The pandemic has created new opportunities for activewear brands like Vuori and Gymshark. Demand for sportswear is expected to increase from €295 billion ($384 billion) in 2021 to €395 billion by 2025, says a McKinsey & Company report However, foraying in this market can be challenging as newcomers have to compete with global distribution and high-budget marketing campaigns of Nike and Adidas. They have to also convince lifelong customers of these established retailers of offering better quality products, indicates a Business of Fashion report.

From a local niche retailer selling men’s yoga clothes in 2015, Vuori has grown an average of 250 per cent every year. The company launched new categories and expanding into womenwer too. Last year, the Joe Kudla-led brand also received funds worth $400 mllion from Softbank’s Vision Fund, which valued it at $4 billion. Like other activewear labels like Alo Yoga, Gymshark and Fabletics, Vuori has been successfully grabbing market share from top players. The brand created specialized, fashion-forward products and built communities around underserved interests.

Tapping into special interest community

Gymshark, too made a name for itself by tapping into the humble local gym, one trainer or amateur bodybuilder at a time, relying on them to be ambassadors for the brand on social media. On its social channels, Gymshark posts relatable memes and catchy hashtags. In gyms around the world, the company has held open workout sessions, building its base of die-hard fans.

Tapping into a special-interest community in order scale a brand isn’t a new idea for sportswear brand. The same approach was deployed by Nike with runners in its hometown Portland, Ore. in the 1970s and Lululemon with yoga — back then, a hot new trend — in the ’90s. Creating a product that’s tailored to a specific need also enables brands to tap into that initial community of “super fans” and stand out among generic sportswear makers, says Richard Kestenbaum, a retail and consumer investment banker and co-founder of Triangle Capital.

Providing appropriate eyewear

Entrepreneurs Tom Daly and Max Vallot often lamented the lack of appropriate eyewear in the US market. The pair was unable to find specialized sunglasses for running. Hence, in 2015 it launched District Vision, a range of comfortable, stylish and oil and water resistant sunglasses. The company also sells apparels now. It works with a few luxury retailers including Ssense, Dover Street Market and Browns. Last year, the brand doubled its shares.

Brands are also differentiating themselves with social messaging. Gymshark promotes a message of belonging to that tribe of fellow gym junkies, rather than needing to be the best, the strongest or the fastest, says Nick Geoghegan, Strategy Director, Eatbigfish, a consultancy specializing in challenger brands. District Vision, also highlights the importance of mental health by offering customers courses on mindfulness.

Recent data from the NPD Group ranks Levi’s, AG, Amiri, Burnello Cuccinelli and Goria Vanderbilt as some of the top-selling denim brands of 2021. As per a Sourcing Journal report, these brands were ranked on the basis of their performance in respective categories. For instance, AG was awarded for launching best jeans priced $100 and above while Gloria Vanderbilt was honored for best women’s plus size jeans and Amiri was awarded for being the best men’s luxury jeans brand.

Innovations hailed by NPD Group

Ranked for earning its highest revenues since 1998, Levi’s was also awarded for launching the ‘best fitting jeans’ by IT technology company True Fit in 2020. It also ranked in 2021 Global RepTrak 100’s list of most reputable companies.

On its 20th anniversary in 2021, premium denim brand AG’ announced the launch of unique washes and environmentally conscious design. Gloria Vanderbilt collaborated with Christian Siriano, Designer, CFDA, to launch a jeans collection that would be presented at New York Fashion Week in September.

Luxury fashion brand Amiri adopted a Tulip-powered cloud-based mobile retail solution to expand its brick-and-mortar network. Its parent company, the OTB Group launched a new business unit -- Brave Virtual Xperience (BVX), in December to launch metaverse-inspired products to help create new business opportunities for the company. Brunello Cuccinelli’s revenue increased 19.6 per cent in Q1 2022. The company expects revenues of the entire year to rise 12 per cent and another 10 per cent in 2023.

Scaling new heights

Growing trend of casualization post pandemic has penetrated the global denim market. More consumers chose to shop for jeans in 2021, reports NPD Group as seen from the 36 per cent rise in US jeans sales in 2021. Sales of men’s denim went up 12 per cent during the year while women’s denim increased 9 per cent, says the report.

Denim manufacturers continue to be leaders of innovation as seen from the variety of styles and options offered to consumers in 2021, says Susan Merrill, President-Fashion Apparel, NPD Group.

