The EU is about to impose trade sanctions against Cambodia as a result of alleged human rights violations in the country. That means, Cambodia won’t be allowed to export goods duty-free and quota-free to the EU. Sanctions will damage Cambodia’s economy, where a $5 billion garment industry employs 7,50,000 people and is the biggest exporter.

In addition, the EU is mulling imposing tariffs on Cambodian rice for three years as a result of a surge in imports deemed to have hurt European rice producers. Progress on workers' rights in Cambodia has slowed significantly. While the government still allows some independent unions and workers'-rights organisations to operate, the space for them to advocate effectively is shrinking.

A number of labor union and human rights leaders have been targeted for official harassment, and some have been arrested or criminally charged. In several high-profile cases, labor leaders who were charged with baseless crimes in 2013 still have those charges pending against them. A law restricting freedom of association, adopted in 2015, restricts the activities of a wide range of non-governmental organisations, including those advocating on behalf of workers. Another law adopted in 2016 places onerous constraints on those who wish to form new unions.

A recent Deloitte study indicates making the right investments–such as moving supply chains closer to consumers can help distinguish winners from losers in retail. The study looked at some of the key issues for retailers in 2019, noting how this year could be the tipping point where decisions on investments that help empower the consumer could pay off big time down the road.

For 2019, the study forecasts an empowered consumer who has an increased desire for personalised services; a continuation of newer, smaller and tech-enabled competitors stealing market share; an economic climate with high consumer confidence, but a tightening monetary policy that is typically a precursor to a recession; a value chain across retail becoming increasingly compressed; and the blurring of what were once distinct industries–such as retail and technology–that now are more interconnected than ever before.

Consumers in 2019 are likely to face both headwinds and tailwinds. Tax cuts, along with nominal wage growth, have provided a boost to disposable income. But recent Fed rate increases have meant higher borrowing costs, and potential tariff increases on a wider range of goods from China could add to price pressures.

The fashion industry is yet to completely realise the potential of 3D printing technology. This lag is due to the fact that synthetic materials commercially available for 3D printing like polylactic acid are not flexible and comfortable enough to be used as textiles or in garments. They print as solids and lack any spaces that allow air to pass through them like conventional fabrics.

One promising avenue in this field is combining 3D printed panels with the traditional textiles. The adhesion of these 3D printed panels to the garment, although needs to be worked upon by fine-tuning of the printing parameters. Also, designers have researched and came up with a collection of garments modeled as the geometry of sound wave, using rubber mesh that allows the dresses to contract and stretch like a memory foam mattress. The structure compresses when the weaver sits down and springs open when they get back standing.

This design does give the flexibility 3D printing lacked in fashion, but the comfort part is still a far reach. The look of this fabric resembles fake leather and it lacks comfort and sticks to the body. Hence, obviously more research is needed, but everyone is moving in the forward direction.

3D printing is limited to its use in jewelry and athletic wear segments in fashion right now. Brands like Nike and Adidas are using this technology for manufacturing high-performance padding and shoe soles, which are generally made from foam. NASA is also using this technology to produce 3D –printed chain mail material to be used for protective armors for astronauts.

Llocal authorities in Vietnam have, lately, expressed strong concerns over some of the latest apparel and textile projects, especially those pertaining to dyeing. In fact, several areas and provinces in the country have vehemently refused to take up any project that has an investment of $100 million or more to avoid any kind of damage to the environment. Among the major cities that have rejected textile investments projects in recent times are Hanoi, Da Nang and Dong Nai.

Statistics show that over 90 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) in textile sector is today restricted to only apparel-only production projects (8.3 per cent of capital is used for textile and dyeing factories). With lack of adequate capacity and resources to handle dyeing projects, apparel-only projects are the ones that are getting green signal. If Provincial government continues refusing textile and dyeing projects, Vietnam will have to keep outsourcing dyeing projects for foreign partners, because it does not have fiber and fabric for export.

Corporate Knights has ranked Kering as the second most sustainable company across all industries in the world and the first in luxury and fashion. To achieve its leadership position, Kering was assessed against 21 key performance indicators covering resource management, employee management, financial management, clean revenue and supplier performance.

Kering, a luxury group and manages the development of a series of renowned houses in fashion, leather goods, jewelry and watches. Among these are Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen as well as Kering Eyewear. By placing creativity at the heart of its strategy, Kering enables its houses to set new limits in terms of their creative expression while crafting tomorrow's luxury in a sustainable and responsible way.

