The organizers of Kingpins Show aim to build digital denim supply chain platform through an agreement with Material Exchange, which has created a sourcing database with nearly 20,000 digital materials from the biggest suppliers around the world.

With an aim to push the denim industry to evolve and behave responsibly, Kingpins has always relied on its physical shows in New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and China to bring its mix of vetted and selected supply chain partners and its invite-only guests together around the globe.

The platform’s first foray into providing digital solutions for exhibitors and attendees was Kingpins24, an online event featuring live-streamed content, webinars, interviews, panels and product demonstrations. Its new agreement with Material Exchange represents the next step in the process to complement Kingpins’ successful in-person events with new digital solutions.

The new digital supply chain will allow Kingpins exhibitors to showcase textiles to denim brands year-round. It will create new opportunities for business and build new ways for brands to conveniently source denim fabrics from Kingpins’ exhibitors. Through this supply chain, the organizer aims to provide denim brands with tools to be able to source denim and denim related fabrics instantly, view detailed product data online and help buyers make informed decisions about the materials needed for product design and creation process.

Apparel Retailers in America are reopening stores in accordance with the guidelines issued by the National Retail Federation (NRF). In addition to plexiglass dividers at the cash wrap stations, retailers have made floor markings in their stores to help everyone maintain social distancing.

Apparel retailers are also ensuring the provision of masks for workers and customers and maintaining social distancing between people in the store. Some of them are limiting their store hours to maintain a balance between meeting customer demand and giving their employees sufficient time to receive inventory and keep the store clean and organized. In some cases, retailers are also reconsidering the layout of areas of their stores where sales associates and customers are most likely to come in close contact, such as entrances, cash wraps and fitting rooms.

They are also introducing new practices for the dressing area, including wiping down fitting rooms after each customer and moving any garments tried on but not purchased to the back room to be steamed and then left overnight before returning them to the sales floor.

Lord & Taylor and Tailored Brands have joined the list of retailers aiming to restructure their operations in the wake of COVID-19. Lord &Taylor has been struggling due to a shift in consumer habits from offline to online shopping. In its bankruptcy filing, the company listed assets and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million. Tailored Brands, which operates Men’s Warehouse stores, also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to shut as many 500 of its stores.

A company that files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under US law usually continues operating by reorganizing its business and payments to creditors. This year, two major US department stores, JC Penney and Neiman Marcus also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. Major clothing brands have also sought reorganization through bankruptcy. The more-upscale Brooks Brothers sought Chapter 11 protection last month, as did the parent company of women’s fashion brands Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant.

Other sectors have also been hit by the changing habits of consumers, with lockdown orders stifling travel and forcing places like restaurants and gyms to temporarily close their doors to try to stop the spread of the virus. Rental car giant Hertz, gym chain 24 Hour Fitness and Gold’s Gym and vitamin and supplement retailer GNC also filed for bankruptcy.

Coterie, a traditional women’s fashion and accessories tradeshow, held biannually in New York City, plans to launch its online edition in September. The action is the result of a partnership between Informa Markets, which organizes the event, and the NuOrder platform, a B2B e-commerce specialist, which has 500 thousand retailers and 2 thousand brands.

The virtual show will be an extension of the tradeshow, offering brands the opportunity to exhibit and interact with buyers. In addition to displaying their catalog, the show will also provide a 360-degree showroom to participating companies.

The show will run for two months and will be joined by 500 thousand retailers. Supported by the Texbrasil Program, Coterie is used by brands such as Joulik, Haes, Skazi, and Patbo to exhibit their spring/summer and autumn/winter collections at its two editions.

Bangladesh fashion companies like Aarong, Sailor, Yellow, Twelve, Klubhaus, SaRa, Infinity, Mbrella, Smartex, Cats Eye, Anjon’s, Bibiana, Kay Kraft, Rang, Shadakalo, Nipun, Deshal, Shoishob, Bishwo Rang, La Reve etc launched their new online collections after Eid-ul-Fitr to protect demand, trust of the fashion lovers and brand image.

While the collection of Sailor is oriented with washed, printed and embroidered designs and smooth layering fashion, Yellow’s summer collection speaks of vivid colors and pretty prints. Thinking about the intense heat, SaRa’s collection will be dominated by cotton fabrics, south Asian motif prints and Minimi style. The brand produces knitted mask with good filtration capacity. ‘Bishwo Rang’ brings some pattern innovations along with tie-dye, batik style while Twelve has introduced Equal Monthly Instalment (EMI) facility for the first time in Bangladesh.

These fashion houses are also emphasizing on easy browsing with attractive offers and reasonable prices along with store sales. They take orders from web and Facebook fan page too. Motiur Rahman, Assistant Director of SaRa Lifestyle revealed the brand’s online business has boomed by about 30-40 per cent in the last four months. Azharul Haque Azad, Managing Director, Sadakalo said it is organizing an online fair being participated by almost all fashion houses. These fashion house leaders believe it may take several months for fashion lovers to go to the store spontaneously, even if the shopping malls are opened in compliance with the hygiene rules.

