Karl Mayer has launched a new platform, Textile Makerspace, to bring together innovations from both areas. The platform aims to introduce new developments, such as the Textile Circuit.

Textile Circuit, the first topic to be covered by Textile Makerspace, demonstrates the possibilities of incorporating electrically conductive yarns into warp-knitted textiles directly on the machine. Functional elements, such as sensors, conductors and coils, can be incorporated very easily, without any additional production steps or compromising the textile characteristics.

This has led, for example, to the development of comfortable cuffs for controlling robots and textile charging stations for inductively charging smartphones.

Kingpins will ask denim spinners who exhibit at its next Amsterdam edition to comply with, or exceed, current CSR regulations relating to environmental protection and the use of chemicals.

The show’s goal is to become even more engaged in promoting environmental responsibility within the industry. Advise and support will be offered to exhibitors in order to help them transform their approach. Kingpins does not wish to introduce new certifications, but the organisers are keen to promote the strictest existing ones. Once they have drawn up a set of social responsibility specifications for exhibitors, they plan to share them with other textile shows, in order to promote collective change across the supply chain.

For the time being, the new exhibitor admission criteria are limited to the show’s Amsterdam edition, but the goal is to eventually apply them to the New York, Hong Kong and China shows too.

Both the denim supply chain and jeans manufacturers have been frequently singled out for their less than satisfactory environmental and human rights records. The accusations have mostly been leveled at workshops and factories outside the European Union, as European denim weavers and manufacturers are keen to emphasise that the EU already imposes CSR regulations.

Reed Exhibitions Japan has brought together a unique Japanese trade show, combing Fashion World Tokyo and Fashion World Tokyo –Factor, which satisfies fashion needs by gathering manufacturers in one place.

Fashion World Tokyo comprises separate shows divided by themed categories of fashion items Fashion Wear Expo, Bag Expo, Fashion Jewellery Expo and Shoes Expo and Fashion World Tokyo -Factory-, consisting of Textile Tokyo and Fashion Sourcing Tokyo, a gathering of popular fashion garments/textiles companies and fashion sourcing manufacturers. The on-site meeting provides good busRiness opportunities for exhibitors and visitors.

One of the features of Fashion World Tokyo is its focus on ‘the best business platform." The show managers have developed various kinds of approaches to make the show accessible and productive, such as introducing a "Matchmaking Service" and an online appointment platform.

Researchers at Carnage Mellon University have written a sophisticated algorithm that can transform 3D designs into stitch-by-stitch instructions for industrial knitting equipment. The newfound discovery can aid textile manufacturers in producing custom sizes and designs at affordable costs. The algorithm breaks down 3D meshes into step by step instructions for V-bed knitting machines. With the algorithm, garment manufacturers with proficient designing knowledge would be able to input 3D designs or meshes as instruction for the machine to knit. The feature will, therefore, allow manufacturers to work without the requirement of expert knowledge of computer programming. The technology could pioneer the industry towards a new market for custom sized and designed apparel.

A flurry of advancements in technology is enabling textile manufacturers to continuously enhance the quality of their products. The novel loop transfer technology incorporated in circular knitting machines allows for the seamless transfer of stitches thereby enabling manufacturers to produce structured designs and shaped fabrics. Some other mechanisms and equipment that allow manufacturers to have more control over the quality of products are ultra-fine gauge circular knitting machine and pile and silver insertion mechanism. The new-age technology has allowed textile manufacturers to gain more control over the design, shape, and quality of the finished products.

Indorama Ventures has bought Invista Resins and Fibers.

The acquisition is aligned with IVL’s strategy to grow and support customers’ needs with differentiated solutions in both packaging and in industrial fibers. It provides Indorama with competitive advantages, obtaining the intellectual property rights of Polyshield and Oxyclear, Invista’s barrier technology, in all markets globally.

Polyshield and Oxyclear brands are known for their oxygen barrier packaging, mainly used by the food and beverage industry, to extend the shelf life of juice, wine, beer, diary as well as ketchup.

Indorama Ventures is a chemical producer. With additional tailwinds from strong volumes and industry supply tightness, due to financial problems being faced by certain competitors in Europe and America, the company has further grown its top line and margins. Meaningful developments in the PTA and PET businesses, the announced capital expenditure programs and the newly acquired businesses will all play a meaningful role in enhancing earnings growth in 2019 and beyond. Its strong performance demonstrates the resilience of its business portfolio, and the benefits of its uniquely diversified and integrated business model, which are clearly bearing fruit with increasing momentum.

The company is ranked among the top five chemical companies globally. The goal is to double ebitda every five years.

H&M has taken on a professor of computer science as board member.

Danica Kragic Jensfelt has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for her contributions to vision-based systems and robotic object manipulation.

The appointment underscores the importance of digital to mass-market fashion retailers. A great transition is taking place in fashion retail as a result of increasing digitalization. Fashion retailers are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their customer services and supply chain operations with robotics, augmented reality and virtual reality also making an ever-larger impact on stores, websites and back office ops.

