Exports of home textile, men’s garments, cotton fabric, jerseys and T-shirts by Pakistan increased in August 2021 compared to the corresponding month of 2020, announced Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Pakistan’s exports to the US, China, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain increased while those to Afghanistan, Denmark, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and the Czech Republic decreased during August 2021 as compared to August 2020.

Exports of a few textile items surged owing to the forthcoming Christmas seasons, informs Zulfikar Thaver, President, Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME). He opined the uptrend in imports would continue until Pakistan curtailed inward shipments of food items, luxury goods and cars. Sana Tawlik,, Economist, Arif Habib Limited, says, the uptick in trade deficit during August was primarily due to the increase in imports of goods.

The import growth was led mainly by machinery, petroleum and food categories. Ahmad Jawad, Vice President, Pakistan Business Forum, states, Pakistan’s trade deficit increased by 144 per cent to $4.2 billion in August 2021. The country imported merchandise worth billions of dollars every month but it could not bear such a high outflow of foreign exchange, he adds.

He urges the State Bank of Pakistan to ensure a modest recovery in Pakistani rupee. The bank uses exchange rate depreciation as a tool to make imports expensive but so far this mechanism has failed to arrest the rise in imports.

India’s RMG exports increased 13.99 per cent to $1.235 billion in August this year compared to $1.083 billion in August last year, according to preliminary data on India’s merchandise trade for the month. During the month, India’s exports of cotton yarn, fabrics, made-ups and handloom products increased 55.62 per cent to $1.297 billion compared to $833.95 million in the same month last year.

India’s merchandise imports rose 51.47 per cent to $47.01 billion in August 2021 over $31.03 billion in the same month last year. India’s merchandise imports in the April-August period this year increased by 81.75 per cent to $219.54 billion, over $120.79 billion in April-August 2020.

The trade deficit in August 2021 was $13.87 billion compared to the trade deficit of $8.2 billion in August 2020, while it is $55.9 billion during April-August 2021 compared to $22.7 billion during the same period of the previous year.

The rescheduled One Night Only Dubai fashion show by Giorgio Armani will take place on October 26 this year as per a report by the Business of Fashion. The show will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Armani Hotels in Milan and Dubai, reports Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper. The event was originally planned for November 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Armani has previously hosted One Night Only events in cities including London in 2006, Tokyo in 2007, Beijing in 2012, Rome and New York in 2013 and Paris in 2014. In Dubai, the brand has the Armani Hotel Dubai, inside the Burj Khalifa, and a number of stores, including locations at The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and Dubai International Airport. It also has the Emporio Armani Caffe at Mall of the Emirates, as well as junior and home stores.

After two years of nearly zero revenue from tourism, the Mt Everest Fashion Runway in Nepal will organize a fashion event this month to promote post-pandemic eco-tourism, and establish Nepal as a centre for sustainable fashion. K Films and Kasa Nepal will partner with Endemol Shine India to organize Season 2 of the Mt Everest Fashion Runway in Gokyo on September 23. As per Nepal Times report, the event will promote sustainability in the fashion industry by displaying biodegradable, renewable and ethically-sourced fabrics.

The show will be conducted near the base camp of Mt Cho Oyu, which is at 8,188 mt is the world’s sixth-highest mountain and located on the Nepal-China border 20km west of Mt Everest. It will feature numerous international supermodels and Nepali models, all of whom will be on the catwalk, wearing designs by Ramila Nemkul of Kasa, an international fashion brand based in Kathmandu.

The clothing designs will be made of biodegradable fabric, non-violent (cruelty-free) silk, and other sustainable fabrics like pashmina and wool felt. The event will also be filmed for a documentary and a web series shot by Shruti Anindita Varma, a film director who has produced documentaries and popular reality tv shows in India.

