Eurofins Consumer Products Assurance has been accredited by Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) as a monitoring firm in India. The accreditation shall enable Eurofins Consumer Products Assurance to drive responsible sourcing across complex modern apparel and footwear supply chains. This accreditation in India will contribute to and support the industry’s social compliance effort in this important region.

WRAP is one of the world’s largest independent certification programmes that aims to promote safe, lawful, humane, and ethical manufacturing globally through certification and education specifically in the apparel and footwear industry.

Following WRAP’s 12 Principles, buyers and suppliers work towards the same set of social compliance assessment protocols. WRAP certification enables buyers to identify and suppliers to showcase a commitment to and achievements in social compliance.

India is one of the key apparel and footwear manufacturing countries in the global supply chain. As a Full Member Firm of APSCA, this accreditation further strengthens Eurofins Consumer Products Assurance’s service portfolio.

Increased awareness about safety and globally accepted regulations by companies have significantly increased demand for industrial IoT-integrated smart PPE solutions, especially in oil and gas, manufacturing, and construction industries, to ensure workers’ safety in various work environments. Mounting demand for smart PPE is due to the fact that, IIOT-integrated PPE delivers the best real-time preventive maintenance solutions.

Based on a Smart PPE Market by Fact.MR report global smart PPE market is poised to expand at a steady CAGR of 6 per cent, and touch $3 billion by the end of 2030. The study also states global smart PPE market is projected to create an absolute opportunity of more than $1.2 billion from 2020 to 2030. Based on product type, the protective clothing segment is set to hold a share-wide market dominance with over 60 per cent of total market value by the end of 2030. The protective footwear segment is also projected to expand at a value CAGR of 7.5 per cent, and is expected to be valued 2X more than off-shore by the end of 2030.

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in impacting demand for smart PPE at the global level, as an aftereffect of halted production and construction activities in end-use industries. Furthermore, disrupted supply chains and reduced production at manufacturing companies have also contributed to descending demand. However, the smart PPE market is expected to show advancing growth post-pandemic period, as demand for reliable and efficient worker safety products with OSHA standards will surge.

Indian apparel exporters should aspire to achieve double digit share of global market, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu said while inaugurating the Apparel Export Promotion Council’s (AEPC) virtual fair platform. While India is the largest producer of cotton and jute and is a major yarn producer, it lacks competitive edge in fabrics and garments. Hence, there is a need to improve competitiveness of these segments. Bangladesh and Vietnam are major competitors for India because of the availability of labour in these countries. Skilled manpower should be our core strength says the minister.

The Vice-President also urged the industry to look at a diverse portfolio of products to tap new markets. The private sector should partner with the government and improve competitiveness even in new areas such as MMF and technical textiles. The textile and clothing sector should focus on technology upgrade and up-skilling workers to improve its competitiveness.

The global market for technical textiles is $220 billion and India has huge potential to tap in this sector. The government has come out with production linked incentive scheme for technical textiles. The apparel manufacturers should aim for double digit share in the global market. The Vice-President also pointed out that the on-going pandemic has necessitated export events to take place on the virtual medium.

Bangladesh, the largest jean supplier to the US, saw shipments dip 3.73 per cent for the 11 months through November to $522.78 million, on par with the previous month’s data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA).

Denim purchase was hit severely during the pandemic but steadied in November amid holiday push. Denim apparel imports till November declined 26.01 per cent to $2.57 billion compared to the same 11-month period in 2019. The decline was a slight development from the 27.42 per cent year-to-date decrease in October. While denim apparel imports from Mexico, the second largest producer, fell 43.6 per cent to $424.74 million. Vietnam lost some of its gains from prior two months, with a year-to-date increase of 0.68 per cent to $342.09 million in November. This trailed by 1.08 per cent and 1.77 per cent year-to-date increase in October and September, correspondingly. China continued to lose ground as a jeans production in the month. Till November, imports from China nosedived 53.75 per cent to $304.82 million. Chinese manufacturers have been dealing with the fallout of the pandemic much like the rest of the world, while also suffering from strategic sourcing shifts by importers looking to reduce risk and costs from tariffs derived from the trade war with the US

Among second-tier countries with a smaller market share, imports from Cambodia continued to strengthen, with a year-to-date gain of 13.62 per cent to $130.77 million. Pakistan flattened its decline to 3.25 per cent to $227.81 million in the period.

Covid-19-related disruption continues to hit the schedule of Pure London organiser Hyve Group. The group highlighted this in its Q1 trading update (from October-to-date). But the UK-based company says it was encouraged the vaccination rollout would see the gradual return of customer participation, particularly in Western countries. Hyve managed to run eight in-person events in Russia, Ukraine, China and, for the first time, in Turkey, taking its tally since the onset of the pandemic to 20. Q1 is usually Hyve’s smallest and quietest quarter by revenue so the impact of pandemic-linked issues would have been smaller during the quarter.

Although Western Europe remains a firmly closed platform for its in-person events business, it noted there's strong demand as a recovery continues into FY22. For the time being demand for remote events are a plus as the business adopted and rolled out a more digital events. That was boosted by the acquisition of Retail Meetup in December which has encouraging forward bookings for the upcoming events in March and May 2021.

The group’s strategy and focus is on building an omni channel business positions Hyve well for a post Covid-19 environment as markets reopen.

Another plus for group is that it maintains a strong liquidity position, supported by insurance claims against cancelled events. In FY20, the group successfully secured a further £22 million of related income so far, from a pot capped at £62 million. It noted insurance cover is in place for the cancellation of FY21 events, with potential claims capped at £50 million.

