Hari Krishna Agarwal, Managing Director, Grasim Industries, the flagaship company of Aditya Birla Group has been reappointed on his position with effect from December 1, 2021. Agarwal will replace incumbent Dilip Gaur who has requested for earlier retirement after spending nearly 17 years with the company. Gaur joined the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) in 2004 after spending 24 years at Hindustan Unilever.

A veteran of the Aditya Birla Group, Agarwal has been part of it for nearly four decades. During this period, he has held different roles in cement, chemicals and pulp and fibre businesses before taking on his current role as Business Head, Pulp and Fiber. A Chartered Accountant and an Executive MBA from Sasin, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Agarwal started his career with ABG in 1982 as Management Trainee at Rajashree Cement, a division of Indian Rayon.

Kontoor Brands-owned Lee® Jeans is developing a collection of Crade-to-Cradle (C2C) certified 12-ounce gold and bronze jeans. As per an Apparel Resources report, the jeans offers several high-quality and recyclability features. The collection includes two ranges – the Gold-certified Aureola and the Bronze-certified Nymph, developed by Artistic Milliner. Both styles are 98 per cent GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) organic cotton and 2 per cent lycra component.

Both denim ranges have been certified according to C2C Product Standard (Version 3.1) requirements by the Cradle-to-Cradle Products Innovation Institute. The collection includes three fits, the Luke – a men’s slim tapered, the Daren – a men’s regular straight (sizes 28 to 40) and the Carol – a woman’s straight leg (sizes 24 to 32); with prices ranged from US $ 141 to US $ 153.

The certified products are part of the brand’s For A World That Works (FWTW) platform – an internal destination for sustainable developments and innovations, which was launched in 2020 alongside the brand’s debut denim collection – Indigood Denim that eliminates water from the denim dyeing process.

Cradle-to-Cradle Certified® is a globally recognised measure for safer and more sustainable products made for the circular economy. Product designers, manufacturers and brands around the world rely on the C2C Certified Product Standard to transform pathways for designing and making products, ensuring a positive impact on the people and their planet. The standard encourages continuous improvement by awarding certification based on ascending levels of achievement.

Champion Athleticwear has launched a new initiative titled Champion Renewed in partnership with The Renewal Workshop. As per a Knitting Industry report, the partnership aims to increase the use of responsibly made fabrics and find ways to creatively reuse products to reduce energy use and water consumption during the manufacturing process. Champion’s efforts support its parent company Hanesbrands’ 2025-2030 global sustainability goals.

Champion has already made significant progress in reaching ongoing sustainability goals. It offers classic jersey tees made with 100 per cent US cotton; has introduced two environmentally conscious collections, Natural State and Rally Pro Earth, in 2021; and manufactures “Game Day” sweats using 95 per cent recycled polyester fibers, as well as other Sport category apparel with a significant percentage of recycled polyester fiber.

Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, the Renewal Workshop measures the impact of textile fibers most frequently received, such as cotton, polyester and wool. Using this data, in addition to each garment’s weight, the organization evaluates energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions, and water consumption decreases, for each item that is renewed. It then sorts, grades, thoroughly sanitizes the products using state-of-the-art waterless technology and repairs them to like-new standards. Once inspected and verified to joint quality standards, they are given a Renewal Workshop tag and made available for purchase.

Mumbai-based leading manufacturer of specialty polyester filament yarn, Pioneer Embroideries plans to add 8,000 ton to enhance annual capacity to 26,000 ton. The company will undertake this capacity addition with an investment of Rs 58 crore. Capacity expansion will help the company meet post-COVID increase in demand for these yarns in newer segments such as home textiles and technical textiles.

The new facility will come up on existing factory land and is likely to be operational by FY23. It will enable the company to generate sales revenue of Rs 110 crore through a mix of domestic sales and exports. The current capacity utilization is 95 per cent. The company is focusing on POY-based specialty textile avenues such as flame retardant, automotive, anti-microbial and value-added DTY yarn for non-apparel segments.

A Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has lauded Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles for working towards an early conclusion of FTAs with the UK and the UAE, and for his assurance to resolve concerns of Indian apparel exporters. Sakthivel also thanked Goyal for assuring the government will examine and try to resolve all issues raised by various stakeholders at the meeting organized by the Ministry of Textiles with the theme: ‘Local Goes Global – Make in India for the World’.

He requested the Minister to introduce new policy initiatives like incentivizing value-added exports and disincentivizing exports of raw materials. He also suggested that the CCI should make available 70 per cent of the cotton to local manufacturers helping increase value-added exports, investment and employment. Sakthivel also urged for the inclusion of apparel lines in the early harvest deals being negotiated with the EU and the UK. Compared to zero duty for apparels from Turkey, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan, Indian apparels face a duty disadvantage of 9.6 per cent in these regions, he said and added that other FTAs need to be fast tracked as well.

The chairman also raised the issue of increasing freight costs and sought immediate resolution of the issue in view of the upcoming Christmas season. He further sought amendment in the proposed Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to make it more effective and accessible. He urged the ministry to expand the current list of 40 MMF garment products under the PLI to include additional 23 high potential MMF items. He requested lowering the incremental growth target for brownfield projects to 25 per cent, at par with Greenfield projects, from the proposed 40 per cent for getting the PLI benefits.

Imposed earlier this year, Armenia’s ban on clothing imports from Turkey has given a boost to local garment manufacturers. Many manufacturers have broadened their portfolios to include a wide variety of products instead of the standard innerwear and socks, says Elen Manukya, Co-Founder, Fashion and Design Chamber in a report by Eurasianet, an independent news organization. Before the ban, Armenia sourced most of its apparel products from Turkey. The ban changed Armenia’s perception towards Turkish clothing and increased their preference for local products, adds Manukya.

The Fashion and Design Chamber is also supporting Armenian designers by facilitating investments, providing proper training for designers and encouraging them to participate in international fashion shows. The government has also offered several tax cuts to textile investors.

Lack of business and education skills

The Armenian clothing and textile industry houses over 100 large and small companies. However, the scale of operations has declined with employee induction reducing from 8.000 people against 150,000 employed earlier. In 2013, the government proposed a development policy for the industry that focused on the unused potential manufacturing capacity and projected double-digit growth. The policy boosted Armenia’s textile production between 2015 and 2019.

However, the Armenian textile and garment industry continues to face many challenges. Earlier, it sourced most of its fabric requirements from Turkey. However, now, it would have to import from other countries, explains Manukyan. Armenia also lacks the required business and education skills. Universities in the country do not have the required infrastructure to train local designers. However, designers are encouraging consumers to buy local products. They are also launching mass collections to offer affordably priced garments.

Many mid-size brands have launched unique and affordable collections in the market. These collections are a reflection of Armenian culture as they incorporate local design elements such as Armenian alphabets, Christian symbols and classic Armenian ornaments.

Exploring popular Armenian culture

Armenian designers are also reinterpreting symbols from popular culture. For instance, brand Light Affect has built its identity around the image of ‘gyrats’, members of a subculture of powerful, semi-criminal street thugs from the 1990s and early 2000s. However, high-end brands have not been able to establish themselves as consumers’ spending on apparels has declined, says Vahan Khachatryan, Co-founder, Fashion and Design Chamber, which sells haute couture clothing worn by celebrities.

A few smaller designers have set up their in the country under the ‘Made in Armenia’ label. One such designer brand includes five concept that set up a store on the Sayat Nova Avenue t to sell affordable Armenian labels. The domestic market is likely to be flooded with local brands that are set to make their mark.

