Global supplier of high-quality Nylon 6.6 for apparel, and owner of the SENSIL® sustainable brand, NILIT has released its sustainability report for 2017-2020. The document, titled ‘Making Nylon Sustainable,’ details the company’s significant initiatives to improve environmental footprint as well as plans to positively influence the textile and apparel industry to choose more sustainable products and use them in more responsible ways.

As per Textile World, the report highlights NILIT’s accomplishments as well as its ongoing plans to continuously improve the ecological and social influence of its operations and practices in the market and in the communities where the company operates. The company has developed the largest portfolio of sustainable premium Nylon 6.6 products under its SENSIL® consumer brand through collaboration with brands, retailers, customers, employees, and vendors. The SENSIL® brand offers performance products that directly address the apparel industry’s most pressing environmental issues, such as water and energy consumption, waste reduction, use of recycled inputs, and impact to ecosystems.

Also, the NILIT Total Product Sustainability program ensures that all NILIT products meet stringent criteria for responsible production. The company also introduced QR Codes in all SENSIL® hangtags. Produced with FSC paper and distributed on certified garments from brands worldwide, these hangtags guarantee authenticity and provide more information to consumers about the technologies and benefits of premium Nylon.

Bangladesh RMG exports to the US surged by 26.81 per cent from January-June 2021 as increased vaccination in the US boosted demand for apparel items in the country. As per Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) data by the US Department of Commerce, US’ apparel imports from Bangladesh increased $662 million to $3.13 billion in the first half of 2021 from $2.45 billion in the same period of 2020. As per a New Age Data report, export orders and the inquiries from the US buyers increased in recent months as the country opened its business after massive COVID vaccination.

In value terms, Bangladesh’s apparel export to the US in June 2021 grew by 139 per while it increased by 133 per cent in volume compared with that in the same month of the past year. India’s RMG exports to the US Increased by 32.28 per cent to $2.03 billion in January-June of 2021 from $1.53 billion in the same period of 2020. Total apparel imports by the US from different countries in the first half of 2021 increased by 26.92 per cent to $35.37 billion from $27.87 billion in the same period of the previous year.

The US apparel import from China grew by 26.77 per cent to $7.31 billion from $5.77 billion in the same period of the previous year. Vietnam’s RMG export to the US in the first half of 2021 grew by 20.45 per cent to $6.81 billion from $5.65 billion in the same period of 2020. RMG imports by the US from Cambodia in January-June of 2021 increased by 13.85 per cent to $1.42 billion from $1.24 billion in the same period of the previous year.

German sportswear retailer, adidas predicts sales loss worth €500 million due to fast rising COVID-19 cases. The sportswear brand will suffer from its inability to produce enough stock to meet growing demands. The retailer gets substantial portion of its stock from Vietnam.

However, adidas’s sales in the first half of 2021 have touched pre-pandemic levels. The retailers’ sales in the first six-months grew by 52 per cent to €5.8 billion encouraging the retailer to raise its outlook for the full year. Kasper Rorsted, CEO, adidas, said, the brand plans to move its operations to other countries. However, ongoing interruptions mayhave a negative impact on its business in the second half.

The German retailer was founded in 1924 and is known for apparels, shoes and fashion accessories. It generated €21.915 billion in 2018.

Paris-based conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, posted revenues worth € 28.7 billion in the first half of 2021. As per ETF Trends reports, the group’s revenues grew by 56 per cent from the same period last year and by 14 per cent from 2019. The fashion and leather goods segment saw the largest growth in revenues. Revenues from the segment during the first six months increased 81 per cent from 2020 and 38 per cent from 2019 to €13.8 billion. Profits from the segment increased to €5.6 billion.

Due to a strong stock market and near-zero interest rates, the pandemic did not slow down capital creation for many in 2020. According to Credit Suisse, more than 1 per cent of the global population can now be considered dollar millionaires, with the top 10 economies minting 5.2 million new millionaires last year alone, according to Credit Suisse. This brought the global total of adults with more than $1 million to 56.1 million, the most in history.

