Zara Vietnam’s revenue in 2018 increased by six times to reached US$73 million over its 2017 figure. During three years of its operations, Zara Vietnam achieved a revenue of US$128 million. Its competitor H&M, which runs seven Vietnam stores, reportedly achieved a revenue of $33 million last year, double that of its first year in the country.

Along with three other Inditex’s brands, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Stradivarius, Zara is distributed by Indonesia’s Mitra Adiperkasa Group.

According to Mitra Adiperkasa’s financial report, Vietnam is Zara’s second-largest market after Indonesia. The company’s revenues in Vietnam last year almost doubled to its previous year’s figure and four times higher than its sales in Thailand.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Wuyi University are working together on research and development of green and healthy textile materials over a span of three years.

The collaboration is expected to further the development of next generation green and healthy fabrics. The collaboration aims to facilitate experts from the two universities to innovate dyeing and finishing technologies for fabrics so as to address the health and environmental concerns associated with manmade fibers and their chemical processes. As textiles are good substrates for exponential bacterial growth and microbial proliferation under appropriate moisture, nutrients, and temperature conditions, the research will also study the ingredients and methodologies to enhance the antibacterial, antimicrobial and antifungal performances in textiles.

As one of the world’s largest textile and garment production and consumption regions, the mainland’s growing demand for green and healthy textiles has created a huge market potential for antibacterial and mildew resistant textiles. Such cooperation platforms will accelerate innovation, new technology development and commercial applications of R and D in the region.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University has a proven record of translating impactful research results into applicable technologies and solutions to benefit society and humankind. It has research strength in textile technology for smart materials, textile-based wearable electronics and biomedical textiles.

The Paris Fashion Week Men , to be held from June 18-June 23, 2019 will hold 60 catwalk shows dedicated to the Spring/Summer 2020, compared to 56 shows in January and 50 in June last year. The climax of the week will be the ‘Karl for Ever’ event dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld, scheduled on June 20 at the Grand Palais.

Balmain’s concert-show will be one of the attractions the Paris Fashion Week Men - © PixelFormula. The week’s opening day will hold 10 shows, starting with Palomo Spain, the label by Spanish designer Adolfo Gomez Palomo.

Emerging US labels Bode and Phipps will stage their maiden shows at the event. Bode is a menswear line launched in 2016 by New York designer Emily Adams Bode, who uses old fabric cuts to create unique patchwork clothes, infused with a subtle, nostalgic vintage feel.

San Francisco-born Spencer Phipps launched his unisex label Phipps in Paris in January 2018, making sustainability its hallmark. A former menswear stylist at Dries Van Noten who also worked for Marc Jacobs, Phipps strives to create beautiful clothes in an environmentally friendly fashion.

Alongside Bode and Phipps, another US label Sies Marjan will stage its first show entirely dedicated to menswear in the French capital on June 22. The emerging label was launched in 2016 by Sander Lak, formerly with Dries Van Noten, and has already made a name for itself with women's ready-to-wear in New York.

Lululemon Athletica which opened its first three stores in the Chinese cities of Shaanxi, Xi’an and Chongqing, plans to add 12 more stores to its network this year.

The brand reported a massive 70 per cent growth in first-quarter China sales, partly contributing to a stellar performance globally. Both sales and profit of the company exceeded its forecast and analysts expectations. Sales of its relatively new men’s range grew by 26 per cent.

The earnings of the brand increased by 28.5 per cent in the quarter, reaching US$75.2 million. Its sales increased by 20.4 per cent to $782.3 million. However those figures were boosted a little by a shift in the calendar. Taking that into effect, and on a same-store basis, its sales increased by 14 per cent. The brand’s sales in Asia rose by 40 per cent, led by China’s 70 per cent gain.

