UK retailer Next has signed a deal with struggling US fashion giant Gap to manage its UK website and place concessions in some stores. As per a BBC report, the move will preserve some of Gap's physical presence on the high street as the company announced plans to close all UK stores in July.

Next also aims to expand the brands available on its online platform. The retailer will own 51 per cent of the new venture, while Gap will own 49 per cent. The deal will enable customers to use Next's click-and-collect service at its 500 stores. Founded in 1969 in the US, Gap has been credited with shifting cultural norms around clothes. The brand is favored by people of all ages for its laidback clothes such as hoodies, sweatshirts, T-shirts, khaki trousers, jeans and polo shirts. The brand opened its first store in London in 1987 and had set up 127 stores across UK by 2013.

In recent years however, the brand has struggled as most of its shoppers have moved online. The brand’s stores and clothes have also been criticized for failing to keep up with changing trends.

The Karnataka government is interested in central government’s scheme to set up set up seven mega textile parks across India. The state government has sent a proposal to set up textile parks but is yet to receive a reply from the centre. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Principal Secretary, Karnataka says, the parks will be set up on 1,000 acre in states offering investor friendly policies, good connectivity through road, rail and port, regular water and power supply.

The Centre has also launched the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) where it will offer incentives for five years to the textile industry, adds UP Singh, Secretary to the Textile Ministry. Through this scheme, industries with Rs 600 crore turnover can avail 15 per cent incentive in the first year, which decreases year on year by one per cent for five years. Those with Rs 200 crore turnover can avail 11 per cent incentive every year, which decreases by one per cent each year for five years when the scheme ends. The government has set up a fund limit of Rs 10,683 crore for five years.

Four Paws has published an open letter signed by more than 30 clothing brands, including Adidas, Kathmandu and Patagonia, vowing to end the use of mulesed wool by 2030. As per an ABC news report, Mulesing is a process that involves surgically removing wrinkly skin from around the breech and tail area of a sheep to keep the area from being infested with blowflies, a condition that can result in a painful death for sheep.

Jo Hall, President, Wool Producers, Australia, says, producers in her country are making the change to stop mulesing. Currently around 14 per cent of Australian wool is non-mulesed, she adds. Baderloo Poll Merinos breeds merino sheep that do not need mulesing, and are sold to farmers for their breeding programs. Daniel Hammat, Stud Principle says, they have transitioned away from sheep that needed mulesing. It currently breeds wrinkle-free sheep.

However, Jock Laurie, Chairman, Australian Wool Innovation says, despite the interest in non-mulesed wool there was still plenty of demand for mulesed wool as well. He informs, Australia produces about 300 million tonne of wool a year.

Five-fold rise in clothing purchases by Americans over the last three decades has led to more garments being shipped to Ghana than ever, as per a CBS report. Many Americans donate their used clothing under the assumption that it will be reused. But with increasing amount of items being discarded, and the poorer quality of fast fashion, millions of garments are put into bales and shipped abroad every year, says Liz Ricketts, Co-founder and Director, OR Foundation.

Most of these clothes are shipped to Ghana's Kamanto market where around 15 million items of used clothing from Western countries arrive every week. The entire population of Ghana is only 30 million. Trucks offload bales of textiles — called Obroni Wawu, or ‘Dead White Man's Clothes’ — arrive at the market, which is a seven-acre maze of over 5,000 stalls. The bales are purchased by market traders — who do not know ahead of time what's in them — for between $25 and $500 each they then clean, tailor, and re-dye what they can of the clothing to give it new life.

Upcycling these clothes is difficult because of the poor quality of fast fashion garments, says Samuel Oteng, Project Manager, OR Foundation. Ultimately, they end up in landfills, he adds. The upcycling work of traders at Katamanto is not enough to reduce the glut of clothing created by America's addiction to fast fashion. It is estimated that 40 percent of all the clothing bales sent to Ghana end up in landfills.

Circular Systems has partnered Portugal-based sustainable textiles company Tintex, to launch a premium knits collection. Designed with Texloop RCOT Primo high quality recycled cotton yarns, the collection uses Tintex's Colorau Natural Dyeing Processing, some of the lowest impact materials and processing available on the market.

As per a Knitting Industry report, the collaboration uses breakthrough patented process that replaces synthetic dyes with natural extracts combining with fabric milled with yarns with up to 50 per cent recycled cotton. The Colorau natural dyeing process incorporates compounds of natural origin like plants into substrates to produce functional, ecological, and sustainable technology. The technology also focuses on its environmental impact by eliminating potentially toxic effluents generated by synthetic dyestuffs.

The use of low temperatures in the dyeing process and the substitution of traditional auxiliaries with natural occurring alternatives, also contribute to the impact reduction of the process. Additionally, there is no sacrifice in color durability, as Colorau is focused on natural extracts with inherent color fastness properties that can be also antimicrobial. This unique technology is designed to mimic the beauty and authenticity of nature. The collection will be available in Thyme, Chestnut Tree, Gambier and Morus Tinctoria colors.

