Playboy has launched its first line of lingerie. This will be followed by ten more collections set to be launched in new colours, fabrics and styles in the coming weeks which draw inspiration from the brand’s 70- year heritage.

The first line is called the Icon Collection and features Playboy’s signature rabbit head logo on a range of mesh pieces that are meant to evoke beauty, free will and confidence. This is Playboy’s first proprietary line of lingerie, built on its core value of freedom of expression. While the lingerie line is definitely the primary focus of this release, there are also plans by Playboy to roll out more categories throughout the year, including denim, flannel and sleepwear.

The Playboy brand appeals to younger consumers in the United States, who have grown significantly as a share of its customers over the last few years. The company believes this category expansion leans into its brand values and into its expertise in lingerie from its elevated luxury lingerie brand, Honey Birdette. The company looks forward to continued category expansion and will leverage these new product lines across the Playboy ecosystem, including through its robust creator network.Playboy has worked with brands in the past on co-designed collections to reach new customers but this time it’s their very first launch and the company is expected to have good conversions.

Nigeria is set to stop outsourcing garment making from the United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Mauritania, and Cote D’Ivoire.

Instead Nigeria will work with small and medium scale entrepreneurs to revive the collapsed ginneries, particularly of Gusau, Funtua, Zaria, and Sokoto. There will be skill development training and empowerment of 100 youths in modern methods of tailoring and fashion design.

Some young men and women of northern Nigeria were outsourcing tailoring and garment making from Senegal, Mauritania, Cote D’Ivoire and even in the United Arab Emirates due to non-utilization of appropriate new and emerging tools in the occupation in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s textile and apparel industry covers the entire clothing value chain, and has a strong potential for growth due to availability of cotton and the country’s large market-size represented by over 170 million inhabitants, who provide a natural market for textiles and apparels. Nigerian exporters have come together to form a fashion training facility. The center has over 150 sewing machines, pattern making and cutting tables. It has the primary objective of promoting garment making skills, creating job opportunities and upgrading technical skills to improve quality, productivity and efficiency levels in the garment industry. Nigeria is awash with creative talents in the fashion industry, whose designs can compete anywhere globally.

The India ITME Society has announced its awards for 2022.

Among the winners are Lakshmi Machine Works for spinning, Rabatex for weaving preparatory machines, Texfab Engineers for fabric finishing machines and fabric dyeing machines, ColorJet India for an innovative concept developed in India which is now gaining a lot of importance globally, Lakshmi Card Clothing Manufacturing Company for excellent service support product range, SA Pharmachem for pollution control technology, Deepa A Kumar, CEO of Yashram Lifestyle Brands, for products like period panties, leak-proof nursing bras for breastfeeding moms, maternity hygiene panties and more, Neha Jhunjhunwala, director, Sarla Performance Fibers, who upgrade the company from a successful family run company of three decades to an Indian MNC, Santoshi Kewat, who just cleared eighth standard but managed to become a certified master weaver.

The awards are India ITME Society’s attempt to recognize the exceptional contributions that have influenced positive change in the textile engineering sector. This is a search for talented leaders and innovators in their field of work. India ITME over the years has initiated several constructive programs to recognize innovative researchers.

The awards will be presented on December 10, 2022, at India Exposition Mart. The winners will be felicitated with a cash award, trophy and certificate in their categories.

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has stiffer regulations for transparent and traceable processing of organic textiles.

GOTS is introducing a compulsory farm-gin registry for all farms and farm groups whose certified raw material enters the GOTS system, including information on farm yields. The registry will be implemented progressively, starting in India.

The credibility of inspection agencies in India for organic cotton has come under doubt. Raw cotton is not allowed to travel more than 500 km from the farm to the certified gin. The shorter trade chain is meant to protect vulnerable points and optimizes the process for buyers.

GOTS will increase the number of unannounced audits at gins where there is a high perception of risk. GOTS also stipulates that the Farm TC number appears on the first GOTS TC at the ginning plant, which is the first step for cotton in the GOTS supply chain. The TC must state the origin for raw material, including region, state and province. This effectively traces material back to the field and adds another layer of accountability to GOTS-certified fiber.

