Welspun India has approved plan to augment towel manufacturing capacity by ~20 per cent to 102,000 mtpa at Anjar to meet the growing demand from the overseas customers. The company has approved an investment in 40 looms for towel fabric at Anjar which represents ~7 per cent of installed capacity. At Vapi, it has approved rugs capacity expansion by 80 per cent. The Company is expected to invest ~Rs. 6,565 mn for the aforesaid expansion over FY22 and FY23.

Welspun’s wholly owned subsidiary company viz., Welspun Flooring approved capex of ~ Rs. 1,436 mn to be invested over FY22 and FY23, for de-bottlenecking and rebalancing of its facility at Telangana, including setting up of a 25MW Renewable Energy Power Plant for uninterrupted power supply at lower cost and to further the Group's commitment towards ESG by embedding sustainability and circularity at every stage of its value chain.

During current financial year, Welspun has invested Rs. 2,810 million in capex and the total investment during FY22 will be Rs. 7,500 million including the investment approved for the home textile and flooring businesses.

R&B Denims plans to participate in the Cairo Fashion & Tex Fair, 2021 which will be the 69th Edition of Cairo International Fashion & Textile Fair.

As per an Equity Bulls report, the fair will held at Cairo, Egypt from September 23-25, 2021. Over 20 leading manufacturers and exporters form India will participate in the fair. They will represent the India Pavilion of Wool & Woollens Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

The fair will help R&B Denims to achieve a place for its products in the global denim market. The company manufactures various types of denim fabric and undertaking a range of products with open end spun yarns, multi count, cottons and polyester spandex with indigo bottom sulfur toppings and sulfur bottom, and indigo toppings with both foam and wet finishes. It also offers fancy yarn play in weft patterns in different weave designs. Its weave patterns include plain, twill and broken twill, oxford, satin, matty and dobby. The company has a production capacity of over 20 million meters per annum at Palsana, Surat, Gujarat, India.

Collected in collaboration with Fashion Revolution, the updated Fashion Checker data by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) reveals a large number of brands are still doing nothing or very little on transparency. Around 159 brands have received a 1 or 2-star rating, which indicates their failure to comply with the Transparency Pledge. Only 46 out of 264 brands have received five stars, meaning they disclose extra information about their supply chain – for example whether or not there is a union in the workplace.

While brands were also given the opportunity to inform Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) about any changes affecting their Living Wage scores, brands were not specifically surveyed on wage commitments and payment of living wage during the covid-19 pandemic, as reports show they fail to pay the legal minimum wage or pre-pandemic wages. Currently, only 5 brands claim to be paying living wages to as least some of the workers in their supply chains..

Lack of transparency in the global fashion supply chain has allowed brands to deny workers their legally owed wages and severance. For instance, workers in Cambodia were deprived of an estimated $109 million in wages during the April and May 2021 national lockdown. CCC estimates that workers globally are owed at least $11.85 billion during the year of the pandemic from March 2020 to March 2021.

University of Leeds has launched a new research institute to address global challenges in color, fashion and textiles through research and innovation, as well as teaching.

Known as the Leeds Institute of Textiles and Color (LITAC), the institute focuses on the development of innovative science and technology, materials, methods and processes, as well as technology-driven sustainable development.

The new institute brings together existing areas of excellence, including the Future Fashion Factory (FFF). Alongside the contributions of the University, LITAC has received significant investment from The Clothworkers’ Company.

Leeds and the wider Yorkshire area have a rich heritage in textiles, while universities in the Yorkshire and Humber region collectively enrol some 2,000 students in fashion, design, textiles and colour disciplines each year.

LITAC aims to harness the collective strength of this critical mass, and address gaps in skills and professional development.

Days prior to hosting its first in-person event in New York City since January last year, Informa Markets Fashion, the organizer of men’s and women’s contemporary markets trade shows Project and Coterie has announced dates for physical and digital trade shows in 2022.

Project Las Vegas will return to the Las Vegas Convention Center on February 14-16, 2022 and August. 8-10, 2022. Both events will feature new and established brands across men’s and women’s denim, contemporary collections, streetwear, footwear, accessories and beauty. Project New York will also return for its twice annual men’s-focused event in January 2022 and July 2022, though exact dates are still undetermined. The New York events will feature an intimate assortment of domestic and international men’s brands and highlight artisanal workwear and denim, contemporary, emerging designer and streetwear.

Sustainability, diversity and storytelling will be hot topics at Coterie that will be held from September 19-21, 2022 at the Jacob K Javits Convention Center. The event will host daily happenings that highlight environmental stewardship and social empowerment as well as a fireside chat with industry titan Fern Mallis.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has elected Abdul Rahim Nasir as its new Chairman for the year 2021-22 while Jamil Qassim and Atta Shafi Tanvir Sheikh were elected as Senior Vice Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively.

Nasir assured that he would keep interacting with the government for continuation of regionally competitive energy tariff of electricity at 9 cents per kWh and gas at $6.5 per MMBTU during the fiscal year 2021-22 and onward. He expressed confidence that with incessant availability of energy and raw materials at regionally competitive rates, industry would put its best to achieve the lofty target of exports for the current year.

He urged the government to accelerate its pace in removing the remaining irritants in doing business for uplifting the economic activity in the country.

Pakistan’s textile exports registered an impressive growth during the outgoing fiscal year of 2020-21 by earning $15.4 billion, which is 23 percent higher than the previous year’s textile exports of $12.5 billion. Nasir pointed out that about 70 percent of textile exports from Pakistan were from value added sector which is a healthy sign for the country.

