Hosiery machinery specialist Sandonini will showcase its latest offerings at the upcoming FIMAST show in Brescia, Italy.

As per a Knitting Industry report, the manufacturer will present its latest developments, including the 3D knitted shoe uppers, at the upcoming FIMAST exhibition for hosiery and knitting machinery, which will open its doors from October 19-22, 2021 at Brixia Forum in Brescia.

The company, which developed its innovative ShoeSocks3D concept, by using an innovative, high-tech hosiery machine, a few years ago, says its ShoeSocks machines help cut production costs by reducing time and waste. The 3D knitted shoe uppers are made in one piece and are ready to fit on a form and be attached on any type of sole.

Manufactured during a quick, three-minute, and waste-free production process, and available in any color or design, the flexible technology allows the creation of any type of knitting stitches, as well as fast change of style, model and size, according to the company.

Despite larger crop of 18.5 million bales, US cotton exports are expected to decline to 15.5 million bales in 2021-22 from the previous year. As per a report by the US department of agriculture (USDA), US cotton exports reached their highest levels in 15 years to 16.4 million bales in 2020-21. China emerged as the largest importer of US cotton for the first time in 6 years at more than 5 million bales. However, US exports to eight of its 10 largest markets declined from the previous year, says, the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) of the USDA in its September 2021 report on ‘Cotton: World Markets and Trade.’

US’ exports to China reached its highest levels in 8 years with demand led by China’s State Reserve. US cotton accounted for almost 90 per cent of State Reserve imports and nearly one-half of China’s total imports in 2020-21. Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Turkey, rounded up as the top five largest global importers of US Cotton in 2020-21. Higher yarn prices and rising global demand for cotton products spurred imports and cotton consumption.

Brazil and India helped supplant US exports in these respective markets; Brazil’s 2020-21 exports exceeded the previous year’s record by roughly 2 million bales, and India is projected to register its highest exports in 7 years. China is once again forecast as the world’s largest importer at 10.0 million bales, but its imports declined by over 2.8 million from the previous year.

The second ‘i of the World’ exhibition is being held at the InterContinental Hotel in New York from September 28-29, 2021. Organized by the Istanbul Textiles and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ITHIB), the exhibition offers Turkish textile manufacturers an opportunity to showcase their products. It is expected to attract a number of leading US apparel producers, designers and distributors. Last year, İTHİB organized the first ‘i of the World’ exhibition in New York, in cooperation with the Turkish Trade Ministry and the Turkish Exporters Assembly.

The event was extremely productive for Turkish textiles, says Ahmet Öksüz, President, ITHIB. Despite the pandemic, Turkish textiles exports to the US rose by 8 per cent in 2020 to reach an all-time high of $628 million. And during the first eight months of 2021, Turkish textiles exports to the US rose 51 per cent to reach $547 million – accounting for 2.7 per cent of the total US textiles market.

The ongoing exhibition will help Turkey sustain this increase and achieve its ambitious bilateral trade targets, says Öksüz. The Association plans to launch several more promotional activities and B2B projects in the US.

The recent notification by textile ministry says, only registered manufacturing companies can avail the benefits of the recently approved Rs 10,683-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the textiles sector. For this, the participating companies will have to undertake processing and operation activities in their own factory premises, it adds. The notification further says the turnover achieved from trading and outsourced job work will not be accounted for while calculating claims for availing the incentive.

The goods manufactured by the company registered under the scheme shall only be eligible for the incentives, while goods manufactured by other manufacturers or units of the same group company shall not be accounted for in the calculation of incremental turnover. Incentives under the scheme will be available for five years during 2025-26 to 2029-30 on incremental turnover achieved during 2024-25 to 2028-29 with a budgetary outlay of Rs 10,683 crore.

The scheme proposes to incentivize MMF (man-made fiber) apparel, MMF fabrics and 10 segments of technical textiles products.

