A new report says, Brazil needs to build a more sustainable fashion supply chain in key cotton, polyester and viscose production process to counter rising pollution and deforestation. The study, ‘Fashion Threads: Systemic Perspectives for a Circular Fashion,’ reveal, emissions from the country’s cotton farming and production chain have reached critical levels while textile waste has risen to 330 tons daily in some parts of Sao Paulo State.

This is making Brazil a key contributor to global fashion emissions, says the report, funded by Dutch advocacy group Laudes Foundation, formerly the C&A Institute, and prepared by circular fashion and green consultancies Regenerate, Modefica and Brazilian think tank Fundação Getulio Vargas. To fix the problem, the authors recommend that the bulk of cotton, polyester and viscose production, and other synthetic fabrics, be replaced with alternative and more environmentally friendly alternatives and urges Brazil to promote circular fashion or recycling to extend a product’s life cycle.

The authors also recommend polyester production to be increasingly replaced by recycled polyester such as PET plastic bottles, production of which has been increasing but not enough to make a positive impact. Circular fashion should become a higher priority with the government providing recycling bins, such as those used in other countries, and enacting laws to minimize or ban textile manufacturing waste, says Larrissa Roviezzo, Manager, Regenerate Fashion. Producers should also invest in new recycling facilities while designers should be encouraged to dream up products with reusable fabrics, she adds.

Textile/apparel trade show Première Vision Paris has reported that its Digital Show session, staged on the event’s e-marketplace on February 15-19, recorded over 30,000 sessions (number of user interactions). The number of product data sheets accessed was 175,000, up from 138,000 last September.

The show’s organizer stated that industry professionals from 110 countries attended the session. The largest national contingents came from France, the UK and Italy, followed by those from the USA, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and South Korea. Visitors viewed about 460,000 web pages, as opposed to 376,900 the previous season. Crucially, average visit time rose from 9’ 50’’ to 20’ 55’’.

The increase in visit time was chiefly due to the nine online forums held, and the 11 trend-forecasting articles published. Additionally, the event featured 13 digital talks with industry panellists, including the presentation of a study by the Première Vision chair at the French Fashion Institute (IFM), which focused on the sourcing upheavals triggered by the Covid-19 crisis.

The debates were followed live by 7,260 viewers, with 10,175 viewers watching the repeats, compared to 4,140 and 6,214 viewers respectively for the September 2020 session. Digital Show's latest edition was held on the show organiser’s revamped website, now the event's central hub. All the various PV shows (Fabrics, Yarn, Leather, Accessories, Design and Manufacturing) have gradually been included on the website. Also, the individual manufacturers’ pages, now 1,560 in total, with 50,000 products on display, have been redesigned to contain more information.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) welcomed the textile rebates published in the South Africa Government Gazette as a breakthrough that will save garment and textile jobs as well as boost manufacturing at small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs).

The 5 February notice states that there will be duty free imports for woven fabrics. SACTWU says this policy shift will promote growth in the textile and garment manufacturing sectors. Further, it will stimulate local procurement and increase the sector’s contribution to the industrialization of the country.

This will save jobs in an economy where unemployment is high. According to Statistics South Africa’s 2020 4th Quarterly report unemployment is 32, 5 per cent, and as high as 42, 5 per cent if you consider the expanded unemployment rate that includes discouraged job seekers.

The R-CTFL masterplan, launched by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, aims to develop the textile and garment value chain. The value chain includes spinning, woven, dyeing, knitted, and finishing of natural and synthetic fibre inputs and leather tanning.

Cut-make-trim, design houses, garment, and household textile manufacturers, as well as leather and shoe manufacturers are also part of the value chain. Locally sourced and imported products are also included while retail deals with domestic and international markets.

The social dialogue partners that took part in the negotiations are the National Clothing Retail Federation (NCRF) representing garment retailers, Apparel and Textile Association of South Africa (ATASA), the South African Apparel Association (SAAA), and Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa (AMSA) representing garment manufacturers, and the Textile Federation (Texfed) representing textile mills.

