Bangladesh’s kidswear exports to the US grew by 20 per cent in H1 2022 to reach $153.30 million.

Kidswear exports from Bangladesh have been on a growth course of late and the USis one of its largest export destinations.

Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee, Director, BGMEA says, the US’s clothing import and retail sales grew significantly since the middle of 2021. During COVID-19, people had to stay at home for a long period. So after the lockdown, they shopped more. This led to a huge growth in retail sales and imports of the USA in previous months

Datafrom the US-based agency Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) shows, US imported $81.58 billion worth of apparel from the world whereas their import from Bangladesh was $7.14 billion.

US’s imports from Bangladesh increased by 36.69 per cent whereas their global import grew by 27.36 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year 2020. Also during the first 6 months of 2022, US’ imports from Bangladesh increased by 60.30 per cent compared to the same period of 2021 while their global apparel import grew by 40.14 per cent, Oishee adds,

As per the latest data released by OTEXA, US imported $1.40 billion worth of kidswear in the period. Its kidswear sourcing grew by 26.54 per cent Y-o-Y.

Spiraling yarn prices have rendered nearly one-third of existing garment and industrial processing units in Tiruppur idle, as business for these units has become largely unviable. In fact, many units are idle for many months with most of them getting outsourced orders from major garment exporters. Exporters from this knitwear hub, are unable to deliver orders from abroad and they fear this could lead to losing out to completion and orders moving elsewhere.

Prices of all kinds of cotton yarn have increased with prices of combed and semi-combed varieties reaching Rs 220-290 per kg in 2021. This led to cotton yarn mills increasing prices by Rs 30-40 per kg every month, from August 2021. Yarn prices across categories cross Rs 400 per kg in early 2022. Price hike resulted in a drop in production with exporters opting to buy yarn form mills, notes MP Muthurathinam, President, Tiruppur Exporters and Manufacturers Association. Domestic garment manufacturers also increased prices in North Indian market leading to distributors cutting back orders, he adds.

High prices make order negotiations difficult

Despite piling yarn stock, the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association asked members to stop production recently. This led to a reduction in industrial consumption of electricity from a monthly average of 5.5 crore units to 4.5 crore units. From 11,300 industrial processing units that consumed power through LT service in the city, they rose to 12,400 units in December 2021, as per a TANGEDCO official. However, power consumption did not increase proportionately. Power consumption dropped by one crore units from June 2021- June 2022.

High yarn prices are making it difficult for garment exporters to negotiate orders, says C Ramasamy, Proprietor, Harvey Exports. Stakeholders fear the industry cannot survive if the price of yarn continues at this level and this could lead to huge losses to exporters. Hence, most units are either shut or operating with minuscule workforce.

Loss of jobs for migrant workers

Drop in production has affected workers too. High yarn prices have made these units un-operational with most running in single shifts. This is impacting migrant workers employed in these units, points out N Sekar, AI TUC Banian Union, Tiruppur.

A few export and domestic garment companies have stopped recruiting migrant workers from North and Northeast India, informs Sekar. Hundreds of inter-district migrant workers from Pudukkottai, Dindigul, Madurai, and Tiruvannamalai have already left Tiruppur. Revenue records show, the garment industry in Tiruppur employs over 1.30 lakh laborers from other states.

Expanding its global clean electricity portfolio, the Lenzing Groupis transitioning its production site in Purwakarta to green electricity. The groupis the first fiber producer to set a target of halving its carbon emissions by 2030 and becoming climate neutral by 2050.. In Purwakarta, Lenzing is currently investing in the reduction of carbon emissions, as well as air and water emissions. Due to €100 million investment in this area, Lenzing is gradually transitioning its existing capacities for standard viscose to LenzingEcovero and Veocel branded specialty viscose.

Specialty fibres being Lenzing’s key strength, the company aims to generate more than 75 percent of its fibre revenue from the wood-based, biodegradable specialty fibres business under the Tencl, LenzingEcovero and Veocel brands by 2024. With the launch of the lyocell plant in Thailand in March 2022 and the investments in existing production sites in Indonesia and China, the share of specialty fibres in Lenzing’s fibre revenue is set to exceed the 75 per cent target by a significant margin as early as 2023.

After witnessing a decent start in January ’22, Japan’s apparel imports declined by 0.91 per cent to 2.88 billion kg in volume during H1’22. However, their value increased by 13.89 per cent Y-o-Y to $9.86 billion.

As per an Apparel Resources report, Japanese buyers continue to buy cautiously even in 2022 – a trend that has continued in the country since 2019.

The volume of apparels exports by China, India and Vietnam to Japan declined, while exports by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka increased in values and weight.

The value of apparel exports by China increased by 11.80 per cent Y-o-Y to $5.46 billion, which is nearly 55.37 per cent of the shipment value of Japan. The share of China was 59 per cent in the import values during January ’22.

The second top importing destination was Vietnam that grew by 11 per cent in its shipment on Y-o-Y basis to $1.47 billion.

Imports from Bangladesh increased by 31.30 per cent in value to $578.68 million in H1 ’22, while by volume they increased by 8.53 per cent. India contributed $135.21 million in Japanese apparel imports during H1 ’21.

Currently negligible Indian textiles and apparel export to Russiaare expected to grow multi-fold once both the countries set a mechanism to accept payments in local currency. The country’s central bank, The Reserve Bank of India is working on building a reference exchange rate framework between rupee and rouble.

Once the framework is established, RBI and Central Bank of Russia will announce customized common reference exchange rate on daily basis, on which importers and exporters can negotiate pricing of the products and payment transactions. This will promote bilateral trade in local currencies bypassing the US dollar.

