US cotton exports to Vietnam increased 294 per cent over the last five years. Vietnam is the largest export market for US cotton. Cotton Council International (CCI) conducts an annual Cotton Day in Vietnam with the intention of educating the largest and most influential mills and manufacturers in the country about the benefits of US cotton. Five Vietnamese mills have participated in a mill exchange program in the past two years, learning about the benefits of using US cotton from peer mills in neighboring countries. This program has been particularly effective as participating mills in Vietnam have increased US cotton use from ten per cent to 50 per cent of their total volume.

Since 2013-14, Vietnam’s cotton imports have increased 217 per cent. Vietnam has overtaken China to become the largest cotton importer in the world. As Vietnam has risen to become the world’s largest importer of cotton, CCI has increased its presence and value in this country. These efforts have paid off in a big way as Cotton USA licensees in the country have increased dramatically and in turn US cotton has taken a much larger market share in Vietnam, increasing sales by nearly 300 per cent.

Skintight denim is finally losing its grip on the UK jeans market. Shoppers are embracing looser-fitted styles. Straight-legged jeans are now the most sought-after cut. There has been a gradual widening of trouser legs over the past decade as shoppers rediscover flares and buy into relaxed boyfriend and cropped looks. The biggest denim trends right now include ripped and baggy jeans.

For John Lewis sales of straight-leg jeans are up 60 per cent on last year while demand for boyfriend jeans has surged by more than 40 per cent. For spring/summer 2018, skinny jeans accounted for 50 per cent of John Lewis’ denim sales, but in spring/summer ’19 they accounted for 38 per cent, showing customers are trying out new styles and moving away from the classic skinny jean look.

Jeans are big business for UK retailers. Shoppers will buy around 87 million pairs this year. White jeans are also back. Sales of white denims almost surpassed those of blue jeans for the first time in the last week of May, with searches up 42 per cent since the beginning of March. However a closer look at the actual shopping behavior of Britons shows a reluctance to jettison the skinnies just yet. One in two pairs of jeans bought in the UK is still a skinny fit.

Textile Fairs India is being held in New Delhi, July 15 to 17, 2019. The first and concluding day will showcase latest developments in fibers, yarns, trims and garments from Austria, China, Hong Kong, Japan and the host nation. The event aims at bridging the gap between the dreams of budding designers and the reality of being a part of gala fashion events.

The three day fair includes three trade fairs, Yarnex, F&A Show, and Fashion Connect. Yarnex brings together manufacturers and suppliers of fibers, yarns and related services to showcase their merchandise to buyers from across the world. F&A is a fashion and accessories show. Fashion Connect connects clothing brands and contract manufacturers with the entire retail fraternity. Besides being a platform for sourcing, the event also disseminates information on fashion trends.

Textile Fairs India brings together over 240 domestic and international fashion manufacturers to showcase upcoming trends and provide opportunities for them to network to expand their distribution networks. The trade fair will feature products intended for both spring/ summer 2020 and autumn/ winter 2020/2021. A special focus will be on sustainable fashion. Industry professionals will discuss how to make production more environmentally friendly and a dedicated sustainable fashion showcase will shine the spotlight on recycled and upcycled clothing. A number of design and product awards will also feature during the event.

Levi Strauss revenue was up five per cent over last year. It has expanded into new categories and found new ways to make sales. Levi Strauss had near across-the-board growth, with men’s sales up six per cent, women's rising 16 per cent and higher sales in both bottoms and tops. It also saw its global direct-to-consumer business shoot up 14 per cent year over year. The denim specialist has invested heavily in its online business and made strategic pairings, such as being featured at the Coachella music festival, a spot that resulted in sales of its Levi 501 cutoff shorts rising 50 per cent in the quarter.

The company’s wholesale business is primarily tied to sales to US department stores. Because the shopping mall is declining and department stores are reducing their footprints, Levi Strauss’ ability to sell more goods at more doors becomes limited. Levi Strauss expects the wholesale business in the US to be challenged in the second half of the year with bankruptcies and door closures and tightening of customers’ budgets. To offset the weakness, the company is attempting initiatives, such as a new concession model. For fiscal 2019, Levi Strauss expects net revenue growth to be in the mid-single digits.

Lectra’s update to the original Modaris program comes with improved 3-D simulations and tools.

This will help product developers bring their visions to life—and reduce the need for costly samples. The update will allow patternmakers to reduce the need for physical samples by up to 50 per cent, addressing an expensive and time-intensive step in the product development process. Cutting down on the need for sampling and reworking allows brands to bring products to the market faster while capitalizing on rapidly shifting trends. The Modaris V8R2 offers greater capabilities in 3-D virtual prototyping, allowing patternmakers to share their creations with 360-degree videos. Through a module on the program, designers can comment on the patternmakers’ interpretations and collaborate on solutions. The program also features more advanced graphics, with a library of new fabrics, top-stitching effects, background scenes, lighting and colors. A new feature simplifies the process of adding darts to a garment’s rendering, which drastically increases patternmaking speed. The program can manage different units of measurement, and reconcile designs to ensure size compliance across countries.

