US-based retail technology company First Insight, Inc has released a highly detailed COVID-19 timeline infographic which depicts how consumer sentiment and the retail sector were affected by the spread of the pandemic.

As per Apparel Resources, the infographic was released as a part of First Insight’s ongoing series of consumer studies – “The Impact of Coronavirus on Consumer Purchase Decisions and Behaviors.”

This infographic shows in detail how various external events directly affected the American public’s overall likelihood and interest in returning to normal day-to-day activities, as well as the impact of the pandemic on retail.

According to First Insight, the infographic studies more than 11,000 respondents. The study was launched in February 2020 and the data collected through August 2021, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise due to the delta variant.

The findings are based on the results of US consumer studies of targeted samples of more than 500 or 1,000 respondents per survey, balanced by gender, geography and generation.

Swedish textile innovation brand Coloreel has bagged the prestigious Encouragement for Action award in the category for Fashion Innovation for its ground-breaking instant thread coloring technology for creative and sustainable embroideries.

Established by the Stockholm Fashion District, the award honors companies for their groundbreaking innovations and contribution to a more sustainable fashion industry. Coloreel uses the technology to both preserve the craftsmanship of embroidery and take embroidery to the next level. The unique solution makes previously complicated designs accessible, including gradients, textures and other stunning effects. Using only a single thread and needle means that it also significantly improves quality and efficiency, enabling immediate start up and faster delivery. In short, Coloreel empowers creativity and enhances quality and efficiency, making the ordinary extraordinary. In the future, the technology can also be used for sewing, knitting, weaving , etc.

Coloreel is also part of the movement to reduce waste and move the textile industry towards more sustainable production. By coloring the thread directly, there is no wastewater, hence no water pollution. And, using a single reel of thread and needle also means minimized thread waste and minimized microfiber pollution.

A leading Italian multinational group and a fashion retailer, The Benetton Group has adopted the unified commerce and in-store POS solutions offered by Cegid - a leading French company in cloud management solutions for the retail industry.

As per Apparel Resources, the retailer will use these solutions to support its United Colors of Benetton brands, Undercolors of Benetton and Sisley, in their development,

The collaboration between the two companies began in 2019 with four pilot stores and increased to 29 stores in 2020.

After successfully completing these projects, the Benetton Group has now decided to adopt and deploy Cegid’s solution for its entire network across 1,358 stores located in 23 countries.

The project will digitize the Group’s stores, equip sales staff with efficient tools and enable customers an effortless and state-of-the-art omnichannel in-store shopping experience using cloud platform of Cegid that’s dedicated to unified commerce and points of sale.

Bangladesh's export earnings grew by 14 per cent year-on-year in August this year following a more than 11 per cent slump a month ago.

Riding on apparel shipments, the country raked in $3.38 billion. However, the export earnings are still 8.84 per cent short of the monthly target of $3.71 billion, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

In July and August combined, the earnings declined by 0.31 per cent year-on-year, which was $6.87 billion in the same period last year and it remained 7.84 per cent below the export target of $7.44 billion for the period, said the EPB.

The readymade garment sector recorded an 11.56 per cent growth year-on-year last month with exports worth $2.75 billion, up from $2.46 billion last year. But the apparel sector's shipment slightly decreased by 1.27 per cent year-on-year to $5.64 billion in July and August in 2021.

Mohiuddin Rubel, Director, gladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said the growth in August was the result of shipments that had piled up due to factory closure on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha in July.

On the back of high yarn prices, knitwear exports grew by17.19 per cent growth, while woven garments exports increased by 4.48 per cent rise in August.

Hurt by a slowdown in its slowdown in its online as people shop more at physical stores, American Eagle Outfitters Inc its missed quarterly revenues estimates for Q2FY21. The company’s consolidated revenue from its physical stores increased by 73 per cent from a year earlier in the second quarter ended July 31.

The company's Aerie brand, which sells work-from-home favorites lingerie and lounge wear, posted a 34 per cent rise in revenue to $336 million, while American Eagle label sales jumped 35 per cent to $846 million.

Total net revenue jumped to $1.19 billion from $883.5 million a year earlier, missing analysts' average estimate of $1.23 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.

Major retailers including Target Corp and Gap Inc have reported a slowdown in digital sales in their latest quarterly reports, although they remain higher compared with pre-pandemic levels.

World’s third largest importer of textiles and apparels (T&A), Japan’s imports in the category grew by 1.2 per cent CAGR from $35.37 billion in 2015 to $37.14 billion in 2019. Meanwhile, exports during the four-year period declined 0.3 per cent from $7.84 per cent in 2015 to $7.74 billion in 2019, as per the latest report Wazir Advisors.

