The final calendar published by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, shows that 16 brands are scheduled to stage physical events at the upcoming Paris Couture Week with Dior and Chanel holding two separate shows.

Valentino, which showcased its collection in Italy and online during the last three season also returned to the fashion week. Other brands that will participate in the event include Azzaro Couture, Alexis Mabille, Stéphane Rolland, JulienFournié, AlexandreVauthier, Viktor & Rolf, Elie Saab, Yuima Nakazato, ImaneAyissi and Yanina Couture. In addition, there are seven physical presentations and six digital-only shows.

Gaultier’s show will feature a collection designed by Glenn Martens. The Belgian designer behind Paris-based Y/Project, and also the creative director of Diesel, follows Sacai’sChitose Abe as the house’s second guest couturier.

The Paris Couture Week will make a return from January 24 to 27 ever since Giorgio Armani cancelled his privehalte couture spring 2022 show due to the surge in COVID-19 infections in Europe.

French AIDS charity Sidaction subsequently postponed its fundraising gala to July 7, and it is understood that most events have been called off.

GiambattistaValli has opted for a digital presentation that is scheduled to go live at 7:30 p.m. Paris time on Jan. 17, the eve of Men’s Fashion Week. The shows will comply with reinforced safety protocols. In addition to travel restrictions, which are regularly updated, the French government plans to upgrade its existing health pass to a vaccination pass on Jan. 15.

Timberland has launched Timberloop- its product take-back program. The” policy encourages customers across the US to return any Timberland apparel, footwear or accessories to give them a new life.

Through this program, Timberland aims to refurbish a few of its products and sell them on a resale site later in 2022. It will also disassemble other used products and reuse a few of their parts. The program will include markets in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region later this year.

As a financial sweetener to encourage the brand’s customers to participate in this circularity program, customers who participate in the Timberloop plan will score 10 percent off their next purchase.

Susie Mulder, Global Brand President, says the program is a huge step as it work towards its vision of a more equitable and green future.

Timberland has also furthered its investments in regenerative agriculture while striving to ensure social impact can occur across its global supply chain in nations such as Haiti.

To be held from February 06-09, 2022 in Birmingham, UK’s most diverse, vibrant, and exciting wholesale marketplace for home, gift, and fashion, Spring Fair has extended the deadline for its sought-after Little Black Book packed full of information and the 1000’s of exhibitors set to showcase new products.

Featuring a handy map at the front of book giving a bird’s eye view of the show’s layout, the Little Black Book comprises an A-Z listing of all the showcasing brands, and all the new additions for 2022. It will also list all the product ares including the Moda Catwalk, The Club lounge and Curated Meetings, the Inspiring Retail Stage, the heads up on the new Power of One pledges, and the Sustainability, Made in Britain, and Garden Gift & Home Product Trails.

A host of retailers including John Lewis, TJX Europe, McElhinney’s Department Store, Goody2Shoes, GASP, Boardwalk, Gormley, Applause Store Merchandise, Denby Retail, Paper Tiger, Riley's Garden Centre, Bedding Heave, Burton Blake, By Nina, Draycott& Charles Interiors, Evie&me Interiors, Farm & Garden Supplies, Four Seasons Trading Four Sisters, Fragonito, Frankly, Fy!, Freitaslaf Net LTD, Geek Retreat Newcastle, Kings Road Company, Luxury Gift in a Box, M.E.G. Cards and Gifts, Midcounties Coop Food, Mix.co.uk, SapproUK Limited, Silverstone Interactive Museum, Vh Cosmetics, Yorkshire Willow, WallacesHomevalue& Garden Centre, etc have already registered to visit Spring Fair

Boosted by a demand from apparel producers Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Europe and the United States, Thailand’s textile exports are expected to grow by 15 per cent.

However a shortage of workers in the Thai Sewing and textile factory has led to a surge in Cambodian migrant workers retuning to Thailand in search of employment.

Cambodia does not have a textile industry to support the garment sector. This has boosted textile exports from neighboring Thailand that are skyrocketing and are expected to grow by 15 per cent. Thai textile exports were also boosted by demand from other apparel producers such as Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Europe and the United States, as well as eco-friendly product trends.

YuttanaSilksarnvitch, Chairman, Thai Garment Manufacturers Association, said major brands are ordering products made from recycled textiles, organic cotton and other eco-friendly materials.

Nike has topped the list of most valuable apparel brand across the globe in 2021. The company achieved a $30.44 billion valuation in 2021It made more than $44 billion in sales. It trounced other brands by a mile in getting to this spot.

The list was formulated by FinancePR.com which said, Nike’s North American business is said to be the most lucrative one. The region contributed over $17 billion of the firm’s 2021 revenues. Again, the US market is its most significant one, accounting for about 40 per cent of its global earnings.

Moreover, Nike generates income from three significant segments. These are the apparel, footwear, and equipment segments, of which the footwear segment is the largest and most profitable of them all. It earned the company about $28 billion from sales in 2021.

