The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has sought no penalties from buyers and other stakeholders for delay in orders due to current lockdown measures. In Q1 FY21, Cambodia’s garment product exports declined by 10 per cent, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Most Cambodia’s garment factories remained closed during the quarter due to a rise in COVID-19 case in Phnom Penh and Takmao city, Kandal province, reports Khmer Times.

The Royal Government of Cambodia also announced a two-week lockdown in Phnom Penh and Takmao from April 15 to May 5 to contain and prevent the spread of COVID. The ministry has been urging international buyers to show flexibility and understand the condition in Cambodia’s garment sector. Spokesperson Heng Sour said the full production chain will be normal once the COVID-19 situation is better and they will be able to supply products quickly.

Lenzing is promoting group-wide climate neutrality by investing €200 million in Asia . Leading global supplier of wood-based specialty fibers, the Lenzing Group plans to invest more than €200 million in its production sites in Purwakarta (Indonesia) and Nanjing (China) to convert existing standard viscose capacity into environmentally responsible specialty fibers.

In Nanjing, China Lenzing plans to establish the first wood-based fiber complex in China that is independent from coal as an energy source. By using natural gas based cogeneration, Lenzing will reduce CO2 emissions at the site by more than 200,000 tonne. At the same time a line of standard viscose will be converted to a 35.000 tonne TENCEL™ branded modal fibers line making Lenzing (Nanjing) Fibers Co, a 100 percent wood-based specialty fiber site by the end of 2022.

In Purwakarta (Indonesia), Lenzing will reduce its CO2 emissions by increasingly using biogenic fuels. It will make additional investments to make this facility fully compliant with the EU Ecolabel by the end of 2022. This will allow it to convert standard viscose capacity into Lenzing™ Ecovero™ branded fibers for textile applications as well as Lenzing™ Viscose Eco fibers for personal care and hygiene applications. As a result, the site in Indonesia will also become a pure specialty viscose supplier as of 2023.

Both investments are fully in line with Lenzing’s target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions per ton of product by 50 percent by 2030. By avoiding or reducing the use of fossil fuels at the two sites, the Lenzing Group will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 320,000 tonne in total, or 18 percent, compared to 2017.

The European Parliament has voted in favor of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement to set the rules for the future EU-UK relationship. The agreement formed on December 24, 2020, has been provisionally applied since January 1, 2021. With the Parliament consent, the agreement will enter into force permanently. The zero quotas and zero tariffs trade agreement between the EU and UK is being viewed positively by members of European Parliament (MEPs) as it guarantees on fair competition rules, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) add.

However, MEPs regret that the UK did not want the agreement to extend to foreign, security and development policies and did not want to participate in the Erasmus+ student exchange program. Andreas Schieder (S&D, AT), Rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament says, the EU and the UK have created the basis for a relationship among equals. However, much work remains on foreign policy and educational exchange programs. For citizens’ interests to be represented, the parliament must be closely involved.

The Ermenegildo Zegna Group has signed a deal with Stellantis, the Amsterdam-based automotive company, to develop a sustainable mobility program. As per Women’s Wear Daily, the program would involve making the company’s fleet including 200 cars, eco-friendly by 2023 by introducing plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicles.

According to Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis, the car company will introduce 30 different models of affordable plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. It will also install charging stations in all its offices and facilities and will offer its employees fuel and charge cards for battery charging.

A signatory of the Fashion Pact, Zegna has been working on sustainability innovation for years. The brand has been recycling or upcycling wool, nylon and cashmere fibers, spinning or weaving them into new fabrics or stuffing them into puffers, shoulder linings or coat padding. It has also launched the ‘Use the Existing’ project to further signal its reinvention and zero-waste efforts in preexisting fibers in garments.

KPR Mills’ new 42 million capacity garments factory is expected to be commissioned by Q2FY22. The factory would be fully ramped up in eight to 12 months. Of total incremental capacity, 60-70 per cent will be utilized for existing customer with balance for new customers. Analysts at ICICI Securities expect the company's garmenting division to post revenue CAGR of 28 per cent in FY21-23E.

