China continues to be a major supplier of innerwear like cotton and manmade fiber underwear as well as bras. This is attributable to the combination of specialty manufacturing and materials needed to produce these items compared to more basic apparel. Underwear imports from China increased 16.47 per cent for the year to date through May compared to the same period in 2018. This gave China a market share of 23.01 per cent, a 6.53 per cent gain for the 12 months through May.

On the other hand, in cotton and synthetic styles, like pajamas and robes, imports from China have fallen off and sourcing has diversified. The category has similar production machinery and fabrics, which lends itself to a broader array of suppliers. China has lost much market share in tops and bottoms this year to other Asian countries and the western hemisphere.

While much of apparel sourcing has been put into turmoil during the US-China trade war, sourcing in the innerwear sector has generally held true to form so far this year. The nightwear category was friendly to leading suppliers Vietnam, India and Indonesia, each posting double-digit percentage increases so far this year. Imports from China in the category fell 3.54 per cent. China still holds a dominant 54.83 per cent market share in the category.

China’s factories are shutting down. Worried US retailers are accelerating a move out of the country amid heightened trade tensions. While Chinese factories suffer, manufacturers in other Asian hubs are beneficiaries but only up to a point. American retailers have already taken up all manufacturing capacity in Vietnam in their rush out of China. Lack of scale prevents other destinations from fully substituting for China’s manufacturing might. Vietnam, for example, is completely full. There’s no extra capacity for US companies to get in. Chinese factories, meanwhile, are lowering asking prices in their desperation, creating an opportunity for European and Japanese consumer brands. In China, there are a lot of factories with falling orders. They are offering good prices.

Seismic shifts are taking place around the world due to the trade war. Although the US and China have resumed talks on a deal, there are growing signs that the global supply chain, long reliant on China as the factory to the world, is being permanently transformed. There are no investments, no purchases. The trade war is causing people to stop investment because they don’t know where to put the money. China is expected to see more factory shutdowns as the trade war that’s roiled the global supply chain exacerbates an exodus.

Signatories of the 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment have made just 21 per cent progress toward goals meant to accelerate the fashion industry’s transition to a circular economy.

So says Global Fashion Agenda, the sustainability think tank. The 90 participating brands and retailers, which collectively represent 12.5 per cent of the global fashion market, achieved 45 of 213 targets set in 2017.

The biggest obstacle for signatories lies in increasing the share of garments and/or footwear made from recycled post-consumer textile fibers. Most signatories are still in the early phases of integrating post-consumer textile fibers in their production processes. Moving forward beyond research and development requires a close relationship between suppliers and partners as a prerequisite for success, something that is time-consuming and resource-intensive. The dearth of solutions that facilitate higher-quality fiber-to-fiber recycling is one roadblock; the challenges of quality control are another.

Signatories find it difficult to monitor pre- and post-consumer textile fibers separately. They also have trouble keeping track of the chemical compositions of input and output materials to ensure product safety. For small and medium enterprises, finding materials that meet both their quality standards and suppliers’ minimum requirements proves a headache. With larger companies, the barriers revolve largely around scalability and a lack of specialized suppliers and common standards.

Because of the US-China trade war, Bangladesh-based garment manufacturers have an opportunity to sell in the US. Bangladesh has seen the value of its overseas sales rise. For the first time in 30 years, Newage Group, a Bangladesh-based garment manufacturer, is sensing an opportunity to sell in the US and has been getting enquiries from Macy’s and Gap. The Viyellatex Group, also from Bangladesh, forecasts its annual exports to the US to more than double, buoyed by rising orders. About 30 per cent of Viyellatex’s clients are from the US, compared with 20 per cent a year ago.

But for Bangladesh-based companies there’s a roadblock to winning more orders from western firms. Bangladesh needs to improve its supply chain, modernize its garment factories, build highways and reduce red tape at ports to lure more buyers. It takes 168 hours for exporters in the nation to ship from Dhaka, while it takes just 23 hours in Shanghai.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter. The country aims at doubling total exports by 2024. Its economy is expected to expand at a record eight per cent for the next two years. Bangladesh’s garment industry, which employs four million people, accounts for 13 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Archroma has launched Foron SP-WF, a range of high wet-fast disperse dyes for sportswear and active wear applications.

The dyes are especially suited for the coloration of polyester fibers and microfibers, and polyester/elastane blends, in exhaustion applications. The Foron SP-WF range which includes primary and ternary color grades has been developed to fulfill the high color wet fastness and performance requirements of sportswear manufacturers and brands. The core ternary color grades enable deep shades at lower dyeing temperatures on sensitive polyester/elastane fabrics without causing excessive fiber damage, saving energy resources and meeting the high fastness demand of leading companies. Consumers want deep color that stays put on the fiber and brands are defining their requirements accordingly. With Foron SP-WF, Archroma offers manufacturers of sportswear textiles a solution that combines high levels of wet fastness with high productivity and low resource consumption.

