A report by Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic led to 77.94 per cent decline in exports of leather products and footwear in the country. As per the Export Promotion Bureau stats overall export earnings from leather products and leather footwear declined by 6.59 per cent, 21.72 per cent and 79.30 per cent during February, March, and April respectively.

Over four months from January to April, export earnings from leather products and leather footwear declined by 19.26 per cent to $200.43 million in 2020. Exports of leather footwear declined by 22.10 per cent to $128.82 million while those of leather products declined by 15.59 per cent to $82.87 million.

Comparing April alone, overall export earnings from leather products and leather footwear in April 2020 dipped by 79.70 per cent over April 2019. Leather products fell by 82.47 per cent whereas leather footwear fell by 77.94 per cent.

This unprecedented export fall is due to most retailers, chain stores and shops remaining closed in major export markets as in EU countries: Germany, Italy, France, and etc.; the US and Japan. In these markets, demand for footwear and leather goods has almost dwindled to zero. Reportedly, sales for this year's spring season are as much as 70 per cent lower than last year.

Retail continues to take a blow from the COVID-19 pandemic as Kontoor Brands recorded a loss of 22 Y-o-Y loss in first financial quarter amounting to $504 million. The parent company of Wrangler and Lee, reported 14 per cent decrease in revenue as compared to Q1 of last year. It also reported 16 per cent loss of revenue from the US market that contributed $379 million to the overall sales.

The company recorded a 41 per cent rise in digital wholesale as the stores continue to remain shut during the lockdown. China’s contribution towards revenue was hit the most as the international level fell to $126 million from $172 million of Q1 2019.

The company has suspended dividend distribution for the upcoming future to strengthen its financial holding. It also reported that their revolving credit facility of $475 million will be able to provide some financial buffer until retail sales start catching up.

Kingpins 24 online event, which was first launched in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will target the US denim market in its June edition. The two-day April event garnered nearly 10,000 visitors to its website, with 3,500 viewers tuning into the livestream. The on-demand content pulled in nearly 29,000 views, with more than 13,000 views during the show and in the week following.

The June event will look slightly different from the first, with updates to everything from content to scheduling. For one, there will be a larger focus on product-related information from mills and manufacturers. Also, all members of the denim supply chain—not just Kingpins New York exhibitors—are welcome to apply to join the online event as exhibitors.

In terms of scheduling, the livestream will run for 8 hours instead of 10, beginning at 9 a.m. EST and ending at 5 p.m. EST both days, and include more co-hosts and interviewers than the inaugural edition. The show will once again be hosted by Olah and Vivian Wang, Kingpins’ managing director and head of global sales, and content will be shared at no cost to viewers, with the exception of the $35 Kingpins Trend x Denim Dudes trend forecast.

French luxury group Kering has issued bonds worth €1.2 billion in total. The bond issue is split in two tranches: a first tranche worth €600 million maturing in three years with a 0.25 per cent coupon, and a second one, also worth €600 million, maturing in eight years with a 0.75 per cent coupon, as indicated by Kering in a press release.

Kering, which owns among others Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, said the operation contributes to the diversification of the group’s financing resources and to an increase in its financial flexibility, by enabling the group to refinance its existing debt and extend the maturity date of its funding sources.

Kering underlined that the issue was received very favorably by bond investors, confirming the market’s confidence in the group's creditworthiness. In 2019, Kering had generated revenues of €15.9 billion.

The Karnataka government has permitted garment units in red zone districts, but outside containment zones, to resume operations with one third of the workforce. The order said all recognized garment factories having an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) and those registered with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) can start operations with one third of the total workforce in red zone districts, but outside containment zones.

It said the permission is subject to following of the Standard Operating Procedures. Currently Bengaluru urban, Bengaluru rural and Mysuru are the red zone districts in the state. The government had recently allowed certain industrial activities other than in the containment zones to operate, while relaxing the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the state.

During the earlier phases of lockdown, only those garments units involved in the manufacture of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits for front line COVID warriors were allowed to operate.

Over the past three months, Burberry has introduced several measures to help prevent the spread of the virus and ensure employee safety and wellbeing, including temporarily closing retail stores and implementing strict social distancing protocols. This includes turning over its trench coat factory in Castleford, UK to manufacture personal protection equipment (PPE) for medical and care workers.

The brand has also decided to take the following additional steps to support its priorities over the next few months. These include maintaining the base for all its employees, not relying on government support for jobs in the UK where more than a third of their employees are based; taking a voluntary 20 per cent pay cut from April through June.

The Board of Directors has also agreed to a reduce their basic salary and fees by 20 per cent from April to June with the equivalent cash amount to be donated to the Burberry Foundation COVID-19 Community Fund. The fund, which was established earlier this month for employees to support communities in need globally, is additional to the financial donations Burberry has made to vaccine research and charities alleviating food poverty, with monies going towards procuring and distributing PPE, helping foodbanks and supporting healthcare charities around the world.