Nike trounced other reputable brands by a mile in getting to that spot. For instance, the second-placed brand GUCCI attained a valuation of about $16 billion. Louis Vuitton came in third at about $15 billion. Nike’s closest competitor in the sports segment, Adidas, closed at slightly above $14 billion.

VF Corporation has appointed Nicole Otto to the position of Global Brand President, The North Face®. Otto joins VF following a successful 16-year career at Nike and will succeed Steve Murray, who is retiring and returning to the UK. The leadership transition will be effective June 2022. Otto will report to VF Chairman, President and CEO, Steve Rendle, and serve on VF’s Executive Leadership Team.

Otto most recently served as Vice President of Nike Direct North America from 2018 through May 2021. In this role, she oversaw Nike’s digital experiences and full fleet of inline and factory stores throughout the North America region. Otto was responsible for integrating the company’s physical and digital retail ecosystem to deliver online-to-offline services and experiences that forge deep connections with consumers. Under her leadership, Nike launched new flagship and Nike Live experiences in New York City and Los Angeles and began its expansion of owned retail across the U.S.

Otto’s appointment is part of VF’s succession plan in response to Steve Murray’s planned retirement this year. Murray was appointed Global Brand President, The North Face®, in September 2020. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Group President for VF’s Americas Region and earlier as President of VF’s Action Sports Coalition and Global Brand President of Vans®.

Colorado-based footwear maker Crocs Inc has raised economic outlook for 2021. The company’s expects revenues, to grow by 67 percent during the year as compared to the earlier estimate of 65 per cent on account of 42 per cent surge in Q4 sales.

As per a Fashion Network report, Crocs’ revenues grew by 77.2 per cent to 1.7 billion in revenues compared to $974.4 million in the same nine-month period in the previous year. The company expects its full year revenues to reach $2.31 billion compared with $1.38 billion in 2020.

Last month, Crocs also purchased privately owned Italian footwear label Heydude for $2.5 billion. Through this acquisition, the company aims to achieve $5 billion in revenues by 2026,

In 2022, excluding Heydude, it expects revenues to grow by 20 percent compared to 2021. Meanwhile, its full year pro forma revenues for Heydude are expected to be approximately $700 to $750 million.

Last year, Crocs revealed a five-year growth framework to achieve revenues of $5 billion by 2026, including a focus on digital expansion, growth in the Asia market, innovation in product and more.

The 33rd Technological Conference held by the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) in Coimbatore, emphasized on the need to grow the textile industry beyond its established strengths such as spinning and knitting.

Dr. Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman, Council of Administration of SITRA urged the industry to actively participate in the research institute’s project. He called for collaborative efforts in all areas of textiles such as home textiles, made-up garments, etc.

Excellence in cotton R & D has to be translated into value-added textiles, added Dr S. K. Sundararaman, Vice-Chairman, SIMA.

Dr. PrakashVasudevan, Director, SITRA urged for greater interaction of industry personnel with other institutes to translate technologies to commercial scale.

Industry-academia participation is vital in moving the textiles sector to the next level. In this aspect, a collaboration between this scribe and Aruppukottai-based Jayalakshmi Textiles, 73,000 spindles cotton spinning mill has resulted in a sustainable industrial textile product. Texas Tech University has been collaborating with this textile mill in developing value-added cotton products that have applications beyond the regular fiber to fashion supply chair. Translation of research to reality is need of the hour. Such technological conferences provide much needed support to grow the industry.

Italian luxury footwear brand Aquazzura, has selected the Cegid Retail unified commerce and point-of-sale platform to manage its stores in Italy and worldwide.

To support the business as it continues to grow internationally, Aquazzura will arm sales associates with mobile devices to help customers find the most suitable products and benefit from technology that personalizes service and ranges appropriate for each store, region and country. As part of its digital transformation, stores will also add more omnichannel services such as “Click & Collect”, “Ship from Store”, “Click & Reserve” and “Return in-store”.

The company t chose Cegid because of its international credentials and expertise in luxury retail, as well as the need for regulatory and tax compliance for operating in different countries. Aquazzura is available at over 300 luxury retailers in 58 countries and has own-brand boutiques in Florence, London, New York, Miami, Doha, Dubai, Milan, Rome, São Paulo, Capri and soon in Venice. It preferred the flexibility of a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) cloud-based retail solution with the option of adding multiple features in the future.

Faruque Hassan, President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, has demanded removal of trade barriers in Japan to boost apparel shipments to the East Asian nation.

He expressed willingness to initiate communication between businessmen in Bangladesh and Japan, particularly those who are involved in the fashion industry.

Hassan also sought cooperation from the Japan’s envoy to increase garment exports to the nation. He urged ITO Naoki, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh to encourage Japanese businessmen to make investments in potential sectors in Bangladesh, especially in the non-cotton textile sector.

The Japanese envoy hinted at extending incentive facility to apparel factories inside export processing zones against their exports to new markets.

He also urged Bangladesh to work more for ease of doing of business to attract Japanese investment.

Hassan hoped, Japan would continue providing its cooperation to Bangladesh in its march towards more prosperity.