China‘s initial experience with COVID-19 highlights some important lessons in supply-chain management. Some of key lessons included sources of supply related to materials, having contingency plans for interruption supply, and understanding the capabilities and vulnerabilities of critical elements within the value chain.

Crisis to most affect apparel value chain

In future, the global pandemic will have devastating financial implications for entities around the world, with the apparel value chain being one of the most dramatically impacted. The tight-margin, just in time world will present significant risks and challenges to everyone from retail employees to over 40 million factory workers

Business failures and closures will negatively impact individuals at all levels and leave those at the lowest levels of the value chain most at risk, due to the financial structures of developing-world factories and the limited or non-existent social safety nets in those environments.

Companies to focus on self-preservations

Unlike 2008, the post-pandemic supply chain landscape will not look the same as a significant number of factories will fail, with their workers and capabilities eliminated from the available sources of supply. Companies in the US and Europe will focus on self-preservation by cancelling their orders and delaying shipments and payments.

Hence, there is a need to ensure that companies take into consideration the performance of their factories and suppliers beyond simply price. Ultimately, some of the best partners in the supply chain have invested in critical elements to support the values of their partners be it fire safety, wages or environmental programs.

This is also the time for brands to evaluate the choices they have. They also need to reexamine their choice of partners. Their focus key should be on creating an environment rather than a landfill with creatures in it.

While Bangladesh has compiled data on readymade garment (RMG) order cancellations or postponement, no such data has so far been gathered for the Indian apparel export industry. Hence, management consultancy firm Rajesh Bheda Consulting (RBC) is conducting a survey ‘Measuring impact of the Corona Pandemic on Indian apparel export industry’. The firm has volunteered to capture and collate data on orders postponed or cancelled. It is requesting the members of apparel exporting community to share information about their order status. This will help in creating better understanding of the calamity and communicate to the stakeholders, including buyers, the real impact of such order cancellations or postponement.

The individual survey responses will be kept confidential. Only cumulative and summarised data will be shared so that the members of the industry, government and other stakeholders understand the gravity of the situation.

After having survived Greece’s protracted financial crisis, the textile industry is now going under due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Until a fortnight ago, it still remained a dynamic part of the country’s export industry, representing 10 per cent of total manufacturing exports, channeling 70 per cent of its production to international markets.

However, the industry’s fortunes nosedived over the last 10 days, with four historic textile mills that had endured turmoil in recent years but managed to survive announcing the suspension of operations, placing the jobs and livelihoods of more than 600 workers in doubt. More specifically, on March 18, Nafpaktos Textile Industry in Attica, which has been operating in various legal forms since 1964 and currently employs a total of 161 employees, went out of business.

Four days later, the management of the Varvaressos textile factory in northern Greece decided to suspend operations with the closure of its factories. It employed 227 workers and had thriving exports.

Moreover, recently textile producer Fieratex, also in northern Greece, suspended the work contracts of its staff until May 15. Also on April 1, the Epilektos textile factory in Attica announced the suspension of operations for 45 days. Its 200 employees have been placed on standby. The company started out as a cotton mill in Farsala, central Greece, in 1970 and became one of the most dynamic companies in the industry.

The Bangladesh government led by PM Sheikh Hasina has announced a 50 billion taka ($590 million) incentive package for the country’s garment and other export-oriented sectors to help them cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Bangladesh’s garment industry, which employs millions of workers, and other industries have been hit hard due to the shutdown in the wake of outbreak. European and American buyers have cancelled orders from Bangladeshi garment factories that were valued at $2.5 billion so far.

The government’s stimulus plan is aimed at offsetting financial loss of the garment and other export oriented industries, the mainstay of the Bangladesh’s economy. The finance ministry has already released some guidelines for the use of the fund. The Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, will issue a circular on the issue soon.

As per the guidelines the money can be used only to pay salaries of the employees to help them tide over the crisis and ensure they remain in the production line to facilitate recovery with the return of normalcy.

Lab-grown cotton and polyester made from air were among the 2020 winners of H&M Foundation’s Global Change Awards. Galy was the grand prize winner of for its Incredible Cotton innovation. The US and Brazil-based startup engineer cotton in a lab, which in turn lessens the burden placed on farmers. This lab-manufactured cotton takes 18 days to produce and releases 80 percent less water and gas emissions.