Cambodia's garment exports surged 3.3-per cent in the first eight months of 2021, shows a report from the Ministry of Commerce. As per reports, the Southeast Asian nation exported products worth $5.02 billion during the January-August period this year as against $4.86 billion exported over the same period last year. Growth is being attributed to the high COVID-19 vaccination rates and controllable COVID-19 situation. Cambodia launched a COVID-19 inoculation campaign in February, with China being the key vaccine supplier.

As of September 17, it had vaccinated around 11.6 million people, or 72.5 percent of the kingdom's 16 million population, with one vaccine dose, while 10.1 million, or 63.2 percent, had obtained both required shots and 815,581, or 5 percent, had got a third dose or booster dose. The country reported total 103,482 COVID-19 cases with official death toll reaching 2,096.

A global company specialized in producing Nylon 6.6 for apparel and owner of Sensil, its own branded nylon fiber, Nilite has unveiled its Corporate Sustainability report titled ‘Making Nylon Sustainable,’ for the period 2017-2020. As per a Spin Off report, the document details the company’s achievements to improve its environmental footprint and explains its plans to positively influence the textile and apparel industry.

The report shares Nilit’s accomplishments and the company’s ongoing plans to continuously improve the ecological and social influence of its operations and practices in the market and in the communities where it operates. Through collaboration with brands, retailers, customers, employees and vendors, Nilit has developed a large portfolio of sustainable premium Nylon 6.6 products under its Sensil consumer brand. The Sensil portfolio includes performance products manufactured while controlling water and energy consumption, waste reduction, use of recycled inputs and impact to ecosystems.

Nilit has achieved some sustainability goals in its facilities around the world, especially its innovations in clean energy cogeneration that reduced CO2 by 40% and eliminated emissions of toxic gases.

The company also introduced QR codes in all Sensil hangtags. Produced with FSC paper and distributed on certified garments from brands worldwide, these hangtags guarantee authenticity and provide more information to consumers about the technologies and benefits of premium nylon.

French luxury fashion house Kenz has appointed Sylvian Blanc as its new CEO. As per a Fashion Network report, Blanc’s appointment is effective October 18, two weeks after the end of the next Paris Fashion Week, where Kenzo is not scheduled to stage a show.

Blanc will succeed Sylvie Colin, who is moving on to pursue a personal project abroad. Blanc began his career as deputy to the merchandising director of Printemps department store, before becoming head of strategic planning for stores. He later joined The Koopies as vice president, Europe, Middle East and Asia. He is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and of the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, also known as Mines ParisTech. Since 2018, Blanc has been CEO of Undiz.

The fashion house also named Tomoaki 'Nigo' Nagao of The Bathing Ape as new artistic director. He succeeds Felipe Oliveira Baptista, who left Kenzo last June after just two years at the house.

A global textile and apparel (T&A) manufacturers’ initiative has published a White Paper on Commercial Compliance.

Led by the STAR Network, the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the Better Buying Institute, the initiative is supported by GIZ Fabric and consists of 13 industry associations from nine countries facing similar challenges regarding purchasing practices in the textile and garment industry. Through a process of consultation, these associations have now jointly agreed on the text of the white paper that is published today. This marks the first joint manufacturers’ position on the improvement of purchasing practices.

The white paper establishes commercial compliance as a leading principle for the manufacturer’s perspective on the improvement of purchasing practices. STTI defines it as ‘purchasing practices that do not cause obvious and avoidable harm to manufacturers’. The white paper lists ‘key recommendations’, defining what purchasing practices manufacturers consider to be breaches of their definition of commercial compliance. The associations participating in the initiative recognize that the breaches of these key recommendations seriously impair their ability to run a commercially viable business, let alone to contribute to stronger and more sustainable supply chains.

Increasing by 34 per cent, global fiber production is expected to reach 146 million tonne in 2030. As per a Textile Value Chain report, fiber production doubled in 2000 to 109 million tonne in 2020 from 58 million tonne. Per person fiber production increased from 8.4 kg per person in 1975 to 14kg per person in 2020. Market share for preferred fiber and materials grew significantly in 2020.

Between 2019 and 2020 the market share of preferred cotton increased from 24 to 30 per cent and recycled polyester from 13.7 to 14.7 per cent. Preferred cashmere increased from 0.8 to 7 per cent of all cashmere produced while Responsible Mohair Standard certified fiber expanded from 0 to 27 per cent of all mohair produced worldwide in its first year of existence in 2020.

The market share of FSC and/or PEFC certified MMCFs increased to approximately 55-60 per cent. While the market share of recycled MMCFs is only 0.4 per cent, it is expected to increase significantly in the following years.