Winter clothes in Nepal have become very expensive. Reasons include a strong dollar, high transportation costs and low supply from China. Down jackets, long coats and fleece jackets have become pricier.Clothing that comes by air is costlier than that that comes overland.

Even Nepal-made brands are expensive. Imports have declined by nearly 40 percent, mainly due to the appreciation of the dollar that has made goods very expensive.The rule requiring importers to keep 100 percent margin amount to open a letter of credit, a measure intended to control imports, has also increased prices of goods.The cost of importing goods has increased by 15 percent from last year. Imports of apparels and clothing accessories into Nepal have fallen by 27 percent in the first three months of the current fiscal year.

Raw materials have to be imported from China but as these are not arriving regularly, prices of winter clothes have gone up in the domestic market.Prices of winter clothes in the domestic market have increased by Rs200 to Rs600 and these include fleece jackets, windcheaters, hoodies and joggers. Sales have also decreased due to inflation.Transport inflation jumped by 23 percent in the first two months of the current fiscal year.

Naia helps in the creation of comfortable, quality, sustainable loungewear.

Available as both a filament yarn and a staple fiber, Naia Renew cellulosic fiber is inherently soft, is quick drying and has reduced pilling properties. It blends well with other eco-friendly materials, such as modal and recycled polyesters, to produce sustainable fabrics for everyday garments – including tops, dresses, jumpsuits, twinsets, T-shirts, comfy pants and sweaters.

Naia Renew is produced from 60 per cent sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40 per cent hard-to-recycle waste materials, which would otherwise be destined for landfills or incinerators, with a low carbon footprint in a closed-loop process where solvents are safely recycled back into the system for reuse.

Loungewear has become the must-have item in every woman’s closet. Today’s consumers define comfort and sustainability with regard to loungewear. Two-thirds of consumers want more sustainable options in their loungewear fibers. Women in the US and Europe select comfort as their top priority when selecting loungewear. Consumers also want more comfortable fabrics and more versatile loungewear and will likely purchase more loungewear items in the future. Women are reducing the amount of formal clothing in their wardrobes and also prefer more sustainable loungewear with new and different fibers and would like brands to offer more of those options.

Vietnam’s exports of textile and garments to Canada grew by 40 per cent during 2018 to 2022.

Thanks to complete reopening, Canada’s demand for textile and garment imports has strongly bounced back. So there remains much room for Vietnam to increase exports to this market despite considerable competition pressure. Now Vietnamese businesses have been urged to adopt green practices to secure sustainable growth in textile and garment exports to Canada, where Vietnam ranks second among the exporters of such products. Greening is an inevitable trend in the textile and garment industry, forcing businesses in Vietnam to strive for sustainable development.Notably, in response to Canada’s demand for supply source diversification, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka have been emerging as strong rivals thanks to their capabilities to manufacture sophisticated products. This is another challenge for Vietnamese businesses. And to obtain sustainable export growth, businesses should devise a carbon emission reduction strategy, adopt a circular production model, use recyclable materials and clean energy, and practice energy efficiency.They also need to stay updated with new certificate systems in the industry and comply with buyers’ report requirements. Vietnamese companies’ capabilities of sustainable and circular production and firms with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certificates are being highlighted to Canadian partners.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports grew by three per cent in October 2022 compared to October 2021. However, earnings went down seven per cent.

The sector experienced a decline in orders of 25 per cent to 30 per cent due to inflation in the destinations, overstock and global economic turbulence.Just when the country’s export-oriented readymade garment industry was recovering from the effects of pandemic lockdowns, the Russia-Ukraine war has plunged the industry deeper into multiple crises. Rising energy prices are eroding the purchasing power of European consumers who are now spending more on daily necessities as opposed to fast fashion.

European shoppers are likely to reduce their Christmas purchases and this will prevent importers of Bangladesh apparel products to clear their whole stock. Buyers have been withholding orders for the last few months. Due to the recession in the US, Canada, and Europe, customers there are unable to buy like before, as their purchasing power has decreased because of inflation, energy crisis and also a possible food crisis.If Christmas salesdon’t reach targets, brands won't be able to order the product for the next season, which will again have a negative impact. Europe and the UK are the prime destinations of Bangladesh’s apparel exports.

Bjorn Gulden is the CEO of Adidas. This 57 year old Norwegian was earlier at Adidas, from 1992 to 1999, when he was senior vice president of apparel and accessories.

He is a professional football and handball player. Additionally, he was CEO of Danish jewelry brand Pandora, managing director of Europe’s largest footwear retailer Deichmann, president of Rack Room Shoes, and has held various management positions at outdoor apparel company Helly Hansen. He also holds the position of chairman of the board of Salling, Denmark’s largest food retailer.

Bjorn Gulden brings almost 30 years of experience in the sporting goods and footwear industry. As a result, he knows the industry extremely well and draws on a rich network in sport and retail.

In North America, the world’s largest sporting goods market, Adidas has doubled its sales. In addition, Adidas has strengthened its leadership position in sustainability and increased diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the company. Following the successful divestiture of TaylorMade, CCM Hockey and Reebok the company is now able to focus its efforts on its core brand Adidas.

For the third quarter, Adidas’ currency-neutral revenues increased four per cent. Revenue growth was the highest in Adidas’ strategic growth categories,football and running.