While Russian banks will open accounts in Indian banks to deposit rouble, Indian banks will have to open account in Russia to deposit rupee, sources said.

Traditionally, India is exporter of textiles and apparel, while Russia imports them to meet its regular clothing needs.

Last year, India’s apparel export to Russia accounted for 0.46 per cent of India’s total apparel export of $14.472 billion compared to 30.44 per cent to the US and 13.27 per cent to the UAE.

India’s apparel export to Russia declined sharply due to COVID-19. The export declined to $57.674 million in 2020 from $75.326 million of 2019. India had shipped garments worth $66.394 million in 2021 while the export was recorded at $76.571 million in 2018 and $84.532 million in 2017.

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA)’s research project – “Green Machine” – was awarded with the 2022 R&D 100 Awards in the category of Process/Prototyping.

Established in 1963, the R&D 100 Awards is the only science and technology awards competition that recognizes new commercial products, technologies and materials for their technological significance that are available for sale or license.

The Green Machine provides a hydrothermal solution to separate and recycle cotton polyester blended textiles at scale. The process uses only heat, water and less than 15 per cent of a biodegradable chemical to selectively decompose cotton into cellulose powders, thereby enabling the separation of the polyester fibers from the blends. The separated fibers are ready for reuse, while the cellulose powders can be converted into regenerated cellulose fibers and a durable water-repellent finishing reagent, or transformed into superabsorbent polymer for agricultural application. In 2020, the first industrial scale Green Machine was set up in PT Kahatex (an established textile manufacturer) with a processing capacity of 1.5 tons per day. ISKOTM, one of the world's leading denim producers, signed a licensing agreement on the Green Machine in 2021.

A clothing retailer from the UK, Next has increased its stake in Reiss to 51 per cent.

The British fashion retailer had bought a 25 per cent valuing £200 million in 2021 as a part of a long-term partnership. It had revealed plans to buy another 26 per cent at pre-agreed terms. It exercised its rights and increased its stake to 51 per cent in the company in April 2022.

Next believes Reiss can now benefit from former’s extensive infrastructure capabilities – in addition to serving as a launch pad for the latter’s growth plans in the UK and overseas.

Reiss will continue to retain management authority. The British clothing retailer generates £3,284.1 million and is also known for its footwear and home products.

The Bremen Cotton Exchange and the Bremen Fibre Institute e.V will jointly organize the 36th International Cotton Conference Bremen on September 29-30, 2022. Under the theme “Cotton Decoded” the conference participants will be offered an ambitious programwith topical lectures and lively discussion groups on location in Bremen as well as online via a conference platform.

Strong keynotes will also ring in the two conference days of the upcoming conference. Colin Iles, Executive Manager, Marketing Cotton & Sugar at the internationally acting raw material concern Glencore/Viterra, Rotterdam, will cast a glance into the future of cotton.

The second speaker of the opening session will be Nils Haupt, Head-Communications, Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg, the biggest shipping company in Germany and the fifth biggest shipping company in the world. Haupt will address the future of maritime transport and questions of sustainability in cargo and also elaborate on the challenges within global supply chains.

On the second day of the conference, John Baffes, Chief Economist-Development Perspectives, World Bank, will provide fascinating insights into current economic developments from the perspective of multinational development bank.

This year´s International Cotton Conference is taking place in the anniversary year of the Bremen Cotton Exchange. The organization was founded in 1872 and is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. The conference venue this year is not the historic town hall, but the Chamber of Commerce in Bremen in the immediate vicinity of the Cotton Exchange.

Fashion for Good has released ‘Wealth in Waste: India’s potential to bring textile waste back into the supply chain’ a first-of-its-kind study and the most comprehensive analysis of the Indian textile waste landscape.

Commissioned by Fashion for Good as part of the Sorting for Circularity; India Project, the study was conducted in collaboration with Sattva Consulting, Saahas Zero Waste, and Reverse Resources, specialist organizations in strategic impact, waste, resource and data management, and the scaling of textile recycling infrastructures.

To enable an effective transition towards circularity, the studyattempts to fill the data gaps that exist in the textile waste landscape in India. By building a better understanding across three key streams, domestic post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste and imported waste, and by mapping stakeholders, and geographical flows and recognizing challenges in the current infrastructure, the study aims to help ecosystem players to orchestrate actions and devise solutions and mediate accordingly.

The study was presented and launched in New Delhi on July 27, during an industry-focused event in collaboration with Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). The event brought together key players and changemakers from across the value chain to present the study and featured a panel discussion with industry leaders from Birla Cellulose, PVH Corp. and AEPC to discuss the findings and actions for the industry to implement.

The 13th edition of the Bangladesh Denim Expo will be held on November15-16, 2022 as a part of the ‘Made in Bangladesh Week’ at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka.

Made in Bangladesh Week is the first ever branding event of the Bangladesh Apparel Industry that is going to be organized by BGMEA in partnership with Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE).

The week-long event comprises 17 physical events including summits, expositions, photo exhibitions, conferences, fashion innovation runway show, sustainable design and innovation award, fashion photography award, factory tours, international journalist tour, cultural show and networking dinner from the 12th to 18th November.

Earlier, the expo was held on May 10-11, 2022 at the ICCB in the capital with 81 exhibitors and this time the organizers are expecting more to join.

Denim Expo is an exclusive event only for authorized trade visitors where selective vendors and companies can network, build contacts and meet others involved in the denim industry.