Around 70 brands have signed the new International Accord for Health Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, which came into force this month.

As per a Retail Gazette report, the signatories include British fashion brands such as Asos, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Matalan. The agreement has also been signed by other big retailers such as Zara parent Inditex, H&M, Bestseller, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing.

By signing the agreement with UNI Global Union and IndustriALL Global Union, the retailers have committed to the health and safety work already undertaken in Bangladesh and to the expansion of country-specific health and safety programmes based on the principles of the 2013 and 2018 Accord agreements.

The agreements were created in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza tragedy where more than 1,000 garment workers died after the building collapsed, with hundreds more injured.

The new agreement will be implemented in the Netherlands through the International Accord Foundation.

The International Conference on Cellulose Fibers 2022 is likely to be attended by over 300 visitors and 30 exhibitors. The conference will be held from February 2 to 3, 2022 in Cologne, Germany. As per a TIrade Arabia report, the conference will cover the entire value chain, from lignocellulose, chemical pulp, cellulose fibers such as rayon, viscose, modal or lyocell and new developments in nonwovens such as wet wipes and new areas such as composites or nanocellulose in the food industry.

To be organized by Nova-Institute, the conference will focus on topics such as the impact of plastic bans on single-use products; the avoidance of microplastics and the transformation from fossil to renewable raw materials; the biggest challenges in developing new value chains and growing market demand; which alternative raw materials for cellulose fibers are suitable and available; the latest technology and market trends; the future market dynamic; what ecosystems and partnerships are needed to promote innovation in line with new market requirements; how will the political environment develop in the future; how can the sustainability of cellulose fiber production be further improved and others.

A medium-sized spinning mill in India has installed Uster-Muratec RSO 3D as a part of an expansion project. The installation included 30 compact ring spinning machines with Uster Sentinel, in combination with Muratec QPRO EX/FPRO EX featuring Spin Inspector and Uster Quantum yarn clearers. The customer produces 100 per cent combed cotton yarn, in counts Ne 26 and Ne 32 on these machines. The installation helped it to reduce yarn faults by 10 per cent and yarn alarms by 12 per cent in both counts with RSO 3D. Quality blocks were reduced by a further 7 per cent and finally clearer quality cuts by 8 per cent.

Overall, the spinner was able to reduce total yarn splices by 5 per cent, producing about 5 kg more good yarn per machine per month. By reducing yarn joints on the winding machines, the customer needed less compressed air and thus less electricity for the machine compressor unit. These savings amount to approximately 954 kWh per machine per month. Calculated at about Rs 6 per kWh, this equals Rs 5,724 per machine per month. With 30 machines, it amounts to Rs 2 million annually.

To be held from September 27-October 5, 2021, the Paris Fashion will host around 40 live shows. The event will feature 92 fashion houses including Paul Smith and Raf Simons return. A number of brands will organize physical shows and events during the fashion week, indicates the provisional calendar of the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. The nine-day season commences with LVMH Prize finalist Kenneth Ize, the exciting new Austro-Nigerian designer, and end with a unique celebration to the late Albert Elbaz, in a show by his fledgling fashion house AZ Factory.

Major global brands such as Christian Dior, Balmain, Hermes, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Chanel, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton will stage live shows, albeit before reduced audiences. Around 32 brands will hold physical presentations with mixes of videos, still life and live models in by-invitation-only spaces. All digital events will be broadcast on the Federation’s official platform, which was radically updated and modernized in the past several years.

Young designer Roches of Charles de Vilmorin will present his couture collection while Founding Designer Ann Demeulemeester will launch her first collection since the 2020 acquisition of her house by Italian fashion entrepreneur Claudio Antonioli.

Leading fashion retailers and brands are increasing the number of data-related professionals they employ as they look to build their competitive advantage, reveals a new research by algorithmic merchandising firm Nextail . The research shows, 22 leading fashion companies increased the number of data recruits by 40 per cent over 2020. The annual Retail Data-Forwardness Retail (RDI) shows that sportswear businesses and the big North American corporations are investing the most. Standout brands include Nike and Levi Strauss & Co. which head this year’s rankings.

Nextail compiled publicly available data on revenue and profit at the end of each retailer’s FY 2020, as well as the official headcount of each retailer according to its last annual report. To identify data-related talent, LinkedIn Recruiter was used to search for currently employed professionals holding titles of 60+ data-related positions.

