Various factors including a ban on Chinese cotton by the US, a sudden surge garments orders, additional stocking up by brands and increased exports to Tirupur’s competitors including Vietnam and Bangladesh have led to yarn shortage for garments exporters. However, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) has alleged that mills were withholding yarn supplies impacting the export business. As per Raja M Shanmugam, President, Tirupur Exporters Association, the current decision of mills will certainly impact garment exports and lead to job losses.

However, mills have refuted these allegations. According to Prabhu Dhamodharan, Convenor, Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), the current yarn shortage is mainly a result of sudden inventory buildup by companies across the value chain, both in exports and domestic markets in the textile sector. He views this a temporary phase and urges exporters not to panic on the availability.

P Nataraj, Managing Director, KPR Mills also advises exporters to stop diverting or hoarding cotton yarn.

Struggling UK footwear retailer Clarks’ shareholders has approved its takeover by the private equity firm LionRock Capital. As per Fashion Network, the £100 million deal is the final part of a rescue packaged that hinged on the business securing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). That CVA was approved by the company’s creditors last month and will ensure all Clarks’ 320 stores will survive for now.

The rescue deal is expected to be completed in the New Year. It will see Hong-Kong based LionRock Capital take a controlling stake in the near-two-century family-owned business. The Clark family will remain invested in the business. According to the LionRock, the agreement will enable Clarks to position the business for future long-term sustainable growth and deliver its strategy to revitalize the brand.

The approved CVA will allow 60 of Clarks’ stores to forgo their rent, while rent will be turnover-based at the remaining 260. Earlier in the year, Clarks announced plans to cut around 900 corporate jobs worldwide with over 100 jobs going at the company’s HQ in Somerset, UK. However, the company noted it plans to create around 200 new roles.

As per the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), the 2020-21 cotton season is likely to end by March 2021 due to heavy arrivals in the market as cotton growers fear another lockdown. Reports suggest CCI has procured around 67 lakh bales of cotton till date which is almost double the amount of cotton it procured in the year-ago period. The cotton was procured for Rs 19,048.87 crore.

As the pace of arrivals is fast, farmers do not expect cotton prices to rise further this season, says PK Agrawal, Chairman and Managing Director, CCI. He adds, cotton prices are currently ruling at Rs 6,000 per quintal while the MSP is at Rs 5,825. Moreover, cotton growers faced quality issues this season, especially with the long staple cotton of 30 mm which has compelled them to sell their staples hurriedly.

Delay in rains as well as excessive rains also impacted cotton crop in Telangana, Maharashtra and Saurashtra, Agarwal added. The crop in Maharashtra was hit by the pink bollworm, while heavy unseasonal rains affected the crop in Saurashtra as well as Telangana.

Of all, Telangana farmers sold 21.86 lakh bales to the CCI while Maharashtra farmers sold 10.99 lakh bales. In Gujarat, 38,021 farmers brought 1.92 lakh bales. Overall, 12.66 lakh farmers have sold 65.10 lakh bales to the CCI, for which they were Rs 19,048.87 crore as per the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,825 per quintal.

CCI is in the process of procuring more cotton from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka. However, it may not be in a position to acquire more than 100-120 lakh bales, against the original estimate of 200 lakh bales, because of a poor crop.

The association has retained crop production at 356 lakh bales for 2020-21. It expects cotton exports to fall by about 10 per cent to 54 lakh bales from an earlier projection of 60 lakh bales.

Held on December 22, 2020 in the Shanxi International member centre, the China Textile Innovation annual conference focused on the development of textile fashion. The conference signed 12 projects, with a total investment of more than 100 billion yuan. Shanxi signed a contract to invest 100 billion yuan at the meeting. The Shanxi provincial party committee and government have made great efforts to create a good business environment in recent years. Many domestic textile enterprises have come to Shanxi for investment and development, said Gao Yong, Party Secretary and Secretary General, China Textile Industry Federation.

