Consumer boycott of foreign apparel brands in China have dipped fashion retailer H&M’s sales in the country in recent months. China is one of the biggest markets for Stockholm-based H&M and accounting for 5 per cent sales last year -- one of its two biggest purchasing sources -- has been singled out in particular. The company was wiped off from e-commerce platform Tmall and store locations from mobile phone maps in China, while its app has vanished from local app stores.

Some researchers and foreign lawmakers say Xinjiang authorities use coercive labour programs to meet seasonal cotton-picking needs, which China strongly denies. In March 2021, Chinese consumers and social-media users, including the Central Communist Youth League, excoriated H&M, accusing it of smearing China and calling for a boycott, after its September 2020 statement resurfaces in social media. On the same day, searches for H&M on Chinese e-commerce platforms were blocked.

To be launched in Genoa, Italy by Candiani, Diesel and Eco-Age, global jeans trade show GenovaJeans will demonstrate the future of denim with an emphasis on sustainability. GenovaJeans will be held from September 2 to 6, 2021. The fair will bring to life the evolution, and innovation of jeans in an experiential showcase with a series of immersive experiences. One of the highlights will be the Artejeans exhibition, containing 36 jeans canvas works donated to the city by internationally famous Italian artists to establish an International Jeans Museum.

Leading Italian jeans brand Diesel will showcase pieces from its private collection, along with the Genoa’s historical Via Pre’, which will be renamed for the occasion as La Via del Jeans and will feature interactive and performance lead installations.

Denim producer Candiani will curate an immersive experience stressing the harm caused by unsustainable production and present solutions to protect the environment and the future of the industry, including its latest Coreva technology, the world’s first compostable stretch denim.

Eco-Age, sustainability consultancy and owner of The Green Carpet Fashion Awards brandmark will lead the event concept and delivery of GenovaJeans, working with production company Pulse, who will debut a movie called ‘Jeans-The Genoa-R-Evolution’ with performer Jack Savoretti.

Labor shortage in Vietnam’s garment and textile factories has prompted manufacturers to call for prioritized vaccination of workers. As per an Intell Asia report, most garment and textile enterprises in the country have received orders for production till the end of this year. Over the past two months, all three plants of TNG Thai Nguyen Company have operated at full capacity to deliver products on time.

Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman, Hung Yen Garment Company (Hugaco) said, if the ongoing fourth wave of COVID-19 is not controlled, garment and textile enterprises would be in trouble because stopping production even for two weeks would sweep away more than 10 per cent of their revenues. Garment firms may have to transport products by air, instead of by sea, to meet delivery deadlines, he said adding, this will surely lead to losses.

Garment and textile firms are also encountering labor shortages caused by a common employment trend in the sector. In the first half of this year, recruitment demand in the Vietnamese garment and textile sector increased 50-60 percent against the same period last year. However, many people were no longer interested in working in the sector mainly because of low pay, according to recruitment service provider Navigos Group.

Duong said if more workers in the sector were vaccinated against COVID-19, production and export in the second half of this year would happen smoothly. His company is willing to cover the vaccination costs, he added. Le Tien Truong, Chairman, Vietnam National Textile & Garment Group (Vinatex), estimates the sector needs 300,000 doses of vaccines for 150,000 workers, but only 3,000 people have received the shots so far.

The second wave has hit India’s garment manufacturers badly with many hosiery and knitwear manufacturers still struggling to revive after the lockdown in the past three months. As per K B Agarwala, Managing Director, Rupa, manufacturing hubs in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have been unable to revive 100 per cent due to restrictions on local travel for workers. This has caused demand supply gap in the industry

Supply has declined 50 per cent of normal levels, adds Agarwala. While demand is slowly reviving and restrictions are being eased too, normalcy is still a little while away for the sector. Raja Shanmugam, President, Tiruppur Exporters Association of Tamil Nadu opines, it may take two more months for production to revive completely as higher input costs are adding to the woes of the manufacturers. Repeated hikes in yarn and cotton prices have led companies to increase product prices by multiple times.

This is impacting profit margins as sales have declined 25 per cent as compared to the same time last year. This has also put India on the back foot in comparison to competitor markets as an export hub for major global brands like Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Ralph Lauren, etc who source mainly from Tiruppur.

Shanmugam explains, Indian companies missed providing samples for two seasons to global players in the past two months, so the buyers sourced products from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia. India lost out on orders for two upcoming seasons. Tiruppur hub has incurred losses worth Rs 10,000 crore and the West Bengal hub has seen a 50 per cent loss in last few months. However, domestic demand is expected to revive based on the severity of a probable third wave, adds Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries.

Wells Fargo predicts Yeezy Gap will generate almost $1 billion in sales for the retailer in 2022. As per a survey by Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow in collaboration with data firm Guidepoint, of the 530 Gap shoppers 64 per cent said they plan to purchase items from the heavily-hyped collaboration, with the average surveyed shopper likely to shell out nearly $180 in the first year of the collection’s debut.

Of the surveyed 470 non-Gap shoppers, 23 per cent said that they will likely buy from the collection and spend an average $126 in the first year. Within the group of people who do not currently shop at Gap but plan to buy Yeezy products, Wells Fargo found 75 per cent expect to purchase other Gap products while shopping. The Yeezy Gap collection, which currently consists exclusively of a $200 blue recycled nylon puffer jacket that dropped in June – could drive up to $990 million in sales for Gap in fiscal 2022, and boost earnings by roughly 50 cents per share. That nearly-$1 billion sales figure is notably higher than one floated by UBS in March, which stated that Gap expects its Yeezy line of modern, elevated basics” to exceed $150 million in sales in its first full year in 2022.

