Puma has developed an experimental version of its most iconic sneaker, the Suede, to test for a product to make it biodegradable. The Re:Suede, which uses latest technology, will be made from more sustainable materials such as Zeology tanned suede, biodegradable TPE and hemp fibers. The experiment is a pilot in circularity. Designed to help address the challenge of waste management in the footwear industry, Re:Suede experiment will allow Puma to take more responsibility when it comes to tackling the after life of its products.

The pilot will launch in January 2022. Participants will wear Re:Suede for six months to test the durability of product using biodegradable materials in real life, before sending them back to Puma via a takeback infrastructure, designed to move the products to the next step in the experiment. The sneakers will then be subject to an industrial biodegradation process in a controlled environment. The findings will help Puma assess the biodegradable process and unpick essential research and development for the future of sustainable shoe consumption.

Re:Suede is the first circular program to launch under Puma’s Circular Lab – a new innovation hub, which is led by Puma’s sustainability and design experts who work to develop the future of the company’s circularity programs.

The notion that cotton is a water guzzler is a myth reveals denim and cotton industry groups Transformers Foundation and ICAC. They say figures like “it requires 20,000 liters of water to make a T-shirt” are not true. According to ICAC, cotton uses around 1,931 liters of irrigation water to produce one kg of lint, which is about what is needed for one T-shirt.

Another myth that the groups debunk is the idea that cotton is a direct contributor to water stress, and is an inherently water-thirsty crop. They say though cotton grown in many water-stressed regions can contribute to water management challenges, cotton is a drought-tolerant plant adapted to arid regions and that it is not a proportionally high consumer of irrigation water (blue water) compared to many other crops.

Other factors that play into water stress include the lack of water-saving technologies and local water availability. They say the relationship between farming, cotton, and sustainable water management is complex and that calling cotton water-thirsty is misleading and can lead consumers to demonize a crop or a fiber rather than open up a conversation about water stewardship and sustainability in the cotton sector. Their suggestion is brands and companies across the fashion supply chain should offer better reporting, monitoring and data on their environmental practices.

India targets a fivefold increase in export of technical textiles in the next three years. There will be production-linked incentives for the textile sector including affordable infrastructure for manufacturing like cheap land and power and alignment with the best standards in textile manufacturing.

Growth of technical textiles in India has gained momentum in the past five years, growing at an eight per cent per annum. The aim is to hasten this growth to 15 to 20 per cent over the next five years. The growth will be directed toward high technology and indigenously innovated products. With these objectives in mind, the National Technical Textiles Mission was launched in February 2020, with a view to making India a self-reliant, vibrant, export-oriented economy. In January 2019, for the first time in India, 207 HSN Codes were issued for technical textiles, and in less than two years India turned a net exporter in technical textiles.

Technical textiles are textiles that are engineered to give the desired output suitable for specific applications. The basic raw materials are natural fibers like jute, silk and cotton. India has an eight per cent share in this market. The biggest players are the US, western Europe, China and Japan.

Fashion brands use a significant amount of fossil fuel like oil to create synthetic materials such as polyester, says Changing Markets Foundation. Each year, production of synthetic fibers, such as polyester, produces the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 180 coal power plants and this is set to nearly double by 2030. Synthetic fibers represent over two-thirds of all materials used in textiles. This amount is expected to reach nearly three-quarters by 2030.

Cheap synthetic fibers have become the most significant driver of fast fashion’s overproduction and overconsumption. Polyester – fast fashion’s preferred fiber – is half the price of cotton and its use has more than doubled since 2000. As production has boomed, the average person now buys 60 per cent more clothing items than 15 years ago and almost as much clothing produced every year is thrown away.

Heavy use of plastic fibers has also seen an exponential rise in invisible microfibers, which are damaging to human and environmental health. Airborne microplastics from synthetic clothes get into the human body, becoming engulfed by immune cells, which can cause significant inflammation.

Jeanologia has developed an innovation laboratory to transform physical stores into digital and sustainable experience centers for consumers. The company has worked with top brands and retailers in a new in-store model focused on eco-efficiency, personalization, and digitalization. Consumers are at the center as participants in the sustainable finishing of their garments.

Jeanologia has two success cases developed using its technology to bring to retail the experience of real-time personalization in front of the consumer. A Levi’s Haus store in Miami is an example of the future of garment finishing that demonstrates the next level of personalization powered by Jeanologia’s laser. The consumer can customize every detail of the garment. Levi’s Haus in Miami has marked a retail milestone, bringing together jean design and production physically in-store with the fun of the in-person experience for the consumer.

Another Jeanologia case study is Bershka’s flagship store in Italy, transforming it into a digital denim customization laboratory. Consumers can have an unique experience in real-time, designing their own garments in a quick and sustainable way with laser technology, in only 45 minutes and being present during the whole live process.

For Jeanologia, the three pillars for the future of retail are consumer experience, sustainability, and the omnichannel that connects the physical world with the digital.

MarediModa will be held in Cannes from November 9 to 11, 2021. The event focusing on beachwear, underwear and athleisure will have a 100 European companies presenting their fabric and accessory collections for summer 2023.