As a province with large coal resources, Shanxi has unique advantages in developing fiber new material industry. In the past few years, the province has been actively deployed in the fields of coal chemical industry and chemical fiber industry, which has provided a good industrial foundation for the development of high-tech fiber and high-performance fiber industry in Shanxi. It can make a big contribution in building a complete industrial chain of new fiber materials, Yong added.

Sun Ruizhe, President, China Textile Industry Federation, said Shanxi is much more convenient to handle various matters than before. In November this year, the association launched project to develop the data flow ecological park, and give full play to Shanxi's advantages in data flow. Added He Han, General Manager, Shanxi Data Flow Ecological Park Operation and Management Co.

According to he Han, as the first data flow ecological park in China, Shanxi data flow ecological park takes data flow as the production factor, and makes every effort to create the national Internet traffic price depression by implementing the flow subsidy innovation policy. And by attracting all kinds of enterprise groups and entrepreneurial groups that have demand for Internet traffic such as e-commerce services, online education and well-known brands, it promotes the formation of a data flow ecology with intelligent data integration, perfect industrial chain, talent gathering and rich business forms, so as to contribute to the transformation and development of Shanxi Province.

Tipu Munshi, Commerce Minister, Bangladesh has urged India to reconsider anti-dumping and anti-circumvention duties imposed on jute and jute cloth imports from the country and also inform it before imposing an export ban or restrictions on essential commodities. Munshi says, recent notification by India’s Ministry of Finance authorizing customs officials to ask for documents for imports to determine the meeting of value addition criteria and denying preferential duty was creating problems.

However, Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister assured Munshi of taking these steps to address the issue by creation of adequate buffer stocks and increasing the area of cultivation of products such as onion and potatoes. Goyal suggested both governments should set high benchmarks on how to capture a larger global share in the apparel and textile industry. According to him, both governments try to expand textile and apparel exports five times to provide jobs, increase forex reserves and develop both economies.

As per the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), over 1,000 stores were shuttered in New York this year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the largest number of closures recorded by the think tank in the 13 years since it began tracking the figure. There are currently 6,891 chain stores operating across New York’s five boroughs, down 13.3 per cent from 7,948 at the end of 2019. By comparison, the decrease in retail store numbers between 2018 and 2019 was only 3.7 per cent. It is worth noting, however, that 2020 is the first year that CUF has included 160 temporary closures in its count.

Out of the five boroughs, Manhattan saw the biggest number of chain store closures in 2020, accounting for 520 of the total 1,057 closures in the city, or 49%.

Both clothing and accessories stores and beauty destinations have closed 22 per cebt of their locations in New York over the last twelve months. Among the clothing and accessories retailers shuttering their New York locations, BCBG Max Azria permanently closed all six of its stores, as did tween fashion chain Justice, sold to Bluestar Alliance by Ascena in November, as part of the latter’s bankruptcy process.

Other brands that shuttered all of their New York locations in 2020 include New York & Co, which ran 17 stores in the city at the end of 2019, Brooklyn Industries, Lucky Brand Jeans and Motherhood Maternity, while Jimmy Jazz currently lists all 26 of its stores as temporarily closed.

The number of chain beauty stores and salons in New York fell from 148 to 116 in 2020, with a large number of closures contributed by MAC Cosmetics, which cut its fleet in the city from 34 locations to 9.

In 2020, textile brand Tencel expanded its co-branding partnership network with collaborations across segments including innerwear, apparel and footwear. This year brand also shift to direct-to-consumer engagement with the global #FeelsSoRight campaign, created to drive awareness around sustainability and the brands helming this transition.

Tencel also launched a new blockchain-enabled supply chain traceability platform powered by TextileGenesis. Launched in November, this platform ensures complete traceability for all Tencel branded fibres in finished garments, representing a landmark achievement for the industry's journey toward complete sustainability.

