The 63rd edition of the India International Garment Fair (IIGF) will feature over 300 brands who will also display their products at dedicated booths.

The fair will be held from July 4 to 6 at India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida. in association with International Garment Fair Association and four major garment exporters' associations namely Apparel Exporters & Manufacturers Association, Garment Exporters Association, The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India and Garment Exporters of Rajasthan.

The trade show IIGF helps its participants to generate business worth around US$ 200 million (Rs 1,389 crore) each edition.

Paris-based FashionJobs.com – which specialises in careers in fashion retailing, communications, creation and management will participate in the event.

FashionJobs.com is the world's fastest-growing job site for fashion, retail and luxury employment, with some 20,000 job offers uploaded each month. Fashionjobs.com is also one of the top three fashion job agencies in Italy and boasts job offerings in more than 70 countries.

The IIGF has been running for the past three decades and is a biannual business to business trade show where brands showcase their upcoming collections to buyers, exporters, and other industry professionals.

Smriti Zubin Irani , Minister of Textiles made some important announcements at the stake holders meeting for knitting and knitwear sector development, held on June 12, 2019 at Udyog Bhawan in New Delhi.

The decisions made included a sanction of Rs 50 crore capital for the knitwear industry and opening of new knitwear sectors at Tirupur, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Surat. The ministry also decided to clear all the pending cases of TUFS from the Office of the Textile Commissioner besides training one lakh workers under the Samarth Scheme.

HKL Magu, Chairman, and A Sakthivel, Vice Chairman, AEPC attended the meeting and submitted memorandum on behalf of industry in this regard.

Zhongtai buys cotton from farmers in Tajikistan. Zhongtai is a Chinese cotton processing and textile producing enterprise working in Tajikistan. The company aims at building a modern cotton industrial base which will help boost the economy and improve local people’s livelihood.

Working on more than 13,000 hectares of cotton fields, Zhongtai has introduced advanced technologies which have substantially increased the annual output of cotton. Under the scorching sun, sweeping green cotton fields stretch far off to the mountains in the distance. Irrigation pipes neatly aligned across the fields are watering the cotton branches, in preparation for the harvest two months away. Zhongtai has not only enhanced cotton planting technologies but also promoted the cotton and textile industrial chain and helped Tajikistan expand its overseas market. The company has set up an industry chain of cotton growing, ginning and spinning, which is one of a kind in the Central Asian country. At present, the company produces 1,50,000 spindles of yarn annually, accounting for 80 per cent of Tajikistan’s total spinning capacity. Its products are exported to various countries, including Turkey, Russia, Italy and Poland, making it the largest exporter in Tajikistan in terms of foreign currency earnings.

As Tajikistan’s biggest investor and a major trading partner, China has invested in many industrial enterprises or projects in the country.

Compared to last year, Vietnam’s textile and garment industry has grown by more than 12 per cent. Production of clothes is up 8.8 per cent, fabric made from natural fibers up 3.9 per cent, synthetic fibers up 19.5 per cent and casual clothes up 8.7 per cent.

The industry’s export turnover has grown 9.8 per cent. Orders to Vietnamese enterprises have increased by eight per cent to ten per cent. Textile enterprises are seeking new markets and the industry is determined leaders to increase Vietnam’s market share abroad. The industry is appreciated for its quality and order fulfilment time. Medium and large textile enterprises in Vietnam are working to meet social responsibility and obtain the Green Label criteria from partners. Textile and garment exhibitions serve as an opportunity for textile enterprises to expand their market and help businesses get information about the latest production technologies and find ways to meet the needs of domestic and international buyers.

However, the sector also faces a number of challenges. There is a need to develop a competitive tool set including focusing on technological innovation, saving energy and improving the productivity of synthetic factors through solutions such as automation. Businesses need to be linked through common information, artificial intelligence and big data.

British fashion retailer Ted Baker has had a challenging start to 2019. Shares of the retailer have fallen almost 14 per cent this year. Last year, Ted Baker posted its first drop in annual profit since the 2008 financial crisis. The performance reflects difficult and unpredictable trading conditions and unseasonable weather experienced across North America. The retailer experienced some challenges with its spring/summer collections. The company is actively focusing on cost control and new product initiatives to try and turn around results. Traditional brick and mortar apparel chains have suffered in the face of online competitors. Also British consumers worried by the impact of Brexit on the economy have reined in spending.

Ted Baker, founded in 1987, is a global lifestyle brand that offers men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s wear, and accessories like fragrance, skinwear, footwear, eyewear and watches. As part of a turnaround plan the brand is closing 20 of its 174 department concessions and will also look to close or cut the rents on some of its 73 UK stores.

Retail chains are closing stores in the UK against a backdrop of rising costs and a shift to online shopping. There has been a substantial loss in retail jobs this quarter.