During Q4FY21, KPR Mills’ net profit more-than-doubled to Rs 186.16 crore in the fourth quarter of FY 21 as against Rs 80.91 crore profit posted in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue from operations jumped 28 per cent to Rs 1,130 crore from Rs 882 crore. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins expanded 820 basis points to 24.7 per cent.

KPR Mills’ new sugar and ethanol plant is expected to be commissioned in Q3FY22 with company targeting revenue mix of 50:50 from ethanol and sugar division. With the new expanded capacity, the management is aiming at overall sugar revenues to cross Rs 1,000 crore in next two to three years.

NPD Group’s latest report says, Chinese spending on luxury clothing may increase in the current year. In 2020, Chinese consumers spent $12.29 billion on luxury apparels across the world through direct retail channels and $9.83 billion in mainland China. These consumers contributed almost two-thirds to global growth in luxury spending in 2020, despite COVID-19. Chinese consumers are also using duty-free shopping channel for its attractive pricing and the one-stop purchase experience. The Chinese government has introduced duty-free shopping in the Hainan island as part of its ‘Hainan Trade Free Port plan. Sales at Haitang Bay in Hainan, the largest standalone duty-free shopping complex in the world, grew 66 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, the report said.

In 2020, China’s GDP grew 2.3 per cent; it was the only one of the world’s major economies that registered growth, says Stanley Kee, Managing Director, APAC, The NPD Group. This indicates a great potential for the Chinese luxury market which is expected to increase further in coming years, he adds.

A new concept known as regenerative agriculture is taking root in the fashion industry with brands like Patagonia, Allbirds, Timberland, Mara Hoffman, Christy Dawn, and luxury conglomerate Kering making heavy investments. As per reports, currently brands are producing only a small proportion of their raw materials on regenerative farms. However, the concept is fast catching on.

Improving profitability through regenerative farming

Regenerative agriculture was introduced by Robert Rodale in 1970s. It involves plantation of cover crops, growing of multiple crops together, crop rotation and reduction of tilling. This helps improve the soil’s health and the farm’s profitability, says Jeff Tkach, Chief Impact Officer, Rodale Institute. Regenerative farming concept has gained in importance as it can actively sequester carbon through photosynthesis. The carbon dioxide in the air is absorbed by plants and passed through their root systems into the soil. Eventually, this carbon becomes a solid mineral.

Fashion players involved in the concept

One of the biggest players in regenerative agriculture in fashion is Patagonia, which reoriented its supply chain in partnership with Rodale. This helped the company grow its land under cotton cultivation to 4,000 acre. This cotton is now being incorporated into a small portion of Patagonia garments.

Following Patagonia’s footsteps, Timberland is building a regenerative rubber supply chain in Thailand. The brand aims to grow various tree species to mimic a natural forest ecosystem. The company hopes to use all the rubber grown in this forest into its products from 2023. Allbirds also plans to use wool grown in regenerative farms from 2025. Owner of Gucci and other luxury brands, Kering has launched a regenerative fund together with Conservation International to produce raw materials for fashion through regenerative.

Smaller brands like Christy Dawn are also launching farm-to-closet collections made from materials grown through regenerative farming. Its founder Christy and Aras Baskauskas began to explore regenerative agriculture in partnership with Oshadi, an Indian regenerative-farming collective, which helped them lease four acres of land in Erode, The brand recently launched its first collection using this cotton. It consists of 54 dresses in the brand’s signature flowy, floral aesthetic.

Organizations step up to creating more awareness

Still in its infancy, regenerative agriculture is currently being tapped by only a few fashion brands. However, many social organizations are stepping up to create awareness and industry standards for this concept. Fibershed is creating a network of domestic regenerative farms to help brands such as Mara Hoffman and the North Face source fibers while the Savory Institute has established guidelines for farmers planning to adopt regenerative agriculture.

While the retail sector in most countries is still struggling with COVID-19 induced challenges, the US retail has been quick to recover with analysts expecting its 2021 growth to surpass 2020 levels. However, the sector is unlikely to achieve 2019 growth levels and witness a 7 to 12 per cent fall in sales, says a McKinsey & Co report.