Tencel has always sought to protect the environment and is thoroughly committed to ensuring partners can access sustainable, biodegradable and renewable fibres. The brand is determined to keep up the positive momentum for 2021 by continuing to champion greater circularity, reduce carbon emissions, and educate consumers and partners on eco-responsible alternatives.

Tencel has a growing network of environmentally friendly trailblazers, united by the vision for a sustainable future. This year, the Tencel brand collaborated with a range of exciting brands on eco-conscious collections including longstanding partners AGAM Socks, Amour Vert and Allbirds alongside new partners CottonInk and DAGi. As part of the global #FeelsSoRight campaign, the Tencel brand also collaborated with global innerwear brand Jockey and European innerwear brands Nina Von C and Palmers to create bespoke content designed to spread sustainability awareness around the world.

As per a Sourcing Journal report, The Fair Labor Association (FLA) has prohibited the sourcing and production of goods, whether directly or indirectly, from Xinjiang in northwestern China.

The move is a first for the multi-stakeholder initiative, whose affiliates include Adidas, Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing, Gildan, Hanesbrands, Lululemon, Nike, Patagonia and Under Armour.

In March, the FLA’s board of directors urged the Chinese government to end its assault on Uyghur rights. It also asked its affiliates to review their sourcing relationships in Xinjiang, identify alternative sourcing opportunities and develop time-bound plans to “ensure that their sourcing is in line with the FLA’s principles” of improving worker conditions worldwide.

Evdence shows that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities remain subject to horrendous, ongoing human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention and forced labor. Significantly, more than 100 international civil society organizations have joined forces in a call to action to stop forced labor in Xinjiang, an effort we believe is helpful in seeking to address these systemic rights abuses.”

In early December, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a new Withhold Release Order (WRO) on cotton goods from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a paramilitary organization that produces one-third of China’s cotton, employs 12 percent of Xinjiang’s population and generates 17 percent of the region’s gross domestic product.

One of Turkey's major clothing retailers, LC Wakiki, opened its flagship store in Kampala, Uganda.

As per Daily Sabah report, the new store in Uganda is the first of its kind, a high-profile shopping complex in Kampala, and the second in East Africa.

Now a global ambassador for Turkey, LC Waikiki opened its first international store in 2009 and has since expanded rapidly across the world.

The fashion retailer is Europe's fastest-growing urban fashion chain, internationally renowned for offering high-quality apparel at great value.

The Istanbul-based retail chain has over 1,040 stores in 47 countries and employs approximately 47,700 people.

Turkey is strategically located in the midst of Europe and Asia, which allows it to enjoy top quality European products that are sold at cheap Asian prices. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Uganda in 2016, several Turkish businesses have increased their footprint in the African country.

French fashion’s governing body, the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), has unveiled the menswear show calendar for January 2021, and in a major coup the season will include Milan-based Jil Sander, making a French debut.

As per a Fashion Network report, the calendar features 71 fashion houses. Though, as yet, a final decision has not been made by many houses on whether they will stage a live catwalk show; phygital event or classical presentation.

The season, which will feature fall/winter 2021 collections, runs from Tuesday, January 19 to Sunday January 24.

The action kicks off on Tuesday morning with French tailoring powerhouse Berluti and climaxes on Sunday evening with Celine. Jil Sander will open the Sunday morning shows, marking the first time the Hamburg-born, Italian-based and Japanese owned house has come to Paris.

The French season will also boast such powerhouse marques as Louis Vuitton; Dior Men and Hermès along with influential designer brands as Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens, Dries Van Noten, Vetements, Paul Smith, Loewe and Thom Browne.

Out of the total of 71 marques listed on the calendar now published on FHCM website, a total of 41 are listed in bold, indicating that they are considering staging an actual live show or event.

Four noted maisons have also been granted official show status on the calendar: LGN Louis-Gabriel Nouchi; Kolor and Taakk both of Japan; and Wales Bonner from the UK.

A further four debutants with make official presentation debuts. They are Arturo Obegero, Basscoutur and Valette Studio, all from France; and Kidill from Japan.