Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US declined by 8 per cent during the January-March 2021, shows data released by Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). OTEXA data reveals, US apparel imports declined 2.46 per cent during the January-March 2021 period to $17.41 billion. China and Vietnam emerged as the largest exporters to the US with a growth of 12.69 per cent and 1.40 per cent respectively in the January-March period in 2021. While, Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the US declined by over 8.0 per cent during the first quarter of 2021 year-on-year, showing a much slower recovery compared to China and Vietnam.

Bangladesh exported $ 1.53 billion worth of apparels in the January-March period of 2021, down from $1.67 billion during the same period of 2020. During the first three months of this year, Bangladesh RMG exports increased to 608.97 million sq. mt. from 603.11 million sq. mt in the corresponding period last year. RMG exporters, however, related slow demand in the US followed by higher COVID-19 infection rates and the change in sales pattern, to the pitiable performance of apparel export to its major destination.

Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA said, Bangladesh shipped mostly woven items to the US, adding that demands for woven items were also declining as people largely stayed at home. He hoped that Bangladesh’s exports to the US would increase from October onwards with the improving US economy after the country’s good coverage of the COVID-19 vaccination.

US ratings agency, Fitch Ratings expects apparel sales to improve in 2021 though overall sales are expected to remain below 2019 level. Stronger survivors in the apparel sector will also benefit from accelerating competitive shrinkage and limiting new store openings, says Fitch Ratings. Retail sales in the first quarter got a boost from increased vaccinations, government stimuli and discretionary budget savings by reducing service spending.

Revenues of top retailers Walmart, Target and Home Depot increased 15 to 40 per cent in the first quarter compared to 2019 levels. Fitch expects these retailers to maintain recent increase in market share, given a strong omni-channel model. These retailers could increase their revenue by 3-4 per cent at CAGR from 2019 levels to 2022, slightly higher than Fitch’s pre-pandemic expectations. Target could see a sustainable rise in discretionary categories such as apparel and home, and consumers tried Target’s private label assortment as a means of travel integration in 2020.

Fitch predicts multi-year investments by Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Macy’s could help stabilize or accelerate market share. Focus areas include omni-channel capabilities, store remodeling, investments in various channels, active wear and beauty categories. These retailers will benefit from the accelerated cash-constrained professional apparel players and department store closures and restructuring activities in 2020.

German luxury fashion house Hugo Boss is likely to be acquired by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group. As per Apparel Resources, Frasers Group increased share in Hugo Boss in January this year up to 15.2 per cent. It represents 5.1 per cent of Hugo Boss’ total share capital. The Group intends to be a ‘supportive shareholder’ of the German fashion brand.

Frasers Group also owns 3.3 million shares through contracts for difference, which represents 4.8 per cent of Hugo Boss’ shares, and 3.7 million shares through the sale of put options –amounting to 5.3 per cent of the retailer’s share capital.

Known for selling apparels, accessories, footwear and fragrances, Hugo Boss is one of the largest apparel companies of Germany, with worldwide sales of €2.9 billion in 2019. The company was founded in 1924 by Hugo Boss and originally produced general purpose clothing.

With the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1930s, Boss began to produce and sell Nazi uniforms. Boss would eventually supply the wartime German government with uniforms for organizations such as the Hitler Youth and Waffen-SS, resulting in a large boost in sales.

Japanese sportswear firm Mizuno Corporation has decided to ban cotton sourced from China's Xinjiang region, amid allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against the Uyghur Muslims. The company will discontinue using Xinjiang cotton in its products. China has been rebuked globally for cracking for sending Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and subjecting them to abuse including forced labor.

Earlier this week, the US Customs and Border Protection blocked a shipment of men's shirts for the Uniqlo casual clothing chain in January for allegedly violating an import ban on items containing cotton sourced from Xinjiang. The US banned imports of cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang in January, and Canada and the United Kingdom followed suit. Many international brands, including H&M, Nike and Ralph Lauren, have also declared their products are not made from Xinjiang cotton, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Meanwhile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden have issued a joint statement expressing grave concern at the human rights situation of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang province.

However, China has denied its involvement in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) brutal crackdown on the ethnic community.

Q4 profit after tax (PAT) of Teejay Lanka PLC grew 80 per cent to Rs 760.8 million. As per the Island Online’s reports, the profit before tax improved 67 per cent to Rs 902.8 million while revenues for the quarter increased 40 per cent to Rs 9.770 billion. At the company level, Teejay Lanka’s revenues increased 56 per cent to Rs 6.297 billion, profit before tax grew by 52 per cent to Rs 599.4 million and net profit increased by 65 per cent to Rs 575 million.

At group levels, Teejay Lanka’s revenues for the year ending March 31, 2021 declined 4 per cent to Rs 31.853 billion. Its group profit before tax for the year declined by 6 per cent to Rs 2.650 billion while profit after tax for the year declined by 10 per cent to Rs 2.139 billion.

The group has reduced its administration costs by 5 per cent to Rs 1.356 billion while marketing and distribution costs have been curtailed by 24 per cent to Rs 148 million. The company is expanding its Indian plant with an investment of $26 million which will increase its daily production to 20 tonne.

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) will officially launch the Textiles Circularity Centre on May 24, 2021.

The launch is a part of the wider UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Program, a four-day event running from May 24-27, 2021 that will introduce the five National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centres and the Circular Economy Hub.

The center aims to turn post-consumer textiles, crop residues and household waste into renewable materials for use in textiles to catalyze growth in UK manufacturing and the creative industries. It aims to develop new supply chains, textile production, design and consumer experiences, while reducing the UK’s reliance on imported and environmentally and ethically impactful materials.

The NICER Program is the largest UKRI investment focusing on Circular Economy (CE) to date. The £30 million investment supports five National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy research centers, of which the Textiles Circularity Centre is one.

The Children’s Place generated $435 million revenues in its first quarter despite operating 261 fewer stores than it did two years ago.

As per Sourcing Journal, e-commerce represented 42 percent of total sales as the retailer continues its digital transformation but the company still anticipates it will reach its goal to get annual digital revenue of 50 percent total sales. This will be aided by a decrease in fixed overhead costs related to online fulfillment.

The company’s inventories to close the quarter were $417.8 million, up 24.4 percent compared to inventories of $335.8 million a year ago. Net sales for the quarter increased by 70.6 percent to $435.5 million, compared to $255.2 million, primarily driven by what the retailer called strong customer response to its product assortment and as well as the recent stimulus payments. Additionally, the sales boost occurs a year after the retailer experienced permanent and temporary store closures for approximately 50 percent of the first quarter of 2020.

As of May 1, the retailer had 679 of 724 stores open in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, with all of the temporarily closed stores located in Canada. The retailer is staying in line with its store fleet optimization initiative, permanently closing 25 stores in the first quarter.

The Children’s Place is planning to close an additional 98 stores in fiscal 2021, which would bring the retailer to its 2020 target of 300 store closures. The closures will also come without financial penalty, and reset the company’s occupancy costs.

Pakistan’s textile exports increased by 17.35 percent during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of the last year. On a year-on-year basis, textile exports surged by 213 percent.

In the July-April (2020-21) period, Pakistan’s textile exports were recorded at $12,692.840 million in July-April (2020-21) against the exports of $10,816.276 million in July-April (2019-20), showing growth of 17.35 percent, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The textile commodities that contributed in trade growth included knitwear, exports of which increased from $2,392.064 million last year to $3.126.095 million during the current year, showing growth of 30.69 percent.

Likewise, the exports of yarn (other than cotton yarn) increased by 22.42 percent, from $22.051 million to $26.995 million whereas, exports of bed wear increased by 24.66 percent from $1,838.449 million to $2,291.779 million. The exports of towels increased by 27.18 percent, from $610.696 million to $776.708 million; exports of tents, canvas and tarpulin grew by 21.86 percent, from $78.556 million to $95.725 million; readymade garments by 12.56 percent, from $2,231.697 million to $2,512.021 million; made-up articles, excluding towels and bead wear by 22.22 percent, from $513.405 million to $627.479 million while the exports of art, silk and synthetic textile increased from $272.919 to $301.634 million, showing growth of 10.52 percent.

Meanwhile, the commodities that witnessed negative growth in trade included raw cotton, exports of which decreased by 96.51 percent, from $17.002 million to $0.593 million; cotton yarn decreased by 4.03 percent, from $858.580 million to $823.948 million whereas the exports of cotton cloth also decreased by 1.24 percent, from $1,601.650 million to $1,581.564 million. The exports of all other textile materials also increased by 39.24 percent, from $379.362 million to $528.225 million, the PBS data revealed.

Sportswear brand Nike has grabbed the top spot in 3BL Media’s recent ranking of the country’s top corporate citizens.

As per Sourcing Journal, the list evaluated the 1,000 largest, publicly traded U.S. companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) transparency and performance.

Nike, with an overall weighted score of 80.46, ranked 18th overall, one spot higher than last year. VF Corp, the company behind The North Face, Timberland and Vans, jumped eight slots with a score of 78.93—25th among all the evaluated companies. Gap Inc. climbed 10 spots to 32nd place with a 78.26. Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp scored a 76.51, 45th overall, far higher than last year’s 64th. Walmart Inc. joined the top 100 with a score of 73.92 putting it in 75th place.

3BL Media assessed each company using only publicly available information, including corporate websites, sustainability reports and SEC filings. It also relied on information from reputable third parties” such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Global Reporting Initiative and the UN Global Compact.

The final score weighted employee-related factors the highest, at 20.5 percent, followed by the environment, 18 percent; climate change, 17 percent; stakeholders and society, 12.5 percent; human rights, 11 percent; ESG performance, 8 percent; governance, 7.5 percent; and financial 4.5 percent.

Kingpins Show plans to organize an in-person event from December 06-07, 2021 in Ne York.

As per Sourcing Journal, the trade show will take place at Pier 36, the river-side location that it has used since 2017.The trade show organizers, however, confirmed that it will not be hosting its biannual Amsterdam event in October, which draws a large European crowd.The last time Kingpins Amsterdam took place was in October 2019. Instead, a virtual Kingpins24 event will take place this fall.

With parts of the denim supply chain still ravaged by the coronavirus and guidelines for international travel in flux, industry events are expected to cater to a more local audience.

Project: Miami will take place July 10-12 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The apparel trade show will take place near Destination: Miami by Coterie, a women’s resortwear and swimwear market event at Eden Roc Hotel. Both will offer shopping opportunities for pre-spring and spring/summer buying seasons.

Liberty Fairs will host its first trade show in Miami during the same time. The dual-gender apparel and accessories trade show is partnering with Cabana, a resort-focused trade show, to host their first joint physical event at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Liberty is also joining forces with men’s trade show, L.A. Men’s Market, to host a new event on Aug. 4-5 under the Liberty Fairs name.

Texworld New York City will host a modified version of its event July 20-22 at the Starrett-Lehigh Building and the children’s apparel trade show, Playtime New York, will return Aug. 1-3 at the Metropolitan Pavilion.

The women’s apparel event, Coterie New York, remains on Informa’s schedule for Sept. 19-21 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.