International Apparel Exhibition was held in Iran from December 5 to 8, 2021. The event aimed at facilitating both domestic and international business opportunities for companies active or interested in the Iranian fashion market. The trade show saw 167 domestic exhibitors present their products, ranging from clothing and accessory retailers and manufacturers to machinery companies and yarn and textile producers. Software companies providing design and retail management solutions were also in attendance.

Over the last decade, Iran’s fashion industry has faced an increasingly unstable and unpredictable economic environment. Sanctions and the broader instability in the Iranian market led to the precipitous rise of contraband fashion imports. Western sanctions led Iranian fashion brands to source more textiles and raw materials from producers in China and Turkey. They also compelled some local fabric suppliers to produce better quality fabrics as the market increasingly demanded it. Over the course of the pandemic, Iranian consumers, like their counterparts elsewhere, flocked to buy fashion from e-commerce players and direct-to-consumer brands, accelerating the adoption of online shopping.

The Iranian fashion market is made up mainly of domestic product. The remaining 20 per cent or 30 per cent of the market is made up of either smuggled imports or goods from foreign companies produced in Iran.

Lenzing has won a triple A rating for environmental leadership in climate change, water security and forests. This is from global environmental non-profit organization CDP.

Lenzing leading provider of wood-based, biodegradable specialty fibers is also a leader in corporate sustainability. Through significant demonstrable action on climate, water security risks and deforestation, Lenzing is leading on corporate environmental ambition, action and transparency worldwide and advancing circularity. Sustainable wood and pulp sourcing as well as responsible water stewardship are defined as two prominent focus areas in Lenzing’s sustainability strategy. Lenzing assumes responsibility by striving for sustainable procurement based on environmental certificates and responsible and efficient use of these valuable resources.

Lenzing’s biorefinery process ensures that 100 per cent of wood constituents are used to produce dissolving wood pulp for fiber production, biorefinery products, and bioenergy. In addition, with its recycling technologies, Lenzing offers solutions for transforming the textile and nonwovens industries from a linear towards a circular economy and believes the textile and nonwoven industry has to change and that it is not possible to be indifferent to the inherent climate advantage of wood-based cellulosic fibers. Lenzing plans to install a photovoltaic system at its site in Upper Austria as well as a new, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility at its UK plant.

Archroma has relocated its headquarters to Pratteln, outside Basel, and a customised R&D role for its existing Reinach site. Archroma’s new Haus der Wirtschaft (HWD) headquarters is located in a business hub that hosts the Economic Chamber Baselland with other companies as well as a fully serviced conference and event center. The new offices have been designed to support a smooth and efficient collaborative work and visitor experience.

The move comes after a decade of growth at Archroma’s TechCenter building in Reinach, also near Basel, which evolved from being a dedicated technical center to hosting a growing number of corporate services and teams. With the opening of the new HWD headquarters, the Reinach TechCenter, designed to accommodate laboratories and technical expert teams, will return to its roots with a focus on the global R&D and application development. Archroma will refocus its Reinach site as a true tech hub to provide innovative, sustainable solutions and services to its customers to help them increase the value of their products.

Archroma based in Switzerland is a global leader in specialty chemicals. Its science and technology expertise, coupled with in depth market, customer and regulatory understanding, provides the platforms for the creation of safer, more sustainable chemicals and practices in the industries it serves.

Increasing raw material costs have pushed the jeans industry of Anantapur into a crisis. The jeans business turnover of this town in Andhra Pradesh which crossed Rs 1200-odd crores annually has fallen by more than 50 per cent. From a production of 10,000 jeans pants a day, production has fallen to 2000 jeans pants. The economic slowdown has paralysed production.

As per Rayadurg Readymade Garments Association costs of raw materials like colors, threads and zips have doubled. Transport costs have risen. Disruptions in transport due to the pandemic, particularly in states like Kerala, Karnataka, AP, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, lessened the volume of business and thereby production. The industry was hit hard by two waves of the Covid pandemic. The town dubbed as a jeans town used to export jeans including tops and bottoms on a massive scale. But today several units in the industry have downed shutters and downsized their workforce consisting mainly of women. The earnings of the 35,000-odd workforce have dipped. This home-based business was the best bet for housewives, who could sit in their houses and safely earn at least Rs 10,000 a month. But now with financial constraints regular buyers insist on instalment payments to continue purchases while company suppliers want payment upfront and do not accept partial payments as before.

