BGMEA informed that most RMG factories plan to open in phases and go into full-scale operation within a week. As per Dhaka Tribune, most RMG workers in Bangladesh could not go to their native villages on Eid holidays due to a government ban on travel and unavailability of public transport. However, most owners have not opened their factories as yet. Those that have opened are yet to go into production in full swing as they do not have work orders, adds SM Mannan Kochi, Senior Vice President, BGMEA. Workers are also yet to receive the second set of stimulus packages, he says.

Salauddin Swapan, Acting President, IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC), informs, most factories will start working in full force from next week. Babul Akhter, President, of Bangladesh Industrial and Garment Workers Federation (BIGWF), agrees with this.

US fashion retailer Macy’s, expects net sales for 2021 to grow between 25 and 28 per cent over 2020 to reach between $21.7 billion and $22.2 billion. The company’s e-commerce sales are expected to reach around $8 billion this year. In first quarter, Macy’s witnessed a sales rise of 56 per cent to $4.71 billion. The retailer’s e-commerce sales too rose 34 per cent from the same period in 2020. Macy’s sales surged 63.9 per cent on owned-plus-licensed basis over last year. However, comp sales fell by 10 per cent when compared to 2019.

The retailer’s net income in Q1 shot up by more than 100 per cent to $103 million partly due to pullback on expenses. Sales of women’s apparels increased 29 percentage points and men’s apparels by 13 points. Jeff Gennette, CEO, Macy’s, said the retailer gained from government’s direct relief to consumers and its rapid vaccine distribution across the country.

Kim Glas, CEO, National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) believes, the US can overturn China’s domination in the global textile and apparel market by introducing a new policy to expand production of medical textiles. At a recent US Senate Homeland Security meeting, Glas advised the US government to set up strong domestic procurement rules for federal PPE purchases, and other essential products similar to the Berry Amendment and the Kissell Amendment, and issue long-range contracts to incentivize investment in the domestic PPE manufacturing base.

Glas highlighted the need to create federal incentives for private sector hospitals and large provider networks to purchase US-made PPE. She also urged for the continuation of the Defense Production Act to drum up the industrial base from raw materials to end products for all essential products.

Last year the US employed 530,000 people in the textile supply chain was. The value of shipments for US textiles and apparel was $64.4 billion last year. In addition, U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $25.4 billion.

Bangladesh’s BGMEA has requested member factories to provide updated data on cancelled, withheld and unpaid orders. BGMEA has started collecting this information to determine the current payment and export status. The trade body has developed a web portal to collect information on cancelled, withheld and unpaid orders. It plans to compile the information received so far next week, and decide the next course of actions.

It aims to talk to the buyers individually and also through their forums in this regard, says Faruque Hassan, President, BGMEA added. The association has also requested Edinburgh Woolen Mills (EWM) group to provide records of non-payment of export proceeds by its members. The group’s bills remained unsettled for more than a year in cases of some suppliers. Hasan urged the group to settle these dues immediately.

Global leader in specialty chemicals, Archroma has launched whiteness solutions for laundry and detergents. Archroma’s portfolio now includes solutions for whiteness, coloration, stain removal, fabric softening, as well as sequestering agents and surfactants, which can be used in applications such as multipurpose cleaning powders, detergent powders, dish wash tablets and liquids, laundry liquids and fabric softeners, and hard surface cleaners. Its optical brightener Leucophor® 5BMGX is used by reputed US detergent brands and manufacturers as it allows them to achieve high levels of whiteness with a blueish undertone.

In 2019, Archroma acquired in BASF's stilbene-based optical brightening agents (OBA) business for liquid and powder laundry detergent applications. The acquisition included the OBA technology, portfolio and manufacturing unit at Ankleshwar, India. Since then, the company has mobilized its global experts, technologies and know-how, to design a holistic solutions portfolio for household, industrial & institutional cleaning (HI&I) aimed to support detergent manufacturers.