Less than a week later, one of the most modern mills in the world belonging to medical gauze fabrics manufacturer Ada Fios in Porto, Portugal, was hit by a devastating fire, the Ada Group negotiated the speedy delivery of 112 new airjet machines from Picanol, in order not to too badly jeopardize the operation.

Not only is Picanol making a huge effort to guarantee a record delivery time for these machines, with deliveries scheduled to start in September, but the Picanol service team – which has a local presence in Portugal – is already making the necessary preparations to have the new OmniPlus-i machines in full operation in the shortest possible time.

The OmniPlus-i airjet machine, which was first introduced to the market at the ITMA textile fair in Barcelona in June 2019, is characterised by the highest performance levels, lowest energy consumption, maximum user-friendliness, and a wide data application palette that is ready for the Industry 4.0 environment. Ada Fios will soon have an even more modern weaving mill than its previous one.

Crocs, Inc reported $331.5 million in global revenues in Q2 FY2020. This was a 7.6 percent decline from the second quarter of 2019, or 6 percent on a constant currency basis. Four out of five locations of the company including United States, Korea, China, and Germany registered growth. It’s global e-commerce revenues increased by 67.7 percent with strong growth in all regions. The company’s operating margin rose approximately 380 basis points to 17.1 percent and adjusted operating margin increased approximately 800 basis points to 22.3 percent. The company added diluted earnings per share grew 50.9 percent to 83 cents or 71.2 percent to 1.01 dollars on an adjusted basis.

As of June 30, 2020, 98 percent of the company-operated stores were open. In the Americas, the company closed its stores in mid-March and started to reopen in mid-May. Currently, the majority of its stores in the United States are open. In Asia, outside of China and Korea, most of the company-operated stores were closed for the majority of the quarter, while in EMEA region, stores in Western Europe closed in mid-April and reopened in mid-May, while stores in Russia closed in early April and reopened in early June.

Driven by a better-than-expected performance from both its apparel and its new PPE businesses, HanesBrands swung to a surprise profit in the second quarter. The company’s apparel business performed meaningfully ahead of the company’s best-case scenario across segments. Its point-of-sale (POS) trends improved sequentially through the second quarter in all key geographies with POS in its US basics and Champion businesses in May and June exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels.

In the US, the activewear segment, the point-of-sale accelerated to nearly 40 percent in May and more than 70 percent in June as consumers continued to seekout the brand, particularly within the online channel.

In the innerwear segment, the POS accelerated to up 8 percent in May and up 11 percent in June. The gains were driven by the basics business with a mid-teen POS growth in the quarter.

Internationally, as stores reopened, recovery was seen in its innerwear business in Europe and Australia as well as within its Champion business in Europe and Asia. HanesBrands’ online business also continued globally in the second quarter with sales up more than 70 percent over the prior year. The company generated triple-digit online growth at some of its largest customers. Its sales through the enhanced Champion.com website increased by nearly 200 percent in the quarter.

D2C Innerwear has launched Almo Wear in India as an attempt to change this perception by building an innerwear experience. Bringing Italian style and minimalism to the Indian market, the collection includes together timeless designs and innovative fabric. It offers two different fiber based n ranges; GOTS certified Organic Cotton range and Tencel Modal Micro range.

The Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) approved organic cotton range is a sustainable twist on the conventional cotton innerwear. Softer than conventional cotton, it allows for 88 per cent lower water consumption along with a considerable energy-positive impact on the environment.

The second range has been crafted with Austrian Tencel Modal Micro fibers sourced from European beechwood forests. Sourced from nature, with an ultra-soft texture, these fibers unveil an unforeseen standard of conscious comfort. Adding to this, the revolutionary Siro Spinning method gives the fibers an additional fineness and makes them lighter. The result is a lush, ultra-soft (3 times softer than cotton), stretchable fabric with higher moisture-wicking capabilities allowing comfort & freshness like never before.

Almo Wear uses Swiss Textile Innovator, HEIQ’s revolutionary technology to incorporate enhanced odour control and an anti-microbial finish in its fabrics. This makes the products perfect for the tropical climate in India.

Li & Fung has announced a strategic investment of $100 million in JD.com, with newly issued capital (at HK$1.25 per share) to further develop its digital supply chain. The Fung Family will continue to retain control of the company with 60 per cent of the voting shares.

Li & Fung has been on a journey to create the Supply Chain of the Future and the strategic cooperation with JD will accelerate this development with a proven digital partner, the company reports. Li & Fung will also grow its business in China by partnering with JD on private label initiatives for the China domestic market by leveraging its global network and digital supply chain. With the strong partnership between the Fung Family and Singapore-headquartered GLP Pte Ltd., and now the addition of JD, Li & Fung will be able to leverage its scale and digital capabilities to continue its journey of creating the end-to-end digital supply chain.

As China’s leading technology driven e-commerce company, JD is transforming to become the leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, which fits well with Li & Fung’s goal of creating the Supply Chain of the Future. JD has been developing proprietary supply chain technologies for many years and has created digital retail and supply chain platforms that are fully integrated to support its omni channel strategies.