John Lewis & Partners plans to fund a three-year program run by the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA), to support the expansion of the SFA’s new Cashmere Standard from Mongolia to the Inner Mongolia region of China.

Climate change and increased global demand for cashmere are putting pressure on the fragile ecosystems the cashmere industry relies upon. In response to this, a global standard has been developed by the SFA to promote best practice in land management, animal welfare, fibre processing and supply chain transparency, ensuring the long-term viability of the cashmere sector.

This work will protect the welfare of the goats, the land and the livelihoods of thousands of families who are dependent upon the production of cashmere fibres

John Lewis is funding the training of 420 herders in Inner Mongolia, on the global standard. Training will be provided by a leading animal welfare NGO, the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW), together with experts from a local agricultural university. Once the herders have completed their training, they will carry out self-assessments against the requirements of the Standard and undergo independent farm inspections before being given SFA accreditation.

In the first year, the program will focus on animal welfare, and then it will be expanded to cover the protection of biodiversity and how to secure herder livelihoods in the long term.

Japanese apparel sales fell by 20 per cent in January on a year-on-year basis. As per the data obtained from 10,997 stores of 56 companies associated with Japan Chain Stores Association (JCSA), these stores clocked revenues worth 59,288.98 million yen in January ’21, which valued 74,204 million yen in January ’20.

Menswear clocked 11,002.90 million yen revenues during January ’21, which is a significant fall of 26.40 per cent on Y-o-Y basis The revenues were down on M-o-M basis too as there was a 20.70 per cent decline noted in January as compared to December ’20.

Womenswear revenues valued 14,559.98 million yen in January with a drastic fall of 29.40 per cent on Y-o-Y basis. However, M-o-M decline was not huge as the sales of women clothing in Japanese chain stores dropped by 14.80 per cent as compared to December ’20.

All other types of clothing, including kidswear, clocked revenues worth 33,726.23 million yen, a decline of 12.60 per cent; however the drop was discouraging for the retailers as compared to December ’20 as a huge 31.80 per cent drop was recorded on monthly note.

The Indonesian Safeguards Committee (KPPI) recommended that the Indonesian government take safeguard measures against Bangladeshi apparel import to save the Indonesian domestic industry, according to a senior official of commerce ministry of Bangladesh.

The KPPI recommended imposing the safeguard measures as the body thinks its domestic industry is being hampered by import of Bangladeshi garment items as Indonesia is also a major garment producing nation, said Md Hafizur Rahman, director general of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Cell under the Commerce Ministry.

Earlier, in a hearing held in November last year, Bangladesh opposed the Indonesian safeguard measures against Bangladeshi apparel items in Indonesian markets.

The logic of Indonesian authority is that Bangladeshi apparel is exported to Indonesia more but that is not true. China is the largest clothing exporter regionally and internationally, he said. "We will start contacting the Indonesian government in this connection soon," Hafizur added.

Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA said bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Indonesia is in Indonesia's favour. Huq also said the safeguard petition in table 4.2 (a) reports applicants claiming 7.02 percent decrease in domestic industry and non-applicants reporting 3.91 percent decline.

Increasing producers' prices in between 2015 and 2019, minimum wage increases of 8.97 percent in between 2016 and 2020 have also contributed to the lack of Indonesia's competitiveness, and safeguard measure is not appropriate to check such systematic erosion of competitiveness since safeguard duties are imposed only temporarily.

The Fashionist Virtual Fashion and Apparel fair organized by Osmanbey Textile Export Businessmen Foundation (OTIAD) and Istanbul Ready-Made Garment and Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) has opened its gates virtually.

The online event will focus on fashion trends of the spring and summer seasons of 2021. “Fashionist,” which will be held in four languages, will host fashion parades from 41 different firms and several conversations with industry experts. OTIAD Chairperson Rıdvan Kandağ stated at the launch of the event that the online fair would provide a unique opportunity to people as they will be able to access private collections with one click.

The unique digital fair will feature menswear, womenswear, kidswear and evening wear that will take place every day of the event with more than 7,700 products aiming to capture the new season’s fashion trends.