The denim market will continue to scale new heights and reach $76.1 billion by 2026 from $57.3 billion in 2020, indicates data from Research and Markets. The market analyst names US as the biggest consumer of denim jeans across the world, and also one of the wealthiest.

Turkiye’s apparel exports increased by 14.71 per cent year-on-year in January-February 2022, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the country’s Ministry of Trade. During the first two months of the current year, Turkiye exported apparel worth $3.074 billion, compared to exports of $2.680 billion during the same period of 2021.

Exports of knitted and crocheted clothing and accessories (HS chapter 61) grew by 15,9 per cent to $1.738 billion in January-February 2022 as against $1.5 billion registered during the same months of the previous year.

Exports of non-knitted apparel and accessories (HS chapter 62) increased by 13.2 per cent to $1.335 billion compared to $1.179 billion exports made in January-February 2021.

Exports of old clothing and other textile articles and rags (HS chapter 63) also grew by 10.3 per cent year-on-year to $512.822 million during the period under discussion.

However, exports of carpets, mats matting and tapestries (HS chapter 57) fell by 6,2 per cent to $459.120 million during the two-month period.

Meanwhile, Turkiye’s imports of cotton, cotton yarn and cotton textiles (HS chapter 52) increased by a sharp 110.4 per cent to $831.355 million, over $395.214 million in the first two months of 2021.

Likewise, man-made filament imports too shot up by 89.0 per cent year-on-year to $535.601 million, the data showed.

Huntsman Textile Effects, a global leader in innovative solutions and environmentally sustainable products, will feature high-performance end-to-end systems for protection effects and sustainable solutions for any wear at Performance Days at Stand E09, Hall C1 and virtually at Performance Days Loop on April 27-28, 2022, in Munich, Germany.

Huntsman will introduce the Avitera SE Fast process at Performance Days. The revolutionary technology delivers the lowest environmental impact for dyeing polyester-cellulosic (PES-CO) blends. It combines alkali-clearable Terasil W/WW disperse dyes and Avitera SE reactive dyes to cut processing time from around nine hours to just six, helps mills reduce the water and energy required for production by up to 50 per cent and increases output by up to 25 per cent or more while delivering outstanding wet-fastness to ensure that sportswear will not bleed or stain during home laundering, or while in storage or transit, the company said in a press release.

In partnership with Chemours, Huntsman will present the new eco-friendly finishes that repel water and stains, and help garments looking new for longer. Teflon EcoElite with Zelan R3 technology contains 63 per cent plant-based materials and is the industry’s first renewably sourced water-repellent finish. It exceeds performance levels possible with traditional fluorinated technologies, with excellent water repellency and durability while reserving breathability.

Huntsman will also showcase revolutionary antimicrobial and odour-control solutions as part of their partnership with Sciessent. Sciessent’s latest anti-odour technology – Nobo specifically developed to reduce odours in natural and synthetic fabrics. It can be incorporated into virtually any fabric – from base layer and activewear tops to socks and underwear to jeans and chinos. It offers a cost-effective way to upgrade everyday garments.

In addition, the partners will also present Sciessent’sAgion Active X2, a next-generation odour-control solution that combines advanced antimicrobial and odour-absorbing technologies to both capture and fight odour-causing bacteria, and Lava X2, a standalone odour adsorption product and key component of Agion Active X2 that attracts, absorbs and degrades odours for long-lasting odour protection.

The production-linked incentive scheme, or PLI, for textiles, seeks to rectify some disadvantages that India suffers vis-à-vis countries upcoming countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh by way of costlier power and labour. Last week, the Indian government selected 61 companies from a list of 67 applicants who are eligible to get incentives, if they bring in one scheme, at least Rs 300 crore of investment and achieve Rs 600 crore of turnover by the first year of performance, which is FY25.

Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, says, if India wants to make a mark in the international market, it needs to produce more MMF and technical textiles. ArvindSinghal, Chairman, Technopak Advisors, adds, India need to step up focus on the overall ecosystem to do with manmade textile. India unfortunately has a minuscule share of that particular market. It is predominantly focused on cotton

Few more steps are essential to make the PLI scheme an unqualified success, adds Singhal. He advises the Indian industry to focus on attracting the biggest companies in the world.

NarendraGoenka, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC)said, the council has launched several initiatives to promote brand India at various global platforms by showcasing its strength on sustainability, ethical sourcing and manufacturing, labor standards, and women employment.