The product is at the core of Archroma’s Fast Sport, a coloration system for polyester knitted sportswear, providing the best fastness in the shortest possible time with a reduced environmental footprint. By using these dyes, manufacturers can significantly reduce their consumption of time, energy, chemical, and water, as well as their CO2 emissions. Archroma, a leader in color and specialty chemicals, believes it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable, economically and ecologically.

The US sewn products sector is struggling. The industry experienced substantial blow as engineering, operating and mechanical jobs were moved overseas. The past 30 years continued to see a downward trajectory for domestic manufacturing in the apparel and sewn products industry, and by 2010 only two per cent of the world’s apparel was made in the United States.

In the 1960s, the average household spent more than 10 per cent of their annual income on apparels. This total represented a low number of high-quality goods, 95 per cent of which were manufactured and sold in the United States. By the 1980s and ’90s, the pendulum swung, and the desire for high-quality products was trumped by a need for more—more clothes, more shoes, more things—at a lower cost.

When the industry packed its bags and moved abroad years ago, it left behind the notion that a career in domestic manufacturing was a thing of the past. As years went by, a generational gap in skill sets grew. Training programs and technical education diminished and a career in manufacturing came with a tarnished reputation. The introduction of automation, though effective, presented another challenge as machines began to replace people along the assembly line.

Mud Jeans, the Dutch brand will launch 100 per cent recycled denim jeans next year. The brand currently uses 40 per cent recycled cotton for its jeans production. While it usually takes around 7,000 liters of water to produce one pair of jeans, Mud Jeans uses 1,500 liters of water to produce one pair of jeans. In 2013, Mud Jeans introduced Lease a Jeans, where consumers can not only buy the brand’s jeans, but can lease them as well. The main objective of the initiative is to help the brand keep track of where their resources and products are. In addition to this, customers receive a discount if they return their old jeans to the brand. The brand sources its recycled material to produce new jeans through a variety of methods. Consumers can send their old jeans through the post via a free label from Mud Jeans. Retailers can also participate in a take-back scheme. All in all, Mud Jeans collects jeans that consist of more than 95 per cent cotton and sends them to a Spain-based recycling facility. These jeans are shredded and mixed with new yarn to make new jeans.

Mud Jeans is currently being sold in 29 countries through 300 retailers across Germany and the Netherlands.

Levi Strauss revenue grew six per cent in the first half of the year. Net revenue rose five per cent. Sales at its China unit rose three per cent. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose about seven per cent mainly due to higher advertising and marketing costs. Net income attributable to the company fell, hit primarily by costs related to its initial public offering earlier this year.

An ongoing weakness in the retail sector weighed on its US wholesale business, which reported a two per cent drop in sales. Globally, the business accounts for a third of Levi’s revenue. The company expects its wholesale business in the US to be challenged in the second half of the year with bankruptcies and door closures and tightening of customers open-to-buy budgets. To counter the weakness in its wholesale unit, the company has been investing in its online business and retail outlets, while expanding its presence in markets such as China, India and Brazil. The efforts helped raise sales across segments in the second quarter, with its women’s business growing 16 per cent and tops segment rising 14 per cent.

The company has forecast full-year net revenue growth at the high end of the mid-single-digit range.

Iran wants to boost garment output and exports. Domestic units supply 70 to 80 per cent of the requirement for clothing inside the country. After the ban imposed on imports of clothing, domestic units are making all endeavors to boost the quality and quantity of their products. Garments exports are planned especially to Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia and Yemen.

Iran shares a border with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Oman, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. The value of Iran’s trade with neighboring countries in the past Iranian calendar year was about 41 per cent of the country’s total non-oil trade in the mentioned time span. Increasing non-oil exports to neighboring countries is another plan. Some of the areas worked on include home appliances, petrochemicals, and marine industries, basic metals such as steel, aluminum and copper as well as agriculture.

Fifteen mega export projects will be launched to identify target markets. A comprehensive system will be launched for registration of domestically-made products in the near future. This transparent mechanism will lay the ground for introducing different industries and industrial capabilities aiming to strengthen domestic production. Iran has named this year as the year of pickup in production.

With the rise of textile printing, direct-to-garment (DTG) printing systems are gaining traction in the market. One of the stand-out names not only in DTG but in the global printing market is Ricoh. Ricoh regularly invests in innovative solutions for print service providers. The Ri 1000 is the latest DTG printer from Ricoh. It prints full-color graphics on garments of a diverse array of sizes, colors and materials. Quick-change magnetic platens, available in multiple styles and sizes, provide a variety of print options. All Ricoh Ri 1000 platens are pre-prepared to provide users with hassle free loading and garment protection. Additional benefits include durable steel construction. The printer’s special carriage and table design helps keep garments flat and in place, even while printing at speeds of up to 28 seconds.

Another leading brand in DTG technology is Epson. The SC-F2100 from Epson is capable of producing high-quality full color prints on a range of items. It offers new features such as improved speed and reliability and the ability to create customised print designs. The SC-F2100 is aimed at anyone who wants to add DTG printing to their services, namely production T-shirt printers, online T-shirt retailers, high and low-volume print companies, as well as corporates who want to produce their own branded work wear or promotional items.