The first Mt Everest Fashion Runway was held last year at Kala Pattar (5,643m) and was hailed by the Guinness Book as the world’s highest fashion show with models and participants from 18 countries. This year’s event will beat even that record, and there will be 200 people attending the event at the scenic Gokyo Lake located alongside Nepal’s longest glacier, the Ngozumba.

Reopening of stores across Europe and the US is expected to increase summer shipments of Bangladesh suppliers by 20 to 30 per cent. Suppliers usually receive more orders for the summer season than for winter, says Bakhtiar Uddin Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer, Fakir Apparels. The company exports comfortable knitwear items, the demand for which is greater than that of woven items as people are spending more time indoors.

Currently, Bangladesh is receiving more work orders than Myanmar and China due to its competitive prices. Many western buyers are relocating work orders from China to Bangladesh and Vietnam as the production costs have gone up in the world's second-largest economy. Narayanganj-based Kappa Fashion Wear has received nearly 25 per cent higher work orders from its buyers for the next season. The company ships T-shirts and polo shirts.

Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA, says, confidence in Bangladesh had been restored as local manufacturers were able to supply items to international retailers and brands even during the pandemic. However, increasing work orders are pushing up the demand for yarn. Viyellatex Group, a major garment exporter and yarn producer, sold around 30 tonnes of yarn daily a year ago.

A 22 per cent rise in demand for knitwear products is also boosting demand for cotton-made yarn, says Mohammad Ali Khokon, President, BTMA. The industry’s earnings from garment exports have in recent months. As per data by the Export Promotion Bureau, it fetched $5.65 billion from exports in July and August.

Time and again, industry experts have reiterated the importance of leather as one of the most sustainable materials for the fashion industry. Yet, consumers continue to be lured by global campaigns focusing on plastic-based materials. Also, clothing and footwear manufacturers continue to use plastic-based materials originating from fossil fuels. As per a report by International Leather Maker, a large amount of these materials are ultimately dumped in landfills. In 2020, Nike discarded 4,846 metric tons of waste at locations around the world, reports Statistica.

Numerous brands ignore prescribed standards

Often products labeled as sustainable fail to conform to the prescribed standards, shows the Synthetics Anonymous report from the Changing Markets Foundation (CMF). The report assesses sustainability claims from brands in the fast fashion, luxury fashion and online retailing space. It shows, of the 39 per cent products branded with sustainability claims such as ‘recycled’ and ‘eco-friendly, 59 per cent failed to stand up to Competition and Markets Authority guidelines on greenwashing.

Further, the report discloses, 49 per cent brands used virgin synthetics in their collections in 2020 but failed to disclose this information to consumers. Adidas made 90 per cent products with virgin synthetics, primarily polyester, while Nike used over 1,52,000 tons of polyester and 1,11,490 tons of rubber in the FY2020. A report by the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) also accuses brands Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, Missguided and ASOS of greenwashing as of the 10,000 recently listed items being sold by them online, 49 per cent were made of polyester, acrylic, nylon and elastane.

Animal welfare campaigns hinder leather adoption

Despite this criticism, high street fashion brands and retailers continue to ignore leather in their sustainability campaigns as they are targeted by animal welfare campaigns. Consumer perception of leather being worse for the environment than plastic also restricts their adoption. However, a recent survey by the International Leather Maker shows, 77 per cent tanners believe leather’s image as a natural material can be still be improved. In a recent campaign Real Leather, Stay Different, Steve Sothmann and Tim Lewis affirm, how these projects highlight the benefits of leather in the right way but fail to convey their environmental advantages to consumers.

To emphasize the importance of leather as one of the most sustainable materials, the industry needs to maximize production and marketing efforts, and awaken consumers to environmental benefits of leather.

Lectra has acquired the entire capital and voting rights of the Romanian company Gemini CAD Systems. A major global player in the fashion, automotive, and furniture markets, Lectra designs and produces industrial intelligence solutions – software, hardware, data and services – for brands, manufacturers and retailers.