"While NCTO strongly supports the free trade structure established under NAFTA, it also agrees with President Trump’s desire to improve the terms of the original agreement. It specifically advocates certain improvements in NAFTA renewal negotiation. Some of these include: maintaining yarn forward as the fundamental rule-of-origin for the textile sector; eliminating tariff preference levels on apparel and non-apparel products, and fabrics and yarns, using NAFTA-Origin components beyond the essential character of fabric, etc."

While NCTO strongly supports the free trade structure established under NAFTA, it also agrees with President Trump’s desire to improve the terms of the original agreement. It specifically advocates certain improvements in NAFTA renewal negotiation. Some of these include: maintaining yarn forward as the fundamental rule-of-origin for the textile sector; eliminating tariff preference levels on apparel and non-apparel products, and fabrics and yarns, using NAFTA-Origin components beyond the essential character of fabric, etc.

Majority of these objectives were accomplished in the agreement reached between the parties late last year under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Especially, the basic yarn forward rule was preserved as the origin requirement for duty-free treatment. In addition, the USMCA represents a demonstrative improvement for US manufacturers of component parts such as thread, pocketing, narrow elastics, and coated fabrics. These items will have stronger origin requirements under the new agreement that will certainly boost sales to North American customers. The USMCA agreement will make it impossible for TSA prime contractors to replace US textile inputs with competitive materials made in Mexico.

New free trade agreements, but not with non-market economies

NCTO is already collaborating with the US government to negotiate new free trade agreements with the European Union, the United Kingdom; and Japan. The organisation believes the government should insist on establishing a strong yarn forward rule of origin, extending duty phase outs for products deemed to be sensitive and inclusion of effective and separate customs textile enforcement language.

NCTO also ensures that textiles is designated a Priority Trade Issue by Congress as textile and apparel shipments comprise more than 40 per cent of all duties collected by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In 2019, it will reengage itself in the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill process. Further, it will oppose the inclusion of finished products, noting that they distort the intended premise of providing duty relief on inputs that undergo further processing by US manufacturers.”

NCTO is also monitoring proposed initiatives designed to undercut the US tariff structure proposals such as duty relief under the Generalised System of Preferences for apparel; expanding the use of Section 321 De Minimis duty breaks for importers; and eliminating US duties on high-performance outerwear.

Improving infrastructure for textile products

Besides boosting productivity and facilitating commerce, NCTO is also focusing on improving the infrastructure for textile products such as workwear, geosynthetics, and filtration systems. The organisation is urging for support its Defence Department-funded programme - the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA). This programme aims to make the development and commercialization of the high-performance textiles easier.

Increased automation and recruiting new talents

NCTO also advises the US government to improve the automation for garment assembly. Another of its priority is to ensure uninterrupted access to reasonably priced energy. The organisation also supports the construction of expanded oil and gas pipeline capacity to keep energy prices low.

Finally, NCTO recommends making recruitment of new talent a top priority. It also advises companies to forge links with local and state leaders, and educators to ensure that the government policies nurture an adequate labor pool to succeed in a competitive global economy.

Meech will showcase solutions for static and cleaning related issues in textile production at ITMA 2019 .

One of Meech’s most popular tools to be displayed includes its range of Hyperion pulsed DC ionising bars, including the 924s, 924IPS, 960IPS and 971IPS–30kV, and the Hyperion 233v4 Pulsed DC Controller. This range provides short, medium and long-distance static elimination and can be installed quickly and easily onto textile manufacturing lines.

Meech is a manufacturer of static control equipment, web cleaning systems and energy efficient compressed air technology. With Meech’s SmartControl, connected Hyperion devices can be altered quickly and easily with remote monitoring and control through mobile devices which allows operators to make alterations and adjustment to up to six static control devices, wherever they are. The Meech EX range is well suited to a wide range of textile applications, given the highly flammable nature of many synthetic fibers. Electrical equipment installed in such locations must be specially designed and tested to ensure its suitability. The Meech EX range has been comprehensively tested to meet these rigorous safety requirements.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail is joining a platform named Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF) in collaboration with Intellecap.

