M&S plans to purchase more high end garments from Bangladesh. Currently the retailer buys garments worth over £1 billion from Bangladesh each year – making it the largest sourcing destination for apparel items for M&S. The company wants to buy more garment items from Bangladesh because of commitments of suppliers and diversification of products. M&S is no longer interested in basic garments.

M&S’ sourcing from Bangladesh has grown 30 per cent year-on-year in the past three years. It has started purchasing diversified garment products from Bangladesh. It helps the factories with technologies, expertise, modern design and banking products so that the factory owners can survive in the business. It also helps its model factories increase their productivity. M&S works with 12 green factories in Bangladesh. Today Bangladesh is no longer just a source of basic garment items. It is also a major source for value-added products like formal dresses, men’s suits, formal blazers.

There is a big change in the garment sector of Bangladesh. Now owners are more proactive about protecting the production environment, where previously they were not. Bangladeshi garment units are now exemplars of factory safety after owners began correcting structural flaws with the help of Accord, Alliance and the government.

The 9th edition of Euratex was held in Belgium, November 9 and 10, 2021. The event brought together over 250 apparel and textile industry professionals, from across Europe and beyond. The theme ‘A new paradigm for the European Textiles & Apparel Industry’, focused on the impact of Covid 19 and the role of the European Union in boosting the competitiveness of the industry. The plenary panel discussion, with representatives from fibers, apparel, luxury brands, and textile machines, confirmed the need to develop a common strategy across the supply chain.

Nine different workshops focused on specific aspects on that EU strategy: how to manage textile waste, the importance of traceability, the impact of the new chemical strategy, the need for new skills, relations with Turkey and the global trade dimension, EU support programs. Each workshop allowed participants to share their perspective and proposals. The convention was also an opportunity to get together again, after nearly two years of virtual dialogue. There was intense networking. With so many topics on the table, so many positive ideas circulating, the convention delivered on its purpose to bring the entire industry together and move forward with confidence. It also gave a boost to Euratex’s work in promoting the European textile and apparel industry. This was held back-to-back with the IAF World Fashion Convention.

Fast Retailing is aiming to increase the proportion of recycled materials to around 50 per cent by 2030. The group is expanding its introduction of materials that place a lower burden on the environment, starting with synthetic fibers such as rayon and nylon. Practical targets include — among others — focusing on zero waste by reducing, replacing, re-using, and recycling materials used in the process of delivering clothes to customers, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2030, cutting store electricity consumption and developing new highly energy-efficient store formats, with an aim to launch a prototype store during 2023. The group will accelerate its transition to a new business model encompassing both sustainability and business growth. The strategy will be underpinned by ethics, diversity, inclusion, carbon-neutrality, zero waste, traceability and transparency.

It will be about everyday clothing, designed to make everyone’s life better — to create apparel that not only emphasizes quality, design, and price, but also meets the definition of good clothing from the standpoint of the environment, people, and society. Fast Retailing will emphasize care for the environment in all processes, from manufacturing to transport and sales, sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste to establish a production process with a light environmental impact.

Only two out of 63 fashion brands and retailers have disclosed a full list of their textile production sites in 2021. This reflects an increase of one from last year, says the sustainable fashion campaign group Fashion Revolution. The report analyzed the supplier disclosures of 63 fashion brands and retailers, including JD Sports, John Lewis and H&M. Only 29 brands have disclosed details of their processing facilities such as dye houses, while only 28, just under half of the brands, have disclosed their production sites, such as fabric mills. In addition, 44 per cent of brands have disclosed production sites. This is an increase of 13 per cent compared with the previous year.

Major brands and retailers have been urged to disclose all textile production facilities in their supply chains. There is a need for transparency beyond the first tier of manufacturing, where millions of hidden workers face labor abuses to make the fabrics in clothes. Although millenninals vouch for sustainable fashion and social change, the eco-friendly factor of a fashion product are often dominated by factors such as price and value. Even though this generation favors sustainable apparel and accessories, the industry is not providing them with sufficient choices that also meet their most important criteria for making a purchase.

Export orders from Europe for garments made in Bangladesh declined by 40 per cent to 45 per cent in June 2020 compared to the previous year. Over half of Bangladesh’s exportable items are sent to the European Union. Europe is Bangladesh’s main export market for readymade garments.