H&M plans to use Jensfelt’s unique expertise within computer science and AI for robotisation, logistics and recycling as well as within fashion and the shopping experience. The company also cites recycling as an area in which her expertise can be applied as fast fashion firms find themselves under increasing pressure to lessen the environmental impact of their products.

The clothing chain, that runs nearly 5000 stores worldwide, reported a five per cent increase in yearly sales globally. It stocks fast fashion items created in-house and teams up with designers for one-time collections. It keeps a large inventory of basic, everyday items sourced from places including India and Bangladesh that carry a lower price tag than that of most of its rivals.

India has disputed the US claim that it imposes tremendously high tariffs on American products.

The country says its import duties are consistent with the bound rates that it is entitled to in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and that these tariffs are very comparable to more liberal developing economies and some developed economies.

Duties which are imposed on imported goods are called applied rates and the extent to which a country can increase those duties are known as bound rates. India’s trade weighted average tariffs are 7.6 per cent, which is comparable with most open developing economies and some developed economies. There may be a few tariff peaks, but this is true for almost all economies.

The US says India imposes tremendously high tariffs on American products like Harley Davidson motorcycles. India has a trade surplus with the US, and the US has also raised this issue. Due to various initiatives resulting in enhanced purchase of US goods like oil and natural gas and coal, the US trade deficit with India has substantially reduced in 2017 and 2018. The reduction is estimated to be over four billion dollars in 2018, with further reduction expected in future years on account of factors like the growing demand for energy and civilian aircraft in India.

Hong Kong investors have set up production sites in Bangladesh.
They are shifting from China, where costs are rising, including wages, rent and other fees. They have chosen Bangladesh because of its abundant labor and low production costs, including wages and land.

Hong Kong firms have invested 800 million dollars in 150 projects in Bangladesh, making them the eighth largest investor. The largest sector is services. Textiles come next and third is chemicals. Another factor driving Hong Kong and other foreign companies to Bangladesh is the Sino-US trade war. Goods made in China face tariff or other barriers to enter the US – so it is safer to diversify risk and spread production over different countries.

Their investment in Bangladesh is secured by law against nationalization or expropriation. There is equal treatment for local and foreign firms. Investors can have 100 per cent foreign equity ownership and unrestricted exit of capital. Bangladesh has bilateral investment treaties with 31 countries and double tax treaties with 28. Because it is a least-developed country, its exports pay no duty in Australia, Canada, Japan and the European Union. Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter and the country is suitable for labor-intensive industries.

This year Abercrombie & Fitch plans to close 40 stores. Last year 29 stores were closed. Over the past eight years, Abercrombie & Fitch has actually closed 475 locations.

The brand has been in turnaround mode for the past few years, working tirelessly to reconfigure its retail and product strategies to compete with fast-fashion brands and capture the limited attention spans of young consumers. A big part of that phase has been getting its whole retail situation (including Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister brands) into better shape through efforts like improving omnichannel capabilities and optimizing the store network.

While brick-and-mortar may be suffering, the retailer hit a milestone for its online business, reaching a billion dollars in annual digital sales across its brands with the majority coming from mobile. Thanks largely to that e-commerce strength, overall comparable sales were up three per cent for both the fourth quarter and the year, marking the company’s sixth consecutive quarter and second consecutive full year of positive comparable sales. By brand, Hollister did a bit better, with six per cent growth in comparable sales, whereas A&F saw a two per cent decline.

The company’s plans for this year include store remodels and further expansion into Europe. It expects comparable sales to be up in the low-single digits for fiscal 2019.

The CPM Collection Première Moscow concluded on a positive note. The autumn/winter 2019/20, held on a total area of around 50,000 sq m, featured 1,400 collections from 35 countries. It was held at the Expocentre exhibition grounds in Moscow from February 25-28, 2019.

In the ‘CPM Body & Beach’ area, 144 brands from 25 countries showcased their new lingerie and beachwear collections. And a new addition to round off this segment is ‘CPM Body & Beach Fabrics’, which presented a wide range of materials and haberdashery for making lingerie and beachwear. The highlights of this segment included the ‘CPM Body & Beach VIP Cocktail’ event attended by celebrity guests, industry experts, journalists and buyers.

One of the world’s fastest growing segments celebrated its premiere at CPM: modest fashion. During the Russian Fashion Retail Forums, Dilyara Sadrieva, international expert, analyst, researcher and co-founder of ‘Modest Fashion Russia’ reported on the global processes, the potential for the Russian market and the profile of young modest fashion consumers.

In addition to the ‘CPM My Country’ initiative, the ‘CPM Designerpool’ sponsorship project also showcased interesting young designers and talents such as Brier from Moscow, Ianis Chamalidy from St. Petersburg, U. G. L. Y. by Nani Koberidze from Tiflis, Georgia and LOOM Weaving by Inga and Helen Manukyan from Yerevan, Armenia.