Environmental-friendly sourcing is a priority across the apparel space, says McKinsey. Reflecting growing concerns from consumers, many brands are investing in sustainable processes and setting ambitious goals. Sustainable sourcing at scale will be a must for apparel companies over the next five years.

Sustainable sourcing covers multiple individual processes but the main areas are sustainable materials, transparency and traceability, supplier relationships, packaging, circular economies and broader ecological footprint. In the first half of 2019, only one per cent of new products launched by mass-market apparel companies were tagged as sustainable online. The industry lacks a common language on sustainable sourcing, let alone a shared set of standards. A powerful driver for introducing environmental-friendly practices is public pressure. Internet searches for sustainable fashion tripled between 2016 and 2019.

In the not-so-distant past, sustainability was used primarily as a tool to mitigate reputational risk and ensure compliance. But now transparency and traceability are critical to the future. Incorporating sustainability throughout a company’s supply chain is a challenge that brands must take seriously. Like most things within a global supply chain, it’s complicated. Reaching internal alignment on the need to be more transparent is much easier than obtaining the information required.

India’s cotton imports have jumped sharply. The high minimum support price is holding domestic prices at an elevated levels despite weak demand. With domestic prices remaining artificially higher than international prices, cotton imports may rise further.

Cotton yarn exports have fallen owing to low demand. Yarn exports fell 40 per cent month-on-month in July, largely due to an 80 per cent fall in demand from China which has entered into the second phase of the free trade agreement with Pakistan. The pact includes cotton yarn which directly competes with India.

India’s apparel exports are seeing a moderate recovery with the stabilising demand from the United States. The US-China trade war seems to have had no major impact as the apparel exported by China for July were 35 per cent higher than those in the previous month. India is yet to see the benefit in the trade war, as only a ten per cent m-o-m increase in exports was recorded in July. Exports to the EU market have been adversely affected by the preferred access to competing nations like Bangladesh and Vietnam. These could make it increasingly difficult for India’s apparel exporters to maintain their competitiveness in the EU.

The global fashion industry is in a state of flux. As one of the more cost-sensitive sectors, the fashion industry is generally quick to respond to shifts in global markets and trading conditions. The sector’s supply chains, for example, have undergone shifts even before the US–China trade tensions. With production costs increasing in China, textile and garment makers were already relocating manufacturing operations to other lower-cost Asian countries. The US–China tariff war is now accelerating this trend, while Britain’s impending exit from the European Union is keeping global industry players on their toes.

These uncertainties have taken a toll on the trade growth outlook for the consumer fashion goods sector, which deteriorated significantly across key markets over the past quarter. At the same time, clothing exports from Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Cambodia have been on the rise. The value of these countries’ exports jumped 11 per cent, 13 per cent, and 14 percent respectively during 2018. In Bangladesh, the world’s third-largest clothing exporter ahead of Vietnam, the fashion sector now dominates outbound trade from the South Asian country. Europe is another beneficiary of the fashion industry’s changing supply chain. Already the second largest exporter of both clothing and textiles, the EU saw increases of 11 per cent and seven per cent respectively during 2018.

According to a study released by the European bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD), United States is the biggest destination for Jordan apparel exports as the country exported about $1.2 billion worth of goods to the United States.

According to Munir deyeh, President of Jordanian textile and apparel conglomerate, domestic apparel sales in Jordan fell by 60 per cent in 2018.

The statistics of the Jordan-based Value Chain Analysis (VCA) Garments reveal that the country’s apparel industry now has 85 large-scaled enterprises and employs 95 per cent of its labors. Most of these apparel companies are foreign-funded enterprises, joint ventures or holding companies, whose apparel is mainly exported to the United States, accounting for 95 per cent of its total apparel exports. Most of Jordanian apparel factories are located in North Jordan, followed by the central and Southern regions.

Major African cotton producer Mali expects to increase its output to 1 million tonne annually within next two to three years as it plans to introduce new cotton varieties to boost yields. The country is targeting a record 2019/20 cotton crop of 800,000 tonne this year which is expected to make it the top producer in Africa, edging out rival Burkina Faso.

The so-called “Cotton 4” African producers - Mali, Chad, Benin and Burkina Faso - are meeting with other member states at the World Trade Organization in Geneva this week to discuss measures to promote trade. One of the key topics they hope to address is the reduction or removal of billions of dollars of state subsidies which they say create an uneven playing field for exporters.

The United States and Brazil are the world’s top exporters of cotton, with C4 countries together ranking in fifth position with about 1 million tonne in annual export. But proportionally cotton is a bigger contributor to African producers’ budgets and they are also taking steps to encourage more investment in creating African textiles, rather than just exporting raw cotton.

