Adidas has launched two sustainable high-performance wear prototypes in collaboration with designer Stella McCartney. The first piece is a 100 per cent recyclable hoodie, made of garment waste, 60 per cent NuCycl and 40 per cent organic cotton diverted from landfills. The process involves transforming old, discarded clothing into raw materials used to create new, premium-quality clothing. Because of the product’s sustainable engineering, the hoodie are fully recyclable and can be remade into new high-performance apparel. The second product is a tennis dress made from cellulose blended yarn and a protein-based material comprised of renewable ingredients such as water, sugar, and yeast. The dress is completely biodegradable.

McCartney has a long history of using sustainable materials. She has been partnering with Adidas since 2005. Last year, the two partnered for a women’s active wear line made entirely of recyclable materials. Specifically, Adidas used plastic found in oceans and organic cotton to manufacture the clothes in the line.

Stalling research for alternative, sustainable materials is no longer an option. With Adidas taking major steps to champion sustainability, it may encourage more popular brand names to do the same. Regardless, what Adidas has shown is that it is possible to create sustainable apparel without compromising on style.

Denny Bruce is Global Brand President of Dickies. He will be responsible for all aspects of the brand’s global operations and performance. He will ensure the brand continues delivering compelling products supported by experiential campaigns that drive consumer acquisition. He’ll oversee the brand’s wholesale and direct-to-consumer businesses, including a focus on digital. He will also be responsible for continually strengthening the Dickies team and its capabilities to drive profitable growth through the activation of its strategic plan globally.

Dickies provides workers with tough, durable work wear. At the same time, the brand’s heritage and authenticity have transcended the work wear category. Dickies is a part of VF Corporation, which acquired the brand as part of its 2017 purchase of Williamson-Dickie and its portfolio of work wear brands. Of the 20 brands owned by VF, Dickies is the company’s fourth largest brand by revenue. VF Corporation is a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories.

Prior to joining VF, Bruce was at Traeger Pellet Grills. There, he quadrupled the company’s revenue and earnings during a four-year period. Before that, Bruce was vice president of domestic sales at Skullcandy, where he helped create an aspirational lifestyle brand while growing revenues. Bruce has also held roles at Vans and Burton Snowboards.

Denimsandjeans India will be held in Bangalore from July 17 to 18, 2019. The event will host 40 companies from the Indian denim supply chain plus companies from Bangladesh, Turkey, Far East, the US and many from Europe. The event will feature seminars by global experts. An indigo festival will focus on traditional indigo dyeing and printing techniques from different parts of the country. Artisans from Rajasthan, Gujarat etc. will conduct workshops to showcase the arts they have been practicing. Designers will exhibit special denim creations, adding their unique concepts, collections, creations to the show while adding value to the supply chain with their services.

There will be a denim wall made with rolls of selvedge denim. Experts will help create customised selvedge jeans for customers at highly subsidised rates. Customers can select the fabric from the wall and get their measurements done. The jeans customised to their fit will be sent to customers. So this is an opportunity to have selvedge jeans made to fit.

India is a booming retail market and a promising sourcing destination. India is expected to grow over eight per cent per annum till 2025. Over 300 international brands are expected to set base in India in the next three years.

Shima Seiki has launched a number of new Whole garment knitting machines, computerised flat knitting machines and graphic design systems. Shima Seiki products cater to a range of industries, in addition to its traditional customer base in the apparel industry. The computerised flat knitting machine manufacturer is disrupting the conventional perception of knitting, offering its benefits to prospective customers who are as yet unaware of the true and current potential that knitting possesses. The company is proposing knitting as an alternative manufacturing solution for non-fashion related industries. To this end, its latest technological contributions aimed at promoting knitted applications in various fields range from fashion, sports, shoes and accessories to medical, automotive, aeronautical and other wearable and industrial textile applications.

The new flexible and versatile MACH2VS, which has evolved from Shima’s MACH2S machines, has the capability to knit in a range of production methods – as a conventional shaping machine, it is capable of all-needle knitting in gauges 8-16, whereas Whole garment knitwear can be produced in half-gauge (alternate needles). From a versatility perspective, the MACH2VS is also capable of gaugeless knitting whereby a number of different gauges can be knit into a single garment. A new full-color touch-screen monitor improves operability over the previous monochromatic one.

US brands are experimenting with alternative payment options as a means of driving sales and reaching new demographics. Buy-now, pay-later encourages shoppers to spend more money and is especially appealing to younger shoppers with less cash immediately at their disposal. Companies are partnering with payment solution providers to enable shoppers to pay for purchases in installments. So for instance consumers can opt to make up to four interest-free payments over the course of two months. lead to shoppers paying more. Since multiple payments make a hefty price tag seem more palatable, consumers are more likely to pay full-price rather than wait for sales or discounts. Such programs increase conversion rates and incremental sales by up to 30 per cent.

Providing multiple options is especially important for younger consumers who are used to having flexibility in the way they shop and engage with brands. It is anticipated that buy-now, pay-later programs will eventually take the place of store credit cards, which are declining in popularity but function similarly in that shoppers can make payments over a longer time period.