Visitors will receive free access to the exclusive spring/summer 2023 trend book. This is a unique and indispensable online tool available in ebook format. The goal of this project is to provide a quality tool that can spark creativity, gain access to new visions and accompany the creative process till its end starting from a social background up to the fashion themes to come.

MarediModa makes its trend book available to creative talents worldwide as a source of inspiration and a true sextant for designing a beachwear, underwear or athleisure collection featured by explorations into the closest territories and identified by cross-contaminations.

Lycra is the event partner. The commitment of Lycra to key issues such as innovation, sustainability and traceability of the supply chain will be highlighted.

Finland has opened a textile recycling center with a capacity of processing about 12 million kg of textile annually, or roughly 10 per cent of the country’s cloth material waste. The facility, set up jointly by textile recycling company Rester and waste firm LSJH, is the first in Nordics that will turn waste textile materials into recycled fibres on a large scale. A commercially-viable solution of recycling and processing industrial and household textile waste into raw materials has been developed. The recycled and processed textile fiber can be used to make new cloth products.

Finland throws out about 100 million kgs of textile waste every year, and the material has remained a poorly-recycled resource. There are plans to build similar plants across Finland. It will become mandatory to sort textile waste in Finland in 2023, and a similar change is planned across the EU in 2025. Manufacturers are increasingly interested in using recycled fibers, due to growing concern for the environment and tightening regulations in the EU.

Finland has created significant expertise in textile recycling as well as a wide network of cooperation. They will help in finding sustainable textile solutions in line with the recycling and circular economy goals of Finland and the EU. However, sorting technologies must also be developed to ensure sufficient volume and quality of material for industrial recycling processes.

Superdry has recorded an encouraging start to AW21, helping it to make continued gross margin gains.

As per a Fashion Network report, the company’s revenues in the first half of the year (H1) declined by 2.4per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The revenues declined by 25.3 per cent compared to the same period two years ago (2Y-o-Y). In the most recent eight weeks, the fall was 8.8 per cent on a one-year basis.

The company’s store revenues increased by 21.7 per cent Y-o-Y, but declined by 34.5 per cent 2 Y-o-Y. Online revenue declined by 30 per cent on a one-year basis as consumers gravitated back to physical shopping. However, online revenue rose by 7.6 per cent 2Y-o-Y. And wholesale revenue increased by 1.2 per cent Y-o-Y, but declined by 28.3 per cent 2Y-o-Y.

In the most recent eight-week period, revenue through stores rose by 2.5 per cent Y-o-Y but fell 28.6 per cent 2Y-o-Y. Online revenue declined by 20 per cent Y-o-Y but rose by 6.6 per cent 2Y-o-Y.

The company explained its recent performance further saying the improvement in trading in its retail channels across the eight-week period has been encouraging, as it launched the AW21 collection. The full-price performance seen through the Summer has translated into stronger overall performance going into the peak Autumn months. Its core categories are resonating well, with AW21 jackets particularly strong.

Turkey recorded a 25.72 per cent year-on-year rise in apparel exports in the first three quarters of 2021, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute and the country's ministry of trade. In January-September 2021, Turkey exported apparel worth $13.364 billion, compared to exports of $10.630 billion during the corresponding period of 2020.

Category-wise, exports of knitted and crocheted clothing and accessories increased by 35 per cent to $7.792 billion during the first nine months of the current year compared to $5.770 billion earned during the same period of the previous year.

Exports of non-knitted apparel and accessories increased by 14.7 per cent to $5.572 billion compared to $4.859 billion exports made in January-September 2020.

Among non-apparels, exports of carpets, mats matting and tapestries shot up by 34 per cent to $2.385 billion, during the period under discussion.

Exports of old clothing and other textile articles and rags (HS chapter 63) also grew by 19.7 per cent to $2.109 billion during January-September 2021. Meanwhile, Turkey's imports of cotton, cotton yarn and cotton textiles (HS chapter 52) increased substantially by 34.2 per cent to $2.553 billion.

Pangaia, a brand known for its sustainable sweats and outerwear, has introduced an innovative way to reduce waste, As per a Glossy report, the brand aims to ensure that every pair of jeans in itsmonth-old denim line is the perfect fit. On November 11, the brand will launch a new collaboration with custom denim brand Unspun. As part of the collaboration, Pangaia will become the first brand to use Unspun’s new mobile app, which lets customers take a 10-second 3D scan of their body using their phone. Doing so generates a cut pattern for a pair of jeans perfectly fitted to their body.

According to Joanthan Cheung, Denim Designer, Pangaia, the partnership aims to efficiently create jeans that can fit any size or shape. It eliminates the guessing game of producing cuts ahead of orders being placed, which inevitably leads to waste and excess materials used.

The new tech is debuting alongside Pangaia’s second denim launch. The first Pangaia denim, which debuted in October, was made from nettle, while this one is made from hemp. Unspun’s own brand of jeans and Pangaia’s jeans are priced similarly, around $200, which will remain unchanged for this collaboration.

Beth Esponnette, Co-founder, Unspun, adds, the company only wants to partner with brands that share its core values around sizing, like Universal Standard. Its combination of ethical values and focus on how technology can improve fashion is a near-perfect match.