To be held from June 16 to 20, 202` at the Suzhou High-tech Zone, the 2021 Shengze Fashion Week and the 9th Jiangsu (Shengze) Textile Expo Cloud Exhibition will integrate fashion trends and Jiangnan culture to fully demonstrate the fashion vitality of Shengze under the“city-industry integration initiative and the construction of Jiangnan cultural brands.

Shengze, a time-honored silk town, is a fast-growing fashion capital known as a world-renowned textile city. The town created the best embroidery of Song brocade, nurtured Wang Yongheng, Sang Luo and a large number of silk brands, and built a number of innovation carriers, including the first national advanced functional fiber innovation center in Jiangsu Province.

During the fashion week, fashion brands from Italy, France, Spain, the United States and other countries will come together in Shengze. Visitors can enjoy different fashion styles and culture which further showcase complementary Eastern aesthetics and Western classics.

Texcare International, the international trade fair for laundry, cleaning, and textiles will be held from November 27 to December 1, 2021, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. As per reports, the fair will focus on hygiene, sustainability with regard to the circular economy, smart solutions using artificial intelligence, and digital customer contacts.

Texcare International will showcase products including machines and equipment, washing and cleaning substances, IT, logistics solutions, workwear and laundry. The expo will be a vital hub for textile-hygiene innovations, from disinfecting processes for textile dry cleaning, via hygienic washing methods and detergents, as well as new documentary aspects, to anti-viral finishing of textiles during the washing phase.

The ZDHC Foundation has added three new members to its Roadmap to Zero program. These include the Italian high street fashion retailer Teddy Group which owns the retail brands Terranova and Calliope and is the distributor of the Rinascimento, Kitana and QB 24 brands.

The other two members to join ZDHC Foundation include Swedish cellulosic fibre technology pioneer TreeToTextile and Asahi Kasei Corporation Fibers & Textiles, which makes regenerated cellulose fibre derived from cotton, has joined on the same basis.

TreeToTextile aims to deploy new technologies for sustainable man-made cellulosic textile fiber while Asahi Kasei’s product Bemberg contributes to creating sustainable economic and social value through its production system with particular consideration for controlling chemicals and the environment, among other things. A non-profit organization, ZDHC has over 160 contributors across the world. The organization aims to completely eliminate harmful substances from the textile value chain.

Under the United Nations Development Goals, the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) aims to support the garment sector’s sustainable development and improve the standard of living of employees. The global fashion industry consumed 79 billion cubic metres of water, emitted 1,715 million tonne of CO2, and generated 92 million tonne of waste in 2015. The figures are forecast to grow by at least 50 percent by 2030.

Vu Duc Giang, President, VITAS opines, to achieve sustainable development and compete in the fashion industry’s global supply chain, Vietnam should focus on quality, technology, productivity, delivery time, and transparency It should also minimize its energy and resource consumption and invest in advanced technologies to meet international standards on work and the environment, he adds.

Dr Do Quynh Chi, Director, Research Centre for Employment Relations (ERC), says, Vietnamese manufacturers should improve their production values and invest in compliance with international labor and environmental standards to build a long-term and direct relationship with fashion brands.

Manufacturers should establish links with peer producers to fully explore their strengths, adds Giang. She emphasizes the importance of developing policies that promote SMEs in terms of technology and management, enabling them to participate in sustainable development standards and move up global supply chains.

For its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2021, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills posted a net profit of Rs 9.08 crore as against a loss of Rs 0.15 crore posted during the third quarter ended December 31, 2020. As per Equity Bulls, the company reported total income of Rs 189.39 crore during the period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs155.97 crore during the period ended December 31, 2020.

On a yearly basis, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills posted net profit of Rs 9.08 crore for the period ended March 2021 as against net loss of Rs 14.34 crore for the period ended March 31, 2020. The company reported total income of Rs 189.39 crore during the period ended March 31, 2021 as compared to Rs.130.49 crore during the period ended March 31, 2020.

Turkey’s apparel and home textiles exports are expected to record exponential growth in the upcoming period of 2021. As per China Textile, Turkey’s exports to the US increased considerably last year. Exports to the UK also grew after post-Brexit trade agreement took effect this year.

Last year, Turkey’s apparel and home textiles exports to the US increased more than 20 per cent year-on-year to cross the $10 billion-mark. The country mainly exported carpets, ready-to-wear and apparels. Its exports of carpets increased by more than 30 percent over the previous year, while those of ready-to-wear and apparels climbed by more than 20 percent in 2020.

This year, Turkey’s exports to the UK grew considerably from January-March 2021, according to the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly TIM. Turkey plans to open foreign logistics centers in the target markets, especially in the US. This would further accelerate local exporters’ access to markets and stimulate the exports. The logistics centers opened abroad will work as a regional base for exporters, reduce the costs of market access and accelerate access to new markets.

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) has rallied brands, manufacturers, academics and recycling experts from across the country to execute project ReSuit that aims to develop more circular solutions and influence sustainable consumer shopping habits. ‘ReSuit’ brings together brands like Bestseller, Aarhus University and the consumer behaviour specialist Naboskab with funds worth $2 million allocated by Innovation Fund Denmark.

The consortium will address the designing out of waste and nurturing promising recycling solutions. Simultaneously, consumer behavior specialist Naboskab is expected to map out a plan for better engaging consumers on the need for greater sustainability, in a bid to suppress the vast quantities of waste that’s currently being landfilled.