US spot cotton prices reached their highest weekly average since June 14, 2018 at 88.35 cents per pound for the week ended August 12, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

As per a China Textiles report, the weekly average increased from 86.31 cents the prior week and from 57.62 cents a year earlier. Most benchmark cotton prices increased last month, with the value for the December NY/ICE futures contract holding between 88 cents and 90 cents per pound, according to the monthly update from Cotton Incorporated.

In early August, futures reached levels over 93 cents per pound, Cotton Inc noted. Also in the past month, the A Index, an average of global cotton prices, breached $ 1.00 per pound for the first time since June 2018, just before the first round of U.S.-China tariff increases went into effect. The Chinese Cotton Index also ticked up last month, resulting in prices increasing to USD 1.24 per pound this month from USD 1.16 in early July.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee’s (ICAC) current price forecast of the season-average A index for 2021-22 ranges from 73 cents to $1.25, with a midpoint at 95.43 cents per pound.

Following customers’ confidence for shopping after a disastrous 2020 in terms of both values and quantities, the US apparel imports grew by 26.92 percent to $35.38 billion in H1’21, compared to H1 ’20. In terms of volume, imports increased by 38.39 per cent Y-o-Y to 13,365.48 million SME.

As per Textile Focus, the value of clothing imports into the United States fell by 11.63 percent in the first half of 2021, to $ 40.04 billion. However, there was no significant drop in volume in the US, which decreased by only 0.23 percent compared to H1 ’19.

The two-year comparison shows, customers are still importing garments in large numbers from all over the world. The drop in values, on the other hand, indicates that unit prices are tightening – especially for basic commodities – which will intensify competition for manufacturing sites in the coming months!

During the first half of the year, the unit price of US apparel imports dropped significantly s. UVR (Unit Value Realization) per SME was $2.64 in H1 ’21, down from $2.88 in H1 ’20 and $2.99 in H1 ’19. These falling unit costs indicate the fierce competition being witnessed by clothing exporters post COVID-19.

Fashion retailer Truworths International reported a 26.8 per cent increase in annual profit as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions eased in South Africa. Its Headline earnings per share in South Africa, rose to 520.3 cents in the 52 weeks ended June 27 from 410.4 cents in the prior comparable period.

The group also reduced its expenses by 13.5 per cent and increased trading margin to 13.8 per cent from 7.8 per cent, which resulted in trading profit jumping up by 75.1 per cent to 2.3 billion rand ($158.9 million).

Retail sales increased by 0.5 per cent to 17 billion rand, with Africa business sales up 5.5 per cent while Office sales declined by 17.4 per cent in sterling terms and by 13.1 per cent in rand terms.

Truworths declared a final cash dividend of 118 cents, up from 31 cents in 2020.

In Britain, where the company owns shoe chain Office, had to close its stores for 18 weeks due to lockdown restrictions.

Office, which has been closing loss-making or marginal stores and cutting costs in a drive to return profitability, plans to decrease its trading space by a further 12 per cent after closing 31 stores.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week will commence from September 06, 2021 with a strikingly varied array of events both virtual and live, a hyper-hybrid season with Germany poised to enter a new political era this month.

As per a Fashion Network, the upcoming season of the fashion week will include panel talks; fashion film premieres; dynamic salons; and a series of live shows. Much of it centered at Kraftwerk, the renovated former power station located in the central Mitte district. The country’s iconic automaker will open the season with a parade to promote young talent, as part of its Fashion Talents program set up by Mercedes-Benz.

The second edition of the Fashion Open Studio will be held under the acronym FOS x MBFW. In cooperation with Fashion Revolution Germany, the initiative promotes innovative design talent and provides transparent insight into the design and manufacturing processes of brands.

Another key element is the Berliner Salon, curated and hosted by a grand dame of the local fashion scene, Christiane Arp. The noted former editor-in-chief of Vogue Germany, Arp will also host a 'Firesidechat' on the final evening in the legendary Borchardt brasserie, a preferred dining experience of both insider politicians and cool fashionistas.