Retailers have hit back at French authorities for initiating a probe into the activities of four fashion companies in China's Xinjiang region. French authorities opened probe after complaints from the European Uyghur Institute and other pressure groups that the retailers were profiting from the use of forced labor.

Refuting the allegations, Zara owner Inditex said it fully complies with all existing legislation and recommendations regarding the protection of workers' rights. The company says it has implemented a human rights compliance framework "based on the highest international standards." Uniqlo's parent company, Tokyo-based Fast Retailing, said it has conducted audits to ensure no human rights violation in their supply chain and add that none of their production partners are located in Xinjiang.

French textile firm SMCP also said it conducts regular audits and does not have "direct suppliers in the region mentioned in the press." But Sophie Richardson, Director-China, Human Rights Watch said, while international firms may conduct audits that do not find evidence of forced labor in supply chains, political repression in the Xinjiang region is so pervasive that labor inspectors cannot interview workers freely without fear of reprisals.

She said inspectors cannot visit facilities without advance warning, and they cannot compel regional authorities to provide essential information about hours, pay, or other key labor conditions.

PVH Europe, the Amsterdam-based global headquarters of Tommy Hilfiger, has signed the Denim Deal, a multi-stakeholder initiative to increase the use of recycled fibers in fashion.

Under the agreement, participating brands will produce a combined 3 million pairs of jeans made with a minimum of 20 percent post-consumer recycled cotton by 2023. Individually, each brand is required to feature a minimum of 5 percent post-consumer recycled cotton in its denim collections.

As per Sourcing Journal, the Denim Deal was established last fall. Businesses across all areas of the jeanswear supply chain, including brands, manufacturers, recycling companies and local governments, are represented in the agreement. Scotch & Soda, Mud Jeans, Kuyichi and Calik Denim were some of the first companies to sign on.

Though it spans just three years, the deal is part of the Netherlands’ larger vision of attaining a circular economy by 2050—and it plans to achieve that goal through extensive work with leaders throughout the textile industry and beyond.

Designer brands and shops in the UK are reeling from the COVID crisis which has hampered imports of garments and materials from south Asia.

As per an Eastern Eye report, the pandemic in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has decimated factories which make shalwar kameez, saris and kurtas that stores in the UK rely on.

It has also affected customers, who are often making more shopping trips to find the ideal outfit for weddings and religious festivals. Mani Kohli, Founder, Khubsoorat Collection, said it will be difficult for the industry to recover in the next couple of years.

The wedding season is set to peak this summer with the government announcing on June 21 that the limit on the number of people who can attend ceremonies in England is scrapped. It could be a lifeline for clothes stores, which reopened in May after lockdown rules eased. sible if they are being made. Shop workers selling south Asian outfits in Whitechapel, east London are still trying to shift stock from 2019 and last year.

One store owner said they only have five new shalwar kameez, but hope to get more around Eid in late July.

Another said all its garments are imported from Pakistan and due to the lockdown, most of the stock of petticoats, trousers and tops are older designs. It is a similar situation in Leicester, which is regarded as the capital of south Asian textile manufacturing. Its local authority is working hard to support garment traders and workers while coping with the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the inevitable disruption that it has brought to global supply chains.

Pakistan’s value added textile sector is disappointed that the government has not accorded consideration to its demands. In its budget proposals, the textile exporters had demanded restoration of Zero Rating of GST -- No Payment No Refund System.

The value added textile sector had also demanded reduction in income tax as well as sales tax rates.

Pakistan’s textile exports have been levied with a 300 per cent higher tax as compared to local businesses. The federal government in its budget has facilitated the local SMEs and neglected the SMEs of export sectors.

Globally, there are no taxes on export businesses, and where taxes are levied on exports the rate is lower than the one levied on local businesses.

Imposition of 17 per cent GST has made the textile exporters specially SMEs financially unviable as their precious liquidity, without any purpose, stuck up and they throughout the year face financial difficulties to fulfill their export commitments.

It is on record that 33% SME exporters have closed their export business since imposition of 17% GST which blocked exporters’ precious liquidity.

With the continuation of 17 per cent GST in 2021-22, many more SME textile exporters who managed to survive last year shall fear closure as well in the wake of liquidity pressure.

Therefore, SMEs textile exporters have demanded for restoration of no payment no refund GST regime which has been tried and tested or reduce GST rate to 5 per cent.

New York-based Oxford Pennant is implementing the Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro system for digital direct-to-garment (DTG) printing on demand.

Kornit Avalanche Poly Pro is the first available DTG system designed specifically for dark polyester and poly blends, extending the single-step efficiency, eco-friendly production process, photorealistic imagery, retail-quality versatility, and low print cost benefits of Kornit Digital print technology to the increasingly popular sportswear and athleisure apparel market. In addition to t-shirts and other athletic gear, Oxford Pennant will be using the system to imprint felt pennants, banners, and flags—a first among Kornit customers.

To ensure this new application would work, Kornit systems specialists worked with Oxford Pennant on an extensive sampling program, determining Kornit’s proprietary Olympia ink set and the lower curing temperatures it required were an ideal match for the brand’s fabric demands.

Kornit Digital develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel and textile industries. Kornit delivers complete solutions, including digital printing systems, inks, consumables, software and after-sales support. Leading the digital direct-to-garment printing market with its exclusive eco-friendly NeoPigment printing process, Kornit caters directly to the changing needs of the textile printing value chain. Kornit’s technology enables innovative business models based on web-to-print, on-demand and mass customization concepts. With its immense experience in the direct-to-garment market, Kornit also offers a revolutionary approach to the roll-to-roll textile printing industry: