Barely had the apparel and footwear industry recovered from the pandemic, it was hit by the Ukraine crisis which fuelled production costs and aggravated supply chain issues, weakened consumer spending.

Reshuffle retail space and focus on D2C

Fashion players are making changes and transforming their mode of operations to cope with the new crisis. They are focusing on e-commerce channels and increasing their share of online sales to 30 per cent of global apparel and footwear sales in 2021. However, to strengthen their association with new customers in the digital and physical space, stakeholders need to go beyond conventional sale methods. They need to focus on direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategies besides reinventing their stores.

Investments in virtual space rise

Brands from luxury to high streets are investing in virtual garments and fashion NFTs. They are looking at new digital products as a lockdown-proof way to boost revenues. For example, Nike launched its own virtual Nikeland world within the online game Roblox. The digital space allows customers to buy Nike products for their avatars. Nike has also acquired digital sneaker-maker RTFKT to launch a new virtual sneaker collection. Mass-adoption of virtual avatars is leading to the launch of D2A or Direct-to-Avatar offering collections and accessories for digital doubles and in-game avatars

The dress codes of professionals are also becoming more casual. Customers are not only increasing focus on health and wellness but also seeking new access to parks, nature and wildlife. They are increasing visits to local tourist destinations. All these aspirations are benefitting value driven brands that are stepping up sustainability efforts.

Nearshoring gains traction

Pandemic has prompted the fashion industry to change its social and environmental practices. It exposed the complexity and opaqueness of supply chains burdened with excess inventories and exploitation of workers in Asia. The Ukraine conflict has further added to industry’s woes by worsening inflation rates. Increasing shipping and raw material costs are compelling brands to review their pricing and production strategies.

In these challenging times, nearshoring is gaining popularity amongst brands. Brands like Uniqlo, are exploring production on demand, similar to the Amazon Made For You B2C service. The trend helps limit complexity and dependence. Italian brand Benetton plans to move its production centers closer home. The fashion house has already moved 10 per cent of its output from Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and India to Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. It aims to reduce production in Asia to 50 per cent by 2022-end. German fast-fashion player C&A also aims to increase local production to 400,000 pairs of jeans per year in 2022, and 800,000 pairs in the future.

Meanwhile, brands also seek to reduce their dependence on China with the country’s share in global textile and leather products production declining to 33 per cent by 2030.

Gunner Weigand, Managing Director, European External Action Service (EEAS) says, Bangladesh may soon move from the GSP Plus Scheme to Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme to export Bangladeshi products to the EU. Bangladesh’s current duty-free facility under EBA scheme of the European Union market is set to end in in 2026, as per a Daily Star report. Bangladesh can then be entitled to GSP Plus, provided it meets certain conditions.

Ambassador Jeroen Cooreman, Director General (Bilateral Affairs), Belgian Public Federal Service Foreign Affairs, adds. Belgium follows positive economic development in Bangladesh with keen interest. Meryarne Kitir, Minister of Development Corporation, Belgium will visit Bangladesh this month to mark the 50 years of their establishment of diplomatic relations this year. The two sides will expand cooperation in trade, investment, health and pharmaceuticals, knowledge transfer through academic arrangements, climate change, and many other potential areas of mutual interest in the coming days.

Mahbub Hassan Saleh, Bangladesh Ambassador to Belgium and Head of Mission to EU adds, the five decades-long partnership between Bangladesh and EU has moved to a robust trade partnership with half of Bangladesh’s RMG exports destined to the EU. The partnership continues to grow in areas like trade and investment, education and research, development cooperation, climate change, Rohingya crisis, etc. he adds.

Chemicals major GHCL has completely divested its home textiles business and transferred it to Indo Count Industries for Rs 608.30 crore. The US subsidiary of GHFC, Grace Home Fashions (GHF) has also completed the sale of specified assets (inventory and intellectual property) to Indo Count Global Inc in accordance with the terms of Assets Transfer Agreement (ATA)

The transaction was completed for a total lumpsum consideration of Rs 558.60 crore, subject to validation of customary closing date adjustment of working capital in terms of the agreement. On December 6, 2021, leading soda ash manufacturer GHCL had entered an agreement with Indo Count Industries for divestment of home textiles business on a slump sale basis to Indo Count Industries.

The company also obtained the required approval for the sale from its shareholders, through Postal Ballot dated January 21, 2022.

Woolmark Company’s parent firm, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) has appointed John Roberts new CEO. As per Rag Trader reports, Roberts has already been acting in the role since October 2021 and was appointed through an internal selection process by an executive recruitment firm.