GOTS is the world’s leading standard for processing of organic textiles. It mandates use of minimum 70 per cent organic fibres and includes both environmental and social criteria.

Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) and BBC are collaborating on a film series on social and environmental sustainability in the fashion industry.

The series will educate consumers as to the scale of the issue and the promise of solutions, while galvanising leaders in the sector to follow the blueprint of those that have been successful. The series will be hosted on a dedicated BBC.com microsite, providing an immersive experience for browsers and an opportunity for in-depth coverage spanning films, articles, infographics and animations. A multi-platform campaign will reach relevant audience groups from among BBC.com’s 144 million monthly browsers, as well as the global fashion sector through the GFA and its network.

Global Fashion Agenda is a non-profit organisation that fosters industry collaboration on sustainability in fashion to accelerate impact. With the vision of a net positive fashion industry, it drives action by mobilising, inspiring, influencing and educating all stakeholders. The organisation has been leading the movement since 2009 and is behind the renowned international forum on sustainability in fashion, Global Fashion Summit. Global Fashion Agenda spearheads the fashion industry’s journey to a more sustainable future. Through its work, Global Fashion Agenda reaches thousands of stakeholders including brands, innovators, NGOs, policy makers, manufacturers, investors and more.

Nico Reiner is the new chief financial officer of Lenzing. He has held several positions in his professional career to date. He has a degree in business administration. He is a proven financial expert with substantial international experience.

Lenzing is a provider of sustainably produced specialty fibers for the textile and nonwoven industries. Lenzing stands for ecologically responsible production of specialty fibers made from the renewable raw material wood. Lenzing is a partner of global textile and nonwoven manufacturers and drives many new technological developments. Lenzing’s fibers form the basis for a variety of textile applications ranging from elegant clothing to versatile denims and high-performance sports clothing. Due to their consistent high quality, biodegradability and compostability Lenzing fibers are also highly suitable for hygiene products and agricultural applications.

The business model of Lenzing goes far beyond that of a traditional fiber producer. Together with its customers and partners, Lenzing develops innovative products along the value chain, creating added value for consumers. Lenzing strives for the efficient utilization and processing of all raw materials and offers solutions to help redirect the textile sector towards a closed-loop economy.In order to reduce the speed of global warming, Lenzing has a clear vision: namely to make a zero-carbon future come true.

Pakistan will not find it easy to obtain GSP Plus benefits from the European Union.

While Pakistan is struggling to comply with existing 27 EU conventions of GSP Plus, the EU plans to introduce some more conventions. These relate mainly to environment and social standards.

The GSP Plus status holds significant importance for Pakistan’s economy as it has played a key role in the expansion of multilateral trade.EU-Pakistan relations have a strategic engagement that covers all areas including counter-terrorism, trade, climate change, GSP Plus status and various others. Continuity of GSP Plus is subject to ratification of more than five to six new conventions related to environment and social standards including the remaining 27.

The existing GSP plus scheme is confined to the textile sector. The EU is the biggest market for Pakistan’s goods and accounts for about one-third of all exports from the country.GSP Plus has increased EU-Pakistan trade, which increased by 78 per cent in 2021 as compared to the year earlier. So GSP Plus has been very beneficial for Pakistan’s economy. It provides duty-free access to the huge EU market for textile and apparel and also provides an incentive structure to undertake reforms in the industry and country.

Every cloud has a silver lining and the rise of online shopping during the pandemic has proved just that. Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) companies are currently raking in profits like never before as a large number of customers used to the ease of online shopping, still prefer it over visiting physical stores. D2C companies specialize in selling products directly to the end consumer by cutting out middleman and this has completely transformed the online fashion industry in India.

Easy internet accessibility improves sales

With a consistent increase in internet accessibility with providers like Jio with their exceptional infrastructure and reasonable pricing, even rural customers have smart phones. With increased aspirations for a better lifestyle, over 42 per cent global consumers are spending notably more time browsing social media than before Covid times.

