. A proposal to develop a blueprint for real change that buyers’ retailers and brands can use as a sourcing guide will be outlined. As one of the world’s most popular fabrics, denim has a big impact and it’s become a focal point for environmental change in the textile industry as a whole.

Everyone owns a pair of 100 per cent cotton jeans but this has a greater impact on the environment than making denim with manmade cellulosics or bast fibers. Indigo dye is synonymous with true blue denim look, but its use is problematic – not just because of the lengthy, resource-heavy dyeing process, but also because of some of its potentially hazardous properties.

Are new technologies such as laser technology to produce distressed denim really cost-effective? And do they have their own drawbacks to workers’ safety? How should the denim manufacturing industry make jeans by 2025? And what breakthroughs in technology and thinking are needed to make this happen?

Picanol has nearly 40 years of experience in airjet weaving. The brand new OmniPlus-i represents a new benchmark in airjet weaving. The OmniPlus-i features a redesigned reed motion, optimized relay nozzle set up and can be combined with SmartShed, the full electronic controlled shedding motion.

Picanol conceives its machines around the principle of Smart Performance: an intelligent machine design combined with self-learning software, allowing the best possible practical speed and real performance under any given circumstances. When it comes to waste prevention and energy consumption reduction, Picanol has been taking up its responsibility for years. Its machines are conceived with a built-in capacity for sustainability. Since the first introduction of electronics on weaving machines in the ’70s, Picanol has been at the forefront of digitization. With every new machine, it continues to be a trendsetter in this field and to further deploy Industry 4.0 in the weaving industry. The self-setting machine is just around the corner. A user-centric design is integrated in the concept of its machines, making all operations and interventions intuitive, easy and self-explanatory.

At Itma, Picanol will present five new airjet weaving machines and five rapier weaving machines with many new developments. A rapier machine in jacquard execution will also be on display.

Pakistan hosiery manufacturers want the sales tax zero-rating regime for five export-oriented sectors to be continued. They say, withdrawal of the zero-rated tax regime would unleash a flight of capital. During the last two decades the zero rating was undone twice. The five zero-rated sectors contribute 60 per cent to total national exports and generate 40 per cent to total employment.

The currency has lost 21 per cent of its value against the dollar in nine months. Exporters say this will add to the cost of machinery imports. Production costs of the export industry have already increased due to the interest rate hike. Nearly 60 per cent of the raw material of the export industry comes from other countries. In this situation, the industry fears having to acquire finance from banks at an interest rate of 15 per cent, which will increase the industry’s cost of doing business.

Another complaint of the industry is that significant volumes of liquidity are stuck in the form of sales tax refunds and customs rebates. Collection of sales tax and then refunding is seen as a futile exercise. The industry also wants a plan to increase the taxpayers’ base to help the country overcome its monetary deficit.

The Levi Strauss Foundation has committed $1 million to a Rapid Response Fund for the third year in a row. The fund supports organisations and initiatives that protect highly vulnerable communities across the United States and the world. This includes projects helping immigrants, refugees, the transgender community and religious minorities. The project supports organizations that challenge the Muslim ban, protect asylum seekers and refugees, and restore voting rights to individuals in marginalised communities.

In the United States, organisations receiving help include: Al Otro Lado, American Immigration Council, Define American, Live Free, National Immigration Law Center, Transgender Law Center, Undocublack, and United We Dream. In addition, the Levi Strauss Foundation will ensure support goes to Ascend Collaborative and International Refugee Assistance Project, both of which are based outside the US.

Levi Strauss is taking the opportunity as a newly publicly traded company to breathe fresh life into its brands and approach to business. The new chapter the company is writing is being driven by changes in retail-consumer relationship and the push to expand its reach to new customers in new ways. A key strategy is to become a leading world-class omnichannel retailer. Another vital strategy is to diversify the business by expanding more into tops and women’s under-penetrated markets.