The program, which is in its fifth year, provides grants and educational resources for entrepreneurs establishing the future of sustainable and innovated fashion. This year, the Foundation received 5,893 entries from 175 countries. The five winners were selected by a panel of experts.

French fashion startup Fairbrics earned €150,000 ($164,000) for its Airwear product that converts greenhouse gas into sustainable polyester. Using literal air, it’s able to produce carbon negative synthetic fibers. Like Galy, the startup was also selected to participate in Fashion For Good’s Accelerator Program this year.

Other Global Change Awards winners include Feature Fibres by Werewool, a US-based startup that creates fabrics from protein DNA with natural colors, stretch and other performance properties. The team was awarded €250,000 ($273,000) for its compostable materials that have a circular life cycle.

Footwear legend Sergio Rossi has died at the age of 84, reportedly from Covid-19, after being hospitalised several days ago. One of the most influential luxury shoe designers of the 20th century, Rossi was born in 1935 in a part of Italy that’s known for its shoemaking expertise, San Mauro Pascoli.

Trained in Milan and Bologna, as well as by his own father, he began his independent business in the early 1950s. And in those early years was best known for the ultra-feminine sandals that he would spend the winter making to sell in beach resorts during the summer season. The brand he founded continues to be known for its exquisite sandals.

Rossi combined both a strong design aesthetic with a technical mastery that also made the label appeal to other fashion brands and saw it collaborating with big-hitters such as Dolce & Gabbana and Gianni Versace. Kering bought control of his firm in 1999 but sold it to private equity giant Investindustrial in 2015. The company relaunched the label in 2016 and has heavily referenced its archive since then, highlighting the enduring appeal of the designs produced under Rossi’s creative control.

Fespa has rescheduled its flagship Latin American event, Fespa Brasil, at the Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo from September 23-25, 2020. The event was earlier scheduled from March 18-21, 2020. It had to be postponed due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The event will now feature an expanded daily schedule, allowing visitors more time to enjoy the immersive experience they have come to expect from a Fespa event.

Fespa and APS Eventos Corporativos remain in close contact with exhibitors to ensure they deliver an event that is rewarding and productive in equal measure. All features, conferences and seminars of the event are part of FESPA’s commitment to sharing market insight and sector knowledge that are able to inspire the print community.

Redesigning Value, the updated theme for Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2020will navigate the current and future realities facing the industry as it weathers the storm of a global health and economic crisis. The event will be held from October12¬ to 13, 2020.

This new theme aligns with emerging realities and will further explore the negative impact of fashion, which have undeniably become more visible in recent weeks and months. The theme will prompt companies to create more resilient businesses by bringing sustainable practices to the core of the business models. By re-examining how they can strengthen their relationships with their supply chain partners, their own employees and also their customers, they can help brands discover a newfound purpose and a willingness to emerge on the other side more resilient than ever.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said the industry employing 12.9 million workers would die a slow death unless the government immediately announced an economic package for apparels.

AEPC has asked most of the sector are operating under extremely competitive margins in the range of 3-4 per cent, and are completely dependent on export benefits granted by the government. Given the disruptions in imports, the Council has requested for the extension of validity period of unutilised entitled value under export promotion schemes by six months. It also asked for the extension of the validity period of Advance Authorisation to two years from the existing one year along with the period for fulfilment of export obligations being increased to 3 years from the existing 18 months.

Exporters have pointed to detailed, industry specific measures taken by other governments as necessary cues for India to adopt immediately. AEPC says the government needs to help labor and industry both as flow of funds from either the banks or the customers have stopped

As the rapid spread of Covid-19 in all the countries has led to a cancellation of apparel export orders in China’s factories, the country’s cotton consumption is likely to decline by 0.6-1 million tonne in 2019-20. This was reflected in the cotton futures market in China. The most actively traded May cotton contract dipped below 10,000 yuan/mt on Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange in the afternoon of March 24, once to the lowest of 9,935 yuan/mt, which was close to the historical low of 9,890 yuan/mt and has declined by 4,515 yuan/mt from 14,450 yuan/mt appeared on January 14 before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Affected by the export orders, China’s domestic cotton consumption is expected to fall by nearly 1 million tons soon. If the state cotton reserves do not prolong, the stock/consumption ratio is forecast to 55 per cent, up 7 per cent from previous season. Global cotton consumption may also see large reduction with the ongoing pandemic.