Amazon is currently being plowed down by cattle farmers producing leather for the fashion industry, say researchers from sustainability nonprofits Slow Factory Foundation and Stand.earth. Researchers have identified dozens of fashion brands whose factories source hides from the Amazon, including Nike, Adidas, American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, Zara, Coach, and Cole Haan. The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is moderating climate change by reducing its ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Fashion brands are adding to this problem by sourcing leather from the Amazon. They should instead opt more sustainable leather alternatives, says the study.

Buyers to be blamed for climate change

Known as the world’s carbon sink, the Amazon rainforest plays a vital role in keeping the earth’s temperature’s stable. However, fire and deforestation are destroying this vast jungle, says a study in the July edition of the scientific journal Nature.

Greg Higgs, Director-Research, Stand.earth, points out instead of small-scale farmers, many of whom live below the poverty line and big companies buying their cattle hides should be blamed. Stand.earth traced the journey of these hides and which industries are buying them. Through custom and export data it identifies two main industries buying it: auto industry, which uses the leather in car seats; fashion industry, which uses it in shoes, handbags, and accessories.

Research by Slow Factory shows, cow hides are moving from leather tanneries in Brazil to leather manufacturers in many countries and then to fashion brands that turn the leather into products. Factories of over100 brands source leather from Brazil, many of which are some of the biggest labels in the world.

According to Higgs, companies work with leather factories that source from many countries, including Brazil, India, and China. Since all the leather is combined once it arrives at the factory, the brands can claim they have no way to tell if they’re using Brazilian leather sourced from the Amazon. Companies often use this as an excuse to keep using these factories.

Brands can be the change

While fashion companies contribute to the problem, they can also help bring about systemic change, opines Celine Semaan, Co-founder and CEO, Slow Factory. They can compel the Brazilian government to regulate the deforestation of the rainforest. Consumers can also cancel brands.

Brands and consumers can address this problem by auditing their supply chains in a better way, force tanneries and manufacturers they work with to disclose where they source their leather, and direct them to stop buying from suppliers contributing to deforestation. They can also pledge to stop buying leather from suppliers that can’t trace where their leather is from, in order to ensure that none of their products are contributing to deforestation.

The Slow Factory itself has partnered with MIT to develop Slowhide, a material that mimics leather but is all natural and plant based. Similarly, a company called Mylo has developed a leather alternative made from mushrooms that is used by brands like Lululemon and Stella McCartney. Consumers can also play a role by refusing to buy from brands that don’t commit to more sustainable practices. Slow Factory urges people to sign a petition demanding that brands and manufacturers fix problems in their supply chain to stop deforestation.

Zaitex Fashion has developed a denim treatment. It is a laser improver, born to enhance laser treatments on denim garments and give them a much more natural and authentic effect, similar to manual scraping. Zetakin LST ennobles the features of the fabric and keeps the original cast and shade of denim. Usually, laser application may have unexpected results on denim garments, like a grey/brownish patina on the surface, spoiling the natural look of the fabric, making necessary additional washing and rinses to get them away. The laser improver Zetakin LST fixes these common issues of laser finishing and can be applied by spray gun, by soaking or even better by spraying with the latest nebulising technologies.

The process of washing improves the fastness properties of indigo-dyed denim jeanswear and in addition, by altering the types of washes, various fashion looks are achieved. The wash down and other post make processes applied to denim garments are many and varied. Often the objective is to distress the garment so that it looks old and worn. This distressing gives the garments a fashion appeal and also softens an otherwise harsh fabric. These post make process can have a devastating effect on the sewing threads and therefore the seams, if care is not taken in their selection and application.

Staubli offers state-of-the-art machinery and system solutions for optimising workflows in the weaving mill. These systems that enhance the efficient performance of virtually any textile mill will be on display at next SITEX 2022. Staubli offers solutions that are perfectly adapted to the specific needs of each individual mill. Staubli offers a complete range of warp tying (knotting) solutions for every type of yarn. From very fine to coarse yarns and PPT tapes, Staubli has the solution for the perfect warp change. The new jacquard machine is equipped with a new electronic architecture concept that provides reliable data transmission for hook selection even at high speeds. The new design offers easy maintenance for higher production output.

