Published by the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the Cotton This Month report informs, estimate for world cotton production for the 2021/22 season has been revised to 24.9 million tonne, with area under cotton also revised to 32.8 million hectares.

Cotton prices are trending upward with the Cotlook A index season average at 101.34 cents per lb. Cotton prices are also high in China, with the CC Index averaging 126 cents/lb since the season began.

Opening of economies and an increase in consumer demand that occurred when the vaccinations began spreading across the globe indicate that consumption doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

With demand exceeding production, ending stocks are expected to decline for the second year in a row to stand at 19.7 million tonne in 2021/22, 5 cent lower than the previous season.

As a result of these bullish factors, the Secretariat’s current price forecast of the season-average A index for 2021/22 ranges between 76 cents to 126 cents, with a midpoint at 98.20 cents per pound.

Apparel imports by the US increased 14.9 per cent year-over-year to 2.52 billion square meter equivalents (SME) in July 2021, as per the data released by the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA). An Apparel Resources report reveals, though US’ apparel imports from Vietnam increased by 22.74 per cent to 2.6 billion SME during the first seven months of the year, they declined 8 per cent to 359.72 million SME in July compared to a year earlier. Imports from Cambodia declined by 29 per cent to 85.61 million SME in the month compared to July 2020. Indonesia’s July shipments declined 7.9 per cent to 64 million SME, while imports from the country for the year so far rose 10.17 per cent to 601 million SME.

Imports from China increased 21.6 per cent to 1.04 billion SME in July compared to a year earlier and by 40.06 per cent to 5.48 billion SME year to date. Shipments from Bangladesh rose 35.1 per cent in July 2021 to 197.45 million SME compared to July 2020 and by 36.86 per cent to 1.42 billion SME year to date. India’s exports surged by 34 per cent to 79.92 million SME for the month and 47.2 per cent to 729 million SME for the year to date, while imports from Pakistan jumped by 49.3 per cent to 73.85 million SME in the month and by 50.02 per cent to 505 million SME year to date.

The US Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the goods and services deficit declined to $70.1 billion in July from $73.2 billion in June.

Cotton demand in India is expected to remain strong over the next 6 to 12 months owing to strong recovery in global apparel trade and retail demand. This could support a further reduction in global cotton stocks, industry experts believe. Cotton prices increased 43 per cent in the first five months of 2021-22 compared to the same period last year.

The average cotton price during April-August increased from Rs 9,963 from a year earlier to Rs 14,225 per quintal, says Nidhi Marwaha, Vice President and Sector Head, Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA. Prices are estimated to average 40-45 per cent higher year-on-year in the first half of this fiscal, adds Marwaha. Along with strong local demand for cotton, strong export demand for yarn and cotton is also a key driver for bullish sentiments in cotton trade

As against the normal consumption of 32 million bales year, the cotton consumption in the current year has increased to about 36-38 million bales, adds Pradip Jain, President, Khandesh Ginning and Pressing Association, an association of cotton traders from Maharashtra, the second-largest producer of cotton in the country.

There are apprehensions that delayed cotton sowing in several parts of the country this year because of the monsoon patterns could affect crop quality and yield, despite overall acreage reaching near normal levels towards the conclusion of the sowing season.

Organizer of Munich Fabric Start and Blue Zone, Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH has launched digitization service FABRIC.iD to support digital processes in the first step of the textile supply chain. As per a Knitting Industry report, the service employs the innovative texture and colour scanners xTex and can:scan from software companies Vizoo GmbH and Caddon Printing & Imaging GmbH, to capture all the details of the texture and translate them into virtual data.

The service was presented during Munich Fabric Start, which took place from August 31- September 02, 2021 in Munich. Visitors had an insight into the individual steps in the process and experienced the digitisation process live. The process expands Munich

can:scan and xTex offer a unique solution for this.. The software enables exact color detection of textiles and the creation of color-fast digital patterns, so that interactive approval processes can be carried out online and 80 per cent of the previous time required for analogue processes can be saved.

Hari Krishna Agarwal, Managing Director, Grasim Industries, the flagaship company of Aditya Birla Group has been reappointed on his position with effect from December 1, 2021. Agarwal will replace incumbent Dilip Gaur who has requested for earlier retirement after spending nearly 17 years with the company. Gaur joined the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) in 2004 after spending 24 years at Hindustan Unilever.

A veteran of the Aditya Birla Group, Agarwal has been part of it for nearly four decades. During this period, he has held different roles in cement, chemicals and pulp and fibre businesses before taking on his current role as Business Head, Pulp and Fiber. A Chartered Accountant and an Executive MBA from Sasin, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Agarwal started his career with ABG in 1982 as Management Trainee at Rajashree Cement, a division of Indian Rayon.

Kontoor Brands-owned Lee® Jeans is developing a collection of Crade-to-Cradle (C2C) certified 12-ounce gold and bronze jeans. As per an Apparel Resources report, the jeans offers several high-quality and recyclability features. The collection includes two ranges – the Gold-certified Aureola and the Bronze-certified Nymph, developed by Artistic Milliner. Both styles are 98 per cent GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) organic cotton and 2 per cent lycra component.

Both denim ranges have been certified according to C2C Product Standard (Version 3.1) requirements by the Cradle-to-Cradle Products Innovation Institute. The collection includes three fits, the Luke – a men’s slim tapered, the Daren – a men’s regular straight (sizes 28 to 40) and the Carol – a woman’s straight leg (sizes 24 to 32); with prices ranged from US $ 141 to US $ 153.

The certified products are part of the brand’s For A World That Works (FWTW) platform – an internal destination for sustainable developments and innovations, which was launched in 2020 alongside the brand’s debut denim collection – Indigood Denim that eliminates water from the denim dyeing process.