The resurgence of Coronavirus infections in Europe will have a significant impact on Bangladesh’s readymade garment business. The ongoing pandemic spread in major EU markets has Bangladesh worried. After weathering the pandemic last year, the readymade garment sector had begun to receive orders and was back on track. Workers lost earnings from March to May 2020, because to a lack of orders to keep firms afloat. The income of 82 per cent of workers decreased. Workers’ mental health and overall emotional well-being were also harmed, as they worried about the epidemic as well as their financial prospects — paying for their families, feeding them, and caring for their children. The entire workforce fell victim to Covid during the lockdown periods.

Europe has once again become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with many European Union nations recording the highest Covid cases in recent days. Bangladesh is concerned about the current spread of coronavirus in major EU markets. The readymade garment sector had started getting orders and had been on track after overcoming the pandemic last year.

The latest ‘State of Fashion 2022’ report by The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & & Company released yesterday states, global fashion industry is set recover in 2022, with fashion sales surpassing 2019 levels by 3-8 per cent. What’s more, recovery will strongest across China and the US, with Europe lagging behind. The other key highlights of the latest report are : Supply chain pressures will be the main challenge for industry, posing a risk to the pace of recovery with 67 per cent businesses expecting to increase prices next year; Sustainability will remain high fashion’s agenda, with 60 per cent businesses ramping up investment in closed-loop recycling solutions to reduce environmental impact; 32 per cent industry executives identified digital as the biggest opportunity for growth, followed by sustainability (12 per cent).

Key Takeaways

The report done is based on analysis of exclusive interviews with top industry executives and a survey of more than 220 international fashion executives and experts, providing an authoritative view on what lies ahead for the industry.

The report identifies 10 themes:

• Uneven Recovery: Recovery from the pandemic will be uneven across different geographies; those with strong healthcare and economic resilience will outperform their peers. Fashion businesses with international footprints will need to assess local conditions regularly to mitigate risk. It states approximately 4 out of every 5 vaccines distributed globally by September 2021 were in high- and upper-middle income countries.

• Logistics Gridlock: Pressure on global supply chains, rising costs and logistical logjams threaten the industry’s ability to deliver products to customers. Businesses must rethink their sourcing strategies and look to implement new supply chain management to cope with customer demand in the year ahead. Almost 49 per cent of fashion executives signalled supply chain disruptions as the number one theme to impact their business in 2022.

• Domestic Luxuries: International tourism will not fully recover until at least 2023. To compensate for the loss of international shoppers, luxury brands should engage further with domestic consumers to capture a bigger share of the domestic market. 51 per cent of 2019 air traffic flows between Asia and Europe are expected to recover in 2022.

• Wardrobe Reboot: Loungewear and sportswear enjoyed a boom during the pandemic, but as the world begins to open up once again as social restrictions ease, consumers will reallocate wallet share to other categories as they adjust to new lifestyles. 37 per cent of fashion executives expect occasion wear to be a top-three category for year-on-year sales growth.

• Metaverse Mindset: Fashion brands looking to engage with high-value young consumers should explore the potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming and virtual fashion as new routes to community building and commerce. 81 per cent of Gen Z played video games in the past six months, averaging 7.3 hours per week.

• Social Shopping: Fashion players are using social commerce to create seamless shopping experiences from discovery to purchase. Though opportunities vary by market, companies should embrace in-app checkouts and test live streaming, augmented reality and other associated technologies. 37 per cent of fashion executives cited social commerce as one of the top three themes that will impact their business in 2022.

• Circular Textiles: The scaling of closed-loop recycling could help reduce fashion’s environmental impact at the material level. As these technologies mature, businesses will need to embed them into product development and adopt large-scale collection and sorting processes. 60 per cent of fashion executives have already invested or plan to invest in closed-loop recycling next year.

• Product Passports: Brands are increasingly using product passports to share information with consumers and partners to boost transparency, authentication and sustainability. However, businesses must coalesce around common standards and engage with pilot projects at scale. Approximately 2 out of 5 fashion executives plan to adopt product passports in 2022 or have already done so.

• Cyber Resilience: Businesses face more threats of cyber attacks and risks of improper data handling than ever before. Fashion players must urgently improve their defences and invest to make digital security a strategic imperative. 53 per cent fashion executives say it is likely or very likely their company will experience a significant cyber attack in 2022.