Staubli offers a large product portfolio of cam motions and electronic rotary dobbies for frame weaving with air-jet, water-jet, rapier, and projectile weaving machines. Staubli cam motions and rotary dobbies are ideally operated with the new maintenance-free e32 and e33 transmissions. This combination significantly improves the user-friendliness of frame weaving, reduces maintenance, and increases the profitability of the entire installation.

Active in the Indian textile industry for over half a century, Staubli is very familiar with the specifics and requirements of Indian weavers and the demands of their markets. Staubli offers not only machinery and systems, but solutions that allow weavers to enhance their productivity and profit from significant time savings.

Lanvin has appointed Siddhartha Shukla as deputy general manager. He is an Asian-American executive and a luxury expert. Shukla will oversee Lanvin’s global expansion, concentrating on commercial development, product strategy, digital excellence and brand positioning initiatives. Throughout his career, Shukla has been at the forefront in business transformation, product innovation and brand marketing, questioning the status quo and paving the way for fresh growth opportunities.

Shukla, 43, speaks four languages and has already notched up a wealth of experience in the course of his career. A Yale graduate, he formerly worked at premium US label Theory, which he joined in 2013 as chief marketing officer, rapidly climbing the corporate ladder to become in two years the label’s chief brand officer. He had previously spent a year at Reed Krakoff. In the 12 years before then, he had been in charge of international communications at Gucci, between 2000 and 2006, and at Yves Saint Laurent, until 2012.

Lanvin is owned by the fashion and luxury division of the Chinese conglomerate Fosun. Lanvin expects to return to its 2019 pre-pandemic sales levels in 2021, thanks to strong commercial performance in China and the US and the growing success of its accessories. Lanvin’s collections are distributed via 25 monobrand stores and some 300 retailers worldwide.

Over two years China's technical textiles industry grew by 12 per cent. As per the National Bureau of Statistics from January 2021 to September 2021 production of nonwovens and cord fabric was down 1.01 per cent and up 29 per cent respectively. Operating income of enterprises in the technical textile industry decreased by 14.74 per cent with an average increase of 10.78 per cent in the past two years. Their total profit dropped by 63.78 per cent year on year, seeing an average increase of 14.12 per cent in the past two years. The operating profit margin reached 5.25 per cent, seeing a year-on-year decrease of 7.11 percentage points.

The operating income of 31 listed companies in the third quarter fell by 1.15 per cent and their total profits declined by 33.59 percent. Among them listed companies in the fields of textiles for transportation vehicle and filter textiles enjoyed a good development momentum.

China's exports of nonwovens, special yarns, twine and rope (cable), ribbon in the first three quarters was up by 6.91 percent. Export of nonwovens was down by 4.52 percent. Its export volume was up by 8.06 per cent. The export value of industrial textiles increased 39.74 per cent. The export of chemical fiber nonwoven protective clothing (including medical protective clothing) fell by 79.81 per cent.

The Turkish ready-to-wear industry expects exports to jump 15 per cent in 2022. The reason for this optimism is European markets are eyeing more imports from Turkey. As per Mustafa Gültepe, Head, Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) European brands are looking at Turkey due to problems in the supply chain, increased freight and logistics costs. The disruptions that the pandemic has caused in the global economy, including in supply chains across continents, have prompted many global fashion retailers to consider turning away from low cost manufacturing hubs in Asia. Some plan to shift their production to Turkey.

Straddling Europe and the Middle East, Turkey is well placed to benefit from changes to global supply chains, and its strategic location and strong manufacturing base are seen as a plus. There is a major opportunity ahead for Turkey and its ready-to-wear sector, given the disruptions in the supply chains and the fact that global brands are preferring to purchase from nearby regions. Thanks to the major interest, the industry has achieved a big jump in exports for the first time in seven years.

The country wants to be at the top of the global league. But problems such as access to raw materials and financing for new investments pose obstacles to achieving the foreign sales goal next year.