Introduced in July 2020, the Global Luxury Goods Fund (USLUX) grew by over 56 percent in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2021compared to its benchmark, the S&P Composite 1500 Index, which increased by 42 per cent.

A new research brief by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows, the pandemic has accelerated so-called ‘shift to thrift’ among developed market consumers. Resale markets in Europe and America are on the rise with young generation showing growing preference for second-hand clothing.

Nevertheless, there is still considerable uncertainty about the future of these alternative consumption models, particularly when their environmental credentials are more closely scrutinized, notes the brief, titled ‘The post-COVID-19 garment industry in Asia. Growing demand for customization is increasing manufacturers’ efficiency and profit margins as they use algorithmic fitting for customers and 3D weaving. These new models also reduce losses due to inventory mismanagement that result in markdowns and stockouts.

Yet, the dominant garment industry model remains linear as the pace of sustainability progress in the fashion industry is slow. In addition, the pre-pandemic projections of rapid income growth among Asia’s 4.3 billion consumers and 4-5 per cent annual global growth in new garment sales are likely to far outstrip increases in garment reuse and resale, the report observes.

Data reveals a persistent ‘gap between intention and action on sustainability initiaitves. . Though their concerns about labor rights and environmental costs in garment supply chains have been growing, there is a general reluctance amongst them to pay for better social and environmental standards for garments that are produced with such costs internalized, the report adds.

The bankruptcy of Global Brands Group (GBG) Holding’s American subsidiary has created tensions amongst Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) manufacturers who supplied their garments to the apparel and footwear wholesaler. As per a Dhaka Tribune report, GBG USA sourced apparels from at least 10 Bangladeshi factories with payments to several of these factories still pending.

The North American division of GBG Holding recently filed for chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court of New York, putting its apparel and footwear brands up for sale with help from a $16 million bankruptcy loan, reports the Wall Street Journal. GBG also sourced garments from Li and Fung, another subsidiary of Fung Group and Rising Group, a Mirpur-based BGMEA-listed apparel factory. GBG USA had also ordered products worth $2.4 million in late 2019 from Denim Expert, a Chittagong-based apparel factory. The company had managed to ship the products before the outbreak of COVID-19. But GBG USA delayed taking the products when the pandemic hit the US. Mostafiz Uddin, Managing Director, Denim Expert, says the company’s bankruptcy negatively impacts its supplier factories.

Garware Synthetics’ net profit declined 64.18 per cent to Rs 0.5,556 crore in Q1FY 2021-22 that ended June 30, 2021 as against 0.1,552 crore in Q4 FY20-21 that ended March 31, 2021. The company reported total income of Rs.2.26 crore during the Q1 FY2021-22 quarter ended June 30, 2021 as compared to Rs.2.74 crore during the Q4 FY20-21 ended March 31, 2021.

The company has reported EPS of Rs.0.10 for the period ended June 30, 2021 as compared to Rs.0.27 for the period ended March 31, 2021. Garware Synthetic’s net profit grew by 220.35 per cent to Rs 0.0556 crore in Q1 FY2021-22 as compared to Rs 0.0462 crore in Q1 FY2020-21.

The company’s income grew by 246.36 per cent to Rs 2.26 crore in Q1 FY2021-22 as against Rs 0.6525 crore in Q1 FY2020-21. The company has reported EPS of Rs.0.10 for the period ended June 30, 2021 as compared to Rs.(0.08) for the period ended June 30, 2020.

Denim mill Cone Denim is using the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) tool to enable customers to access Life Cycle Assessment and comparison data for details on specific materials used in the mill’s fabrics. The mill has developed custom materials in the MSI tool for its full Spring/Summer 2022 fabric collection, and is among the first to offer this type of accessible, verified transparency to its customers.