Anders Lindhardt, DTI says, Polyester accounts for half of all clothes fibers in the world. The consortium will develop technology based on chemical recycling to recycle the polyester materials so that they can return to the textile industry. By next year, Denmark will start sorting clothes separately, and by 2025 the rest of the EU will follow.

A new Euromonitor International report predicts China and Korea will lead the Asia Pacific’s recovery of luxury sales. The agency predicts sales in these two countries will hit pre-pandemic levels by late 2021. Of the two, China will account for 41 per cent personal luxury sales in the region by 2025. Hong Kong’s luxury market has been hard hit by a combination of COVID-19, political unrest and a lack of mainland Chinese tourists, reveals the Luxury Goods 2021.

Hong Kong’s personal luxury market contracted to $6.8 billion down from $11.7 billion between 2019 and 2020. On the other hand, Taiwan’s luxury market grew from $7.2 billion to $7.5 billion, reports Business of Fashion. Only affluent shoppers in Mainland China along with Taiwanese consumers could enjoy income growth during the year. China also emerged as Asia Pacific’s leading personal luxury market during the year, outpacing Japan. By 2025, China’s luxury sales are expected to increase by 10 per cent CAGR to account for 40 per cent of the global sector.

In March 2021, China’s cotton imports recorded a 3 per cent M-o-M decline to reach 280,000 ton, reveal Custom Statistics. However, on a Y-o-Y basis, China’s cotton imported grew by 40 per cent. As per China Textiles, since 2020-21, China’s cotton imports have increased by 90 per cent Y-o-Y to reach 1.94 million tonne of cotton. Most of these imports were from Brazil, India and West Africa, while cotton imports from Central Asia declined significantly.

China’s cotton import base was relatively low due to the pandemic in the first half of 2020 and its cotton consumption recovered rapidly due to the large-scale vaccination. However, in the first quarter of 2021, China imported 970,000 tons of cotton in the first quarter of 2021, with a year-on-year increase of only 59 per cent. Since 2020, China has been actively purchasing cotton from the US. However, due to the outbreak, it’s processing, delivery and transportation of some US cotton contracts have been delayed.

Chinese cotton spinning enterprises and traders have concentrated most of their deliveries from September 2020 to February 2021. In October 2020, the state issued an additional 400,000 tonne of processing trade sliding scale duty import quota, which can be extended to the end of February 2021. Its 1 per cent tariff quota in 2020 of some textile enterprises was concentrated between October 2020 to February 2021, and the quota is relatively sufficient, the cotton price is attractive, and the downstream domestic and foreign sales orders increase, which lead to the increase of foreign cotton imports;

Xinjiang cotton restrictions have caused some export-oriented enterprises and processing agents to increase the signing and purchasing of foreign cotton and yarn in order to avoid the risk of performance.

Bangladesh garment manufacturers and workers are currently living in perpetual terror of cancelled orders and deferred payments. The spread of new virus variants is delaying apparel recovery, making it tough for analyst to identify the duration and gravity of the pandemic.

Drop in global trade threatens Bangladesh exports

Recent data by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), estimates global trade value have dropped 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2020. Global fashion brands continue to cancel orders as their stocks pile up. As per a McKinsey report, stores and ware houses across the world house $192 billion worth of unsold stock at the moment. The industry’s profits fell 93 per cent in 2020, says a Textile Focus report. Textile exports from Bangladesh declined 17 per cent, reports BGMEA. The country earned $3.24 billion from apparel shipment though the amount is 1.98 per cent lower than a year earlier.

Goals to prepare for upcoming challenges

Around 85 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports include textile and fashion goods. The country was already facing challenges related to workers’ wages, job security, lack of digitization, longer lead times, etc, and was suffering from different challenges. Internal challenges mostly related to labor and employee wages and job security, lack of digitization, demand-supply imbalance, order cancellations or delays, etc. COVID-19 has accelerated these challenges, nudging brands to analyze current situation and prepare for upcoming challenges. As per the Textile Focus report, brands need to prepare themselves for upcoming challenges by setting short and long-term goals.

Enhanced supplier collaboration with flexible decision making

The short term goals of brands include collaborating with suppliers to support their staff and workers by protecting their jobs and rationing support facilities. Brands also need to develop a new process to develop worker’s skills and evaluate their performances. They need to share losses caused by order cancellations besides ensuring stability of their future orders. Companies need to enable flexibility and faster decision making. They need to enhance logistic capacities, address procurement-based issues and those related to any natural disasters like the pandemic.

Digitization and capacity building

Long term goals of fashion companies include digitizing and automating their entire production processes. They also need to focus on capacity building and investment for product diversification and development. Besides, they need to use data while making businesses. Companies also need to improve their risk assessment procedures and increase supply chain resiliency.

Bangladesh manufacturers need to develop supply chain risk management strategies such as a PPRR framework which involves identifying possible threats to the industry, analyzing data and impact of supply chain disruptions on inventory, supplier relations, selling and order, sales revenue etc, making emergency plans to focus on the activities according to level and magnitude; developing response strategies and identifying quickest recovery plans.

The current year will continue to be a tough one for Bangladesh textile industry. To tide over tough times, manufacturers and decision makers need to enhance their growth strategies, align themselves with global trends and focus on technological up gradation of their facilities.