D2C brands are keeping authentic in-stock garments along with easy and quick home delivery courier service. These brands can deliver in remote locations as well as Tier II, III cities. This growth has also led to the establishment of various companies offering integrated services like delivery, logistics, and warehousing. These brands are able to easily gather valuable consumer data, which can be used in a faster feedback cycle and an in-depth understanding of customer preferences that can improve overall product and service development.

Smaller D2C fashion brands have an advantage over bigger ones as they can have a personalized product portfolio that has unique collections for different festivals, seasons, and geographical locations across India. For small independent brands, the online potential consumer is a huge unlimited market that can be lured to buy at little to no cost, unlike the reach of a physical store.

Focus on customized fits and improved mobile shopping

With focussed consumer targeting and intensive digital marketing, some D2C brands are crossing the $100 million a year revenue threshold which is a far cry from the $20 million/per year before Covid. However, the road to success is not of gilded gold as they need to overcome some of the biggest industry challenges, which include managing product content across various sales channels, sustainability issues, sophisticated customer relationship programs, and re-creating the in-store experience with online product videos, editorial images, and 360-degree product views. These include: hi-tech solutions for a personalized fashion experience with customized tailoring, bespoke fits, and more options to choose from in length and sleeves and catering to more customers with specific preferences.

As per a recent KPMG report, Fable Street, G.O.A.T. Brand Labs, Twenty Dresses, Bombay Shirt Company and Bombay Trooper are just a few of the over 800 D2C brands in India. This report has valued the segment at $44.6B in 2021 and projected to reach $100B by 2025. The way forward will require the brands to use more high-tech video commerce with the virtual world coming to the forefront while 5G and mobile shopping play a big role in facilitating live online purchases.

As competition gets more intense, DTC companies will also need to focus on keeping their prices at par and improving their quality and customer care to stand out from the regular brands sold at physical stores. Wellness and fitness apparel will be another important segment with a focus on sustainable packaging and recycled and environmentally friendly products. With customer retention and brand loyalty being the biggest challenge, DTC brands must concentrate on making their online shopping experience bigger and the best than many of their rivals in the actual world.

Fashion brand Zara has decided to venture into the business of pre-owned clothing.

The company will start to offer repair, resale and donations services in the UK. This move into a more sustainable approach is a departure from its fast fashion image. As part of the new offering, customers will have the option to repair their Zara clothing from any season which includes replacing buttons, zips and seams both online or in a physical Zara store.Customers can also resell and purchase worn Zara garments utilising a new secure platform and make a clothing donation of any brand to charity.

This initiative starts in November. Clothing items can be donated through home collection and they will be sent to the Red Cross, an organization which reuses or recycles them.

Launching of resale platforms for fashion brands have become more common in this day and age. Fast fashion brands look to come across more sustainable given the textile industry contributes around ten per cent of global carbon emission. The growing issue of ethical fashion has thrown a spotlight on the sustainability of fast fashion and in turn guided the fashion industry down a road toward a more sustainable fiber use.

Tunisia’s revenue from textile and clothing exports increased by 11 per cent from January 2022 to September 2022. However, the quantities of goods exported by the country fell by 27 per cent.

Knitwear exports grew by 24 per cent in tons and 34 per cent in dinars. Exports of clothing in warp and weft jumped 12 per cent in tons and 18 per cent in dinars.

There was development in value and weight for clothing exports in warp and weft concerning the main markets — Germany (28 per cent in weight and 34 per cent in dinars), Italy (ten per cent in weight and 21 per cent in dinars) and France (four per cent in weight and 12 per cent in dinars).

Exports of Tunisia’s textile sector dropped 50 per cent in tons and 34 per cent in dinars. While the African nation’s textile exports to France dropped by 52 per cent, exports to Italy rose by 13 per cent.Textile and clothing imports grew by 29 per cent by the end of September 2022 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2021. However, quantities of imports dropped by 16 per cent.

Textiles are a pillar of the Tunisian economy and contribute more than 20 per cent to the GDP.