As per Sourcing Journal, Cone Denim is a longtime champion of the Higg MSI as well as other tools in the Higg Index product suite, including the Higg Environmental Module (FEM), which provides insight on the environmental performance of individual facilities, and Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM), which promotes safe and fair social and labor conditions. Earlier this year, Cone Denim’s parent company Elevate Textiles formally joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to contribute data and resources to further support the Higg Index.

The new functionality is one part of the denim mill’s ongoing commitment to using more sustainable materials. In April, Elevate Textiles released its 2021 sustainability report highlighting that it has already reached 68 percent sustainably sourced cotton usage. By 2025, it aims to achieve 80 percent sustainably sourced cotton and 50 percent recycled polyester content.

The Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) expects the country’s garment exports will fall below $1.4 billion projection for the year with disruptions caused by pandemic-induced lockdowns and shipping space constraints. Robert Young, President, FOBAP said, Philippines’ garment exports are expected to be lower than $1.2 to $1.4 billion target for this year as exporters are facing order cancellations amid disruptions due to lockdowns.

All manufacturing activities by exporting locators in the Freeport Area of Bataan have been ordered to halt operations during the ECQ given the surge in coronavirus cases, said Young. While garment exporters located in Philippine Economic Zone Authority zones and factory suppliers in Clark and Laguna are operational, their productivity is affected by the lack of transport, curfew and other restrictions, he added. Garment exporters are also facing other challenges such as the lack of shipping space, Young added.

Bio-garmenting is the new thing for the climate conscious consumer. Researchers, designers alike are constantly looking for new sustainable fabrics, processes to reduce the carbon footprint of garments. Now, Canadian-Iranian designer, Roya Aghighi has made a stunning invention, developing textiles with algae, which turn the surrounding carbon dioxide in the air to oxygen through the process of photosynthesis, reports Business World.

Indeed, Aghighi’s apparels show the way how textiles can be made, with living, photosynthetic cells. Still at laboratory stage, if this works out and reaches the market, one can look forward to a line of sustainable bio-couture for the eco conscious consumers.

Sustainability goals with carbon neutral clothing

A scenario where ones favourite dress lasts for two months only if it’s watered every week and put in the sunlight for atleast 7-8 hours a day. And to dispose the dress one simply needs to compost it and return it back to the soil without pushing it to a landfill or dumping in an incinerator that lead to fumes that raises the AQI of your city.

A 2017 Accenture survey had revealed 33 per cent consumers would buy more if they knew the manufacturer’s name. Indeed carbon-neutral apparel is perhaps the best way of reaching sustainability goals for brands. Carbon-neutrality encompasses strict benchmarks related to effluence free manufacturing, fertilizer free crop cultivation and 100 per cent water recycling to conserve ground water levels and most importantly, the tenets of buy, conserve and compost.

Stats and studies reveal, the global apparel industry emits 3.2 billion tons of CO2 annually, or 10 per cent of the global carbon emissions and more than 20 per cent of wastewater in addition to 93 million meters of textile waste. What’s more it takes over 70 million barrels of oil to produce all the global consumption of polyester fibres which constitute around 65 per cent of all clothing manufactured in factories with weak carbon footprint management systems.

While bio-couture, which involves sourcing alternative textiles from wood, fruit, bamboo, algae is the way forward, it may be costly for a mass-premium offering. And it’s yet to achieve critical mass in terms of pricing, mass production, evolved supply chains. However, given the right push, bio-couture will definitely achieve its moment of glory.

With the world focusing on reducing CO2e emissions to 45 per cent by 2030, and 0 per cent by 2045 perhaps it’s time to look for alternative ways of manufacturing. Much like handloom India could show the way with a huge manpower of skilled weavers, artisans and growers abounding in almost each village. Coupled with urban exfiltration and genealogical skills, India can easily lead the charge of carbon neutrality. Meanwhile designers like Roya Aghighi need to test their invention in the Indian market to stay relevant.