The marketing arm of Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), the Woolmark Company has launched its first brand campaign for Chinese consumers. The campaign was launched on China's top e-commerce site Tmall, a preferred destination for renowned brands, and as per AWI it generated more than 230 million impressions and 9.9 million video views, with the teaser post by notable celebrity Loura Lou achieving two million views in less than 24 hours on Weibo.

Through this campaign, the Woolmark Company aims to capitalize on China's apparent early recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the partly pandemic-promoted rapid rise in e-commerce to promote Australian Merino wool direct to the consumer.

The aim of the campaign is to convert Merino wool into the most coveted fiber for the approaching 2020 northern hemisphere winter. The campaign has launched The Merino Sisters', Woolmark's first branded intellectual property.

AWI says, with a population of more than 1.4 billion, China is the world's most lucrative fashion market. Chinese consumers are sophisticated and constantly demand a quality upgrade thanks to the rise of e-commerce and the proliferation of brand choices. The Woolmark Company has teamed with Wieden+ Kennedy Shanghai to launch this campaign that extols the benefits of Australian wool to a digitally-savvy, highly sophisticated Chinese audience.

The early easing of export restrictions by Pakistan has helped the country attract companies such as Guess, Hugo Boss, Target Corp, and Hanesbrands to the South Asian nation. Pakistan has been making face masks and PPE gear for export ever since India and Bangladesh announced lockdown curbs in March. The country bagged some orders from companies looking to diversify their supply chains amid the trade war between the US and China, the world’s top textile exporter, despite factories there reopening as early as April.

Nishat Mills and Interloop one of the world’s largest manufacturers of socks bagged orders diverted to them from China. Similarly, Gadoon Textile Mills has received orders redirected from Bangladesh and India. The Pakistan government is targeting a growth of 2.1 per cent in the current financial year. However, measures announced to contain the second wave of COVID-19 may hamper this growth.

At the inauguration ceremony of Textile E-Sourcing Fair organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Dinesh Bhatia, Ambassador, Embassy of India, Buenos Aires, and Argentina, said some Argentinian apparel brands import all their apparels from India. He said, India contributed only $ 74 million of the $1.22 billion worth of apparels, garments and textile machinery imported by Argentina. The country offers a huge potential and India should enhance its trade with Argentina.

Suresh K Reddy, Ambassador, Embassy of India Brasilia, Brazil urged Indian textile industry to tap into the Brazilian retail brands. The association can produce only 40 per cent of the market demand and imports the remaining the 60 per cent. Hence, there is a huge market to explore, he added. Apoorva Shrivasta, Consul General, Consulate General of India, Toronto, Canada said, India has huge scope to boost apparels exports to Canada as over the years there has been a drop in production of apparels in the country. India's apparel export to Canada increased from $ 638 million in 2018 to $645 million in 2019. The country also offers a huge scope for export of home textiles such as bed linens, towels, carpet and rugs, she added.

Sanjay K Jain, Chairman, ICC National Expert Committee said, India needs to explore new textile markets such as South America and Latin America. The fair ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, Indian Chamber of Commerce

As per General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) stats, the country’s apparel imports surged 27 per cent from January to September ’20 period to reach $6.45 billion compared to the same period of 2019. China’s apparel imports increased 13.26 per cent in September ’20 to $1.01 billion. Due to piled up inventories till August, the country reduced its textile imports which resulted in shipments declining by 3.20 per cent in January-September’20 period to $10.31 billion.

In overall textile imports, the country imported textile yarns worth $4.34 billion, while its imports of fabrics and other textile products amounted to $5.66 billion – in the first 9-month period of 2020. In September ’20, China’s import of textile yarns surged by 9.55 per cent to $535.34 million. This indicates that Chinese textile importers have started stocking up its inventories from September onwards.

Mimaki Europe showcased its two best-selling printers at this year’s Innovate Textile & Apparel Virtual Trade Show, held from October 15-30. The company showcased dye-sublimation printer TS55-1800 and the new hybrid printer TX300P-1800 MkII. Both printers offer cost-effective innovative textile technology. Visitors were also able to benefit from special promotions; including a special deal for the TS300P-1800 and a chance to win the Mimaki TS30-1300 entry-level sublimation printer.

Mimaki’s TS55-1800 offers industrial scale production and incorporates Mimaki’s core technologies; such as NCU (Nozzle Check System) and NRS (Nozzle Recovery System), nozzle control and restoration systems; that ensure automatic detection and replacement of clogged nozzles without interrupting production. Additionally, MAPS (Mimaki Advanced Pass system), a system created to prevent banding; uses a special algorithm at each print pass and calculates the most effective way to jet the ink droplets according to color, coverage and speed.

Available with the Mini Jumbo Roll option that can help save up to 25 per cent on paper costs and a 10L bulk ink system; the Mimaki TS55-1800 offers the lowest running cost in the market; and is the ideal production model for small- to medium-sized companies.

The Tx300P-1800 MkII features printing on both textile and paper with one machine. The new model provides unrivalled flexibility and opens new doors for print service providers. This hybrid textile printer switches swiftly between direct-to-textile and transfer printing via an interchangeable platen.

The printer allows users to select from three different ink combinations to load onto the machine; textile pigment/direct sublimation, textile pigment/sublimation transfer, or direct sublimation/sublimation transfer. This enables the production of an array of applications from fashion textiles to interior fabrics and wallpaper.

Both affordable and versatile, the Mimaki Tx300P-1800 MkII appeals to smaller print service providers and large volume production houses alike; delivering faster turnarounds and more cost-effective short-runs and textile sampling.

