The value of Vietnam’s textile and garment exports in the first nine months of 2022 was up 21 per cent over the same period last year.

To achieve the result, textile and garment enterprises made great efforts to cope with the challenges of the market. They did not depend on the five traditional export markets, the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China, but also expanded exports to Russia and some other countries.In Europe, they not only focused on a few large export markets such as Germany, France, Spain and the UK, as in the past, but also expanded exports to other countries in the EU.

They promoted the production of knitwear products for export instead of making only traditional products such as jeans, khakis or T- shirts. Among textile and garment exporting countries in the world, Vietnam had the earliest opening-up policy for normal operation after the Covid pandemic.

Therefore, in the first six months of the year, Vietnam’s textile and garment industry had a large number of orders and good business results. Prospects for the industry are bright because export tariffs on some kinds of Vietnamese textile and garment products to the EU will be reduced thanks to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

From July 2022 to August 2022, Bangladesh’s garment exports to India grew by 99 percent.

India is now the fastest growing market for Bangladesh’s readymade garments. In the last financial year Bangladesh’s garment exports to India grew by 70 percent.

Exporting to India has many advantages. To Bangladesh, as of now, the nearest and biggest market is the Indian market. The population of India is massive and if Bangladesh can tap into this market and sell products a lot of its losses will be covered. Trade with India as a neighboring country has lower transport costs. Bangladesh is now working on manmade fibers or artificial fibers. India is very strong in manmade fiber and Bangladesh imports most of the raw materials and manmade fibers from India.

Bangladesh has gradually started to come out from traditional export destinations. The main markets for garment exports from Bangladesh are mainly western countries. But Bangladesh’s apparel exports to India are far ahead of exports to western countries. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the export growth in Canada was 17 percent, Japan was 16 percent, Australia was 14 percent, Europe was 12 percent, and the US was five per cent. But exports to neighboring India grew by more than 66 percent.

The athleisure market is growing at nine per cent a year.

North America dominates the global market. Customers in North America indulge in fitness/sports activities, which is driving the demand for athleisure in the region. Moreover, the increasing presence of international and domestic brands, and the rising disposable income of people, coupled with the desire to adopt improved lifestyles, is bolstering the demand for athleisure in the region.

Asia Pacific holds the second-largest share of the global market, which can be ascribed to the growing popularity of trendy sports gear, including athletic sportswear and footwear, across millennials in the region.

The footwear segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the athleisure market. Footwear has become an integral part of sports and fitness activities of people. Consumers are increasingly demanding footwear with different styles and designs that can be used for gyms and fitness activities as well as for outdoor events.

Indians are being drawn to athleisure outfits in larger numbers every year.Brands are offering a mix of functionality and fashion in their products to catch the attention of new consumers.This is due to the rise of the athleisure trend.The millennial generation has become both health conscious and fashion forward. They sport stylish athleisure while wanting to look good and feel comfortable in what they wear.

Albania’s exports in September 2022 were up by 16 per cent year on year.

The biggest contributor to the annual rise in exports was the textiles and footwear sector. Exports from Albania’s large textiles and footwear sector grew strongly, pushing up total exports by 5.8 percentage points.

Albania’s strength in this area dates back to the communist era, when textile production and garment manufacturing was one of the most important sectors of the economy. It developed later thanks to Albania’s low costs and its proximity to Italy, one of the world’s fashion capitals. However, the sector was badly hit by the pandemic and is only now recovering.This also contributed to the 16 per cent year on year increase in exports to Italy.Typically, clothes and shoes are exported almost complete from Albania to Italy, where Italian workers add the final touches and packaging, allowing the products to go out to the shops with the prestigious Made in Italy label.

Another major contributor to the overall increase in exports was mineral, fuels and electricity, which added 5.2 percentage points followed by machinery, equipment and spare parts (three percentage points).However, exports in some segments decreased, with a fall in exports of construction materials and metals dragging down total growth by 1.3 percentage points.

Nohltaced is the indication of reverse of Decathlon. The brand is promoting reverse shopping in Belgium. As a buyback, customers can resell old or unused sporting goods to Decathlon, for repair and resell under warranty.

Already, Decathlon has purchased back 26,000 items during a test phase earlier this year. The goal of this campaign is to reuse as much equipment as possible by reducing its environmental impact.

The brand feels the classic consumption pattern has to change and involve buying fewer new products and reselling, repairing or renting older material.The French sporting goods retailer is present in 69 countries around the world including the United States, Algeria, Vietnam, Malta, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine, and the target is to reduce by 2026 carbon dioxide emissions per product sold by 40 per cent for all its sports categories. Decathlon wants to achieve these targets by a number of sustainable strategies, including using 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2026 in its stores and warehouses.

In addition, all of Decathlon’s new products will be eco-designed and Decathlon is also striving towards using just one per cent air freight for its transportation needs and reducing the impact of other means of transport, such as through maritime or road. The aim is to grow sustainably and make sure everyone can play sports in an environmentally conscious way.

