For the fourth quarter H&M’s sales increased 11 per cent. At the end of the quarter around 115 stores were temporarily closed due to restrictions (mostly in Austria and Slovakia), which was actually more than at the start of the three-month period when 100 stores were closed (mainly in Southeast Asia). For the financial year as a whole, net sales increased 12 per cent.

Fashion retailers have been working hard just to get back to where they were two years ago and the achievement of that goal is impressive given that ongoing restrictions and consumer caution are still issues they have to deal with globally. H&M has been on a mission to turnaround its business by reducing dependence on marked down inventory, and investing more in e-commerce. Mobile is especially important, as H&M’s target market of under 25 are heavy mobile users. H&M only started selling online in 2010. Apparently the retailer was slow to see the opportunity that e-commerce presented, or else thought that its store network was enough to see off online competition. Over the last ten to fifteen years H&M and other fast-fashion brands have enjoyed great success in the fashion sector thanks to trend-led products, a speedy production process and large store networks.

Production and operation of China’s cotton textile enterprises has been improving steadily, as per estimates of China Cotton Textile Association (CCTA). Performance of the tracked key enterprises was better than that of the industry clusters as main economic indicators slowed down during the January-August period.

Operating income increases by 24.3%

During the eight-months period from January to August, CCTA as per estimates, total operating income of cotton textile enterprises increased 24.3 per cent year-on-year, 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the January-July period. Operating costs during the period grew 21.4 per cent year-on-year or 0.7 percentage points higher than the first seven months of 2021. Thereafter, total operating costs declined 0.5 percentage points from January to July to account for 88.7 per cent of the total operating income.

The cumulative operative income of cluster enterprises increased 6.2 per cent year-on-year from January to August. However, the cumulative operating income remained 2.6 percentage points lower than that from January to July. The cumulative operating cost surged by 10.4 per cent year-on-year. It surged by 1.2 percentage points than that from January to July. The operating costs surged higher than the operating income, adding greater production and operation pressure on cluster enterprises.

Export value surges

The export value of cotton textile enterprises grew 10.1 per cent year-on-year, as per data. However, exports had declined by 0.7 percentage points from January to July. Export value jumped 0.7 percentage points to account for 12.9 per cent of the industrial sales value. From January to August, the cumulative export delivery value of cluster enterprises grew by 13.6 per cent year-on-year. It grew by 1.8 percentage points than the performance of these enterprises from January to July. The export of cluster enterprises improved as the foreign trade orders surged.

Total profits surge by 71.5%

The industrial value of cotton textile enterprises rose 16.9 per cent year-on-year from January to August in 2021. Industrial added value of cotton textile enterprises rose by 7.4 percentage points higher than January to July period. The total profit of cotton textile enterprises surged 71.5 per cent from January to August. However, their growth rate declined by 15.2 percentage points from that of January to July. Profit rate increased 1.3 per cent year-on-year while growth rate declined by 0.3 percentage points than that from January to July.

Overall, the operations of tracked enterprise remained relatively stable in August. Orders for Christmas were placed earlier than previous year to cover delivery delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the performance of the overall sector was satisfactory, corporate profits fell due to an increase in raw materials and shipping costs.

Compiled by the China Cotton Textile Association, the data includes insights from over 260 cotton textile enterprises and about 15 industrial clusters across the country.

American & Efird (A&E) division of Elevate Textiles Inc has agreed to buy the high performance yarn business of Charles Craft Inc, a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-performance flame resistant/cut resistant industrial yarns and other specialty products say media reports.

This acquisition will expand A&E’s product offering related to thermal protection, cut resistant and flame retardant yarns. It will include the acquisition of Charles Craft manufacturing operations in Hamer, SC, which will operate as part of the American & Efird US manufacturing platform.

Frank Buie, Vice President-Sales for Charles Craft, will join American & Efird as part of the sales management team. According to him, becoming part of the larger A&E brand provides new life and longevity to its well-known technical yarns besides offering new opportunities for its employees and customers.

The British clothing giant Ted Baker has signed fashion retailer Next as its new lingerie and nightwear lingerie partner.

As per the deal, Next will make and distribute Ted Baker’s lingerie and nightwear collections, which will be known as ‘B by Ted Baker’.

To be developed in close collaboration with Ted Baker’s creative team, ‘B by Ted Baker’ will be officially unveiled in May 2021.

The exquisite Ted Baker-Next collections will be available not only through Next’s online retail channels, but also via the website of Ted Baker.

The new agreement carries forward the good relations both the brands have been sharing with each other for several years. Notably, early this year, Next had also unveiled Ted Baker’s childrenswear collections.

Ted Baker believes licence partnerships such as the one signed with Next is a key component to its ‘Formula for Growth’ – Ted Baker’s 3-year transformation plan that was launched this summer.

Karl Mayer, a German innovative leader for solutions in warp knitting, warp preparation for weaving and technical textiles, has carried an extensive development work on electrically conductive and high tenacity materials which are processed on multibar raschel machines.

Different thread systems can also be combined with warp knitting technology to produce fabrics with a wide variety of properties. Functional yarns in particular can result in exceptional performance profiles. For a long time now, the high-performance models have been making new, chic lace patterns possible for the lingerie and clothing sector. When producing technical articles, functional yarns can be arranged in areas of any shape, size and placement thanks to their diverse potential.

A combination of jacquard and multibar patterning is the prerequisite for the extraordinary patterning possibilities of multibar raschel machines. The split jacquard bars are full set threading and produce a basic structure that can be creatively designed using a single needle motion, while string bars with multibar patterning incorporate additional yarns into the diverse ground structure to add a functionality. The added thread material is supplied by bobbins, so it does not have to be warped onto warp beams.