Titled ‘Japan-The Key Asian Market of Textile and Apparel,’ under the Global Market Watch section of The Textile Magazine, the report reveals, China is the largest exporter of textiles and apparels to Japan with a 56 per cent share and export value worth $20.7. The second largest exporter is Vietnam with a market share of 14 per cent. It is followed by Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar shares of 4 per cent, 3 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

Apparel dominates Japan’s T&A imports

Apparel dominates Japan’s total T&A imports with 75 per cent share. The second largest imported category by Japan is other textiles encompassing home textiles, other non-cotton and non-MMF based textile materials, cotton textiles, and carpets with a share of 10 per cent, 9 per cent, 4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. Cotton and manmade fibers items like jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, waistcoats, etc dominate Japan T&A imports.

India’s share in Japan’s total textile and apparel imports has remained constant at 1 per cent over the last five years. From 2015-2019, India’s T&A exports to Japan grew by 3 per cent to 0.49 billion in 2019. The most exported category from India is apparels with a 57 per cent share followed by cotton textiles, others, man-made textiles and carpets having a share of 21 per cent, 10 per cent, 7 per cent, and 5 per cent respectively.

New scheme to promote India’s MMF exports

Despite its low population, Japan remains the world’s third largest apparel importer. It has also emerged as a huge apparel market for India with exports of both cotton and MMF-based garments. Currently, India exports only cotton-based jerseys, T-shirts, shirts, jackets and dresses to Japan. However, it also has a huge opportunity to boost MMF exports to the country. The government’s recently launched Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI Scheme) will promote the production and export of MMF-based apparel from India. Alongwith with duty-free access to the Japanese market, the scheme will help catalyze India’s MMF-based garment exports to Japan.

Around 70 brands have signed the new International Accord for Health Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, which came into force this month.

As per a Retail Gazette report, the signatories include British fashion brands such as Asos, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Matalan. The agreement has also been signed by other big retailers such as Zara parent Inditex, H&M, Bestseller, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing.

By signing the agreement with UNI Global Union and IndustriALL Global Union, the retailers have committed to the health and safety work already undertaken in Bangladesh and to the expansion of country-specific health and safety programmes based on the principles of the 2013 and 2018 Accord agreements.

The agreements were created in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza tragedy where more than 1,000 garment workers died after the building collapsed, with hundreds more injured.

The new agreement will be implemented in the Netherlands through the International Accord Foundation.

The International Conference on Cellulose Fibers 2022 is likely to be attended by over 300 visitors and 30 exhibitors. The conference will be held from February 2 to 3, 2022 in Cologne, Germany. As per a TIrade Arabia report, the conference will cover the entire value chain, from lignocellulose, chemical pulp, cellulose fibers such as rayon, viscose, modal or lyocell and new developments in nonwovens such as wet wipes and new areas such as composites or nanocellulose in the food industry.

To be organized by Nova-Institute, the conference will focus on topics such as the impact of plastic bans on single-use products; the avoidance of microplastics and the transformation from fossil to renewable raw materials; the biggest challenges in developing new value chains and growing market demand; which alternative raw materials for cellulose fibers are suitable and available; the latest technology and market trends; the future market dynamic; what ecosystems and partnerships are needed to promote innovation in line with new market requirements; how will the political environment develop in the future; how can the sustainability of cellulose fiber production be further improved and others.

A medium-sized spinning mill in India has installed Uster-Muratec RSO 3D as a part of an expansion project. The installation included 30 compact ring spinning machines with Uster Sentinel, in combination with Muratec QPRO EX/FPRO EX featuring Spin Inspector and Uster Quantum yarn clearers. The customer produces 100 per cent combed cotton yarn, in counts Ne 26 and Ne 32 on these machines. The installation helped it to reduce yarn faults by 10 per cent and yarn alarms by 12 per cent in both counts with RSO 3D. Quality blocks were reduced by a further 7 per cent and finally clearer quality cuts by 8 per cent.

Overall, the spinner was able to reduce total yarn splices by 5 per cent, producing about 5 kg more good yarn per machine per month. By reducing yarn joints on the winding machines, the customer needed less compressed air and thus less electricity for the machine compressor unit. These savings amount to approximately 954 kWh per machine per month. Calculated at about Rs 6 per kWh, this equals Rs 5,724 per machine per month. With 30 machines, it amounts to Rs 2 million annually.

To be held from September 27-October 5, 2021, the Paris Fashion will host around 40 live shows. The event will feature 92 fashion houses including Paul Smith and Raf Simons return. A number of brands will organize physical shows and events during the fashion week, indicates the provisional calendar of the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. The nine-day season commences with LVMH Prize finalist Kenneth Ize, the exciting new Austro-Nigerian designer, and end with a unique celebration to the late Albert Elbaz, in a show by his fledgling fashion house AZ Factory.

Major global brands such as Christian Dior, Balmain, Hermes, Balenciaga, Givenchy, Chanel, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton will stage live shows, albeit before reduced audiences. Around 32 brands will hold physical presentations with mixes of videos, still life and live models in by-invitation-only spaces. All digital events will be broadcast on the Federation’s official platform, which was radically updated and modernized in the past several years.

Young designer Roches of Charles de Vilmorin will present his couture collection while Founding Designer Ann Demeulemeester will launch her first collection since the 2020 acquisition of her house by Italian fashion entrepreneur Claudio Antonioli.