Nextail cloud-based platform combines AI and prescriptive analytics and applies principles like hyper-local probabilistic demand forecasting and agile process automation. With Nextail, retailers transform their inventory management processes and operations in the face of market variability, proliferation of channels, and a lack of historical data.

The Telangana government has approved Kitex Garment’s expansion plans. The company has agreed to invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up apparel manufacturing facilities in Telegana which will create 4,000 additional employment opportunities over the next two years. It expects to reduce operating costs, shorten payback period and drive profits with liberal government policy, availability of raw material and various incentives offered by the state.

Kitex Garments is in the business of manufacturing and exporting garments. The company manufactures different types of garments such as shirts, pants, jackets, innerwear and outerwear. The company also exports infant and children's wear and jackets to the United States. Hoping to get some new orders from existing/ new buyers from across globe considering trade war between US and China, the company is continuously monitoring the current situation.

Bestseller plans to halt new orders to Myanmar till it conducts an impact assessment and engages in dialogue with labor experts, trade unions and other stakeholders. The decision was influenced by the death of two members of the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), an affiliate of IndustriAll Global Union from COVID-19 as a result of lax and nonexistent health protocols.

Along with C&A, Benetton Group, H&M and Primark, Bestseller had halted new orders from Myanmar in March a month after the coup descended the country into a hotbed of chaos and bloodshed. Of the 36 factories that produced clothing for Besteller, only seven remained operational and even then at reduced capacity.

Two months later the retailer resumed operations as a third-party audit, commissioned by Bestseller and published by independent lawyer Jonas Christoffersen, a former director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, concluded that the retailer had complied with sanctions and not cooperated with the junta. This was despite its use of three factories in the Ngwe Pinlae Industrial Zone, which is operated by Myanmar Economic Holdings, a military-owned conglomerate that is the target of sanctions from the European Union, United States and the United Kingdom.

Bestseller said it remains committed to all previously paid orders and will ensure all workers receive full wages.

The European Union will soon introduce a new law to help the industry control its waste issues better, reports Women’s Wear Daily. Titled,’ The EU Textile Strategy, ’ the new law will boost the European Union markets for upcycling and sustainable textiles; address fast fashion, and support business models that promote more circular consumption models.

For this strategy, the EU will adopt a holistic approach that engages manufacturers as much as retailers and small enterprises. The strategy will also address the issue of environmental impact. It will consider the fact that most of Europe’s environmental impact occurs in countries outside the EU where the majority of production takes place.

The strategy will also address the problem by taxing imports on products coming from countries that don’t follow Sustainable Development Goals or the Paris Agreement.

Fashion giant H&M has been fined 260,000 yuan ($40,200) in China for publishing a misleading advertisement. The Swedish multinational clothing retail company published advertisements claiming the featured products are only available in China. The authorities also confiscated 30,000 yuan ($4,638) worth of illegal income earned from selling substandard products, reports According South China Morning Post.

The regulator has ordered the company to stop creating and selling items that don’t meet quality guidelines. This isn’t the first time the fast-fashion company has come under fire in China this year. In April, H&M agreed to change a problematic map online following government criticism in China. Internet users reported to the management of H&M’s website about the map and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources ordered it to be quickly corrected.

China is H&M’s fourth largest market and home to 505 of its stores, second only to the United States, which has 582. In March, the company faced a backlash over claims of genocide and forced labor in the Xinjiang.

Pakistan’s cotton production in the current crop year 2021-22 is likely to be 19.42 per cent lower than government's estimate of 10.5 million bales. The government estimates cotton output for the current year to reach 8.46 million bales. As a The News, Pakistan total cotton production in the current year will be less than the industry’s demand of about 14-15 million bales. However, production in Punjab is expected to increase 8.5 per cent to 4.5 million bales.

The 398.6 mm rainfall in 2020 had a devastating impact on the cotton production in Pakistan whereas this year the rainfall of 78.6 mm has improved the prospect of overall production. However, the attack of Mealybug and Whitefly and CLCuV has adversely affected the production of cotton in the country. Farmers need to be made aware of contamination control, said Syed Fakhar Iman, Minister for National Food Security and Research.

The government will be proactive with the provision of quality seed to facilitate farmers, he informed.