By directly integrating electrically conductive yarns into warp knitted textiles, functional elements such as sensors, conductors and coils can be incorporated very easily, without any additional production steps or compromising the textile characteristics. Karl Mayer’s product manager, Sophia Krinner, has already investigated the possibilities as part of Textile-Circuit. Silvercoated filaments such as Elitex, Silvertech, Shieldex and Agsis were used for the work. Even fine insulated metal filaments and metallised yarns like Elitex TPU and Percon isolated could be used depending on flexibility and diameter.

G-III apparel has appointed Robert L Johnson as the newest member of its board of directors, informs Fashion Network. The company’s board will now consist of twelve members, with Johnson being the eighth independent director on the board.

Johnson has led an impressive career as the founder and chairman of The RLJ Companies, LLC and former founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation's first black-owned cable television network.

After successfully taking three companies public, Johnson was named to USA Today’s '25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years' and Black Enterprise’s 40th Anniversary issue’s list of 'Titans: The 40 Most Powerful African Americans in Business'.

G-III’s portfolio of brands includes DKNY, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld, among others.

Earlier this month, the NYC-based group reported a 53.8 percent decline in its second-quarter sales, as a result of disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the second quarter ended July 31, 2020, the company’s net sales dropped to $297.2 million from $643.9 million in the same period last year.

Looking forward, the company expects net sales to decline in the range of 28 to 33 percent in the second half of its fiscal year, compared to the same period last year.

CLASS ecohub, the international platform empowering professionals with responsible tools, materials and services, is organizing a panel that involves visionary innovators in the circular economy panorama who will share valuable case histories, out-of-the-box approaches and their ongoing projects. The event - under the patronage of the Municipality of Milan - is scheduled on September 28, the first day of Milano Design City, the citywide festival celebrating innovation, style and creativity through design-thinking.

The panel will present challenges and opportunities of creating new circular economy-driven business models across multiple disciplines. Giusy Bettoni, CEO and Founder of CLASS, moderates Chiara Catgiu, Senior Analyst Make Fashion Circular at Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Clara Mattioli, Head of Global Communication at Wolford, Barbara Guarducci, creative director of Mending for Good, Giulia Giglio, Innovation Manager at Krill Design and Francesco Giberti, founder and CEO of MyFoody and Babaco Market.

The event is part of Smart Voices, the virtual program of CLASS which brings together innovators, thinkers and designers determined to make fashion and design more responsible, ethical and sustainable.

The Asian Development Bank has revised upward its economic projection for Cambodia, forecasting gross domestic product would contract by 4 per cent this year, rather than the 5.5 per cent forecast in Jun

According to the ADB's Asian Development Outlook 2020 Update, Cambodia's agricultural exports rose 17 per cent on the year in the first six months of 2020, while ‘strong demand’ for work-from-home electronics had boosted exports from Cambodia and other Asian countries. Cambodia's non-garment, non-footwear and non-travel goods exports increased by 30 per cent.

The agency foresees a relatively strong economic recovery for Cambodia, which has avoided an uncontrolled outbreak of coronavirus cases. The agency expects growth to rebound to 5.9 per cent in 2021, boosted by supportive government policies, social assistance for the poor, and financing support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the first seven months of the year, Cambodia shipped $3.4 billion worth of goods to the US, up from $2.7 billion for the same period in 2019. For comparison, the US accounted for 26.8 per cent of Cambodia's exports last year, slightly more than the EU's 25 per cent, according to World Bank data, a gap that looks set to widen in 2020.

The top three exports to the U.S. through July this year were garments, travel goods and footwear. Electronics, responsible for about $118 million in export value in the first seven months, saw the largest growth, soaring more than 1,000 per cent year on year.

Prepared in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards core option, this Calik Denim’s second sustainability report includes information about the company’s goals for 2025 and the contribution it aims to provide in terms of Sustainable Development Goals.

The report has been prepared on the principles of United Nations Global Compact signed in 2019. alik Denim allocated 4.1 million Turkish Lira to environmental investments and expenditures, while it reduced the amount of water used per product by 11% in the last three years and increased the amount of electricity generated from solar energy to 10 MWh in 2019.

Calik further progress focuses on different areas such as R&D, product quality and safety, and sustainable raw material supply, on local social and economic development, occupational health and safety, human rights, climate change, energy, water management and chemicals management with the aim to reduce its impact on the environment.

Calik Denim has set the Goals for 2025 under four topics, recognizing 2016 as the base year. They are: Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Raw Material Supply, Innovation and Thought Leadership, Internal and External Stakeholder Rights.

Cambodia’s garment manufacturers association has brought up a case against the European Commission at the EU court of justice following the withdrawal of duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market over the summer.

According to the plaintiffs, the EU executive failed to properly assess the proportionality” of the move for the garments, footwear and travel goods sectors, and has violated the industry’s “right to good administration under the EU treaties.

Garments, footwear and travel goods sectors totaling €1.1 billion in exports are now subject to general World Trade Organization tariffs, in a move aimed at putting economic weight behind the EU’s calls for an improvement of the human rights situation in the country.

The European Commission began the procedure to partially withdraw Cambodia’s preferential access to the single market in 2018. The EU’s decision came after the dissolution in November 2017 of the only viable opposition party in the country, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), accompanied by treason charges brought against its leader, Kem Sokha.

Before the withdrawal, the union reported 30,000-40,000 layoffs, from the 150,000 people employed by the industry at the beginning of the year. The organization said the numbers represent a “crushing impact of the pandemic on global demand for footwear.