CAIF is India’s first industry-led platform, aiming to build a circular apparel and textile industry in India. Its mission is to search, seed, support, and scale circular textile and apparel innovations in India by building an enabling ecosystem of brands, manufacturers, enterprises, and innovators across the value chain. CAIF accelerates the speed of innovation, creates opportunities for collaboration and shapes the conversation around circular apparel and textiles.

Through the association, Aditya Birla Fashion will demonstrate its commitment to shift the industry from its current take-make-dispose approach to one that encourages the use of sustainable materials, maximising utilisation of clothing and textile and thereby promoting recycling. These initiatives will help the textile company retain its focus on creating a significant social impact. The association with Intellecap will help it create, collaborate and mainstream the conversation around circular economy and sustainable fashion. As part of the partnership, Aditya Birla will support a number of CAIF initiatives such as industry convenings to discuss opportunities for circularity as well as undertake specific pilots on identified initiatives and identify and adopt innovations.

Intellecap launched the Circular Apparel Innovation Factory in 2018 as a neutral industry platform that drives the circular fashion agenda.

Bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters want cash incentives to be raised from one per cent to three per cent against exports to traditional markets for the next fiscal year. At present, apparel makers enjoy a four per cent cash incentive for exports to non-traditional export markets.

The apparel sector has also sought a devaluation of the currency, which would help increase the competitive edge of Bangladesh’s exports in the global export market. Due to the controlled exchange rate, the country’s manufacturers were losing their competitive edge in the global market. In addition, manufacturers want the import duty on security and workplace safety related equipment to be withdrawn to make the sector safe and eco-friendly. They have made a request for funds which will enable them to invest in technology upgradation, product diversification and value addition and research.

Bangladesh’s apparel sector is now a 30 billion dollar industry. Cash incentives were introduced to the non-traditional market back in 2010, which were five per cent at that time. Owing to duty-free access and cash incentives, garment owners have now started exploring new destinations and markets. China, the world’s largest apparel supplier, now allows duty-free access to over 5000 Bangladesh products, which eventually has enhanced the export growth of the apparel sector.

Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) has urged the government to reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 12 per cent. This will boost exports, and attract new investments.”

In the national export policy, direct and indirect exporters are entitled to enjoy the same benefits but in the proposed budget for the FY2019-20, the corporate tax for the garment accessories sector remains at 35 per cent despite its contribution to apparel export. The knitwear and woven products exporters are paying 12 per cent corporate tax which is 10 per cent for certified green factory owners and 15 per cent for the textile industry.

Meanwhile, the accessories makers have also urged the government to keep the tax at source rate 0.25 per cent. In the outgoing budget, the government set tax at source at 1 per cent, which was lowered to 0.25 per cent in response to the sector people’s demand, which will expire on June 30, 2019. As the government did not propose the existing rate in the budget, the apparel makers have to pay 1 per cent source tax from the next fiscal.

The China Textile Innovation Conference will be held July 4 to 6, 2019. The aim of this conference is to effectively promote the value transition of China’s textile and garment industry. The event will gather fashion resources and innovation power to jointly explore the concept of intelligent design to meet consumer demand, intelligent brand to promote value growth, and intelligent future to achieve sustainable development.

Participants include leaders from IT, textile and apparel councils and trade associations as well as presidents and senior managers, textile suppliers from home and abroad, delegates from textile industrial clusters and senior managerial personnel from the textile chain.

In the new era, design is not only the creative expression of the aesthetic field and the pursuit of perfection in the craft category, but also the new-type productivity that integrates technological innovation, cultural creativity and green development. It continuously creates new consumer demand and business growth. Information technology such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, is the new engine for the future development of science and technology innovation. The deep integration of the real economy and information technology will build a new economic form of data-driven, cross-border integration and sharing, which will stimulate the innovation vitality of the industry and the endogenous power of enterprises.