France wants brands to stop destroying unsold clothes and luxury goods. Legislation would be enacted to that end. Kering-- the parent company of luxury brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga – has been asked to lead a global movement in order to reduce the environmental footprint that the fashion industry produces. Many fashion companies burn items that don’t sell after discounts or they bury them in landfills.

Canada is making similar efforts. In 2014, Canada was the waste champion per capita among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with the equivalent of nearly a ton of waste produced per capita. With only 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, Canada produces two per cent of the volume of waste generated worldwide.

It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt – the same amount a human drinks in 2.5 years. The water used every year in the world to make textile dyes is enough to fill 1.6 million Olympic swimming pools. More than $500 billion is lost globally every year due to clothing underutilisation and the lack of recycling. The overall benefit to the world economy could be about $192 billion in 2030 if the fashion industry were to implement more sustainable measures.

The event will have two trade fairs. The first trade fair from February 27 to March 1, 2020, is dedicated to garment processing technologies including sewing, embroidery, fabrics and their accessories. The second from March 5 to 8, 2020, is dedicated to textile processing technologies including weaving, spinning, knitting, and dyeing machinery technologies and spare parts. The brightest minds of the textile technologies business will meet to demonstrate the latest industrial know-how, discuss up-to-date tendencies and set the agenda for the future. The show will launch innovative technologies as drivers of prosperity for the textile sector on local, regional and international scales.

More than 40,000 trade visitors, delegates and buyers from all over the African continent are expected to attend the event. Over 1200 exhibitors from more than 40 countries are expected. The event grants advanced quality context, provides extensive competition scope, non-stop business frameworks, broad media coverage and cross-industry knowledge transfer.

Bustling, energetic and wide-ranging, Stitch & Tex is a premium multi-format event with a distinct commercial and business identity, where cutting-edge technologies, products, services and turnkey solutions are provided by global strategic players and technology makers to serve the ever-growing evolving textile markets of Africa.

Filatex is expanding its manufacturing capacity. The aim is to add to polymerisation capacity, polyester partially oriented yarn, and draw texturised yarn capacity. This addition of capacity would help the company to cater to domestic and overseas customers and uplift the topline. A better bottom line is also expected due to lower operating costs and energy efficient operations.

Filatex, which entered manufacturing with mono filament yarn in 1994, is an established player in the Indian polyester filament yarn market. Filatex has integrated operations which are of economy of scale, with a diversified product mix, state-of-the-art technology as well as a vast domestic and global customer base. The company is always looking for opportunities to optimise the product mix and value addition to meet customers’ needs. Since it has been in the business of polyester filament yarn for several decades now, it always tries to understand market trends in terms of customer preferences, cost scenarios and investment opportunities in the market.

The company, which exports manmade yarn to 34 countries, also has in the pipeline a fabric plant to make fabrics from the yarn it produces. Its yarn is used in the manufacture of carpets, rugs, tapes, ribbons and zippers.

As a result of Adidas’ partnership with Parley for the Oceans five million pairs of shoes were created using recycled ocean plastic in 2018. In 2019, Adidas is upping the pace of change. The company will produce a landmark 11 million pairs of shoes using upcycled marine plastic waste, intercepting vast amounts of plastic from entering the oceans. This year, the brand is bringing together its community of Adidas runners, brand ambassadors, employees, store partners, store staff, and even consumers to make a difference and contribute to reducing marine plastic pollution by participating on the on-ground and digital runs. In 2016, Adidas created the first performance products with recycled ocean plastics. Through their partnership, Adidas and Parley have intercepted vast amounts of plastic waste from marine environments and coastal communities.

In India, Adidas has been associated with initiatives to tackle the problem of marine litter. These include cleaning Mumbai beaches, conserving mangroves, action workshops to stop litter and segregate plastic waste and most importantly the ideology of a circular economy. The marine plastic crisis has become critically urgent. Every minute, the equivalent of a dump truck of plastic waste enters the world’s oceans and by 2050 there may be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans.