Growing awareness about sustainability and urgent pleas to stop animal cruelty have spiked demand for faux leather in the luxury fashion market. Influential players in the industry are partnering emerging biomaterials companies to introduce new products made of leather altearnativesa. For instance, Adidas, Stella McCartney, Lululemon and Kering collaborated with Silicon Valley material solutions firm Bolt Threads in late 2020, to launch products made with leather substitute Mylo, derived from mushroom roots.

Lululemon is also launching a new range of Mylo yoga mats and bags. As per a Glossy report, brands like Chanel and Hugo Boss have been making accessories from Pinatex’s leather alternative since 2019.

Mushroom threads as leather substitutes

San Francisco-based MycoWorks, which inducted Patrick Thomas, Ex CEO, Hermes, into board of directors, makes a leather-like material form mushroom threads or mycelium. The company customizes this material called Reishi as per specifications around thickness, weight and shape, among other features. The material is then tanned and converted into a finished product by traditional leather craftspeople in Spain.

In November MycoWorks raised $45 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Taiwan’s WTT Investment and California’s DCVC Bio. Other investors included Natalie Portman, John Legend and several undisclosed fashion brands. In June, MycoWorks attended the startup and tech conference VivaTech by setting up a stall in an LVMH-hosted booth.

Leather-free initiatives

Luxury brands are launching new initiatives to uphold their customers’ values. In June, Neiman Marcus announced plans to go fur-free by 2023. Similarly, Puig-owned Carolina Herrera, Jean Paul Gaultier and Dries Van Noten resolved to stop using exotic skins.

As seen from LVMH’s earning for H1 FY2021, leather goods are big business for luxury brands. Brands in its fashion and leather goods division witnessed an 81 per cent rise in revenues in 2021. The group has lined up several sustainability-focused changes in its products.

The industry is also likely to witness several, material-focused changes in future, adds Thomas. New materials to boost brands’ creativity and product development will be introduced.

By 2030, India’s cotton production is projected to expand to 7.2 mt (approximately 43 million bales of 170 kg each) by 2030 compared with current output of 6 mt equivalent to roughly 36 million bales. As per the latest OECD-FAQ report on Agriculture Outlook 2021-2030, India will contribute to as much as 40 per cent global increase in cotton production during the outlook period.

India, China, the US and Brazil will dominate global cotton production during the decade, the report says. Global cotton production will reach 28.4 million tonne (mt) with Asian countries China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam —accounting for 75 per cent of the total mill consumption (28.3 mt) during the period.

World cotton export is expected to expand by 25 per cent to surpass the 11 mt mark by the end of this decade, by which time sub-Saharan Africa with a share of 15 per cent is set to occupy the third position after US and Brazil, edging India down to the fourth position. Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Turkey and Indonesia will continue to be major importers of the fibre.

India will continue to be the world’s largest cotton producer with the increase in production resting mostly on relatively higher yields, while area expansion is expected to be limited in line with recent trends.

Clean Clothes Campaign has launched a public tracker showing which garment brands are advocates of a new strong binding agreement on factory safety and which major brands are obstacles to progress in the field of worker safety. The tracker calls out major companies such as H&M and Bestseller (Vero Moda, Jack & Jones) for not using their considerable power to ensure that advances on supply chain factory safety are maintained.

Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) reached out to brands and retailers in the Bangladesh Accord to urge them to commit to the main elements of a strong new binding agreement, to show that not all brands and retailers are happy about the delay in reaching a new safety agreement. Eleven apparel companies, including ASOS, UNIQLO, and Esprit, answered that they are eager to sign a new agreement that is legally binding upon individual companies, has independent oversight, and can be expanded to other countries.

In their responses, many brands have become more outspoken about the need for individual brand accountability and independent oversight than in previous communication, but failed to speak out about the global nature of a new agreement. The Clean Clothes Campaign network believes that the expansion of the Accord model to other countries is an indispensable part of a new agreement.

Spandex prices may rise in the short term as feedstock prices continue to rise Currently, prices of spandex 20D-40D have increased 178 to 206 per cent to 50,000-69,000yuan/mt since late-August, 2020. Current spandex prices have reached their highest levels since April 2008. Prices of spandex 40D have increased by 14,000yuan/mt with tight supply.

Spandex capacity will increase from commencement of operations at Huahai’s 30kt/year new unit in August. Spandex production requires two major raw materials PTMEG (0.78) and MMDI (0.18). The cost of these materials increased to 40,000yuan/mt,in April but slipped to 32,200yuan/mt thereafter. In July, the price of BDO, the feedstock of PTMEG, rose rapidly as players held optimistic view toward market outlook in the second half of year in expectation of massive demand for BDO from biodegradable plastics and PBT market. Therefore, cash flow of PTMEG declined. In addition, downstream spandex plants witnessed high profits and increased capacity. Under such circumstance, PTMEG plants are eager to follow the uptrend on BDO market.