Vaccine rollout boosts consumer sentiment index

Marshal Cohen, Chief Industry Advisor, NPD Group, expects the apparel and footwear segment to make a comeback in 2021. US’ apparel and accessory sales grew 18.3 per cent month-over-month (M-o-M) seasonally adjusted and surged by 104.6 per cent unadjusted year-over-year (Y-o-Y) in March 2021, estimates the National Retail Federation. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines helped raise consumer sentiment index to 83 points during the month from 76.8 in February 2021.

Fashion retailers like Walmart have started administering vaccines in over 3,800 stores and clubs across 48 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, this has helped US retail increase employment levels. This year, the industry added as many as 916,000 jobs, the highest since August 2020, says Apparel Resources. Austen Jensen, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs informs, the government has also increased unemployment benefits to $300 to help those most in need

In March 2021, the US consumer confidence skyrocketed owning to another round of stimulus checks by the government. As defined for tax purposes, several adults got $1,400 and an additional $ 1,400 for every dependent person. These incentives aimed to reach 145.4 million households who spent around 25 per cent on household goods, reveals a survey by the NY Federal Reserve Bank.

Clubbed under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the stimulus aims to provide a $1.9 trillion fund to pandemic affected families, state and local government. The plan provides $7.25 billion to the small businesses to carry out the paycheck protection program. It also extends the employee retention credit to December 31, 2021, bolstering the confidence of people across the country.

Retail sales to increase 6.5 per cent

NRF expects US retail sales to increase between 6.5 and 8.2 per cent in coming months. Jack Kleinhenz, Chief Economist, NRF also expects a 10 per cent gross domestic product growth in coming quarter while a Deloitte survey expects digital acceleration to remain a priority for 88 per cent retail executives in 2021. To survive, offline retailers will have to emphasize on product innovations, greater shopping experience and additional services.

As per a PwC report, 2021 could turnout to be year of opportunistic acquisitions, providing much needed boost to US retail sector and helping it maintain its growth momentum.

Denim mill Isko has launched a Bluesign-approved fabric that meets the standard’s rigorous criteria ensuring it’s sustainably produced without hazardous chemicals. The Bluesign System aims to remove harmful substances from the beginning of the manufacturing process and establishes and monitors standards for safer production.

The mill entered the partnership in June 2020 with an above-average rating from the Bluesign Company Assessment, demonstrating its longstanding commitment to sustainability. Isko has received achievements from Oeko-Tex, Textile Exchange, SAC, ZDHC and EU Ecolabel.

Most recently, it updated its recycled materials collection, Light on the Land, for better transparency. All of the fabrics used in the collection were carefully selected from Isko’s R-Two platform, which uses a mixture of reused cotton and recycled fibers.

The Bluesign System has recently undergone updates as well, and in February it announced the revision of all of its chemical substance lists to incorporate the latest scientific knowledge on toxicological and ecological profile of substances, new legal classification of chemical substances, new legal consumer safety limits, revised risk assessments based on the Bluesign Criteria for chemical assessment, etc.

Aligned to its Power Plan 2023, Gap, Inc plans to grow its purpose-led, billion-dollar lifestyle brands by leveraging the power of its portfolio and the power of its platform.

As per Textile Focus, the company plans to sell Janie and Jack, a leader in premium children’s fashion, to Go Global Retail, an investment platform in the fashion and consumer brand sector. Go Global Retail intends to acquire the entire Janie and Jack business, including the e-commerce platform, all store leases, and assets.

BofA Securities, Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Gap Inc. on the transaction. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Gap Inc. acquired Janie and Jack in 2019 and today the brand has about 115 store locations in the United States and an e-commerce business.

Gap’s Power Plan 2023 aims to deliver consistent sales growth, margin expansion and strong operating cash flow. The American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates six primary divisions: Gap (the namesake banner), Banana Republic, Old Navy, Intermix, Hill City, and Athleta. Gap Inc. is the largest specialty retailer in the United States, and is 3rd in total international locations, behind Inditex