According to the statistics of CCFGroup, operating rate of spandex downstream mills continues moving up after the National Day holiday, with that of covered yarn plants, warp knitting units, braid mills and circular knitting plants in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong at around 60-90 per cent and that of lace knitting plants in Fujian and circular knitting plants in Foshan, Guangdong at around 50-60 per cent.

Operating rate of fabric mills is higher than anticipation after the National Day holiday. Sales of fabrics are smooth and even hot in some plants. Sound demand pushes up run rate of downstream mills to historic high. Order schedule can continue into H2 Nov in many fabric mills.

Affected by moderate demand since the middle of Q3, supply of spandex exceeded demand before but turned to behind demand at the end of Q3. Price of spandex climbed up mainly supported by surging downstream demand. In addition, ascending cost was another upward momentum.

Operating rate of spandex has been around 90 per cent now, but supply of conventional descriptions remained tight after earlier stocks decreased. Price increment kept increasing in the second half of Sep. Supply of spandex 20D-40D was tight. Stimulated by rising cost and low stocks, mainstream spandex companies such as Huafon, Xinxiang, Tayho, Huahai and Aoshen increased price by around 2,000yuan/mt from Oct 15 amid tight supply and restricted large orders.

Organized by World Textile Information Network (WTiN) and sponsored by RICOH, rhe textile and apparel industry’s pioneering virtual trade show, Innovate Textile & Apparel, features over 160 exhibitors from 26 countries. The show went live on October 15 and will run until 30 October.

The Innovate Textile & Apparel virtual trade show provides an opportunity for companies from across the globe to showcase innovation in manufacturing technology and materials, network and forge new partnerships, while respecting travel bans and safety measures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based around technology and materials, the event features manufacturers of textile technology as diverse as manmade fiber production through to garment assembly and finishing, alongside material producers for apparel, sportswear, personal protective equipment (PPE) through to smart fabrics.

With over 10,500 visitors from 50+ countries, the Innovate Textile & Apparel virtual trade show allows attendees to explore two virtual halls with separate but with interlinking themes: technology and materials. The Technology Hall will showcase technological innovations, textile machinery and software, whereas the Materials Hall will display innovations in fibers, yarns, fabrics and apparel.

Exhibitor’s virtual booths contain everything from videos of machines operating to fabric technical specifications, and booth visitors can make appointments or use a chat option to communicate with exhibitors. The platform allows for lead generation and visitor insight.

Besides a conference and a multitude of seminars, the event also hosts daily roundtable discussions with key industry figures across wide ranging topics from biodegradable materials, PPE, and sustainable finishing to reshoring, localized manufacturing and the digitalization of the textile & apparel value chain.

The event is sponsored by global technology company RICOH. The Innovate Textile & Apparel platform itself was designed and built by WTiN so that a customized, flexible experience can be provided to exhibitors and visitors, along with the best and most reliable technology.

The CMP garment sector in Myanmar has been hit hard by the coronavirus impacts amid the global demand slump, said Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).

The import of CMP raw materials declined to $2.17 billion in the past financial year 2019-2020, from $2.37 billion recorded in the 2018-2019FY, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Myanmar manufacturing sector has mostly concentrated in garment and textiles produced on the Cutting, Making, and Packing basis, and it contributes to the country’s GDP to a certain extent. At present, some CMP garment factories have shut down on the reason for the lack of raw materials due to the COVID-19 negative impacts, leaving thousands of workers unemployed. To deal with the shortage of raw materials for the CMP garment factories in Myanmar, the Ministry of Commerce, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association and the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, the China Enterprise Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar (CECCM) have jointly imported raw materials through border trade channels and airlines. However, import values of raw materials by CMP businesses in the last FY dropped by $197.7 million compared to a year-ago period.

Exports of garments manufactured under the cut-make-pack (CMP) system were valued about $4 billion around the past eleven months in the last financial year 2019-2020, said the Ministry of Commerce.

As per Apparel Resources, Japan’s apparel imports seem to be improving on M-o-M basis post-lockdown as consumers have started stepping out for shopping now. Recently released data stated that Japan has noted a growth of 11.13 per cent in August ’20 over July ’20 and valued 237.24 billion yen (US $ 2.25 billion).