The Workers Rights Consortium (WRC) has accused Belgium-based retailer C&A of owning a modest but significant amount of production to its suppliers. In May, the retailer had reinstated a large portion of the estimated $1.5 billion in garment orders it canceled at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic—including more than $125 million worth in Bangladesh alone.

However, C&A has ensured 100 per cent compensation for all pre-coronavirus orders that it previously placed on hold in anticipation of the closure of 1,400 of its European stores. All in-shipment, already produced and in-production orders, will be paid for at their original prices and according to previously agreed-upon payment terms.

In addition, the retailer has been placing new orders despite the economic headwinds the fashion industry is facing across Europe. Many of its suppliers are receiving support through C&A’s supplier finance system in cooperation with the company’s partner bank.

WRC’s tracker says, 22 apparel companies have committed to shell out for pre-pandemic orders in full. However, these companies need to act swiftly, says Liana Foxvog, Special Crisis Coordinator.

The International Apparel Federation (IAF) will host a digital pre-convention event to its 36th World Fashion Convention from June 7 –9, 2021 in Antwerp. The digital pre-convention event will consist of two components. Its first part on November 10 will include 5- minute movie clips by seven prominent IAF members. Together these speakers will provide a unique global and cross-industry collection of visionary statements on the industry’s future. The second component on November 10 and 11 will include four online sessions, each tackling a major issue for the global apparel industry, bringing together relevant players in the fashion ecosystem.

The flagship session of these four sessions will be an IAF-MOTIF webinar titled “Shared Risk and Reward in the Fashion Supply Chain”. The webinar will focus on balancing of risk ánd reward as one of the keys to unlock a better overall performance of the supply chain.

The second session will connect IAF’s members and relations to the Fashion Technology Alliance project, a major global project bringing together educators, large and small brands and fashion technology providers. The session will shed an interesting light on some of the new job descriptions and requirements required by the apparel industry because of the 3D digital design.

The third session will discuss industry standards for digitization of product design and development, particularly the communication on digital fabric characteristics. The final fourth session will tackle issues related to audit and standard fatigue

AneethArora’s sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand Pero has created its first realtiy store for its new collection’ Disco. The store has been created in collaboration with multi-brand luxury Indian fashion retailer Ogaan and Bongwater Productions.

The 360 degree virtual reality video was created by production company Bongwater Productions and is designed to give shoppers a life-like experience on shopping in-store with Ogaan from the safety of their homes. While Pero’s e-commerce store enables shoppers to purchase from the brand online, this virtual store is designed to give an added virtual reality experience to make shopping online more exciting and present the collection’s overall aesthetic along with the clothes themselves.

The brand also launched the collection at Ogaan’s stores in MalchaMarg and Khan Market in Delhi over the weekend. The collection was first unveiled in the run-up to Lakme Fashion Week’s first ever digital edition and was part of the promotions for the fashion week. Pero then showed its spring/ summer collection ‘Locked in Love’ during the fashion week’s official schedule.

The brand’s ‘Disco’ collection also launched in multi-brand stores across the world this week including in Belgium, Italy, and Japan. In recent years, Pero has greatly expanded its international distribution network in part through its repeated participation in international trade shows including Pitti Bimbo in Florence, Italy and Man Paris in the French capital among others.

A new fund set up by the United Kingdom and Germany in collaboration with Ethiopia could save thousands of jobs in the east African country’s textile and garment industry, while helping support its economic recovery from COVID-19. The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia will be responsible for assessing applications and disbursing the funding to factories. Continuing the international collaboration at the heart of the fund, UK Aid-funded FSD Africa will implement the project in partnership with First Consult, a leading Ethiopian consulting firm.

Textile factories in the country’s industrial parks can apply for wage subsidies and incentives to reward businesses that are able to adapt in response to the pandemic.

The partnership may further expand its reach through additional support in the coming months, according to a UK media report.

Ethiopia’s textile and garment industry is a leading provider of jobs in the country’s manufacturing sector. However, the collapse of demand both in the country and globally is expected to hit the sector hard. Ethiopia’s Jobs Creation Commission estimates that between 1.4 and 2.5 million jobs could vanish over the next three months.

At the start of the pandemic, textile and garment factories in Ethiopia’s industrial parks employed 95,000 people, with women accounting for 70 per cent of these jobs.

The wage subsidy will cover a portion of total employment costs for textile factory workers in Ethiopia’s industrial parks. The fund will protect jobs, enable textile factories to keep running and support factories to build back better.

The innovation incentive will reward factories that have been able to demonstrate their ability to make their businesses more resilient in the face of COVID-19, including through the development of new production lines and partnerships.

To boost its textile exports to Turkey, Indonesia is working on an Indonesia-Turkey Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IT-CEPA) to avoid additional tariffs, according to DidiSumedi, the Indonesian director general of foreign trade.

Indonesia has the opportunity to boost the supply of raw materials like synthetic staple fibre, which, at $366 million, was the country's largest export to Ankara in 2019.

Turkey is the sixth-largest export destination for Indonesian textile products.Trade ministry data shows the total textile exports to Turkey reached $168.9 million from January to August this year.

Indonesia's textile exports to Turkey still face many barriers, despite it being one of the mainstays of the country's trade with Turkey, according to a report in a Turkish newspaper. Its value dropped 49.79 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Didi said the export value of Indonesian textile products to Turkey has decreased over the years. In 2018, the total textile exports reached $489.8 million, while in 2017, their value reached $537.1 million.