Roberts comes from a wool-producing family at Binalong in Southern NSW and has been employed in a wide range of roles at AWI including managing international offices and as the company’s chief operating officer. He has also worked in private agribusiness companies, as a wool buyer, trader and processor. He has an in-depth knowledge of the industry’s players, says Jock Laurie, Chairman, AWI.

Owned by more than 24,000 Australian woolgrowers, Australian Wool Innovation is a not-for-profit company that invests in R&D and marketing along the global supply chain for Australian wool – from woolgrowers through to retailers. The company's mission is to make strategically targeted investments to: enhance the profitability, international competitiveness and sustainability of the Australian wool industry and increase demand and market access for Australian wool. AWI is the owner of The Woolmark Company and the world-renowned Woolmark logo – the world’s best known textile fibre brand. harethis-inline-share-buttons" style="text-align: center;">`

After a robust expansion over the last decade, Chinese apparel industry is looking for new growth opportunities by adopting a digitized, smart and flexible supply chain. Facilitated by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, trade liberalization has caused labor-intensive processes in China to shift to emerging countries. The country faces several problems such as homogenized and technically low grade products, resulting in a slowdown in GDP and consumption growth. However, e-commerce platforms and a few apparel companies in the country continue to register strong performances, indicates a Women’s Wear Daily report.

JD’ Group reports a rise in revenues

Results released by JD Group earlier this month show, the platform’s net revenue increased 23 per cent year-over-year to 275.9 billion renminbi (about $43.4 billion) in the fourth quarter. Net revenue for 2021 surged 27.6 per cent to 951.6 billion renminbi (about $149.6 billion). The platform saw a strong year, with new Chinese designer and trendy brands and stores as Qinghe cashmere, Putian shoes and boots, Jiangyin thermal underwear and Xiaolan men’s underwear joining it.

Alibaba focuses on overseas markets

JD’s competitor platform, Alibaba’s revenues in the third quarter increased 10 per cent to 242.58 billion renminbi (about $38.1 billion), while net profit declined 75 per cent to 20.43 billion renminbi (about $3.21 billion) Chinese shoppers on Alibaba increased to 979 million by December 31 2021 and the platform hopes to reach its target of 1 billion annual active domestic customers by the end of this fiscal.

Alibaba is also developing its overseas markets, Lu You, General Manager, Apparel Business-Tmall reveals, Tmall had launched a tool called ‘Style Digital,’ to add various tags based on different styles, from preppy to bohemian. The system automatically identifies what style category the product belongs to and classifies it into the corresponding category using algorithms.

Single breakthrough needed

The financial results and strategies of these two leading platforms indicate only small percentage increase in revenues and restricted growth. To achieve significant multiples of growth, the industry needs to find a new breakthrough point. This is particularly evident from the moderate growth of companies like JNBY Cloth, Semir Apparel’s despite strong performances of Erdos, Lilanz, Xtep and other clothing companies.

Erodos’ revenue increased 57.3 per cent to 36.41 billion renminbi (about $5.72 billion) in 2021. Profits increased 280.2 per cent to 9.63 billion renminbi (about $1.51 billion), compared to the pandemic-impacted year of 2020.The revenues of Hong Kong-listed Chinese menswear brand Lilanz also increased by 26.1 per cent to 3.38 billion renminbi (about $531.4 million ) for fiscal 2021. The firm’s sell-out rate increased to 73 per cent from 65 per cent during the fourth quarter. The 35-year-old Chinese menswear company is restructuring products, channels and brands besides transforming its sales model, notes Wang Dongxing, Chairman and Executive Director of Lilanz China.

Product customization for Lilanz

Lilanz’ continues to focus on product customization and design. Its Less Is More collection adopted a self-operated model from the second half of 2020 while about 40 per cent of the main Lilianz collection stores adopted an “agency model” from Spring 2021. This resulted in a reduction of average annual trade receivable turnover days from 101 to 57 days. Manufacturer and distributor of its own as well as foreign activewear and lifestyle brands, Xtep registered a 22.5 per cent increase in revenues to 10.01 billion renminbi (about $1.57 billion) in 2021. The company registered 24.5 per cent growth in revenues for the main Xtep brand during the year.