Cradle-to-Cradle Certified® is a globally recognised measure for safer and more sustainable products made for the circular economy. Product designers, manufacturers and brands around the world rely on the C2C Certified Product Standard to transform pathways for designing and making products, ensuring a positive impact on the people and their planet. The standard encourages continuous improvement by awarding certification based on ascending levels of achievement.

Champion Athleticwear has launched a new initiative titled Champion Renewed in partnership with The Renewal Workshop. As per a Knitting Industry report, the partnership aims to increase the use of responsibly made fabrics and find ways to creatively reuse products to reduce energy use and water consumption during the manufacturing process. Champion’s efforts support its parent company Hanesbrands’ 2025-2030 global sustainability goals.

Champion has already made significant progress in reaching ongoing sustainability goals. It offers classic jersey tees made with 100 per cent US cotton; has introduced two environmentally conscious collections, Natural State and Rally Pro Earth, in 2021; and manufactures “Game Day” sweats using 95 per cent recycled polyester fibers, as well as other Sport category apparel with a significant percentage of recycled polyester fiber.

Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, the Renewal Workshop measures the impact of textile fibers most frequently received, such as cotton, polyester and wool. Using this data, in addition to each garment’s weight, the organization evaluates energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions, and water consumption decreases, for each item that is renewed. It then sorts, grades, thoroughly sanitizes the products using state-of-the-art waterless technology and repairs them to like-new standards. Once inspected and verified to joint quality standards, they are given a Renewal Workshop tag and made available for purchase.

Mumbai-based leading manufacturer of specialty polyester filament yarn, Pioneer Embroideries plans to add 8,000 ton to enhance annual capacity to 26,000 ton. The company will undertake this capacity addition with an investment of Rs 58 crore. Capacity expansion will help the company meet post-COVID increase in demand for these yarns in newer segments such as home textiles and technical textiles.

The new facility will come up on existing factory land and is likely to be operational by FY23. It will enable the company to generate sales revenue of Rs 110 crore through a mix of domestic sales and exports. The current capacity utilization is 95 per cent. The company is focusing on POY-based specialty textile avenues such as flame retardant, automotive, anti-microbial and value-added DTY yarn for non-apparel segments.

A Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has lauded Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles for working towards an early conclusion of FTAs with the UK and the UAE, and for his assurance to resolve concerns of Indian apparel exporters. Sakthivel also thanked Goyal for assuring the government will examine and try to resolve all issues raised by various stakeholders at the meeting organized by the Ministry of Textiles with the theme: ‘Local Goes Global – Make in India for the World’.

He requested the Minister to introduce new policy initiatives like incentivizing value-added exports and disincentivizing exports of raw materials. He also suggested that the CCI should make available 70 per cent of the cotton to local manufacturers helping increase value-added exports, investment and employment. Sakthivel also urged for the inclusion of apparel lines in the early harvest deals being negotiated with the EU and the UK. Compared to zero duty for apparels from Turkey, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan, Indian apparels face a duty disadvantage of 9.6 per cent in these regions, he said and added that other FTAs need to be fast tracked as well.

The chairman also raised the issue of increasing freight costs and sought immediate resolution of the issue in view of the upcoming Christmas season. He further sought amendment in the proposed Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to make it more effective and accessible. He urged the ministry to expand the current list of 40 MMF garment products under the PLI to include additional 23 high potential MMF items. He requested lowering the incremental growth target for brownfield projects to 25 per cent, at par with Greenfield projects, from the proposed 40 per cent for getting the PLI benefits.

Imposed earlier this year, Armenia’s ban on clothing imports from Turkey has given a boost to local garment manufacturers. Many manufacturers have broadened their portfolios to include a wide variety of products instead of the standard innerwear and socks, says Elen Manukya, Co-Founder, Fashion and Design Chamber in a report by Eurasianet, an independent news organization. Before the ban, Armenia sourced most of its apparel products from Turkey. The ban changed Armenia’s perception towards Turkish clothing and increased their preference for local products, adds Manukya.

The Fashion and Design Chamber is also supporting Armenian designers by facilitating investments, providing proper training for designers and encouraging them to participate in international fashion shows. The government has also offered several tax cuts to textile investors.

Lack of business and education skills

The Armenian clothing and textile industry houses over 100 large and small companies. However, the scale of operations has declined with employee induction reducing from 8.000 people against 150,000 employed earlier. In 2013, the government proposed a development policy for the industry that focused on the unused potential manufacturing capacity and projected double-digit growth. The policy boosted Armenia’s textile production between 2015 and 2019.

However, the Armenian textile and garment industry continues to face many challenges. Earlier, it sourced most of its fabric requirements from Turkey. However, now, it would have to import from other countries, explains Manukyan. Armenia also lacks the required business and education skills. Universities in the country do not have the required infrastructure to train local designers. However, designers are encouraging consumers to buy local products. They are also launching mass collections to offer affordably priced garments.

Many mid-size brands have launched unique and affordable collections in the market. These collections are a reflection of Armenian culture as they incorporate local design elements such as Armenian alphabets, Christian symbols and classic Armenian ornaments.

Exploring popular Armenian culture

Armenian designers are also reinterpreting symbols from popular culture. For instance, brand Light Affect has built its identity around the image of ‘gyrats’, members of a subculture of powerful, semi-criminal street thugs from the 1990s and early 2000s. However, high-end brands have not been able to establish themselves as consumers’ spending on apparels has declined, says Vahan Khachatryan, Co-founder, Fashion and Design Chamber, which sells haute couture clothing worn by celebrities.

A few smaller designers have set up their in the country under the ‘Made in Armenia’ label. One such designer brand includes five concept that set up a store on the Sayat Nova Avenue t to sell affordable Armenian labels. The domestic market is likely to be flooded with local brands that are set to make their mark.