For its fourth quarter ending March 31, 2021, Indo Rama Synthetics India posted a net profit of Rs 128.65 crore as against a loss of Rs 76.17 crore posted durng the quarter ending December 31, 2020.

As per Equity Bulls, the company reported total income of Rs.835.93 crore during the period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs.620.22 crore during the period ended December 31, 2020.

The company reported EPS of Rs.4.93 for the period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs.2.92 for the period ended December 31, 2020.

On a yearly basis, Indo Rama posted a net loss of Rs 113.38 crore for the 12 period ended March 31, 2021 as against net profitof Rs.316.54 crorefor the 12 months period ended March 31, 2020.

The company reported total income of Rs.2,063.71crore during the 12 months period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs.2127.95 crore during the 12 months period ended March 31, 2020.

The company has reported EPS of Rs.4.34 for the 12 months period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs.12.14 for the 12 months period ended March 31, 2020.

Freudenberg Performance Materials Apparel (Freudenberg) will showcase two new solutions in the sports and outdoor sector at the digital Performance Days.

As per Textile Network, Freudenberg will offer customers the Freudenberg Active Range of sustainable, highly elastic and breathable interlinings and tapes for all types of sportswear.

Most of the products in this range are made from at least 70 percent recycled polyester that Freudenberg produces in a closed loop system from used PET bottles. The company recycles around seven million of these plastic bottles per day, making it the largest user of post-consumer PET bottles in Europe.

In the Freudenberg Active Range, a special technology ensures that highly-elastic outer fabrics retain their flexibility and remain breathable despite being fixed. Thanks to their highly-developed adhesive polymers, selected products in the range are exceptionally suitable even for complicated outer fabrics that are difficult to process. The bonding compound is applied to a carrier material in the form of small dots without using a base material. Moreover, the Freudenberg Active Range also features sewable interlinings that allow a natural yet elastic feel while keeping the garment in the desired shape

The increasing sales of imported apparel products ahead of Eid is one of the reasons for the decline of domestic sales, says Redma Gita Wiraswasta, Secretary General, Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI).

As per Indo Textiles, Redmainformed Indonesia’s sale of textile raw materials during this Eid period fell by 30 per centUtilization also dropped to 70 percent for fiber and 65 percent for yarn, he added.

Redma explained, the local textile market has continued to decline since the end of March 2021, especially in the downstream areas such as weaving and apparel. He said that people prefer to buy imported apparel online compared to local textile products offline.

According to him, the textile industry has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the first quarter of 2021, not many imported goods entered. Thus, local producers can dominate the market.

Redma said the textile industry could recover if the government could stem the invasion of imports. According to him, local products are still difficult to compete with imported products because the prices of imported apparel are sold very cheaply.

UK-based industrial thread manufacturer Coats Group reported a return to organic growth following a strong operational performance in three months to 30 April.

As per Fashion Network, the group’s organic sales for the three-month period grew by 26 per cent year-on-year, versus just a 1 per cent gain in 2019.

Its apparel and footwear reported a 30 per cent jump in organic sales versus a flat 2019 period.

Meanwhile, against 2019, the core thread business — which represents around 85 per cent of Apparel and Footwear — grew by 2 per cent. Performance Materials organic sales also rose by 14 per cent versus 2020 and by 4 per cent versus 2019. Rajiv Sharma, CEO, says, the company expects recovery in trading to continue and its anticipated performance for the year will be slightly ahead of its previous expectations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not had any major impact on production in Taiwan’s upstream and downstream polyester market. However, it has affected consumption to certain extent, says CCF Group report. Taiwan is big import and export province in China. Its PTA capacity totals 3.95 million tonne and all PTA units run normally, except for CAPCO’s 700kt/year unit running at 90 per cent.

Taiwan has a Polyester capacity amounting to 4.63 million tonne/year. Its factories reported no major influence of the pandemic and large-scaled power on their operations. The country also produces 1.62 million tonne/year of PET bottle chips.

At present, the epidemic basically has no impact on the operation of local PET bottle chip plants. However, the island is mainly concerned about the problem of water shortage, which might face problems if the drought continues.