With this, Lectra aims at catering to patternmakers who deal with consumers with different tastes, of all body shapes and sizes, and providing them the tools to streamline the development process and reduce the number of reworks to achieve the right fit the first-time.

Specialised denim manufacturer Bossa recently held it’s second of a series “A New World Sustainable Denim Program” in Stra, near Venice, Italy. This event followed the previous one held in Amsterdam in May 2019 and aimed to inform key Italian players and brands of denim market about the importance of taking action against conventional and highly polluting jeans industry practices. The event gathered 120 insiders in Villa Foscarini, a historic Venetian Villa from the 1600s, and involved speakers from the denim and jeanswear value chain.

Tayfun Akbay, Deputy General Manager, Bossa, inaugurated the working session along with Piero Turk, Denim Designer and Consultant for Bossa; Massimo Falaguasta, Denim Washing Expert and also Consultant for Bossa; Samuel Trotman, Denim Specialist, Denim Dudes; Andrea Rosso, Creative Director Licenses for Diesel and founder Myar; Alberto De Conti, Head of Fashion Division, Rudolph Group, and Serena Chironna, Membership Coordinator, BCI. The programme was moderated by Maria Cristina Pavarini, Senior Features Editor, Sportswear International Magazine.

There are growing signs of the global supply chain — long reliant on China as the workshop to the world — is being permanently transformed. Heightened trade tensions between the US and China have disrupted global supply lines. There are no investments, no purchases. The trade war is causing people to stop investment because they don’t know where to put the money. China is expected to see more factory shutdowns as the trade war that’s roiled the global supply chain exacerbates an exodus. The era of ‘Made in China’ was over five years back because young Chinese workers no longer like working in a factory. Tariff-related uncertainty has made it difficult for clients to plan their supply-chain requirements, causing them to be more conservative in placing orders. American retailers have already taken up all the manufacturing capacity in Vietnam in their rush out of China.

While Chinese factories suffer, manufacturers in other Asian hubs are beneficiaries – but up to a point. But the rush to nearby Asian nations is also reaching a saturation point. Vietnam, for example, is completely full. There’s no extra capacity for US companies to get in. No nation is tariff-proof enough to serve as a global supply hub.

According to a report from Bảo Việt Securities Joint Stock Company (BVSC), textile, garment and footwear products made in Việt Nam will not enjoy immediate tariff cuts after the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect as the agreement will replace GSP rates with Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs. The MFN rates for those products will be higher than GSP rates of 9 per cent for garment products and 3-4 per cent for footwear products at present. Specifically, most apparel products that Việt Nam has been exporting to the EU will see export tariffs eliminated gradually from the MFN tariffs of 12 per cent to zero in 3-7 years after the EVFTA comes into effect. Similarly, footwear products will be exempt from MFN tariffs of 12.4 per cent in 3-7 years.

Those that will enjoy the immediate tariff cut are products which are not Việt Nam's major exports to the EU such as fibre to make clothes and other materials to produce footwear. Under the deal, Việt Nam's footwear, textile and garment industries will have to make changes to meet origin conditions and take advantages of preferential tariffs.

For the textile and garment industry, fabrics used to make the products must originate from Việt Nam or the EU, and the cutting and sewing stages must be performed in either the bloc or Việt Nam.

Despite this, the EVFTA has some flexibility on product origin. For instance, local garment firms can use fabric imported from countries that have signed FTAs with the EU and Việt Nam, like the Republic of Korea (RoK).

Bestseller has committed to sourcing 100 per cent of its cotton from more sustainable alternatives by 2022. By working across its entire value chain, it believes these initiatives and goals will help transform the way its products are created, made and consumed. Last year, Bestseller made a significant commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and revealed plans to build its own solar power plant.

In connection with the launch of Invest FWD – Bestseller’s new investment platform to accelerate sustainable innovation and solutions for the fashion industry – Bestseller and its parent company Heartland announced a partnership with Better Energy in 2018 to build its own solar power plant. The solar power plant will produce the equivalent of Bestseller’s entire global energy consumption for owned and operated buildings. This will see Bestseller achieve its goal of using 100 per cent renewable energy by 2021 for owned and operated buildings. A location for the power plant is yet to be announced.

In line with its climate positive ambition, Bestseller, in 2018, committed to setting science-based goals on greenhouse gas emissions through the Science-Based Targets initiative. This aims at keeping global warming below a 1.5 degrees celsius temperature increase.

With China poised to become the world's largest fashion market in 2019, home-grown high-street brands are well placed to cash in. These brands, which have long occupied space in lower-tier cities barely penetrated by foreign affordable-clothing brands such as Zara, H&M and Uniqlo, have been launching collections on the international stage of late.

It may not be long before millions of consumers around the world know these Chinese brands as they open stores overseas, collaborate with well-known designers, and conveying messages that resonate with shoppers. The five Chinese high street brands to watch include: Urban Revivo, which opened a store in London in 2018, Peacebird, which made its debut at the New York Fashion Week in 2018; Bosideng which launched its capsule collections in October 2015; Ochirly which is known for its elegant and feminine dresses and everyday wear and Me & City which recently debuted in Shanghai.