The brand’s trench coat factory in Castleford is now manufacturing non-surgical gowns and supplying them to the UK National Health Service. It also sources surgical masks through supply chain and supplying them to the NHS and charities such as Marie Curie, which provides nursing care for families living with terminal illness in the UK.

With sales and earnings sliding, Puma has set itself in a three-phase plan- Survive, Recover, Grow Again to revive growth. These plans will look different in certain markets, as China, Korea, and Europe are making their way toward survival and the US is still very much in the survival phase with so many stores still closed. In the first quarter, the virus outbreak forced Puma to pull an additional $975.92 million from its revolving credit facility and suspend a dividend payment scheduled for May 7.

Although growth was strong at the start of the year, Puma’s sales fell by 1.3 percent to $1.4 billion though this loss still came in above the Wall Street estimate of $1.37 billion. Gross profit margin fell by 140 basis points to 47.6 percent, which, according to Puma, was the result of lower sales in China, inventory devaluation and return provisions.

The company’s operating result (EBIT) decreased by 50 per cent to $77.21 million while net earnings and earnings per share declined by nearly 62 per cent to $39.2 million

Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has requested the government to lift ban on export of masks as Indian textile manufacturers are now flooded with enquires about immediate supplies of at least 500 million non-surgical fashion masks from leading apparel brands of Europe and the US. This is a business opportunity worth Rs 4,000 crore over next one year and can employ 100,000 workers.

The country had banned export of surgical masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and some medicines in March as it faced a shortage of these key items amid rising numbers of Covid-19 patients. Textile industry claimed that the custom authorities are not allowing exports of non-surgical cloth mask, too.

The industry has now assured the government that it can meet the country’s requirement of both surgical and non-surgical masks as well as PPEs with a little handholding. Experts say masks have now become an accessory to the garments being exported. The industry is not only looking at the non-surgical fashion masks but has already invested in manufacturing of the medical grade PPEs and mask.

During the lockdown period, Tirupur had started manufacturing PPEs using sewing machines, which could not be used by the paramedical staff as the holes made during stitching process made it permeable. Now, entrepreneurs from Tirupur have imported 200 seamsealing machines, which started working from last week.

The TEA also requested the government to ensure the logistics support for procuring the raw material and help for transferring of technology from DRDO and other accredited research agencies within a month.

The enforcement of social distancing, lockdowns and other measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in spikes in business-to-consumers (B2C) sales and business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, says a new report by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Demand has also increased for internet and mobile data services. The network capacity and spectrum to accommodate the shift to online activities has urgently had to be adapted by both operators and governments. Demand has fallen, however, for certain services with a large online component, such as tourism services.

E-commerce for goods and services trade has been adversely impacted by the same factors that have caused disruption in supply and demand overall. Such disruptions have resulted in delivery delays or outright cancellation of orders. Several other e-commerce-related challenges have arisen or been further amplified during this pandemic. These include price gouging, product safety concerns, deceptive practices, cyber security concerns, the need for increased bandwidth, and development-related concerns.

The pandemic has highlighted the glaring need to bridge the digital divide, both within and across countries, given the central role the digital economy has played during the crisis. Many traditional obstacles have been accentuated and have continued to hamper greater participation in e-commerce activities by small producers, sellers and consumers in developing countries, particularly in least-developed countries.

The global nature of COVID-19 and its impact on e-commerce may encourage strengthened international cooperation and the further development of policies for online purchases and supply. The pandemic has made it clear that e-commerce can be an important solution for consumers and can also support small businesses and, by making economies more competitive, be an economic driver for both domestic growth and international trade.

As per the US Department of Commerce affiliated Office of Textiles and Apparel (Otexa), Bangladesh's apparel exports to the United States grew by 6.73 percent in the first quarter of 2020 year-on-year, strengthening the country's position as the third-largest supplier to the American market, after Vietnam and China.

Bangladesh fetched about $1.67 billion from apparel exports to the US during the January-March period in 2020, against $1.56 billion earnings during the corresponding period of 2019. However, the country's apparel export earnings witnessed over an 85 per cent decline to $375 million in April 2020, which was $2.54 billion in the same period last year.

Experts and exporters opined that the growth happened since Bangladesh had not been affected by the novel coronavirus till March. At that time, Chinese factories faced closures and supply chains had been disrupted due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The US also witnessed a tough phase of the outbreak, resulting in retail store closures. As a result, their imports fell by 12.07 per cent to $17.84 billion in the first quarter of 2020.

Exporters believe that Bangladesh's apparel exports will observe the effect the outbreak of coronavirus for the next two to three months as most factories were closed for the last one month – March 26 to April 26.

Between January and March 2020, Bangladesh shipped 602.98 m. sq. mt. of apparel goods to the US. But apparel exports from Cambodia and Pakistan saw growths of 14.4 per cent and 13.8 per cent, respectively. According to the BGMEA, cotton products constitute a share of 74.14 percent of Bangladeshi apparel exports. Against an increased demand for cotton, import of the item from the US has increased over the last few years.