While, as compared to August ’19, the import was still down by 22.39 per cent and that means Japan has only recovered by 77.61 per cent in its import values in August ’20.

As far as quantities are concerned, apparel import was down by 15.15 per cent in August ’20 as against August ’19, while it remained negative by 0.23 per cent as compared to July ’20 data which indicates Japan has spent more amount to import less garments.

In August ’20, unit prices were 488 yen per kg (US $ 4.64) of imported garments and that’s way more than the unit prices of garments imported in YTD period (January-August ’20) – 429 yen per kg (US $ 4.09).

Of total import quantities, the contribution of knitted products was 74.62 per cent, while remaining 25.38 per cent was contributed by woven garments, particularly in August ’20. However, when it comes to values, woven garments’ contributions remain higher at 50.10 per cent than the share of knitted garments which stands at 49.90 per cent.

This clearly implicates that exporters who are shipping woven garments to Japan are getting good prices, while the Japanese market demands basic products when it comes to knitted garments.

As per Apparel Resources, Japan’s apparel imports seem to be improving on M-o-M basis post-lockdown as consumers have started stepping out for shopping now. Recently released data stated that Japan has noted a growth of 11.13 per cent in August ’20 over July ’20 and valued 237.24 billion yen (US $ 2.25 billion).

While, as compared to August ’19, the import was still down by 22.39 per cent and that means Japan has only recovered by 77.61 per cent in its import values in August ’20.

As far as quantities are concerned, apparel import was down by 15.15 per cent in August ’20 as against August ’19, while it remained negative by 0.23 per cent as compared to July ’20 data which indicates Japan has spent more amount to import less garments.

In August ’20, unit prices were 488 yen per kg (US $ 4.64) of imported garments and that’s way more than the unit prices of garments imported in YTD period (January-August ’20) – 429 yen per kg (US $ 4.09).

Of total import quantities, the contribution of knitted products was 74.62 per cent, while remaining 25.38 per cent was contributed by woven garments, particularly in August ’20. However, when it comes to values, woven garments’ contributions remain higher at 50.10 per cent than the share of knitted garments which stands at 49.90 per cent.

This clearly implicates that exporters who are shipping woven garments to Japan are getting good prices, while the Japanese market demands basic products when it comes to knitted garments.

As per Apparel Resources, Japan’s apparel imports seem to be improving on M-o-M basis post-lockdown as consumers have started stepping out for shopping now. Recently released data stated that Japan has noted a growth of 11.13 per cent in August ’20 over July ’20 and valued 237.24 billion yen (US $ 2.25 billion).

While, as compared to August ’19, the import was still down by 22.39 per cent and that means Japan has only recovered by 77.61 per cent in its import values in August ’20.

As far as quantities are concerned, apparel import was down by 15.15 per cent in August ’20 as against August ’19, while it remained negative by 0.23 per cent as compared to July ’20 data which indicates Japan has spent more amount to import less garments.

In August ’20, unit prices were 488 yen per kg (US $ 4.64) of imported garments and that’s way more than the unit prices of garments imported in YTD period (January-August ’20) – 429 yen per kg (US $ 4.09).

Of total import quantities, the contribution of knitted products was 74.62 per cent, while remaining 25.38 per cent was contributed by woven garments, particularly in August ’20. However, when it comes to values, woven garments’ contributions remain higher at 50.10 per cent than the share of knitted garments which stands at 49.90 per cent.

This clearly implicates that exporters who are shipping woven garments to Japan are getting good prices, while the Japanese market demands basic products when it comes to knitted garments.

The Bestseller Group, known from brands as Only, Vila and more, is setting up a 'Fashion FWD Lab' to develop sustainable initiatives and materials. The company is working on leather from fruit waste and circular textiles.

As part of its sustainable 'Fashion FWD Strategy', the Danish fashion group is also launching a lab where it is setting up new sustainability projects in collaboration with innovative companies. In this way, the parent company of Jack & Jones and Vero Moda, among others, wants to give a "visible place" to initiatives around circular materials, a better production process and new business models. The intention is also to inspire other companies.