Further, the notification says, only one company of a group will be allowed to be registered for PLI for Textiles and none of their other group companies will be eligible for participation in this scheme as a second participant.

A European Union (EU) delegation in Sri Lanka aims to assess the possibility of withdrawing GSP + trade concessions granted to the island nation on allegations of human rights violations. As per an Economy Next report, the five-member EU delegation arrived in Sri Lanka to meet officials including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and all key stakeholders to assess the progress of Sri Lanka’s pledges to comply with 27 international conventions in return for the Generalized Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+) trade concession.

The European parliament had adopted a resolution to consider withdrawing the over $500 million worth trade concession in June. The European parliament’s key demand was for Sri Lanka to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), arguing the legislation has been systematically used for arbitrary arrests and detention of Muslims and minority groups in Sri Lanka.

International rights groups have asked the EU to demand Sri Lanka to comply with its obligations to continue the trade concession. The EU is the second largest export destination for Sri Lankan products, and GSP+ has helped the country’s exporters to consolidate their position.

Around 7,000 Sri Lankan export items are covered under GSP+, of which around 60 per cent include apparel, 11 per cent include rubber products, 9 per cent are gems and jewellery, 3 per cent agriculture and around 17 per cent other products, including wood products, toys and tableware.

The onging economic crisis in Sri Lanka is likely to delay payments of South India’s’ textile and fabric exporters. The fall of Sri Lankan rupee by more than 10 per cent against the US dollar, has also raised concerns among Indian textile and fabric exporters.

Siddartha Rajgopal, Executive Director, Texprocil observes, export of cotton fabric to Sri Lanka which was witnessing an upward trend due to pent up demand has started slowing down from August, and the economic emergency has further disrupted trade, Rajagopal says, Sri Lanka is the second-largest market for Indian cotton textiles export after Bangladesh. Export of cotton fabric from India in the first seven months of 2021 increased 38.47 per cent to $179.29 million from the year-ago period, mainly due to pent up demand.

Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) adds, traders are facing payment problems due to the crisis. Around Rs 8,000 crore is stuck in Sri Lanka and there is no clarity when payments will become smooth,.

However, Raja Shanmugam, President, Tirupur Exporters Association believes, the crisis may prove to be a boon for exporters as buyers may look at India as a sourcing nation and place more orders.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry says, India will achieve the target of $1 trillion exports, each for goods and services, in the next few years. From April-September 21, 2021, India’s export exceeded $185 billion and is expected to reach $400 billion by the end of this fiscal.

The government has decided to extend the existing foreign trade policy for six months till March 31 2022. It had earlier extended the FTP 2015-20 until September 30 this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. The policy provides guidelines for enhancing exports to push economic growth and create jobs. Under FTP, the government provides incentives under different schemes such as Duty Free Import Authorization (DFIA) and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG).

Goyal also launched 'Ease of Logistics’ portal to bring exporters and logistics service providers on a single platform. The portal offers a value proposition to all stakeholders. It enables exporters to post details of container requirements directly to service providers, adds A Sakthivel, President, FIEO.

Cotton prices in the US have increased 4 per cent from last week on speculations of growing demand from top user China. US cotton certified stock levels continued to fall after peaking in late June, signaling good export demand, says John Robinson, Economist, AgriLife Extension, College Station. OA Cleveland, Economics Professor, Mississippi State University and Consultant says, more gains could be in store due to a squeeze in large outstanding short positions. The price surged 51 per cent in past year on two straight projected deficits.

Data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission show, sales from unfixed cotton call have increased 69 per cent from a low in March. Sellers may have to go long on futures to close their positions. Other buyers in Turkey and Pakistan are also looking to US supplies, Cleveland adds.

Heavy rains may threaten the quality of cotton across the Coastal Bend of Texas, and very wet conditions in the next 10 days will delay harvesting in West Texas, the biggest growing area, adds Donald Keeney, Senior Meteorologist, Maxar Technologies’ Growing regions around the Mississippi Delta will also be drenched this week.

