As per Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh’s home textile exports grew by 15 per cent and reached $936 million by 2020. The home culture job in western countries has proved a mini-blessing for home textile exporters in Bangladesh.

The second most important exporter of clothing, Bangladesh, has benefited from the increased demand for home textiles as it has a variety of items of high quality at fair prices. Bangladesh Home textiles include bed sheets, towel and other textiles, towels, tapestries and toppers, sheets, linen for the kitchen, curtains, pillows and coat coverings and quilts coverings.

In comparison, revenues plummeted by 17 percent to $27.5 billion in the same year. During the fiscal year 2020-201, however, domestic textile shipments rose by 48 per cent to $547.48 million in July-December.

Stella McCartney has launched garments made from Mylo-a leather alternative grown from mushroom. The designer is known for never using any animal skin or furs as part of her collection in her 20-year-long career. She recently launched her first ever Mylo garments- a black bustier and utility pants.

These garments embody Stella’s effortless sensuality and signature dichotomy of feminine and masculine attitudes. Entirely unique and cruelty-free, they symbolize a future where style will not be compromised for sustainability. The garments have been designed to have minimal environmental impact and save water, reduce carbon footprint and protect vital ecosystems like the Amazon from deforestation.

The first product ever created with the mycelium-based material was a prototype of Stella McCartney's iconic Falabella bag, which debuted as part of the V&A’s Fashioned from Nature exhibition in 2018.

A report by Panjiva states, clothes, shoes and accessories are lying idle in warehouses across the world as freight forwarders scramble to secure shipping containers. Boxes are being held up at US ports and air terminals, which have too few berths and healthy workers to process surging cargo volumes. As per the report, container shipping rates have more than quadrupled since early March with port congestion leading to lower than expected revenue from North America for brand Nike.

The struggle faced by manufacturers to keep up with demand for essential items like plastic fasteners and semiconductor chips is also delaying the production of finished goods, says the report. A licensor of brands like Calvin Klein and Dockers, G-III re-routed shipments from congested West Coast ports to the East Coast, where traffic is lighter.

Wholesale retailers have similarly borne the brunt of Nike’s shipping woes, as most of the brand’s delayed inventory was destined for multi-brand partners. Fast fashion and luxury brands that rely more on air freight might get some relief as international travel picks up.

Indo Count Industries plans to expand and modernize existing capacities with capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 200 crore. The project will be funded by a mix of internal accruals and debt and is expected to be operational in H2 (October-March) of FY2022. The company’s bed linen capacity will be expanded by around 20 per cent from existing annual capacity of 90 million meter to 108 million meter by debottlenecking and balancing its facilities.

The company also plans to add cut and sew facilities besides enhancing the capacity for Top of the Bed (TOB) products. It will also modernize the existing spinning unit of the company with compact spinning technology. Post modernization, this capacity will also be used for captive consumption in the home textiles unit.

The company’s home textiles plant currently operates at full capacity. The expansion is expected to increase the company’s revenues by Rs 600 crore over the next two-years.

To rid themselves of the excess stock created by cancelled orders over the past 12 months, suppliers are selling branded clothes illegally across Asian markets. As per Asian Insider, these merchants usually pay in cash and take the delivery directly from the factories.

An investigation in a secondary market reveals, buyers buy the stocks from manufacturers and sell it to countries where there are likely to be no patent problems or they can change the label to a desired one to sell it to any country. They are doing it basically to get cash in hand to keep the factory running for the present. However, their trade is deemed illegal as the merchandises were meant for export and thus executed under Tax free bonded facility.

India has refused to withdraw anti-dumping duties on Bangladesh jute imports. India imposed anti-dumping duties on Bangladeshi and Nepali jute goods on January 2017. The duties imposed ranged from $19 to $351.72 per ton on import of jute products, including jute yarn, twine, hessian fabric and jute sacking bags from Bangladesh for five years. They aim to provide guidelines and tools to discipline anti-dumping actions. The core idea behind the imposition of anti-dumping duty was to protect local Indian jute industry from cheaper Bangladeshi imports. Usually, if a firm exports a product 'at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market,' it is termed as 'dumping' the product. India refused to withdraw duty as it is a quasi-judicial measure and cannot be resolved through discussion.

In the latest issue of Apparel Insider, researcher Veronica Bates Kassatly, urges apparel brands in Uzbekistan to prioritize restoration of the Aral sea. She refuses to believe that the country’s cotton sector is responsible for the destruction of Aral Sea. According to Kassatly’s analysis, cotton is not the thirstiest crop in the Aral region. Moreover, the Aral Sea has continued to shrink since the end of the Soviet era – during which an aggressive policy of agricultural expansion was pursued.

She urges brands to support the development of Uzbekistan’s infrastructure as this would be a more powerful and effective message of sustainability and intent to make amends for the global impact of fast fashion, than anything that the present system can provide.

Tiruppur’s over 8,000 garment manufacturing units shut down recently to protest against rising yarn prices. Low supplies have pushed up yarn prices by almost 50 per cent to Rs 300-320 per kg in the last four months. Members of the Tirupur Exporters Association and the South India Hosieries Manufacturers Association are worried this may lead to finished goods’ exporters losing their competitiveness in foreign markets.

