A new concept known as regenerative agriculture is taking root in the fashion industry with brands like Patagonia, Allbirds, Timberland, Mara Hoffman, Christy Dawn, and luxury conglomerate Kering making heavy investments. As per reports, currently brands are producing only a small proportion of their raw materials on regenerative farms. However, the concept is fast catching on.

Improving profitability through regenerative farming

Regenerative agriculture was introduced by Robert Rodale in 1970s. It involves plantation of cover crops, growing of multiple crops together, crop rotation and reduction of tilling. This helps improve the soil’s health and the farm’s profitability, says Jeff Tkach, Chief Impact Officer, Rodale Institute. Regenerative farming concept has gained in importance as it can actively sequester carbon through photosynthesis. The carbon dioxide in the air is absorbed by plants and passed through their root systems into the soil. Eventually, this carbon becomes a solid mineral.

Fashion players involved in the concept

One of the biggest players in regenerative agriculture in fashion is Patagonia, which reoriented its supply chain in partnership with Rodale. This helped the company grow its land under cotton cultivation to 4,000 acre. This cotton is now being incorporated into a small portion of Patagonia garments.

Following Patagonia’s footsteps, Timberland is building a regenerative rubber supply chain in Thailand. The brand aims to grow various tree species to mimic a natural forest ecosystem. The company hopes to use all the rubber grown in this forest into its products from 2023. Allbirds also plans to use wool grown in regenerative farms from 2025. Owner of Gucci and other luxury brands, Kering has launched a regenerative fund together with Conservation International to produce raw materials for fashion through regenerative.

Smaller brands like Christy Dawn are also launching farm-to-closet collections made from materials grown through regenerative farming. Its founder Christy and Aras Baskauskas began to explore regenerative agriculture in partnership with Oshadi, an Indian regenerative-farming collective, which helped them lease four acres of land in Erode, The brand recently launched its first collection using this cotton. It consists of 54 dresses in the brand’s signature flowy, floral aesthetic.

Organizations step up to creating more awareness

Still in its infancy, regenerative agriculture is currently being tapped by only a few fashion brands. However, many social organizations are stepping up to create awareness and industry standards for this concept. Fibershed is creating a network of domestic regenerative farms to help brands such as Mara Hoffman and the North Face source fibers while the Savory Institute has established guidelines for farmers planning to adopt regenerative agriculture.

While the retail sector in most countries is still struggling with COVID-19 induced challenges, the US retail has been quick to recover with analysts expecting its 2021 growth to surpass 2020 levels. However, the sector is unlikely to achieve 2019 growth levels and witness a 7 to 12 per cent fall in sales, says a McKinsey & Co report.

Vaccine rollout boosts consumer sentiment index

Marshal Cohen, Chief Industry Advisor, NPD Group, expects the apparel and footwear segment to make a comeback in 2021. US’ apparel and accessory sales grew 18.3 per cent month-over-month (M-o-M) seasonally adjusted and surged by 104.6 per cent unadjusted year-over-year (Y-o-Y) in March 2021, estimates the National Retail Federation. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines helped raise consumer sentiment index to 83 points during the month from 76.8 in February 2021.

Fashion retailers like Walmart have started administering vaccines in over 3,800 stores and clubs across 48 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, this has helped US retail increase employment levels. This year, the industry added as many as 916,000 jobs, the highest since August 2020, says Apparel Resources. Austen Jensen, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs informs, the government has also increased unemployment benefits to $300 to help those most in need

In March 2021, the US consumer confidence skyrocketed owning to another round of stimulus checks by the government. As defined for tax purposes, several adults got $1,400 and an additional $ 1,400 for every dependent person. These incentives aimed to reach 145.4 million households who spent around 25 per cent on household goods, reveals a survey by the NY Federal Reserve Bank.

Clubbed under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the stimulus aims to provide a $1.9 trillion fund to pandemic affected families, state and local government. The plan provides $7.25 billion to the small businesses to carry out the paycheck protection program. It also extends the employee retention credit to December 31, 2021, bolstering the confidence of people across the country.

