Unit sales of the US footwear industry declined 12 per cent in Q1 FY2022 while revenues declined 3 per cent as average prices increased 11 per cent. Compared to Q1 2019, revenue for the quarter increased by 3 per cent while unit sales declined by 10 per cent. In addition to the missing additional income from stimulus money, inflation fears might be driving some of the softness in the footwear industry this year.

Sales of some top footwear brands have softened, versus last year, and is underperforming compared to the rest of the market. There is a lot of activity in the footwear industry, particularly in the athletic space, as up-and-coming brands and new styles and technologies are being launched. Revenue from women’s footwear increased 4 per cent in Q1 while men’s segment saw a dip of 6 per cent, and children’s 12 per cent The average selling price (ASP) for women’s footwear increased more than other categories, which fueled its revenue increase.

Revenues in the sport leisure footwear category declined in the mid-teens in Q1, with units down in the high teens and average selling prices higher by mid-single digits. Nike’s sport leisure sales declined by about 25 per cent, while sales of Jordan and Adidas dropped in the mid-teens.

Sales revenue from fashion footwear, including dress, casual, and slippers, grew 11 per cent, as unit sales fell by 11 per cent. The only fashion segment to post unit sales growth was slippers, with sales rising across all wearers.

Within the fashion category, revenue from private label brands declined slightly. Crocs’ sales grew 9 per cent and Steve Madden’s sales grew 57 per cent, due to rising sales for sandals. Skechers sales declined 14 per cent.

Q2 aims to return to more pre-pandemic behaviors, such as more in-person work, travel, and attendance at events and gatherings. This will push up footwear sales in the fashion segment, while interest in fitness and the outdoors will help to drive the athletic business. However, macro pressures on the consumer combined with tough comparisons from 2021 will likely curb growth.

ICEX Spain Trade and Investment will organize the SpainFashion Lab London event from May 17-18, 2022 at Mortimer House in London. The event will showcase a range of handbags, footwear, evening wear, ready to wear and swimwear, from eight brands in the UK.

Brand MIM will showcase a range of vegan footwear including vegan sneakers and ankle boots as well as high-heeled sandals and espadrilles, for women between 18 and 35 years old. MIM´s designs are launched in two major collections, Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer, along with two other smaller collections which are added mid-season. Sustainable bag and accessory brand Hemper, will showcase 100 per cent compostable products that have been handmade from natural hemp sustainably sourced in Nepal, using natural dyes made from local minerals and plants achieving unique colors.

Beach wear brand Dolores Cortés is available in over 1,500 stores in more than 15 countries. It is also distributed through more than 200 department stores and has 12 standalone stores in Spain.

Created from natural raw materials of the highest quality, Siyt’s s collections strike the perfect balance between subtle elegance and carefree charm. The brand also has an exclusive summer range, including swimming costumes and bikinis. PETA approved handbag brand Canussa, is committed to the use of non-animal-derived fabrics and has been awarded the coveted ‘Vegan PETA Approved’ certification.

Premium ready to wear and coat brand Cyrana was founded by Elisa Álvarez García in 2017. The brand brings cutting-edge versatility that combines uncompromising craftmanship and luxury with casual so that the transition from day to night is effortless. Ready to wear brand Missing Johnny is available in 23 countries with almost 700 stockists. The brand makes two collections per year, Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. Minidresses and T-shirts are key pieces, featuring a powerful design and color range in which red and green mix together between black and white contrasts.

Award-winning designer, Susana Lirola creates a strong ethos of elegant design, fusing traditional Spanish craftsmanship with modern craft techniques. Her creations are known for their uniqueness, style, luxury and comfort.

Owners of garment units in Tiruppur have announced a strike from May 16 to 21 to protest against the surge in yarn prices despite removal of import duty. Mohan Shankar, Proprietor, AK Fashion Garments said, most garment units in Tiruppur depend on other units for processing such as dyeing, printing, knitting, and embroidery. Increase in yarn price affects all segments of the industry directly. Hike in yarn prices also impacts business deals with foreign buyers, eroding exporters’ profit margins, he adds.

Raja N Shanmugham, President, Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA) urged the Union government to ban cotton and yarn exports immediately till prices stabilize. D K Venkatacham, Special Advisor, Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association (TNSMA) opined, cotton hoarding by North India traders is creating cotton scarcity, leading to a hike in prices. The removal of import duty seems to have had no effect on the traders.

Immediately after the announcement of the duty removal, cotton prices dropped to Rs 96,000 per candy and at Rs 98,000 per candy for some days. But, as cotton availability reduced, prices began to rise. The current price of cotton candy is around Rs 102,000.

Global lifestyle apparel company with a portfolio led by iconic consumer brands, Wrangler® and Lee®, Kontoor Brands Inc. has appointed Tom Doerr as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary with effect from June 6, 2022. As per a Textile World report, Doerr will ensure upholding of the highest standards of integrity, ethics and behavior consistent with the organization’s values and mission at Kontoor Brands. He will also oversee fundamental legal and business functions such as compliance, legal strategy, issues identification, crisis management and global trademarks and intellectual property oversight.

Doerr will also serve as counsel to the Board of Directors. As a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team, Doerr will report to Scott Baxter, Chairman, CEO and President, Kontoor Brands. Armed with 20 years of impressive professional experience, Doerr offers an invaluable global perspective to Kontoor’s growth, says Baxter. He has a vivid experience in compliance, litigation, risk management and other corporate matters for publicly-traded companies.

Doerr joins Kontoor from The Manitowoc Company Inc. where he served as the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since November 2020 and Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since November 2017. Prior to that, he was Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Jason Industries Inc. and Associate General Counsel, The Manitowoc Company Inc.

Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M plans to collaborate with blockchain –based platform TextileGenesis to expand its traceability program by including all man-made cellulosics and recycled polyester. As per a Business of Fashion report, the initiative will help H&M trace almost 20 per cent of its material base by volume, with the brand planning to increase this figure further. H&M also plans to continue testing ways to scale its traceability efforts.

Fashion companies are rarely able to trace the origins of the raw materials they use to make their clothing. This makes it difficult for brands to know their full environmental impact and raises risks of using materials produced by forced labor. Recipient of H&M’s ‘Global Change Award in 2020, TextileGenesis uses blockchain to bring visibility to the supply chain. Using a token called a ‘Fibercoin,’ the company is able to track materials as they progress from fibre to finished product.

Having collaborated with Liberty of London on clothing lines for over 10 years, J Crew now plans to extend the partnership into home products. As per a Textile Value Chain report, J Crew’s association with Liberty of London incorporates decorative liners, placemats and napkins. It focuses on innovative prints that would be extended to the home furnishings, assortment, says Olympia Gayot, Head-Women’s Department. The prices of these assortments start at $29.50 for a rest veil and maximize at $258 for an all-cotton jumbo sheet set.

This is J.Crew’s first involvement in home furnishings while the Liberty of London had earlier teamed up with Target Stores in 2010. A four-day special spring up shop set up by the two companies in mid-town Manhattan was picked clean of product in only two days and needed to close its entryways.

In 2017, the UK brand associated with Anthropologie for a 40+-piece assortment that included shower, bedding, tabletop, equipment, home stylistic theme, home aromas, kitchen cloths, writing material and furniture.

The global cotton industry posted gains in major categories in the 2021/22 season with an increase in area under cotton cultivation, production and consumption as against the previous year 2020/21. However, global cotton trade declined due to disruptions across the supply chain caused by transportation and logistics challenges

As per an ICAC report, global demand for cotton remained high all year, However, exporters faced challenges in getting the fibre from one sector of the supply chain to the next, and ultimately onto store shelves and into consumers' hands. While strong US export numbers are an encouraging sign, the backlogs have not been cleared yet through the intricate shipping and transport system and could take many months to fully normalize.

After declining by 22 per cent, area under cotton cultivation in West African countries increased by 44 per cent in 2021/22. This increase was driven by the recovery of area in Mali.

The Secretariat forecasts, current season-average A index for 2021/22 ranges from 109 cents to 129 cents, with a midpoint at 115 cents per pound.

In an alarming fact, consumers will throw away over 134 million tons of textiles each year by 2030. With outfits designed to be worn just a few times, most of this unrecyclable fashion waste is likely to end up in landfills and remain there for centuries.

Benefits of viscose rayon fabrics

Consumers are looking for more sustainable fabric options, and brands are complying to their demands by opting for more nature-based fabrics, such as viscose rayon. These fibers are mostly biodegradable, says as Textile Today report. Mostly produced from trees grown on PEFC-certified plantations, these fibers have minimal impact on the environment. On being discarded, they break down naturally in the soil.

Separating fiber blends

It is important for the fashion industry to control waste from accumulating in the landfills. This can be achieved by recycling fabrics discarded during production and also used garments. For this, the industry needs to separate fibers blended with other materials and remove all zippers and buttons on the garment. It also needs to extract dyes used in the garment.

New partnerships to encourage viscose fabrics use

Asia’s first certified viscose rayon producer, Indonesia-based Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) produces naturally biodegradable viscose that helps reduce the growing volume of fashion waste in landfills. In its viscose staple fiber production, APR uses 20 per cent recycled textile content. The company plans to make $200 million investment through its parent company RGE for encouraging use of recycled textiles in the industry.

To make the fashion industry more sustainable, industry leaders need to focus on raw materials, fabric and garment production, and creating more jobs in the supply chain. APR has already partnered traditional batik cloth producers in Riau – Indonesia, to encourage use of sustainable viscose and natural dyes in their production. The viscose fabric is thus likely to play an important role in the development of a sustainable fashion industry. However, to achieve this, producers need to step up their efforts.

Department store chain Shoppers Stop reported a net consolidated loss of Rs 15.85 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2022 as against the loss of Rs 23.71 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.

Total income of the company in the fourth quarter of FY 2021-22 stood at Rs 734.73 crore as compared to Rs 704.70 in the corresponding quarter in FY 2020-21.

The company reported a net consolidated loss of Rs 47 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2022 as against the loss of Rs 267.16 crore in the previous fiscal, according to the regulatory filing.

Its total income increased to Rs 2,686.51 crore in FY2022 as against Rs 1,973.20 in FY2021.

Spread across 88 department stores in 46 Cities, Shoppers Stop also operates 11 premium home concept stores, 136 Specialty Beauty stores of M.A.C, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Jo Malone, Too Faced, SS Beauty and 24 Airport doors, occupying an area of 4.47 million sq. ft.

To serve the needs of this global Indian fashion trend, e-commerce brand Fabricoz hasbuilt an unmatched niche in the large market of ethnic Indian dresses for women around the globe. In the last few years of its operations, Fabricoz has captured the largest consumer base of Indians in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

During the lockdown, the brand doubled its operations team and marketing initiatives. It empowered the users with the ability to customize their Indian outfits from the comfort of their homes, through e-commerce technology, and provide an unmatched personalized experience. Its online store can be accessed through a browser on a smartphone or computer. It has also released an Android app on Play Store and iPhoneapp on Apple App Store for their US and Australian online stores.

Fabricoz also improved the already fast delivery standards to ensure the products are delivered in a very short time.In the past few years,it has developed a reputation for offering consumers exclusive designs of high-qualitybrand products.