Fynd has launched Uniket. This is a direct-to-retail solution which will enable shopkeepers in Tier II and Tier III cities to grow their business by getting direct access to the brand’s inventory and the flexibility to buy anytime, anywhere and in any configuration they like. Uniket also enables a shopkeeper to buy in single pieces rather than buying complete sets from a typical wholesale market. Through Uniket, Fynd provides shopkeepers with their own free website and app with a selling capability of over 50,000 styles from 50 brands. Shopkeepers no longer need to worry about customers leaving their shop dissatisfied due to a lack of choice in their favorite brands. By downloading the Uniket store app, shopkeepers can now keep a minimal inventory in their shop, of brands that are in high demand, and also offer delivery of these branded and quality stocks to their customers’ doorstep. The Uniket store app offers up to 45 per cent margin on bulk orders and 15 per cent commission on customer orders.

Uniket’s aim is to tap the unorganised retail market, support shopkeepers and offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across the country. Uniket has on boarded 6,500 stores and has established its presence in 350 cities across 24 states across India.

Fortum, a major European energy company building new business options in the circular economy, along with the sustainable fiber technology company Spinnova are showcasing the world’s first clothing made from agricultural waste, namely wheat straw, at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Vancouver, this week.

The showpieces include a knitted t-shirt, as well as a jacket and skirt made of a woven fabric on organic cotton warp. The prototype material is unique also due to its extremely low environmental impact from raw material extraction, processing and manufacture, verified by life-cycle analysis (LCA).

Spinnova’s technology, presently in a piloting phase, turns micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) directly into fiber mechanically without any dissolving or harmful chemical processes. Fibers of the now showcased clothing were produced at Spinnova’s pilot facility in Finland, which also means that Spinnova’s technology can be applied to various biomasses without further technology development. Now Fortum and Spinnova plan to establish sustainable fiber production at Fortum’s future biorefineries that will use residual biomasses such as agro waste.

The biomass will be processed into materials for bioproducts of lignocellulosic origin, as well as cellulosic products. The refineries will be based on fractionation technology, enabling highly resource-efficient utilisation of wheat straw and resulting in significantly lower environmental impact compared to other processing technologies.

A belt and road forum was held in China, September 29, 2019.

More than 200 people from over 20 countries along the belt and road attended the conference and discussed the new opportunities for international textile cooperation and the new trend of global textile economy development under the belt and road initiative.

The forum reviewed the trade and investment cooperation between China’s textile industry and countries along the belt and road, and summarised the overall situation, and key areas of China’s textile industry in terms of international cooperation. A representative from Iran’s textile industry introduced the development history and current situation of the Iranian textile industry, highlighting the rapid development of Iran’s textile and apparel trade after the proposal of the initiative. The forum was aimed at bringing more thoughts and enlightenment to the future development of the world textile economy, and creating opportunities for multi-field integration, multi-party economic and trade activities and high-quality resource sharing in the industrial chain and effectively promoting international cooperation and development to achieve a win-win situation in Asian textile cooperation.

Under belt and road, China is attempting a deep integration of international and domestic markets as well as a more suitable overseas investment environment.

Bangladesh Denim Expo will be held from November 5 to 6, 2019.

The world’s leading denim trade shows will host around 100 exhibitors from 11 countries, including Bangladesh. Other participating countries include China, Japan, Italy, India, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, and Germany. Through a series of product displays, presentations, seminar sessions, and panel discussions, the expo will encourage healthy debate and interaction among exhibitors and visitors to champion a more responsible denim industry. The focus is on sustainability and within this the issue of responsibility – an overriding theme of this year’s event.

Bangladesh is now the world’s largest producer of denim and leads the way in terms of addressing some of the sustainability challenges related to denim production, including excessive use of water and chemicals. Each expo marks continued and gradual progress being made by the more progressive players in the industry.

The Sustainable Apparel Forum will be held alongside the expo. The forum will see more than 50 speakers from Bangladesh and overseas, sharing expert opinions across five panel discussions covering current issues about the country’s apparel industry. These include human resources, transparency in business, water conservation, purchasing practices, sustainable chemical management, waste management, circular economy in textiles, and climate change, to name a few.

Lenzing Group recently upgraded its Refibra technology with 30 per cent more usage of recycled raw material to further drive circular economy in the textile segment. This new offering adds it up in the family of Tencel™ Lyocell fibres with low fibrillation properties.

The new fibers are 100 per cent biobased and manufactured using eco-responsible closed loop production process. They are made using a new technique that shows low fibrillation and moisture management properties with improved breathability, smoothness and strength. The fiber has its applications in denim, athleisurewear, apparel and home textile and with this it has expanded its offering as a sustainable alternative for knitwear, lingerie and towels.

The low fibrillation property of the fibers maintains the smoothness of the fabric even after multiple washes. Also, similar to the other Tencel™ Lyocell fibers the Refibra technology is capable of saving tonne of cotton scraps from being dumped into the landfill, by blending 30 per cent of pulp made from recycled cotton scraps collected from the garment manufacturing units. These sustainable fibers leave least impact on the environment, reusing water and solvent at a recovery rate of more than 99.5 per cent.

Moreover, an additional feature includes a special identification technology that increases the transparency confirming the fibre origin. Tencel™ Lyocell fibres with REFIBRA™ technology are identifiable in yarn, fabrics and final garment stage, which not only improves the supply chain transparency, but also gives brands an upper hand in confirming the sustainability of their fibres to the customers thereby increasing the brand trust.