Pakistan plans to abolish zero-rating for exports of leather, surgical, sports goods and carpet and garment sectors. The textile sector says this is a disastrous decision which will result in the closure of small and medium units and also pull down exports from the five sectors by 30 per cent a year, hit industrial manufacturing aimed for export purposes, stimulate a flight of capital abroad and scale down manufacturing that would eventually lead to a decline exports. Overall liquidity from manufacturing of the goods to their exports is expected to get stuck. Exporters say their tax refund claims haven’t been cleared and that additional sales tax deductions would increase the amount of pending refunds and result in a financial crunch for them. The tax refund period is now estimated to be six months, hence refunds before six months are unlikely.

Pakistan is under immense pressure from the International Monetary Fund to remove tax exemptions to increase revenues. The Fund wants Pakistan to withdraw the facility in the forthcoming budget as part of the deal. Both the IMF and Pakistan are of the view that the facility has been misused by the industry to steal sales tax on their domestic sales.

Neonyt will be held in Germany, July 2 to 4, 2019. This will feature women’s wear, men’s wear, children’s wear, performance apparel, shoes, accessories, jewelry and beauty. With a good balance of leading brands and newcomers, the trade show is presenting exciting labels that are dedicated to the future issues facing the fashion industry and reflect a sustainable lifestyle.

Neonyt will discuss the severe repercussions of fashion production on the planet and people. The spotlight will be on the enormous consumption of resources by the fashion industry with water continuing to be the focal topic for 2019. Neonyt will showcase solutions for sustainable fashion production, presenting trailblazing labels with innovative concepts and contemporary collections and letting international forward-thinkers have their say. In addition to the focal topic of water, questions and recommendations for action regarding the retail sector are also on the agenda.

Worldwide, the sale of clothing has doubled in the last 15 years. The huge production volume of fast fashion is linked to the industry’s enormous water consumption. It takes up to 2,700 liters to produce one T-shirt. The annual water volume consumed by the fashion industry is nearly enough to fill a total of 32 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, making it one of the most water-intensive industrial sectors.

New York Denim Days was held June on 8 and 9, 2019. It was proof of denim’s far-reaching appeal. Yoga sessions, children’s fashion shows and one-of-a-kind goods made by indigo artisans drew an energetic crowd to the annual event. Attendees could shop and meet the makers behind the jeanswear industry.

Denim mills teamed up with brands to highlight the unique qualities of their garments. Candiani Denim presented Blue of a Kind, the upcycled premium denim brand from Italy that it recently partnered with for a jeans collection made with fabric samples. Bossa teamed with Upcycle, a recycled T-shirt company, to create a screen printing workshop. Attendees designed tees and totes made with recycled plastic bottles.

The weekend was also packed with special events, including musical acts and a speaker series hosted by Advance Denim. Topics spanned denim influencers to cotton trends. Tencel co-hosted two outdoor yoga sessions with Athleta to showcase the active wear brand’s performance denim. Participants received a free denim yoga mat and a bag made in collaboration with Naveena Denim. A children’s fashion show on the first day presented shoppable looks by brands like OshKosh B’gosh, Indi-Kids and Trico Fields. On the second day, students from the High School of Fashion Designs strutted their creations made with re-purposed denim jackets.

Kingpins New York is on from June 12 to 13, 2019. The trade show is focusing on sustainable development and heritage within the denim market. Kingpins is committed to pushing the denim industry toward a better future. A prequel to the show featured experts from brands such as G-Star and Wrangler mixed with manufacturers, fabricants, chemical engineers and technology experts. G-Star is a pioneer of responsible production with its Raw aesthetic, 3D engineered ergonomic denim innovations, a circular design, and a transparent supply chain data. It is the first denim brand to use dyes made from upcycled plant waste. Wrangler’s foam dyed denim not only reduces water use by 100 per cent, but energy and waste by 60 per cent each. Soorty has unveiled the world’s first waterless garment dyeing technology.

Indigo is the king of denim and has been around for 6000 years. Images of dyes bleeding into rivers and an inundation of data on its chemical composition and toxic byproducts have put the denim industry on high alert. It takes 2000 gallons of water to make one pair of jeans. Fifteen per cent of fabric intended for clothing ends up on the cutting room floor of which 85 per cent goes to landfills.

Indonesia is developing Fitting Room, a digital platform to support the fashion industry by connecting material suppliers, designers, tailors and the industry. In addition to integrating the fashion industry’s supply chain, this platform will provide convenience to consumers in buying fashion products according to their size, without having to come to tailors. Indonesia’s strategy is to participate in Industry 2.0. This refers to automation and data exchange, driven by internet advances in the manufacturing sector. The hope is to encourage small and medium sized fashion enterprises to implement this.

Indonesia’s exports of fashion products went up 7.75 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017. The country’s textile and apparel industry grew 18.98 per cent in the first quarter of 2019. This performance exceeded Indonesia’s economic growth of 5.07 per cent in the same period. The industry is supported by a structure that has been integrated from upstream to downstream, and the products are also known to be of high quality in the international market. With economic growth, and a shift in demand from basic clothing to functional clothing, such as sportswear, the national textile industry is building production capabilities and increasing economies of scale in order to meet the demand in domestic and export markets.