The Corporate Knights’ Global 100 rating index is considered one of the leading benchmarks for corporate sustainability world-wide and reflects the best performing businesses in relation to long term economic, environmental and social criteria. The index is a ranking of the world’s most sustainable corporations and is recognized as the joint best index in the world, for its relevance, insight, trustworthiness and convincing methodology. Rigorously analyzed against 21 key performance indicators, those corporations selected for inclusion represent the top two per cent in the world on sustainability performance.

Milano Unica (MU) 2020 S/S fair will be held at Rho Fieramilano, in Milan, Italy from Feb 5 to 7, 2019. The fair will feature the participation of The Japan Observatory. It will be co-organised by JFW and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). The event will feature 31 companies/associations including nine new exhibitors.

“The Japan Observatory”, which made its debut at Milano Unica in September 2014, now marks the 10th anniversary of its participation. ‘Eco’ marks will be included on fabrics at the Japan Trend & Index booth to further promote Japan fabrics to visitors.

The Sustainable Angle’s Future Fabrics Expo, will be held from January 24-25, 2019 in London. The two-day event will focus on circular fashion, a concept perhaps most succinctly summed up as “take, make, remake,” by Eva van der Brugge, innovation manager at global sustainable platform Fashion For Good. It will also focus on the issues of waste in fashion along with visionary solutions by presenting a selection of materials that leave a lower ecological impact. It will host seminar talks — one of which includes Lukas Fuchs, a research analyst at the aforementioned charitable foundation.

The expo, in the past eight years, has mushroomed from an up-and-coming gathering held at London College of Fashion in 2011, to a must-go industry showcase, taking place in a 22,000 sq. ft. space and featuring guests from global clothing brands like Stella McCartney.

China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and other South Asian and East Asian countries are major exporters of knitwear products across the globe. Brands like Gap and Abercrombie and Fitch and major active wear brands such as Adidas and Nike continue to focus on research and development, design, logistics marketing and branding, and service to improve their position in the market.

These brands outsource their manufacturing to low-cost Asia Pacific countries such as China, Bangladesh, and India. Adidas manufactured only two per cent of its apparels in the US and only one per cent in Europe in 2017, outsourcing almost 97 per cent production to Asia Pacific. Similarly, Nike manufactures all its apparels through independent contract vendors.

India’s knitwear market is growing with a spike in in the number of organised knitwear retailers selling branded knitwear products. Demand for branded knitwear is also rising in the Middle East. With approximately 62 per cent of its population being young and middle-aged, the region imports knitwear products worth 3.5 billion dollars annually.

There is growing demand for cotton knitwear products in Brazil and other South American countries. Almost half of the knitwear imports by Brazil are from China.

Guatemalan designer Juan Carlos Gordillo has launched Planet REhab, a new 15-piece women’s collection sustainably produced by Lenzing, Tejidos Royo, Officina+39 and Tonello. The collection will debut at Keyhouse at Bluezone in Munich Jan. 29-31, 2018.

The aim of this collection is to illustrate that fashion can be both responsible and beautiful given the right supply chain partnerships. The companies recognise that achieving their sustainability goal requires both working collaboratively and responsibly—seeking out more sustainable raw materials, implementing new technologies and employing processes that reduce resources and waste. The garments in this collection were designed around Tencel and Tencel x Refibra branded lyocell fabrics from Tejidos Royo. Made from renewable wood in a closed loop, energy and resource efficient manufacturing process, Tencel fibers and Tencel x Refibra fibers made with recycled cotton scraps provide the fabrics with softness, smoothness, tenacity and color intensity.

The fabrics were dyed using Officina+39’s Recycrom technology, pigment dyes that are made from recycled clothing and textile scraps that are crystalised into fine powder. Laundry specialist Tonello finished the garments with washing processes that significantly reduces the water and hazardous chemical consumption.

Coats has sold North America Crafts to Spinrite. North America Crafts is a business run by Coats. Approximately 560 North America Crafts employees will become part of Spinrite. Coats is an industrial thread manufacturer. Spinrite is a craft company and provider of craft knitting yarns in North America. Spinrite produces both branded and private label products and has a diversified presence across multiple channels with a focus on craft retailers.

The sale includes the well known Crafts brands Red Heart, Coats & Clark, Aunt Lydia and Susan Bates. Anchor, Dual Duty XP and J&P Coats will be licensed for varying terms.

Coats has had a crafts heritage in North America and a long association with crafters but decided to sell North America Crafts since the crafting market has evolved in the past decade and requires a higher degree of specialisation, scale, innovation and digital capabilities to succeed.

Coats expects with the sale of North America Crafts to focus complete attention on its high performing business-to-business global apparel and footwear, and performance materials segments. Coats will use proceeds from the sale to make further value accretive acquisitions in the strategic focus areas of high-tech performance materials and software solutions businesses.