GoodWeave has added Siddharth Kara and Jacqueline Joudo Larsen to its board of directors.

This is part of the organization’s ongoing effort to ensure a balanced and diverse group of stakeholders participate in decision-making forums that influence GoodWeave’s work.

Kara is a leading researcher and activist on modern slavery and child labor, and the author of several books. Joudo Larsen is deputy director and head of global research at Walk Free, an international human rights organization working to end modern slavery, and a co-author of several editions of the Global Slavery Index.They are expected to help GoodWeave strengthen its impact on human rights, gender equality and wages, among other pressing issues.

GoodWeave, a nonprofit founded in 1994, works at stopping child labor in global supply chains through a market-based system and holistic approach. GoodWeave partners with companies and local producer communities to bring visibility to hidden supply chains, protect workers’ rights, provide assurance that no child, forced or bonded labor has been used in the making of carpet, home textile and apparel products. The GoodWeave certification label can be found on rug and home textile products. Standards Committee members represent a cross section of stakeholders including nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations and industry representatives.

Fabrics constituted 78 per cent of the total textile exports of China during the first half of 2022.

China is the world’s largest textile exporter. Numerous small garment-exporting countries are dependent on China for upstream products.China prefers exporting value-added products. The country’s yarn exports in the relevant period were 17 per cent of its total textile exports. And its fiber exports were a mere 4.03 per cent of its total textile exports. China’s exports of manmade textile products in the first half of 2022 were 64 per cent of its total textile exports.

This shows the dominance of China in the manmade textile industry. Manmade textiles mainly comprise polyester, viscose, and acrylic products.China’s cotton textiles exports were 21 per cent in the period under review. Exports of textiles made from wool and animal hair were two per cent, silk one per cent, flax 0.82 per cent, true hemp 0.01 per cent and others at nine per cent.

China’s garment and accessory exports during January 2022 to August 2022 grew by 11 per cent. In the same period the country’s textile exports grew by ten per cent.

The EU countries, the US, Japan and Asean countries are still the major destinations for China’s textile and apparel exports.

India’s cotton production in the 2022/2023 season is likely to be up 12 per cent from a year ago.

One reason is that farmers have expanded the crop area. The rise in output in the world’s biggest producer of cotton could weigh on global prices that have corrected sharply after rising earlier this year to their highest in a decade.

The cotton crop area has increased by around ten per cent. India started the new season with carry forward stocks of 3.19 million bales, down from last year's 7.18 million bales. The country’s cotton consumption, which was affected by lower stocks and higher prices, could improve to 32 million bales in the new season from 31.8 million bales a year ago. Exports could fall to 3.5 million bales in the new season from 4.3 million bales a year ago.

India faces challenges in cotton yields though perhectare yields are likely to rise this year. While the yield in India is at 460 kg per hectare, it is at about 1,850 kg per hectare in China, Brazil and Turkey. Initiatives under consideration in India include promoting high density planting, drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, inter-cropping.

Globally, farmers are working on artificial intelligence-based technology to improve productivity and spraying operations since the cotton crop is more sensitive to pest attacks.

Inditex may leave Russia and hand over its Russian assets to partners in some other country.

So Massimo Dutti, Oysho and Zara Home will leave the Russian market altogether, while the rest of the brands, including Zara, will open under new names and with new collections no earlier than spring 2023.

Days after the war began, Inditex decided to close its 502 shops in Russia, its second largest market after Spain, with more than 9,000 employees, and to suspend online sales in the country as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Of the 502 stores, 86 were Zara shops.Russia accounts for around eight per cent of the group's global net operating income.

In the first half of 2022 Inditex’s sales rose by 24 per cent. Store and online sales were up 11 percent year-on-year.Profits were up 41 percent and gross margin was up 57 percent, marking the strongest first half in seven years. Inditex has a nunique fashion proposition, an increasingly optimized shopping experience for customers and a focus on sustainability. In the face of possible supply chain tensions entering into the second half of the year, Inditex accelerated the current-season inventory flow.

Sri Lanka’s apparel exports in September 2022 were up by four per cent compared to September 2021.

This year on year growth was the lowest in six months. Prior to September, apparel exports had grown year on year by a high of 39 per cent (June) and a low of 19 per cent (August). In March export growth was flat.

Exports to the US in September 2022 were down by four per cent while shipments to the EU were up by 15 per cent. Exports to the UK were up three per cent and other markets up 13 per cent. Apparel exports in the first nine months of 2022 were up 18 per cent year on year.

Despite impressive exports so far in 2022 the industry envisages a 30 per cent decline in the remainder of the year. This is because the economic downturn is impacting future orders from the US and EU while the war in Ukraine has pushed up logistics and energy costs. The US, EU and the UK comprise about 86 per cent of Sri Lanka’s total apparel exports.

For the period of January 2022 to August 2022, merchandise exports increased by 12 per cent. Apparel and textile exports increased by 19 per cent.