Buy-now, pay-later is a smart way for apparel brands to reach Gen Z and millennial shoppers, taking a cue from methods long used successfully in other industry categories like electronics and home goods.

Tirupur has introduced a GreenCo rating system for apparel units. They are validated with bronze, silver, gold and platinum certificates based on their performance in parameters such as effective use of energy, water conservation, waste minimization and reuse, and installation of renewable energy. Ratings are done by giving more weightage to the performances in utilization of energy and resources instead of the system adopted in the units, which should renew the certificate every three years.

Since the introduction of the system, five industrial units in the Tirupur apparel cluster have obtained them. Last year, two units got them while three others including two knitwear exporters and a dyeing unit obtained them this year. These three apparel units have obtained a GreenCo rating certification given by the Confederation of Indian Industry this year in Tirupur.

However in the Tirupur cluster 90 per cent are micro, small and medium units. They rarely audit the energy and resources used. So Tirupur has also launched an audit program. This program will help the industry to eliminate audit fatigue, avoid duplication and reduce the number of social and labor audits by replacing current proprietary assessment tools, increase the opportunity for greater comparability of social and labor data and redeploy resources to improvement actions.

Most of the machines in Indian jute mills are from China. Some of the key clusters where active jute mills are present are Champdany, Delta, Howrah, Kamarhatty, Kanoria, Mahadeo, Rameswaram, Tirupati and Titaghur. The Indian jute industry employs 4,00,000 mill workers and supports an estimated four million families. The market for diversified, value-added jute products is estimated at Rs 400 crores. It is growing 20 per cent year-on-year. The Jute Corporation of India is planning a tie-up with Patanjali for branding and promotion of jute products such as shopping bags and some fashion items. Amid a global push to reduce the use of plastic for environmental reasons, India is promoting jute as a material for reusable shopping bags, home furnishings, clothing, even diapers and women’s sanitary pads.

Jute is a natural fiber with a golden and silky shine. It is the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton, in terms of use, global consumption, production and availability. It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breathability of fabrics. Jute fiber is 100 per cent bio-degradable and recyclable and thus environmental-friendly. It is one of the most versatile natural fibers that has been used in raw materials for packaging, textiles, non-textile, construction, and agricultural sectors. It is used to make good quality industrial yarn, fabric, net, and sacks.

Thermore’s revolutionary Ecodown Fibers Marble brings insulation to a new era. Jackets will never look the same. Each garment will be unique. There won’t be two identical garments. With Thermore’s Ecodown Fibers Marble, every jacket is a piece of art with a unique design. Thermore also introduces the new Ecodown Fibers Black product. It provides a 3D color effect using light colored fabrics. Also, it changes the hue of any fabric used, thus creating infinite possibilities and colors.

Ecodown fibers ensure the same loft as high quality 90/10 feathers and can likewise be blown into a garment. The loft of down products is calculated with the fill power test: fibers are blown through a cylinder and their volume is measured. The higher the fill power, the puffier the jacket.

Moreover, this insulation is incredibly durable: its one-of-a-kind multi-shape structure allows high resistance and prevents it from clumping when washed. Not only are Ecodown fibers animal-free, they are also made from 100 per cent PET bottles. Every jacket insulated with Thermore’s fibers allows recycling up to ten post consumer bottles. Along with a warm feel, the insulation achieves a soft touch without the use of microfibers, which would contaminate oceans and, ultimately, food.

At the Brandix India facility in Andhra Pradesh, women are stitching the world’s most fashionable, and expensive, innerwear. These 18,000 women are in India’s single largest producer of Victoria’s Secret products. On their client list are other popular labels as well: Calvin Klein and Marks & Spencer, to name a few.

The lingerie business has, over time, changed the social status of the women, most aged between 18 and 35. Scarred by the battles of domestic violence, starvation and dejection, the job has not only given them financial freedom but earned them respect within the community as well.

Collectively, they ship out millions of panties and bras to the US, Europe, and Japan every month from their work stations. The average salary of the women ranges between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000. Almost every week a fresh batch walks in, hoping for a better life. The minimum criteria: Class 7 pass. But there are also intermediates and those with degrees. The facility not only impacts the bottom of the pyramid, women who have just done basic education, but also gives employment to trained professionals in the area of fashion and design. The women staff at the factory are supported through canteen and creche facilities, scholarship schemes, health camps and other such programs.

Better Cotton Initiative has joined the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. Better Cotton Initiative is a non profit that promotes better standards in cotton farming. By signing the charter, the Better Cotton Initiative is demonstrating its will to ensure cotton production is on the path to a low-carbon future.

The charter is a series of targets with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and achieving zero emissions by 2050. Launched in December, in Poland, the charter has been signed by over 40 companies such as H&M, Stella McCartney, Adidas, Inditex, Hugo Boss, PVH and Levi Strauss. Levi Strauss is a vocal advocate for environmental protection. Levi Strauss runs a program in five major markets - Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany - that gives customers a 15 per cent discount on a new Levi’s item if they donate any old clothes (they don’t have to be Levi’s) to be recycled. By 2025, Levi Strauss plans to manufacture all of its products from recycled cotton. It would be the first company to do so.

Climate change has devastating effects on the apparel industry, the communities in which the industry operates, and the world at large.