New rules by China’s State Administration of Market Regulation for technology firms have halted the bull run of Chinese luxury e-commerce players, who enjoyed uninterrupted growth over the past 18 months. Jing Daily reports, the new rules direct government to fine luxury players for anti-competitive practices. While these are unlikely to have any serious impact on China’s luxury giants, they will definitely compel players to work harder for future growth. To maintain competiveness, Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, Pinduoduo, and JD.com plan to increase upgrade their platforms in coming year.

Regulations hurt new technology investments Beijing’s tech crackdown may also lead to increased regulation of sectors in which luxury brands have made heavy investments such as livestreaming and gaming. This may curtail their creative freedom and force them to fashion their marketing initiatives according to official demands. Online influencers and celebrities play a big role in influencing Chinese consumers to make purchase decisions. However, with the new rules in force, international brands would henceforth have to choose their social media partners more wisely.

The government has also banned telecast of abnormal aesthetics on TV. The ban covers idol competition shows sponsored by noted global brands. Such shows have a strong influence China’s millennials and Gen Z audiences, and government crackdown indicates an attempt to stifle China’s rising fan culture. Recently, 14 of China’s biggest e-commerce platforms — including Weibo, Douyin, Bilibili, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku —issued a joint declaration to promote a healthy online culture. This declaration threatens to derail brands’ growth plans leading to popular brand ambassadors Kris Wu, Zqhang Zhehan and Lucan Huang losing their annual contracts.

Augmented reality to the rescue

Luxury brands currently active in China have also expressed concerns over the crackdown on displays of luxury lifestyles. Designed to address problems like wealth flaunting and celebrity worship, these rules are likely to put high end brands in a sticky situation.

Toronto-based brand Canada Goose was recently fined RMB 450,000 (approximately $70,000) for allegedly misleading consumers about the materials it uses in popular down jackets. The move indicates the need for luxury brands to henceforth rephrase their marketing jargon as per official norms. Luxury brands can deal with this situation by investing more in virtual or augmented reality and brand films. Although this might make their marketing campaigns monotonous.

The recently concluded Viscose Traceability Project was able to trace viscose in over 23,000 products produced by Kering and Bestseller. The project was developed by the sustainable fashion innovation platform Fashion for Good in collaboration with luxury retailer Kering. Bengaluru-based innovator, TextileGenesis designed traceability applications for the project across the entire textile value chain from fiber to finished goods. The company’s complex web of supply chains spans a wide variety of fashion businesses such as spinners, weavers, knitters, dye-houses, and garment makers, and is spread across eight countries.

As per Katrin Ley, Managing Director, Fashion for Good, TextileGenesis’ innovative platform used Fibercoins™ as their blockchain-based digital tokens to provide a “digital twin” for sustainable fibers. The platform allowed the brand’s supply chain players to transfer these digital coins in parallel to the production of textile products as they move through the supply chain. They were also able to create a fibre-to-retail traceability data protocol for the apparel ecosystem based on the GS1 framework – a global traceability standard used in the food and healthcare industry.

Kering was able to trace the origins of the viscose fiber and change the supply in case of violation of environmental laws. This helped the brand create a more sustainable supply chain and innovate alternative textiles, says Christian Tubito, Head-Materials Innovation. The brand supplied four garment styles to be traced for the pilot, with fibers sourced from three leading sustainable viscose producers.

Monica Mirro, the newly appointed president of the Prana brand from Columbia Sportswear looks to infuse positive change through a consumer focused approach. Mirro has extensive experience in leadership roles building inspirational omni-channel brands, including Under Armour and Spanx. Her experience in go-to-market strategies, distribution channel diversification and success in achieving consumer brand loyalty will help the brand stir its future growth.

Headquartered in the US, Columbia Sportswear is a leading innovator in active outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment. The company manufactures and distributes outerwear, sportswear, and footwear, as well as headgear, camping equipment, ski apparel, and outerwear accessories. It was founded in 1938 by Paul Lamfrom, the father of Gert Boyle. The company is headquartered in Cedar Mill, an unincorporated area in Washington County, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area near Beaverton. The brand Prana was acquired by the company in May 2014. It is a rapidly growing lifestyle apparel brand.

Welspun India plans to expand the capacity its home textiles and flooring businesses with an investment of around Rs 800 crore over the next two years. The country's largest home textiles manufacturer will invest Rs 656.5 crore in its home textiles business expansion during FY'22-23. Its plans include augmenting its towel manufacturing capacity by 20 per cent to meet the growing demand from the overseas customers.

Welspun has also approved an additional investment plan for its Vapi, Valsad (Gujarat) based plant. The company aims to expand the capacity for rugs by 80 per cent with an investment of Rs 656.5 crore over FY22 and FY23. Besides, Welspun Flooring has also approved a capex of 143.6 crore for de-bottlenecking and rebalancing its facility at Telangana, including setting up of a 25 MW renewable energy power plant and to further the group's commitment towards ESG by embedding sustainability and circularity at every stage of its value chain.

Welspun has invested Rs 281 crore in capex in the current financial year and the total investment during FY'22 will be Rs 750 crore including the investment approved by the board on Saturday for the home textiles and flooring businesses. The company is a part of the Welspun Group, which has businesses interests in sectors including - line pipes, home textile products, infrastructure, warehousing, steel, oil & gas, advanced textiles and flooring solutions.