A Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council believes, exports can help India boost farmers and artisans’ incomes. Appreciating the Prime Minister’s decision to support exports, Sakthivel said, this will encourage the exporters to achieve the target of $400 billion merchandise exports this fiscal. He informed that the Prime Minister has identified logistics constraints and costs as the key challenges to export growth and assured of adequate policy and infrastructural support for the same.

Sakthivel said, exporters will encourage startups, artisans and farmers to enter into the field of exports for a mutually beneficial relationship. AEPC will also engage with Indian diaspora to facilitate India’s exports to help lift the economy. This can help it achieve inclusive growth by becoming a bridge between farmers and artisans in India and the Indian diaspora abroad, Sakthivel added.

KBR will be the technology partner for TreeToTextile’s new sustainable textile fibers demonstration plant to be built in Nymölla, Sweden. The company will provide technology license, engineering, proprietary equipment, and commissioning services for the chemicals recovery unit of the project. This will enable TreeToTextile to efficiently and sustainably reuse valuable chemicals through KBR eco-planning innovative solutions.

Based in the US, KBR delivers science, technology, and engineering solutions to governments and companies. It employs approximately 29,000 people worldwide with customers in more than 80 countries and operations in 40 countries. The company has over 50 years of experience in state-of-the-art design and supply of evaporation and crystallization technologies and has supplied over 200 plants globally across diverse applications and industry segments, including fertilizers, metallurgical, pulp and paper, chemicals, food, etc.

The TreeToTextile technology is a new innovative chemical process using renewable forest raw material and regenerating the cellulose into a textile fiber by spinning the dissolving pulp. The process uses less chemicals, allowing for a more sustainable and cost-efficient process compared to conventional technologies and fibers.

China’s cotton yarn imports increased by 66.24 per cent year on year in May’21 to 168,700 ton, estimates GACC. As per Textile Focus, from January-May 2021, China’s Cotton yarn imports increased by 35.82 percent totaling 975,200 ton. A report in Apparel Resources attributes this increase in cotton yarn imports to the revival of cotton textile and garment production and sales in China.

According to cotton yarn traders in customs clearance zones at Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang markets, quotations for cotton yarn sourced from India, Pakistan, and Vietnam are comparable to domestic cotton yarn prices of the same count and quality. The per ton yarn prices are falling. Light textile market quotations in coastal areas are concentrated at $3,937-3,984/ton, while the price of C32 package bleached yarn in India and Pakistan reaches $4,020-4,051/ton.

The pandemic and resultant lockdowns have pressured the global apparel index with prices rising almost 4.9 per cent in June 2021 compared to corresponding month last year. As per a report by retail intelligence company Edited, prices of children’s clothes have seen a steeper rise with boys’ apparels surging 5.5 per cent and girls’ rising 5.6 per cent. Prices of kids’ shoes have also increased 5.7 per cent.

The greatest hike has been in the prices of men’s pants, women’s dresses and outerwear, says a Forbes report. Prices of men’s pants have risen 11.1 per cent while those of women’s dresses have jumped 15.8 per cent. Prices of winter coats have gone up 8.4 per cent. In terms of styles, demand for casual wear and athleisure wear has surged while formal and office wear have seen a fall, says Kayla Marc, Market Analyst, Edited. In athleisure, there is growing demand for men’s hoodies, sweaters, sweatshirts, sweatpants and T-shirts while in the women’s category, demand for loungewear including cardigans, sweaters and sweatpants has surged. In footwear, prices of both men’s and women’s boots have risen.

Compared to 2019, fashion retailers’ sales grew 7.4 per cent to reach $130.9 billion from January through June 2021. However, retailers are not too concerned over this hike as it would have minimal effect on demand, says Terry Lundgren, Former Executive Chairman, Macy’s

Retailers struggle with tariff, supply chain issues

Steve Lamar, President and CEO, American Apparel and Footwear Association believes, the current shipping crisis on top of oppressive tariffs on apparel, footwear and fashion could prove to be a double whammy for the fashion industry. His association is urging the Biden government to remove tariffs and help maritime industry overcome the shipping crisis.

Retailers have also been struggling with supply chain issues for some time now, says Natalie Kotlyar, National Practice Leader-Retail and Consumer Products, BDO. They need a reliable and resilient supply chain to provide the right product to consumers, she adds. Another issue that plagues retailers is absorbing rising production costs into their supply chains. They are also struggling to meet customers’ demands.

Price adjustments can boost margins

Fashion retailers need to consider the impact of price rise on consumers’ already burdened with escalating costs of other items like food, opines Kotlyar. Luxury brands need to adjust their prices as per need. Fast fashion retailers with lower price points will benefit from the tightening market situation. However, the price-rise may not translate into higher profit margins as product costs are expected to remain higher, warns Kotlyar. This will keep the fashion market challenged.

The Sri Lankan Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA) has re-launched its website besides unveiling new brand logo as a focal point for industry stakeholders to receive news and developments within the local industry.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the association had to delay the rebranding process but has now completed it. The new logo looks to encapsulate the shape of the island and further its metaphorical place as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

The platform will highlight recent and expected developments in the Eravur Fabric Park. The association represents over 88 per cent of the revenue from the apparel sector. It is working hard to increases sustainable practices and as more factories get LEED-certified they shall be publicized on the site. Association members are encouraged to share their stories with the site for inclusion in the monthly newsletter and on other platforms.