Retail sales to increase 6.5 per cent

NRF expects US retail sales to increase between 6.5 and 8.2 per cent in coming months. Jack Kleinhenz, Chief Economist, NRF also expects a 10 per cent gross domestic product growth in coming quarter while a Deloitte survey expects digital acceleration to remain a priority for 88 per cent retail executives in 2021. To survive, offline retailers will have to emphasize on product innovations, greater shopping experience and additional services.

As per a PwC report, 2021 could turnout to be year of opportunistic acquisitions, providing much needed boost to US retail sector and helping it maintain its growth momentum.

Denim mill Isko has launched a Bluesign-approved fabric that meets the standard’s rigorous criteria ensuring it’s sustainably produced without hazardous chemicals. The Bluesign System aims to remove harmful substances from the beginning of the manufacturing process and establishes and monitors standards for safer production.

The mill entered the partnership in June 2020 with an above-average rating from the Bluesign Company Assessment, demonstrating its longstanding commitment to sustainability. Isko has received achievements from Oeko-Tex, Textile Exchange, SAC, ZDHC and EU Ecolabel.

Most recently, it updated its recycled materials collection, Light on the Land, for better transparency. All of the fabrics used in the collection were carefully selected from Isko’s R-Two platform, which uses a mixture of reused cotton and recycled fibers.

The Bluesign System has recently undergone updates as well, and in February it announced the revision of all of its chemical substance lists to incorporate the latest scientific knowledge on toxicological and ecological profile of substances, new legal classification of chemical substances, new legal consumer safety limits, revised risk assessments based on the Bluesign Criteria for chemical assessment, etc.

Aligned to its Power Plan 2023, Gap, Inc plans to grow its purpose-led, billion-dollar lifestyle brands by leveraging the power of its portfolio and the power of its platform.

As per Textile Focus, the company plans to sell Janie and Jack, a leader in premium children’s fashion, to Go Global Retail, an investment platform in the fashion and consumer brand sector. Go Global Retail intends to acquire the entire Janie and Jack business, including the e-commerce platform, all store leases, and assets.

BofA Securities, Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Gap Inc. on the transaction. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Gap Inc. acquired Janie and Jack in 2019 and today the brand has about 115 store locations in the United States and an e-commerce business.

Gap’s Power Plan 2023 aims to deliver consistent sales growth, margin expansion and strong operating cash flow. The American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates six primary divisions: Gap (the namesake banner), Banana Republic, Old Navy, Intermix, Hill City, and Athleta. Gap Inc. is the largest specialty retailer in the United States, and is 3rd in total international locations, behind Inditex

A recent report by ResearchAndMarkets.com estimates global sports apparel market will expand by 4.9 percent to reach $247.4 billion in 2027. According to the report, by the end of the analysis period discount stores will increase by CAGR 4.7 per cent to $ 81.2 billion. For the next seven years, the brand segment will grow to 4.5 per cent of CAGR, says Textile Focus.

The report expects China to grow by 7.8 per cent CAGR between 2020-2027 and $51.9 billion by 2028. Other markets such as Japan and Canada are predicted to grow by 2,8 per cent, or 3,9 per cent between 2020 and 2027, while Germany is predicted to grow by around 3,5 per cent.

The United States, Canada, Japan, China and Europe are forecasted to grow in the global Supermarkets and Hypermarkets segment to 4.8 per cent of CAGR. By 2027, these regional markets are expected to reach $42.6 million.

In this cluster of regional markets, China will remain amongst the fastest growing. The Asia Pacific market is forecast to reach $33,4 billion by 2027, led by countries like Australia, India and South Korea, while Latin America will expand over the analysis period to 5.5 per cent.

E-commerce boom fuelled by the pandemic last year increased the share of online sales to one-fifth of the total global retail turnover, shows a UN study.The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates online sales to have accounted for 19 per cent of overall retail sales in 2020. As per estimates, the South Korea’s share increased to 25.9 per cent from 20.8 per cent the year before. China had a 24.9 per cent share, Britain 23.3 per cent and the United States 14.0 per cent.