The council organized a two-day Fashion Meet Expo 2022 to bring together the entire textile ecosystem from fiber-to-fashion including manufacturers, accessories players, dyes, machine makers, startups, designers, buying agents, exporters, and fashion institutes.

The fair was inaugurated by DarshanaJardosh, Minister of State for Textiles at Apparel House Gurugram on April 21.

India’s RMG exports increased by 30.4 per cent to $16 billionduring 2021-22. It mainly exported textile and apparel products to the US, EU Asia and Middle East. India’s exports in the sector were enhanced via signing of free trade agreements with the UAE, and Australia, added Goenka.

Pitti Immagine will explore the relation between fashion and digital world with an event on May 4 and 5 at Stazione Leopolda in Florence. Titled ‘E-P Summit’, the event will be held under the theme, ‘Shaping the digital future of fashion’. The new Summit will present a vast program of meetings and moments of analysis. It will facilitate meetings between IT teams and employees of companies and all those interested in digital tools applied to the world of fashion and luxury. It will also launch new software and hardware solutions for their business.

The topics of the two-day discussion include: development of digital production processes for creating new collections; new supply chains; the digital transition in support of ecology and circular economy; integration between traditional distribution and e-commerce channels; the Internet of Things; Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; use and protection Big Data and the Cloud; the Blockchain; the Metaverse and the creation, exchange and fruition of NFTs.

The show will be held in association with international partners including Accenture and Google Cloud. Companies including 3rand Up Solutions, Assyst, Besight, Dyna Brains, Hyphen - Group, Joor, Lectra, Ot Consulting, Prisma Tech, Remira, S3k, Sedapta, Sopra Steria, Tesisquare, Vistex and Wuerth Phoenix will participate in the event.

Gap Inc.’s 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report reflects the progress the company and its brands, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta, made in 2021 toward building a more sustainable and inclusive business. Gap Inc’s . ESG strategy focuses on the principles of Empowering Women and Human Rights, Enabling Opportunity, and Enriching Communities.

As per a Textile World report, the strategy highlights, USAID Gap Inc. Women + Water Alliance plans to empower two million people with access to improved drinking water and sanitation by 2023. Old Navy’s This Way ONward program aims to provide 20,000 job opportunities by hiring over 10,600 underserved youth by 2025. Gap is also committed to provide 100 per cent regenerative, organic, in conversion to organic, or recycled cotton by 2030.

Gap Inc.’s Global Sourcing team plans to trail hydroponic farming condition for cotton farming in an urban environment. The company has partnered The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel the project that won the Silver Award at the 2022 International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.

The expiry of GSP+ facility in 2023 may have a disastrous effect on the Pakistan textile industry as international buyers will start searching for other regional suppliers for placing new orders, says Sheikh Lugman Aman, Regional Chairman, Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA). Extension of had helped boost Pakistan’s textile exports, explains Ijaz Khokhar, Chief Coordinator. He has urged the government to push the EU countries for extension of GSP Plus facility to Pakistan for another 10 years.

Khokhar also urged enhanced interaction and communication with ambassadors of EU bloc and other European countries. He also emphasized on the need for direct advocacy and lobbying by visiting EU headquarters in Brussels. The readymade garments sector in Pakistan urged the new government to initiate lobbying for continuity of Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP)-Plus, besides implementing new textile and apparel policy through revival of Pakistan Export Promotion Board (PEPB).

Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) office-bearers urged the government to initiate work on lobbying for renewal for GSP status for Pakistan from the European Union (EU) to sustain export growth.

VDMA Textile Machinery Association has appointed Janpeter Horn, Managing Director, August Herzog Maschinenfabrik, as its new Chairperson with immediate effect. The appointment was made at the members’ meeting of the Association in Leonberg. Based in Oldenburg, Northern Germany, August Herzog Maschinenfabrik is a manufacturer of innovative braiding and winding machinery.

VDMA also appointed Regina Brückner, Managing Associate, Brückner Trockentechnik, and Verena Thies, Managing Shareholder, Thies Textilmaschinen, as Vice Chairpersons. Horn states, Both Brückner and Thies have been serving on the Executive Board of the VDMA Textile Machinery as well as the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers CEMATEX for many years. The newly appointed team of the Association is well prepared to effectively represent the interests of the industry at national and international level.