Several emerging brands such as K-Swiss, Palladium, Saucony and Merrell also reported strong revenue growth in 2021. As per these companies ‘Five-Year Plan’, they aim to achieve revenues of 20 billion renminbi (about $3.14 billion) in future. China’s apparel industry continues to evolve in the context of globalization and amid significant pressures. The sector seeks new growth avenues beyond the traditional low-cost manufacturing model.

Ravi Sam, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), has appreciated Union minister of textiles for boosting India’s textile and clothing exports. “Government’s initiatives like the implementation of GST, RoSCTL, RoDTEP, removal of anti-dumping duty on PTA, MEG, PSF, VSF, Acrylic Fibre, etc, enabled the industry to boost exports by 18 per cent to $39.73 billion in 2021-22,” he says. Measures like One District, One Product (ODOP) and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme also boosted exports at grass root levels, he added. Having exceeded the export target by 25 per cent to record $15.06 billion in 2021-22, the industry now aims to increase exports by 25 per cent to $16.96 billion during the year 2022-23, he added.

India-Australia trade to reach $50 billion in 5 years

Sam appreciated the Ministry for finalizing the Indo-UAE trade and Indo-Australian trade agreements within a short span of time. Such agreements reflect the trust created by India amongst various trade partners such as UK, Canada and other countries. The estimated bilateral trade of $50 billion between the two countries in five years would enable India to import high quality cotton from Australia and export high value added textiles and clothing products to the country.

Duty-free imports to relieve industry woes

He also appreciated allowing duty-free import of around three lakh bales of having staple length 28 mm and above from Australia under the ECTA. Earlier, an industry delegation comprising Members of National Committee on Textiles and Clothing (NCTC) had requested the textile ministry to allow duty-free cotton imports to enhance cotton textile export to $16.963 billion and total textiles and clothing exports by 6 per cent to $47.029 billion during the financial year 2022-23.

Sam said, the move has given a big relief to India at a time when it is facing an acute shortage of quality raw materials and is unable to compete with countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, China, etc. He hoped, the government would soon allow duty-free import of the entire cotton to help boost exports and stabilize prices in cotton knitwear clusters like Tirupur.

Achieving targets for FY2022-23

An Industry Delegation comprising Members of National Committee on Textiles and Clothing (NCTC), also submitted a joint memorandum to Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution to allow duty-free import of cotton to achieve Indian textile and clothing industry’s desired target for fiscal 2022-23. The delegation apprised Goyal about the shortage of quality cotton faced by the industry due to a decline in domestic cotton production during the current cotton season.

Import duty leads to price parity

NCTC delegation said, 11 per cent import duty on cotton is compelling cotton traders to adopt an import parity pricing policy. From January 2022, Indian cotton prices surged by Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg. This is compelling the industry to import high quality extra-long-staple cotton, sustainable cotton, and contamination free cotton.

However, a steep increase in cotton prices and shortage of quality cotton has led to the diversion of export orders from India to Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, and Pakistan. This has led to a decline in India’s share in US bed-linen exports from an average of 55 per cent during 2021 to 44.85 per cent in the month of January 2022, the delegation added.

Drop in capacity utilization

Further, the NCTC delegation pointed out, capacity utilization in MSME segments, including handloom, powerloom, independent knitting, weaving, processing, garmenting and made-up segments has dwindled below 70 per cent as these do not have an access to advance authorization scheme and duty-free import of cotton.

Further the NCTC delegation added, duty-free import of cotton will not affect Indian farmers as it will not exceed 40 lakh bales during the current season. Moreover, it will take around four months’ time for imported cotton to reach textile mills and by then cotton farmers would have already sold their cotton crop for this season.

Designed to increase EU and non-EU companies’ participation in the protection of human rights and environmental standards in the region, the proposed new due diligence rules are also likely to impact Cambodian garment footwear and travel goods sector.

Expected to be approved in a few months, the EU Corporate Sustainability Directive draft will initially affect Cambodia’s garments, footwear, travel goods, bicycles and certain food products exports to the EU, says Tom Hesketh, Deputy Director, EuroCham-the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia. Massimiliano Tropeano, Sustainability and Garment Expert, EuroChams adds, Cambodian garment factories supplying to European brands seem ready for the new rules and hopes, EuroCham’s efforts in collaboration with GIZ will accelerate the passage of these rules.

Hesketh opines, the Cambodian government and brands will encourage these factories to change current practices. Brands themselves will communicate these regulations to the factories they supply to, he adds. The Garment Manufacturing Association in Cambodia (GMAC) will also play an important role in coordinating with these factories.