The pandemic led to mixed fortunes for leading B2C e-commerce companies in 2020, according to the report. Gross Merchandise Volume of top 13 e-commerce firms offering services such as ride hailing and travel declined sharply during the year. Expedia declined to the 11th position while Booking Holdings fell to the 12th place and Airbnb to the 13th.

China's Alibaba remained atop the rankings by GMV, followed by Amazon in the United States. Despite the drop at services companies, total GMV for the top 13 B2C e-commerce companies rose by 20.5 per cent to $2.9 trillion in 2020, outpacing the 17.9 per cent gain in 2019.

Award-winning market research solution, Reportlinker.com, predicts the global apparel and footwear market to grow at a 6.65 per cent CAGR to reach $ 2736.86 billion by 2026. In its latest report Global Apparel and Footwear Market, Reportlinker.com says, apparel and footwear businesses are attracting investments from several large multinational companies. This has resulted in the gradual transformation of a commodity market into a branded products market, being dominated by multinational companies, adds the report.

The report segregates the global apparel and footwear market on the basis of type, product type, end-user, distribution channels and region. As per analysis, the apparel market dominates on account of factors such as rapidly changing fashion, increasing influence of western culture, growing internet penetration, as well as the continuous launch of altering fashion at lower prices supported by aggressive branding.

In 2026, specialty stores are anticipated to account for a majority share in the global apparel and footwear market; however, the online channels are expected to increase during the forecast period.

Pakistan’s Gohar Ejaz, Patron in Chief, APTMA, has rejected the government’s decision to close factories for Eid ul Fitr holidays from May 10-16, 2021. He said, shutting down the entire country for 10 days will create a lot of glitches for the economy, industries, particularly the exporters who will not be able to dispatch their shipments abroad due to the complete closure of banks, ports, customs, and all other departments during excessive holidays. It will badly affect and deprive the daily wage earners of the country of their desperately needed earnings for continuous 10 days, he added.

He particularly highlighted, despite the issues and hardship the textile Industry remains committed to double the exports. Textile manufacturers have orders in hand and are working day and night to dispatch shipments according to the agreed schedule. This decision will end up in the cancellation of orders which will not only result in losses to manufacturers but also to the country.

Ejaz requested the government to limit holidays to four days from May 13-16, 2021. He also requested the government to abstain from shutting down production and transportation as the country would not be able sustain this loss.

Leading textile shows, Scoop and Pure London, will be co-located alongside UK’s leading international fashion sourcing show Pure Origin at the Old Truman Brewery in East London, from September 07-09, 2021.

Organizer Hyve Group has decided to move to show to a mid-week dateline to tie in with retailers’ visits to Shoreditch based showrooms, allowing them to return to their shops in time for busy weekend peak periods.

The change in date will also allowexhibitors who exhibit at international trade shows, including Who’s Next in Paris, to join the Scoop X Pure line-up. Curated by Scoop founder and MD, Karen Radley, Scoop X Pure will showcase the ‘best in show’, highlighting the most exciting collections and labels across the Scoop and Pure London rosters. Designed to offer a ‘department store’ atmosphere, the show will not only showcase both emerging and established UK and international fashion designers across men’s and womenswear but will also feature a selected edit of home and lifestyle products.

The military takeover in Myanmar has led to global brands shifting their orders to Philippines. As per the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP), the country has received orders worth $500 million from international buyers, especially from the US.

It has received orders from American fashion brands for basic babies’ playwear, women’s dresses, intimate apparel and men’s athletic and sportswear, said Robert M Young, President, FOBAP and Trustee, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. These orders will translate into additional foreign revenue earnings, employment opportunities and livelihood which will snowball to related industries.

The country’s garment exports had declined by close to 40 per cent due to COVID-19, as per an October 2020 report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).