The platform will also look to uplift the image of the broader Sri Lankan apparel sector by helping firms mimic the circularity (recycling) imaging and branding of larger players in the field. The next step in the fashion industry has been towards an increased focus on responsible procurement.

Faruque Hassan, President, The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged global apparel buyers to nominate more shipping lines and private off-docks to help ensure timely shipment of export containers.

Hassan made this request during a meeting with various stakeholders, including representatives of main line operators and international buyers, according to a press release.

The meeting, held at the BGMEA office in Dhaka, aimed to discuss ways of addressing a container backlog and vessel shortages that impact garment exports.

Hassan said many export containers loaded with garment items sit idle for as many as 10 to 15 days at their respective inland container depots before being sent to the Chattogram port.

This is to select shipping lines, freight forwarders and off-docks being nominated for the job by international buyers, he added.

Many global retailers and brands import billions of dollars worth of apparel products from Bangladesh.

However, they only nominate one or two shipping lines and freight forwarders to transport their cargo, he added

The container backlogs also occur since most international buyers chose just four or five off-docks to handle their cargo before shipping.

This causes delays in shipment as well and exporters are forced to bear additional charges for the delay.

He urged global apparel buyers, such as H&M and Marks & Spencer, to allow more shipping lines and off-docks to handle their cargo as it would reduce the pressure on making shipments.

The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has concluded the 2021/2022 wage negotiations in the non-woven textile sub-sector.

The negotiations were monitored by the National Textile Bargaining Council with employers represented by the National Textile Manufacturers’ Association. (NTMA).

The agreement is dated to July 01, 2021, and is effective for a 12 month period until June 30, 2022. The union members will receive an increment of 5.5 per cent with effect from July 01. 2021.

The agreement also includes an improvement in a long service award, which increases from R1.00 per week for each year of continuous service to R1.50 per week for each completed year of continuous service. This also came into effect from July 01. 2021.

SACTWU has also signed an agreement with its employer counterparts that all shop stewards of the trade union shall be granted reasonable access to Information & Communication Technology (ICT) facilities in the workplace for their trade union communication activities. This, we hope, will make it better for them to execute their trade union duties more effectively under COVID-19 conditions.

Liberty Fashion & Lifestyle Fairs entered the Los Angeles trade-show market with its new show, Liberty West, an event that was the product of Liberty’s joint effort with the LA Men’s Market.

As per Apparel News, the event was held from August 04–05 at the California Market Center and remained true to the core values of the Liberty brand.

For Hawaiian-apparel brand Avanti Shirts’ Director of Operations Vincent Hui, the absence of shows made him grateful for a return to trade events.

This sentiment was echoed by American Rag Cie. buyer Orlando Reneau, who is based in Los Angeles.

The event drew buyers from across the country, including James Smith, Owner, Nacirema, a men’s mid-level to high-end streetwear store that is on the verge of celebrating its 10-year anniversary and has two locations in the city. As a store owner who seeks to bring different looks to his clientele, aged 18–40, Smith was drawn to visiting a Los Angeles–based show to find pieces his customers could not find elsewhere.

The Silent Panda booth offered something different to the designer-streetwear and wearables buyer was ingrained in the San Francisco Bay Area brand owned by Samuel Taylor. As Taylor prepares for fashion weeks in New York City and Tokyo, the designer was introducing his new footwear design based on futuristic style notes blended with hiking, sneaker and ski-boot elements that will be released in October.

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, the developer of spider silk-based fibre headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has filed two new patents concerning recombinant spider silk.

As per an Innovation in Textiles report, both these patents are built on underlying knock-in/knock-out gene-editing technologies that the company first made public in 2020. They expand on nearly pure spider silk genetic engineering systems allowing for larger, more complex, and more diverse protein production systems.

Covering the in situ auto assembly of large and complex proteins, the first of the two patents allows for the creation of silks that incorporate multiple sets of mechanical and chemical properties that cannot be created by conventional gene editing means.

Kraig developed this new system to address the limits on size and complexity of protein synthesis available from the world’s leading recombinant gene manufacturers.

The second patent moves developments in gene editing beyond the traditional heavy chain fibroin component of silk. This new research and development avenue opens the doors for the co-production of complementary proteins. This evolution in research delivers on the company’s vision for its transgenic silkworms as host platforms for tailored cosmetic and pharmacological proteins.

The company has filed both of these patent applications under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) process, as well as filing utility patents in the USA. The broad nature of the patents will allow the company to protect its technologies across the globe.

Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles, said, high tariffs are causing setback to the Indian textile and garment exporters to the European Union (EU) and the UK.

According to Jardosh, India’s textile and garment exports in 2020 totaled $29.61 billion, while shipments of Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia for that year totaled $37.95 billion, $37.10 billion and $7.77 billion*, respectively.

As per a Textile Value Chain report, such high tariffs are affecting exports, unlike Bangladesh and Cambodia that have zero tariffs in mentioned destinations

Jardosh also said that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown imposed by various State Governments, production activities at all companies under the National Textile and Garment Group (NTC) have been suspended since 25 March 2020, thus affecting all stakeholders from farmers to traders and exporter in the value chain.

During this period, the employees are regularly paid by the NTC according to their status from the cash reserve. However, the second wave of COVID-19 once again resulted in the closure of all operations of NTC companies in April 2021 and now NTC has resumed operations at some companies in July 2021 depending on available materials.