Boosting sustainable practices

The new strategy will help push Cambodian GFT sector towards new environmentally sustainable practices, believes Tropeano. This will enable some of Cambodia’s biggest industrial sectors to install solar panels on their roofs. It will also reduce the timeframe for return on investment in Cambodia’s GFT sectors to three years against the earlier eight years, making the sector more liberalized, adds Tropeanno.

The Cambodian garment industry also faces issue of recycling its garment waste. Majority of waste collected by Sarom Trading is from the garment industry, adds Tropeano. This huge amount of waste from the industry is filling up landfills. To resolve this issue, the industry needs to take a multipronged approach to the problem. One way is to address this issue of waste by incinerating the Chip Mong plant. Already, GIZ has launched an initiative with major brands and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) to install a Green Machine to recycle this waste. The feasibility report for this project is likely to conclude in a few months, adds Tropeano.

Focus on up skilling laborers

Hesketh hopes, factories will comply with these rules as they shift towards more responsible practices. They will also emphasize on upskilling of laborers to facilitate production of higher-value goods. To boost the growth of value-added sector in Cambodia, it needs to avail the services of the Cambodian Garment Training Institute (CGTI) says, Tropeano. GMAC can use its credit to send employees to the training centre. However, a few members of the association fail to invest time and money in training. This puts them at greater risks of future challenges, he sums up.

As per a Sourcing Journal report, the Kingpins New York show will be organized on July 20-21 at the Basketball City.

New York City has loosened its covid protocols for large-scale events. As of March 7, the city ended required proof of vaccination for restaurants and indoor venues including entertainment venues. Face coverings are also no longer required inside buildings.

Organizers will get their first taste of physical events April 20-21 when Kingpins returns to Amsterdam. The show will be held in a brand-new venue, SugarCity.

Trade shows, in general, are moving forward with plans. Denim Premiere Vision will take place in Berlin May 17-18. Project New York is scheduled to take place alongside Society for International Menswear and the Man/Woman shows July 18-19.

Munich Fabric Start’s View Premium Selection show for June 21-22 is fully booked. Bluezone will take place from August 30-31.

To be held on June 21 – 22, 2022 in Munich's MVG Museum, View Premium Selection will showcase F/W 2023/2024 collections.

As per The Spin Off report, the preview textile trade show will present the latest developments, the first color and material trends and a selected product portfolio in a unique and professional atmosphere.

Around 250 brand-new collections will participate in the areas of Fabrics Additionals, Design Studios, Denim and Sportswear. Exhibitors will come from Germany, Italy and Turkey, along with France, England, Greece, Spain, Denmark, Hong Kong, China and Japan.

Among them there will be Bellandi, Dynamo, E. Miroglio, Lisa Spa, Manteco, Max Müller, Agentur Püttmann, Set and Tejidos Royo. Exhibiting for the first time will be We Nordic, Knopf und Knopf, Le Studio Copenhagen, Thermore and Kipas.

The event will be followed by the Munich Fabric Start and Bluezone shows respectively from August 30-September 01, 22 at the MOC Munich and from August 30-31, ‘22 on the Zenith Area.

The next edition of Kingpins Amsterdam has been planned from April 20-21, 2022 at Sugar City.

As per a Spin Off report, the show will host over 80 exhibitors including Advance Denim, Arvind, Bossa, Calik, Cone Denim, Desert Studio, Evlox-Tavex, Kipas, Kilim Denim, Kurabo, Lenzing, M&J Group, Naveena Denim, Sharabati Denim, Soorty, Tejidos Royo, The Lycra Company, Tonello, Vicunha and Wiser Wash, among others.

The event will include a series of celebrations of special anniversaries. Among others, the German chemical specialist Rudolf Group will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its foundation as protagonist and sponsor of the show’s happy hour.

Other anniversaries include Dystar’s 125th birthday. Tonello will celebrate 40 years of activity focused on processing jeans, while Officina+39 and Lenzing will both blow 30 candles.

By 2023, Kingpins will also host companies from Uzbekistan as the country is on the threshold to become a key supplier of the jeanswear industry soon. It is the seventh-largest cotton producer in the world, at similar crop-size levels of Pakistan and larger than that of Australia and Turkey. The country employs between 2.5 million and three million farmers and produces almost one million metric tons of cotton which is about two billion pounds, or enough for four billion T-shirts or 1.3 billion jeans.

Moreover, Uzbekistan’s spinning capacity now exceeds its cotton production and in 2023, it will begin importing cotton. The country currently has only three denim mills and four jeans factories but more might soon be established.