Recently, Bestseller also announced a large partnership with Spinnova. This Finnish company has developed a new sustainable fibre from wood pulp, which does not contain any chemicals. Spinnova only uses sustainable raw materials, such as wood (waste) with FSC or PEFC labels.

The result of a collaboration with the Swedish company Renewcell will be shown in the collections next spring: Vero Moda, Object and Selected will produce items using recycled material. The so-called Circulose fabric is completely circular and is made from discarded textiles, such as production waste or worn out clothing, which is transformed into new fibres, fabrics and threads.

As stated by OTEXA, brassieres import by the US grew by 7.18 per cent in August ’20 over August ’19 to $186.46 million. Bangladesh’s contribution to this value was $12.82 million and this value is 146 per cent greater than what Bangladesh had exported in August ’19.

Even volumes-wise, Bangladesh recorded 145 per cent growth in August ’20 over August ’19 and shipped 490,505 dozen of brassieres to the US. In YTD period, Bangladesh shipped $76.32 million worth of brassieres to the US, noting 7.92 per cent Y-o-Y growth from the same period of 2019. However, in volume terms, the growth was negative as the country tumbled by 5.12 per cent on yearly note.

These statistics clearly state that Bangladesh, despite shipping less volumes in 2020 than in 2019, has seen positivity in value-wise export all because of a sharp rise of 13.75 per cent in unit prices.

Unit prices of shipped brassieres from Bangladesh valued $25.70 per dozen in January-August ’20 period, while the prices were just $22.59 per dozen in the corresponding period of 2019.

The California Market Center once again used the CMC Uploaded virtual platform to host the CMC’s popular biannual textile-and-fabrics show, LA Textile. During the virtual show, which ran from October 07–09 and was called CMC Uploaded x LA Textile, Matthew Mathiasen, the CMC’s manager of buyer and community relations, conducted interviews with various exhibitors. After each 30-minute talk, titled “Exhibitor Spotlight Sessions,” attendees had opportunities to submit questions to the exhibitors, said Moriah Robinson, the CMC’s event director.

Exhibitors included Japanese companies Hokkoh Co and Shindo. Hokkoh makes prints and solids for men and women, with bright colors informing its looks for the Autumn/Winter 2020 and Spring Summer 2021 seasons. Shindo devoted time in its presentation to its expanded sustainable program, which included trims, tapes and ribbons made out of organic cotton and recycled polyester.

Firms based in the United States included the Los Angeles–based apparel-manufacturing company Fil & Needle as well as the New York City–headquartered Buttonology, which exhibited a selection of buttons including novelty metals and eco-friendly offerings made out of coconut and other sustainable materials.

CMC Uploaded x LA Textile also served as a platform for apparel technology. Ohzone Inc, a Sunnyvale, Calif.–headquartered startup, made its debut earlier this year. Ohzone made a presentation showcasing its 3DREAL proprietary technology. Alison Lewis, the company’s design strategist and new business development, who gave the presentation, explained that Ohzone developed virtual environments that can show photorealistic representations of clothing and exhibit details such as the drape of a garment. The virtual samples can then be distributed to clients and displayed in digital showrooms.

A worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, Kornit Digital has appointed Ilan Elad as the president of its Asia-Pacific (KDAP) division. Based in Tokyo, Elad has served Daimler Trucks Asia since 2013, and most recently he was the vice president of Sales Africa, SAARC, Oceania.

Prior to this, Elad served as the Founder and CEO of Vision India, as well as Regional Managing Director NEU, Ciena.

Elad has successfully spearheaded go-to-market strategy and execution across multiple continents, with a specific focus on Asia and Oceania in the past 12 years, accumulating vast market insights and leadership instincts that will serve Kornit’s commitment to growth and industry leadership in Asia-Pacific territories particularly Japan.

In recent months, Elad has served as a consultant to Kornit Digital in support of several expansion opportunities, allowing him to become acquainted with Kornit’s global business, in addition to giving Kornit full confidence in Elad’s qualifications as an executive leader.