Founded in 2004, Gemini CAD Systems (Gemini) has developed several innovative software solutions, essentially Computer Aided Design (CAD), for small and medium-sized fashion companies. Thanks to its network of partners, Gemini is present in over 60 countries.

This acquisition is in line with Lectra’s strategy of developing its presence in the fashion market and enriching its value proposition.

The transaction concerns the acquisition of 60 per cent of Gemini rights for €7.6 million. The acquisition of the remaining capital and voting rights will take place in two steps, in September 2024 and September 2026.

A global textile and apparel (T&A) industry alliance that was formed to tackle issues relating to microplastics has completed the next phase of its project to develop a harmonised industry standard for the supply chain. The Cross Industry Agreement (CIA) has revealed the results of a fibre fragmentation trial that has been carried out in advance of establishing a CEN Standard (from the European Committee for Standardization). Once confirmed, the standard will also become an ISO standard under the Vienna Agreement, providing apparel manufacturers and policy makers with a vital tool as part of wider work to reduce microfiber shedding into the environment.

The microfiber shedding test method was developed thanks to the joint efforts and cooperation of experts from 28 European, American and Asian organisations; the result was handed over to CEN in 2020. Since then, representatives from the CIA have been working with CEN to fine tune details in order to meet the requirements for a CEN Standard. To verify the reproducibility of the method, the partners have carried out a round robin trial (RRT to determine if the method could be replicated in different laboratories and produce similar results. 10 organisations participated in the RRT, which was co-ordinated by the CIA, sending fabric samples to all of the laboratories involved and then collecting and analysing the data.

The results from the RRT show statistically significant consistency, both within and between participating laboratories, which demonstrates that the method is both repeatable in the same setting and reproducible in other laboratories.

A professional football club based, Paris St Germain has signed a two-year partnership deal with fashion house Christian Dior.

As per this deal, Dior would design PSG’s official wardrobe. This is the first time Dior had signed a deal in this way with a sports club.

Kim Jones, Artistic Director, Dior -Men's collections, has designed a series of new creations for the PSG team for the next two seasons. Until the Dior deal, PSG had a clothing partnership with Germany's Hugo Boss.

PSG has one of the most potent attacking forces in club soccer, with new signing Lionel Messi linking up with Brazil's Neymar and French striker KylianMbappe.

A six-times winner of the Ballon d'Or, Messi joined from Barcelona and made his Ligue 1 debut late last month.

Christian Dior SE, commonly known as Dior, is a French luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group.. The company was founded in 1946 by French fashion designer Christian Dior, who was originally from Normandy. This brand just sells shoes and clothing and can only be bought in Dior stores. Haute couture is under the Christian Dior Couture division. PietroBeccari has been the CEO of Christian Dior Couture since 2018.

Bangladesh’s apparel export to the United States in January-July of 2021 grew by 28.04 per cent to $3.7 billion from $2.89 billion in the same period of 2020, according to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel data.

In July 2021, Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US market increased by 35.2 per cent while Vietnam, the main competitor of Bangladesh in the area of business, witnessed a 1.3-per cent negative growth in the market.

Bangladesh’s apparel export to the US in July, this year, grew by $148.41 million to $569.89 million from $421.48 million in the same month of 2020.

Bangladesh’s RMG exports to the US is expected to exceed the pre-pandemic level in the current year as the orders are increasing, says MdShahidullahAzim, Vice-President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). He hoped that the export growth to the US market would continue in the coming months as the business activities have become normal in the destination.

MohammadHatem, First Vice-President, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), adds, Bangladesh’s knitwear exports are growing fast and these are likely to to grow more if the prices of yarns remained stable.

Meanwhile US’ RMG imports from Vietnam fell by $16.80 million in July, 2021, to $1.26 billion from $1.27 billion in the same month of 2020. Vietnam’s RMG exports to the US in January-July of 2021 grew by 20.45 per cent to $8.07 billion from $6.93 billion in the same period of 2020.