Despite costs of making clothing and T-shirts rising, retailers will have a hard time passing expenses on to consumers due to curb in discretionary spending and lack in rise of wages, according to Plexus Cotton’s Egli.

The pandemic has raised environmental concerns amongst Chinese consumers The recent McKinsey Global Institute report ‘Seven segments shaping China’s Consumption landscape’ highlights the growing trend of ‘eco shopping’ amongst Chinese consumers who are willing to pay extra for sustainable products. To explore growing eco-awareness, China’s designer brands are using ecological, recycled or waste materials in their new collections. Some of these collections will be showcased at the ‘Green Fashion Zone’ in upcoming Chic Shanghai exhibition.

To be held from October 9 to11with 487 fashion and lifestyle brands in the National Exhibition & Convention Center, the Chic Shanghai exhibition will showcase products in encompassing menswear, womeswear, kidswear, denim, shoes, bags, accessories and streetwear. In all, 76 designer brands will showcase in three halls spread over on 53,000 sq mt.

Sustainability the dominating theme

One prominent collection at the exhibition is the collection by designer Venus that combines various elements from streetwear, workwear and sportswear. To be presented in the Impulses designer area, it features handcrafted innovative crochet techniques and fabrics. It will focus on the use of recycled elements such as leather, ribbons and barbed wire.

Sustainability will dominate all collections presented at Chic Shanghai. Kidswear brand Cofna will showcase a collection made from yarns created with recycled PET bottles while Jore Baudry’s womenswear line will focus on slow fashion. Menswear brand Kashiyama will highlight the recycling initiatives it has undertaken for the last 15 years.

Chic Digital to launch new programs

The Chic Digital zone will award companies meeting the criteria of sustainable production in cooperation with the media publisher China Fashion and WWD. It will expand its digital tools and social media networks by introducing new programs and services. One such program to be launched is the WeChat Mini Program that has integrates trade fair's e-catalog directly to coordinate the interests of the business partners. The functions of the mini-program are continuously being expanded with new developments and networking opportunities.

Finding the right partner

The fair will hold 36 matchmaking events enabling brands to find the right partner in Chinese fashion business on site. The Match-Making Zone will house brands including Folli Follie, Cocoon, Mo & Co, Eland, tanni, Versino, etc., online brands such as Elephant and Giraffe, Ayuko Studio, SunDayMerry, Artist Hui or Eggka. It will also feature e-commerce platforms such as Little Red Book, JD, Dou Yin (TicToc), Wang Yi Yan Xuan or Shein.

The share of e-commerce in China’s fashion business is expected to rise to 83.5 per cent by 2025, predicts Statista. The latest GlobalData report too states online fashion industry in China is projected to grow to $285,981.4 million through 2025. The report attributes the robust growth in e-commerce sales to COVID-19 pandemic. It estimates fashion sales in China to reach € 340,000 million. The Chic Shanghai exhibition hopes to tap this growth opportunity by building bridge between the fashion industry and the trade of supply and demand. It will offer participants an overview of current market developments and trends, says Chen Dapeng, President China National Garment Association and Chic.

Milan will host this year’s Emerging Talents trade show featuring three companies supported by Texbrasil and Fashion Label Brasil, carried out through partnerships between Apex Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investments Promotion Agency), Abit (Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association), and Abest (Brazilian Stylists Association), respectively.

Texbrasil brands Nay Sunswear Wear and VitorZerbinato, in addition to the Sylvie label, from Fashion Label Brasil, will exhibit their collections at the event.

Created in 2016, Emerging Talents Milan has already promoted 80 brands from 30 countries. The trade show includes a showroom, fashion shows, and business consultancy. In addition to promoting new designers, the event focuses on sustainability. It is a platform that brings people together and builds bridges between cultures, says Russ Ev, Creative Director