• Talent Crunch: Emerging from the pandemic, employees from upper management to the retail front line will be reconsidering their priorities. In order to attract and retain the best talent, companies must create flexible, diverse and fully digitised workplaces. 45 per cent of fashion employees cited “sense of purpose” as one of the most important factors in choosing to remain at their employer.

RSWM is investing close to Rs 350 crores across four plants, covering its prime verticals of denim and yarns. Around Rs 300 crores of the proposed investments are being made this fiscal and 80 per cent of it will be financed through bank loans. The remaining is via internal accrual. The capex will be fully operational by fiscal year 2023. The investments are expected to have a positive impact on the topline. Order books are to the tune of Rs 250 crores a month, going by the current run rates, for the months beginning October to January. This means RSWM will be using up its full capacity for these months.

RSWM is one of India’s largest manufacturers and exporters of synthetic and blended spun yarn. RSWM’s capacity at present is 300 tons a month. Plans are afoot to increase it to 1000 tons over the next 18 to 24 months keeping in mind the rising demand for athleisure offerings. The segment has seen a nearly 30 per cent growth with branded apparel players expanding their portfolio in categories like track pants, active wear and so on. Nearly 30 per cent of RSWM’s total sales volume comes from exports across 78-odd nations.

The coming season looks like a promising one for cotton farmers, with high prices expected to continue through the 2021-22 season, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee. But prices are a double-edged sword. Higher income for farmers is a good thing and it could drive them to increase the global acreage under cotton but those costs are usually passed along the supply chain, which makes cotton less competitive against other fibers. Prices are expected to be volatile through the remainder of the 2021-22 season but it is unlikely they will climb much higher than the current point. While mill use is expected to remain robust throughout 2021-22, global stocks are believed to be sufficient to meet the demand. At the end of the 2020-21 season, global stocks are estimated at 20.35 million tons.

Formed in 1939, the ICAC is an association of cotton producing, consuming and trading countries. It acts as a catalyst for change by helping member countries maintain a healthy world cotton economy, provides transparency to the world cotton market by serving as a clearinghouse for technical information on cotton production and serves as a forum for discussing cotton issues of international significance. In addition, members can take advantage of the ICAC’s global network of cotton researchers.

From January 2021 to September 2021 denim exports from Bangladesh to the US rose 31.40 per cent, making Bangladesh the top denim supplier to the US reveal OTEXA figures. But in the same period prices of Bangladesh-made denim fell 2.46 per cent. While unit prices of denim made in Mexico grew by 1.25 per cent.

China’s dominance as one of the top denim sourcing countries has diminished significantly. Despite the fact that the country offers one of the bottommost unit prices among the top five denim exporting countries, all brands are lowering their reliance on Chinese cotton. And other prominent denim exporters are grabbing this opportunity. An array of suppliers from Vietnam, Pakistan and Cambodia to Egypt, Jordan and Nicaragua, have consistently posted gains. US companies look elsewhere to save costs and reduce risks. They are accelerating the efficient and effective diversification of their manufacturing base.

Meanwhile consumers in the US are more into basic denim rather than high end denim. The US market is embracing denim clothing well in 2021 after falling in 2020 and 2019 on a yearly basis. And prices of denim have drastically gone down. This shows that consumer buying trends have shifted from high end denim to basic jeans and the US is looking for low-cost sourcing countries.

Ghana is making efforts to recover after the Covid pandemic. This includes hiring an additional 38,000 nurses, waiving employee taxes and providing free water and electricity to millions of households. Several policies have been launched in the field of taxation. On main impetus is exemption of VAT on certain textile products. This is expected to increase the profits of business actors and expand their production.

VAT tax was bleeding textile companies. The tax component meant the cost was passed on to the depots, wholesalers, retailers and ultimately customers, who had to pay higher prices. Second, reviewing the reduction in import duty rates on all goods. The goal is that the policy of reducing import duty tariffs that are currently in effect can be more efficient and on target. Third, the reduction of the VAT rate on gold sales from unprocessed miners from three per cent to 1.5 per cent. Fourth, the creation of a property tax administration platform in 2022 with the hope of increasing tax revenue and tax administration accountability. Fifth, the imposition of electronic user fees on all electronic transactions, such as bank transfers and digital payments. The levy rate is 1.75 per cent. These various policies are expected to accelerate the recovery of the national economy.