ITMA has announced it will continue to present and share innovative manufacturing technology and materials with the industry at its 19th edition in Milan. ITMA 2023 will feature the theme ‘Transforming the World of Textiles’ and will be held in June, 2023 at Fiera Milano Rho, Milan. The exhibition will be supported by four sub-themes: advanced materials, automation and digital future, innovative technologies, and sustainability and circularity.

ITMA 2023 will highlight innovations and new approaches that serve as catalysts to inspire and help textile and garment manufacturers grow their business, scale and sustain their transformation journey. ITMA offers the industry an unrivalled platform to present and share industry innovation and to collaborate with other stakeholders. As the pandemic has adversely affected business environment, it will be monitoring the situation closely, mindful about the importance of health and safety of all participants and staff. At the same time, ITMA will be launching several initiatives to create additional opportunities to help its exhibitors better connect and do business with potential customers.

Soon after China gave duty-free access for 97 per cent goods, Bangladesh could not capitalise on export potentials in China for most part of the last year, largely due to the fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic and also due to lack of diversified products.

Underlining that exports to China in the second half was expected to increase significantly on back of the duty privilege, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), stated retaining duty-free access in China is important considering if Bangladesh can increase its export contribution to China to 1 per cent, the country’s export to China will be $26 billion in a year, but unfortunately the fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic impacted the overall business badly last year.

Meanwhile, as per the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), annual average growth of garment export to China was 48.85 per cent between 2008-09 and 2018-19 and it fell in 2019-20 due to the pandemic as export came down to $330 million. Even though Beijing extended duty-free access to Bangladeshi goods in July last year, bringing 8,256 products under the tariff-free regime, it will be noteworthy to see how the country capitalises on this.

Apparel Made-Ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC) has appointed Premal Udani, MD, Kaytee Corporations, Mumbai the new chairman. Udani will take over from from Virender Uppal, Chairman, Richa Global Exports, Gurugram.

Udani has a four decades industry experience, and is a veteran of the apparel and textiles industry. Formerly he was chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) and President of the Clothing Manufacturers of India (CMAI). Currently he is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of and Member of the Board of Directors, AEPC. Apart from this, he is also founding member of the India Knit Fair Association and was appointed by the Gujarat government for special projects pertaining to apparel industries. He has been on the Board of major trade associations such as the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) to name a few.

Launched in December 2013, AMHSSC was established to train, assess and certify personnel in the apparel and home furnishing sector.

American Apparel & Footwear Association has welcomed President Biden’s move to strengthen the federal face mask response to mitigate COVID-19. The association went further to suggest governors and mayors around the country should follow the President’s lead.

The Association feels it has become clear that face masks and coverings play an important role in keeping COVID-19 infections down, key to keeping American businesses open, workers employed, and consumers protected. The apparel and footwear industry is strongly in favor of this requirement, and encourages the adoption of similar measures in areas outside of the President’s jurisdiction by state and city leaders. More than 400,000 Americans have died because of this pandemic. If simply wearing a mask can slow that down, then there is no debate to be had on the subject. During the next 100-plus days, President Biden’s priority will be the COVID-19 crisis and AAFA will do everything it can to support and propose measures that improve the health and livelihood of all Americans.

AAFA has been calling for consistent face mask guidance since July 2020, when the association sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the nation’s State and City leaders emphasizing the importance of such measures for American businesses and American workers. The association has also been on the front lines connecting manufacturers and businesses to supply bulk mask orders, and assisted brands as they adjusted supply chains to meet the increased mask demand. AAFA’s members have also donated masks and other needed goods during the pandemic.

Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the Worker-driven Social Responsibility Network (WSRN) launched a website that sets out a concrete proposal for enforceable, binding agreement between global brands and unions on payment of living wages to garment workers. The groups represent a broad coalition of unions, advocacy groups and NGOs and have received tremendous support from other allies across the globe. By launching this public website all actors can provide input and suggestions, and engage in discussions as well as offer support and endorsement.

Brands are the primary profit accumulators in the garment supply chain, dictating what prices are being paid while barely abiding by minimum wage standards. Because of the extremely low prices brands pay for labour, most workers are forced to work overtime hours in order to make ends meet. Voluntary brand or multi-stakeholder initiatives have thus far failed miserably to address this core issue of the garment industry and not led to any wage increases for workers and certainly not to payment of a living wage

WageForward.org highlights the important benefits of the Enforceable Brand Agreements (EBA) and Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) approach. Just as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the Fair Food Program have dramatically improved the safety and living conditions of supply chain workers, EBAs within the garment industry holds a real promise for addressing the crises caused by poverty wages.

The proposed agreement will also include strong protections for workers’ right to organize and the guaranteed access to a 24-hour complaint mechanism to report violations to the agreement. Grassroots unions, brands and labor rights groups will be signatories to the agreement and signatory brands will be required to terminate business with suppliers that violates the agreement. If they don’t, they will face legal action as the agreement is legally-binding.

WageForward.org has launched during a time in which many workers’ main concern has shifted from the lack of payment of a living wage to sometimes a lack of any payment whatsoever. The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the sector brutally hard: hundreds of thousands of garment workers are owed billions of dollars.

WageForward.org highlights how immediate action is required from brands to ensure workers receive full wages and benefits, including severance, during the pandemic. Proposals have been developed for an enforceable Severance Guarantee Fund, a Wage Assurance and a Supply-Chain Relief Contribution. The remedy for workers’ immediate needs must be combined with these types of enforceable measures in order to prevent future human rights violations in the global garment industry.