Retail prices for garments in the US decreased by 0.2 per cent month-over-month in September 2022.

After struggling to keep up with consumer demand following the release of stimulus and with the shipping crisis, apparel import volumes have been strong in recent months. Year-over-year retail apparel prices were six per cent higher.

The labour market continues to add jobs and to post wage increases near five per cent. However, both the pace of hiring and wage gains were slower last month. The US economy was estimated to have added 261,000 jobs last month. This was the lowest addition since December 2020, but job growth has nonetheless remained resilient to interest rate increases. The twelve-month average for job growth is currently 442,000.

The unemployment rate moved higher, from 3.5 per cent to 3.7 per cent month-over-month. This increase occurred despite a slight decrease in the size of the labour force and was a result of a decrease in the number of employed workers.Wage growth slowed to the lowest level in about a year (4.7 per cent) in October. Despite the slowdown, the latest value easily exceeds growth rates experienced after the financial crisis, which topped out near 3.5 per cent in the decade that followed the last recession.

World of Wipes will be held in the US, July 17 to 20, 2023. This is a conference on wipe products, markets and technologies and is for experts in the areas of dry and wet wipes, sustainability, end-use markets, substrate formation, raw materials and fibers, liquid ingredients, packaging, machinery, and market trends and data.

Presenting at WOW is a unique opportunity to recognize breakthrough wipes products or expertise, connect with next-level leaders, gain potential partners and customers, and change the future of wipes. Over 450 wipes business leaders are expected to convene and hear premium content in market research, product innovations, sustainability issues, new materials and substrates for all wiping products and their components.

WOW is targeted exclusively for wipes brand owners, converters, manufacturers, and their entire supply chain.Participants can gain a strong foundation of fundamental wipes knowledge, covering the basics of wipes design, manufacturing and applications, market trends, and opportunities in new product areas. The last WOW event connected more than 450 participants from 18 countries representing the entire wipes supply chain to explore issues and advancements in the growing multibillion-dollar wipes sector.

The event is organized by the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry which serves member companies in the nonwovens/engineered fabrics industry.

Shanghai Jiale has reduced Its Standard-Minute-Values (SMVs) on core styles by over 30 per cent with Coats Digital’s GSDCost.

Following a rigorous training program from GSDCost experts, Jiale has established its own robust SMV library for core styles, which has also benefitted cost management, capacity planning, production planning, and employee payroll accounting teams across the business. Following the implementation of GSDCost, Shanghai Jiale was able to establish international standard time benchmarks based on standard motion codes and predetermined times. This enabled the sales, costing, planning and manufacturing teams to communicate efficiently using the same language, based on a scientific method for correctly analysing manufacturing costs.The success of the implementation has resulted in the solution being adopted by Jiale’s production base across Indonesia.

Shanghai Jiale is a fashion manufacturer of knitted outerwear and sportswear. The company has established bases in China and Indonesia, and operates a complete manufacturing process from fabric R&D, weaving, dyeing to finishing, printing and embroidery. Shanghai Jiale has an annual output of 50 million meters of knitted fabrics and 50 million readymade garments.Coats Digital is the software business of Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread company and a trusted industry player. GSDCost is the international standard for establishing and optimising accurate method-time-cost benchmarks for sustainable garment cost optimisation and manufacturing excellence.

Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has issued new guidelines to help apparel and footwear companies more efficiently and consistently measure their purchased goods and services (PG&S) emissions.

For apparel and footwear brands and retailers, PG&S emissions result from all the value chain activities that go into making finished products, from raw materials to fabric manufacturing to product assembly.

For every company setting a science based target (SBT), the foundation of the target is an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across scopes 1, 2, and 3.For companies operating in the apparel and footwear sector scope 3 emissions are usually the vast majority of their total emissions.

The purpose of the guidance is to provide apparel and footwear sector-specific guidance for calculating PG&S emissions so that there is greater consistency in how apparel and footwear companies develop their PG&S inventories; companies can overcome common challenges faced by the sector, for example the need to use a combination of primary and secondary data; companies starting the process of measuring PG&S emissions can do so more efficiently and in line with industry practice, which in turn should result in more companies measuring emissions and setting targets; and over time, with more consistent inventories, the apparel and footwear sector will be able to more accurately gauge its progress towards the GHG reductions needed to stay aligned with SBTs.

Mill owners in Bangladesh have huge stockpiles of yarn. This is mainly due to a decline in demand. So they want a halt on yarn imports, saying this would open a way to sell the stockpiled yarn and save them huge losses.

However, entrepreneurs in the garment sector, the main buyers of yarn, say that if there is an opportunity to import yarn at a cheap rate, it should not be stopped. They say traders will have a monopoly business if the government takes action to discourage yarn imports. But the garment industry is willing to buy yarn from the mills if the price is not much more than the price of imported yarn.

Bangladesh exports yarns and fabrics. Spinners and weavers in Bangladesh export yarns and fabrics after meeting the demands of domestic garment factories.Vietnam buys yarn from Bangladesh. Similarly, textile millers and yarn and fabric users in Turkey, South Korea, Egypt and Taiwan buy yarns and fabrics from Bangladesh.

So spinners and weavers are expanding their capacity to produce manmade fibers because of the growing demand.In the next two years, Bangladesh's yarn production capacity will see an addition of 2.5 million spindles. Currently, 13.5 million spindles are used to manufacture textile raw materials.