The fair, curated by Ferhan Aral, intends to introduce brave, diverse and innovative new clothing this year as well as offer insight on what’s to come next with a discussion titled, “A Look into Fashion’s Future.” The talk will feature industry expert Ahu Barut who will explore subjects like factors that determine trends, the new digitalization of fairs and sales and the approach of brands regarding sustainability.

The event will also host the Swedish Exhibition, which will attempt to answer questions on the fashion revolution, future of textile and paper’s place in textiles with guests from Sweden, one of the leading countries in sustainable fashion.

American footwear, accessories and apparel group Steve Madden reported a 32.8 percent decrease in full year revenues as the company continues to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the full year ended December 31, 2020, the company, which owns brands including its namesake Steve Madden label, Dolce Vita and Betsey Johnson, reported revenue of $1.2 billion, down from $1.8 billion in 2019.

Net loss was $18.4 million, or $0.23 per basic share, for the year, compared to net income of $141.3 million, or $1.69 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Likewise, in the fourth quarter revenue decreased 15.9 percent to $353 million compared to $419.6 million in the same period of 2019. The Long Island City, New York-based company’s wholesale business posted the biggest decline, dropping 16.2 percent to $263 million in the fourth quarter, including a 19.7 percent decline in wholesale footwear and a 5.9 percent decline in wholesale accessories/apparel.

Similarly, its retail revenue decreased 14.9 percent to $86.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to a significant decline in its brick-and-mortar business, partially offset by continued strength in its e-commerce business.

In the fourth quarter, net income was $22.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, compared to $17.8 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, reported in the same period last year.

This year, the 36th IAF World Fashion Convention is set to take place in Antwerp, Belgium. The theme of the convention; Transition in the Global Fashion System, recognizes the fact that the demand from societies and from consumers, the restraints posed by the earth’s ecosystem and the possibilities offered by technology converge to create a necessity for transition. Merely adapting does not seem to be enough in 2020. Adapting is too slow. New successful companies based on entirely different business models shape the industry’s transition, as do existing companies embarking on bold programs of change. Transition will not involve the industry alone but requires all in the entire fashion ecosystem to work together. It requires a good and close collaboration with governments, creating regulatory environments that are supporting transition without stifling entrepreneurial drive. Educational institutes are engines of transition not only by training new employees, but also by actively nurturing new business.

The IAF World Fashion Convention will bring together the entire global industry ecosystem to share high level industry insights and to jointly discuss concrete actions to create faster industry transition. It is a unique opportunity to gain the insights necessary to understand where our industry is heading and to join the conversation on concrete ways to make the necessary transitions. The first day of the convention will be devoted to plenary sessions with top speakers from across the globe. On the second day, parallel workshops with participants from across the fashion ecosystem will discuss major topics driving transition such as circular textiles and implementing new technologies.

This year, the 36th IAF World Fashion Convention is set to take place in Antwerp, Belgium. The theme of the convention; Transition in the Global Fashion System, recognizes the fact that the demand from societies and from consumers, the restraints posed by the earth’s ecosystem and the possibilities offered by technology converge to create a necessity for transition. Merely adapting does not seem to be enough in 2020. Adapting is too slow. New successful companies based on entirely different business models shape the industry’s transition, as do existing companies embarking on bold programs of change. Transition will not involve the industry alone but requires all in the entire fashion ecosystem to work together. It requires a good and close collaboration with governments, creating regulatory environments that are supporting transition without stifling entrepreneurial drive. Educational institutes are engines of transition not only by training new employees, but also by actively nurturing new business.

The IAF World Fashion Convention will bring together the entire global industry ecosystem to share high level industry insights and to jointly discuss concrete actions to create faster industry transition. It is a unique opportunity to gain the insights necessary to understand where our industry is heading and to join the conversation on concrete ways to make the necessary transitions. The first day of the convention will be devoted to plenary sessions with top speakers from across the globe. On the second day, parallel workshops with participants from across the fashion ecosystem will discuss major topics driving transition such as circular textiles and implementing new technologies.