The UK business unit of the American fashion retailer Victoria’s Secret has moved out of administration and gone into liquidation. The brand went into administration last year after being badly hit by the pandemic. The administration process was executed by global CEO advisory firm Teneo.

The move into liquidation would help Victoria’s Secret pay dividends to creditors. The Victoria’s Secret online business will function as usual. In addition to lingerie wear, the brand is also known for its swimwear, activewear and accessories. As a part of its administration process, the brand signed a joint venture agreement with British fashion retailer Next in 2020 for its UK business – thereby saving more than 500 jobs at that time.

Victoria's Secret is known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest retailer of lingerie in the United States, the brand has struggled since 2016 due to shifting consumer preferences and ongoing controversy surrounding corporate leadership's business practices.

To reduce its environmental impact, American retailer JCPenney has joined The Jeans Redesign project. As a part of this project, JCPenney will base its designing and manufacturing efforts on durability standards, eco-friendly packaging, increasing organic and recycled fiber content and eco-friendly wash programs. JC Penney joins 94 other participants including major fashion brands, retailers, garment manufacturers and fabric mills. The latest design and manufacturing insights gained during this project will help the retailer drive a more sustainable future for jeans and all fashion products.

The Jeans Redesign was launched in July 2019 by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) to fundamentally tackle the issue of significant waste and pollution in the fashion industry starting with one of the most iconic products: jeans. Offering a set of guidelines to make products in accordance with the principles of a circular economy, The Jeans Redesign aims to ensure durability, material health, recyclability and traceability.

The project supports organizations to build the confidence to explore and learn about how to use circular economy principles to put products on the market, says Laura Balmond, Head- Make Fashion Circular, EMF.

Faced with an acute shortage of sea containers, exporters in Tirupur are shifting to air transport to ensure their garments reach the marked destinations before Christmas and New Year. Though this may increase their shipment charges significantly, exporters are willing to absorb these costs rather than losing clients by failing to deliver on time.

The global container trade has been hugely impacted by the pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage in March, suspension of operations at China’s Yantian port in June, and the recent typhoon in China. This has resulted in huge congestions at certain ports in the US, Europe and China, causing a major shortage of containers. Exporters don't have a choice but to pay ten times the cost to transport by air, says Raja M Shanmugham, President, Tirupur Exporters’ Association.

CMN Muruganandan, Partner, Gomatha International, Tirupur adds container shortage is forcing companies to bear the additional costs of air transport. If they fail to ship their garments, clients will source from other countries, like China, Taiwan or Vietnam. This will badly hurt the industry, he adds.

Fashion suppliers in China fear regional lockdowns will have serious long-term impacts on their stock levels, profit margins and retailer relationships. As per a Drapers Online report, since July 7, China has enforced lockdowns in urban areas throughout large areas of Eastern China, including parts of Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Nanjing and Heilongjiang, China's northern-most province. The lockdowns have led garment and textile factories across the country to temporarily close, while workers have been instructed to self-isolate at short notice.

This has caused chaos for fashion suppliers that are struggling to get hold of textiles and garment components, and to ship in to the UK without incurring additional fees for both the fabric and the shipping. Closure of factories is leading to an acute shortage of elastane fabric which is currently in high demand. Suppliers have been panic buying stock to book as many containers as they can before it runs out. They are also reporting steep rises in the costs of containers

Because of the lockdown, some retailers are asking suppliers to shoulder the increased costs of shipping. They are putting in bigger orders to try to ensure stock levels and shipping fees have increased because of the uncertain environment.

Suppliers warn retailers could experience severe stock delays. However, businesses that do not export material from the Far East have been able to take advantage of the challenging environment as they have been able to pick up orders due to these delays.

Exporters say, the delay in announcement of the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) rates is hurting their liquidity position as they are unable to book fresh orders The RoDTEP scheme was launched on January 1, 2021. However, the government has not yet announced the rates for this scheme. Secondly, the government has also not cleared the Rs 15,000 crore due from the MEIS scheme for the period between April and December 2020.

Exporters have approached finance ministry, commerce ministry, PMO for the clearance of the MEIS dues, and for clarity on RoDTEP rates. However, there is now a new uncertainty on fund reallocation as the government announced ROSCTL scheme for garments segment.. The scheme provides Rs 17,000 crore to clear the pending dues of exporters. In addition, Rs 2,000 crore has been provided to clear the arrears of services exporters for 2019-20 under the now-defunct Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS).

A Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has hailed the government‘s decision to remove anti-dumping duty (ADD) on viscose staple fibre (VSF). In January this year, AEPC along with other organizations in the VSF value chain had appealed to Prime Minister to remove ADD on VSF to address issues related to VSF spun yarn availability and price to prevent job losses and halting of production across the VSF textile value chain.

The removal of protectionist tariffs on VSF will align domestic VSF prices with the global VSF prices making the entire Indian VSF textile value chain globally competitive. It will boost production and exports of these products, says Sakthivel. The decision will also provide a fillip to the man-made fiber (MMF) sector, adds Smriti Irani, Former Textiles Minister, who now holds the women and child development portfolio.