Rising yarn prices are also impacting the capital inflow of MSMEs, delaying revival plans, says Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director of Dollar Industries, who has factories in garment clusters of Tiruppur, Ludhiana and West Bengal. Kolkata-based Federation of Hosiery Manufacturers Association has urged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union textiles and state textile ministers in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to ban yarn exports till prices stabilize.

Focus on exports, global shortage fuel yarn prices

Yarn manufacturers including K B, Agarwala, Managing Director, Rupa & Company and President, Federation of Hosiery Manufacturers Association (FOHMA) also attribute the rise in prices to mill owners’ excessive focus on export markets, causing domestic supply squeeze.

Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries agrees, spinning mills are taking advantage of the demand-supply gap and increasing prices by 60 per cent whereas raw material prices have increased only by about 30 per cent. However, Sudarshan Jain, President, Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana, blames global shortage of basic raw materials such as fibers and chemicals, for the supply squeeze. While Sandeep Jain, Executive Director, Oswal Woollen Mills points out, yarn shortage and upsurge in prices is due to production cut in April-July of 2020.

Seeking government intervention

The hike in yarn prices is being passed on to consumers as brands like Dollar have hiked garment prices by around 10 per cent in the past few months. The brand plans to hike prices by another 5-7 percent from April 1, 2021. Innerwear brand Rupa too has hiked prices by 10 percent. Both companies fear further increase in prices may impact demand for their garments amongst consumers.

The one-day strike in Tirrupur was the first step taken by garment associations to attract government’s attention to this issue. They plan to hold several meetings over the week to urge spinning mills to streamline supply and ease prices of yarn domestically.

Luxury fashion labels have always been reluctant about the resale market. However, the perception is changing now with growing popularity for secondhand luxe goods and focus on sustainable goods. In fact, many luxury brands are partnering resale platforms to increase sales.

Committed to responsible fashion

As per a Refinery29 write up, brands now consider resale integral to maintaining value. They view it as a strong motivator for shoppers to buy luxury goods, says Allison Summer, The RealReale.

ThredUP’s 2020 Resale Report expects the secondhand luxury goods market to grow from $28 billion in 2019 to $64 billion by 2024. Of late, there have been several notable partnerships between companies and designers. For example, designer Victor Glemaud launched its first shoe collection, created in collaboration with Nigerian accessories brand Shekudo, on the The RealReal platform. The luxury resale platform was also home to conceptual fashion label Imitation of Christ’s Spring ‘21 collection. Similarly, designer Christian Siriano altered two dresses from his collection from ThredUp and relaunched them on the runway.

Embracing their own secondhand clothes has become a way for brands to show their commitment to responsible fashion. Most recently, social shopping app partnership app, Depo partnered designer Kenneth Nicholson to launch Division 332-a new collection made from discarded fabrics.

Adopting circularity in fashion

Brands are also embracing secondhand fashion to rid themselves of excess inventory. Sustainable fashion brand Mara Hoffman organized an archive sale in July to release unsold inventory. She has been a strong supporter of secondhand clothing and believes real platform give another life to discarded garments besides extending their lifespan. The designer recently launched an in-house resale platform know as Full Circle Marketplace to buy her own brand’s garments.

The RealReal’s partnership with sustainability trailblazer Stella McCartney in 2018 has encouraged more brands to embrace resale. In October, the resale platform launched an online shop with Gucci to sell a curated selection of secondhand goods from consignors. Like in February, Vestaire launched a buy-back program with Alexander McQueen to enable customers to sell their second luxury items in exchange for store credit. Thus, resale is fast becoming a way to adopt circular fashion, says Steve Dool Head-Brand Partnerships, Depop. As the 2020 Vestiaire Collective X BCG survey reveals, around 62 per cent consumers are more willing to purchase from fashion brands partnering resale platforms.

This popularity is being driven by younger consumers' growing interest in sustainability. In future, more such partnerships are likely to be formed as designers are keen to expand the lifespan of their collections by making clothes that can be resold.

Last year, Vietnam exported more textile and garment items than those entitled to preferential tariffs in the Eurasian Economic Union under a bilateral free trade agreement.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade recently received a diplomatic note from the Eurasian Economic Commission saying that while the quota for jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, and waistcoats was 1,520 tonne a year, exporters had shipped over 1,640 tonne. Exports of knitted women’s suits also exceeded the quota of 382.7 tonne, with 414.9 tonne being shipped.

According to the safeguard measures incorporated in the agreement, Vietnamese textile-garment exporters will therefore not be entitled to preferential tariffs for a period of six to nine months and instead will have to pay Most Favored Nation import duties.

However, Pham Xuan Hong, Chairman, Chi Minh City Textile and Garment Association, said, its members had not received any warnings from their partners in the EAEU market. Nguyen Ly Truong An, Deputy CEO, Sea Air Global, said some textile companies with factories in Vietnam import products from China and pass them off as made in Vietnam, thus causing export volumes to surge. He urged authorities to take strong action against this.

The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam announced a list of 13 other products also likely to face trade origin fraud or illegal transshipment investigations, including plywood made from hardwood, foam cushions and wooden cabinets exported to the U.S., and car tire exports to the US and the EU.