Archroma will launch five innovations and 24 system solutions at ITMA Barcelona 2019. These solutions will help textile manufacturers to optimise productivity and create value in their markets. The company will hold “Innovation & Solutions Sessions” at its booth to launch these.

The systems and innovations presented by Archroma have all been selected for their compliance with ‘The Archroma Way: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature.’ The approach finds its origin in the company’s belief that it is possible to make the textile industry sustainable.

Archroma offers a wide portfolio of dyes and chemicals to increase sustainability and innovation along the entire value chain, from fiber to finish. The company is known for its continuous flow of ground-breaking innovations, such as the EarthColors®, a range of dyes made from non-edible natural waste from the agricultural and herbal industry, Inkpresso®, a digital printing system that enables ink mixing on site and on demand, Smartrepel® Hydro, a nature-friendlier protection that keeps cotton, polyester and polyamide textiles dry, the Color Atlas, a revolutionary color system comprising of a physical and online library of 4,320 new colors developed on cotton poplin.

More recently, Archroma introduced the purest indigo, Denisol® Pure Indigo, an aniline-free* synthetic pre-reduced liquid indigo launched in 2018, Appretan® NTR, a new nature-based binder for nonwovens, and Fadex® AS New, a new “super UV protector” for automotive & transportation textiles, both introduced in May 2019.

"Kim Glas, new the president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organisations since April 2019, has set a definite goal to revive the flagging American textile industry. She notes the American industry in the last few years has seen a remarkable uptick in employment with the industry currently employing 600,000 workers across the supply chain. In 2018, around 594,147 people were employed in the textile chain and the country’s textile and apparel shipments during the year added up to $76.8 billion. "

Kim Glas, new the president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organisations since April 2019, has set a definite goal to revive the flagging American textile industry. She notes the American industry in the last few years has seen a remarkable uptick in employment with the industry currently employing 600,000 workers across the supply chain. In 2018, around 594,147 people were employed in the textile chain and the country’s textile and apparel shipments during the year added up to $76.8 billion. The key market for yarns and fabrics, the Western Hemisphere, is seeing strong growth trends with the FDI in the market increasing.

The industry is also witnessing an increasing emphasis on innovation with $22.8 billion being invested in new plants and equipment from 2006-2017. The US manufacturers recently opened new facilities across the entire textile production chain to convert waste materials into new yarns and resins.

Focus on sustainability and reshoring

Glas’ top focus is to inform the Congress, the administration and key decision makers about key priorities in terms of legislation or trade policy. Glas also aims to focus on developing the Western Hemisphere, a core trade region that imports around 70 per cent of the yarns and fabrics that the country produces.

In addition, Glas, aims to focus on sustainability by manufacturing more tenable products and revamping the entire production process. NCTO also plans to build a strong communications strategy both for the industry and key decisions makers in the government and beyond.

As the industry prioritises on reshoring manufacturing process for fiber, yarn and fabrics, a lot of apparel suppliers in Los Angeles and New York are planning to expand their operations to other regions. However, it is important for the industry to know the FDI flow in the country and number of jobs that are being created. For this, the country has proposed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which continues the free-trade status with Mexico and Canada and improves certain areas that benefit US producers.

Plans to regulate tariffs

As the tariffs being applied on US manufacturers sourcing of certain materials from China are resulting in additional penalty and tighter profit margins, Glas looks to impose tariffs on finished items imported from China

NCTO has also demanded fair and expeditious exclusions process as it doesn’t believe that under the current framework the tariff process is absolutely correct. As per Klas, the process abuses intellectual property rights and it needs to properly balance the application of these tariffs on finished goods.

As per Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel figures, apparel sourcing has already diversified across Asia, the Western Hemisphere, etc. Brands and retailers are shifting over the uncertainty surround next round of tariffs and how it will hit them. Brands expect this to attract more interest either in the Western Hemisphere or with those that have trade benefits with the US.

The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) and the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) have opposed the tariff war between the EU and the US. They say imposing additional tariffs on travel goods, textiles and clothing products will adversely affect companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, add costs to supply chains and will be at the expense of manufacturing jobs and investments in innovation.

The US preliminary list of targeted products includes yarns (high tenacity aramids and polyester), home textiles (carpets, bed linen, blankets), some clothing items (dresses, sweater, suit, swimwear), and a travel goods item (handbags). The EU list includes raw cotton and cotton waste, as well as travel goods including those of textile materials.

The European Apparel and Textile Confederation’s main objective is to create an environment within the European Union which is conducive to the manufacture of textile and clothing products. Textile and apparel manufacturing is an essential pillar of the EU regions. Representing more than 1000 world famous name brands, the American Apparel & Footwear Association is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders, its four million US workers, and its contribution of 400 billion dollars in annual US retail sales.

The tariff hikes may force US retailers to raise prices. Some have reached out to suppliers to look for ways to reduce costs. However, it is not clear how the tariffs will affect prices on imports from China, such as luggage, furniture, bicycles and vacuums.

Walmart indicated a possible price hike for the products it sells in order to offset the impact of the additional tariffs the US has imposed on Chinese goods. Warehouse club operator Costco is looking to accelerate shipments before certain tariffs go into effect.

US retailers depend heavily on China in their supply chains, as China accounts for about 41 per cent of all apparel, 72 per cent of footwear, and 84 per cent of travel goods imported into the United States. Duties on US imports of these consumer products from China already represent more than 22 per cent of all tariffs the United States collects from all countries on all products. These duties fall on US workers, US consumers, and US companies -- not China. Over 12,000 US apparel and textiles stores, which have about $40 billion of annual revenue, would be at risk because of possible new tariffs. The US retail industry has already lost more than 3,000 stores, or more than five per cent in the first quarter of 2019.

Pitti Uomo, to be held in Italy from June 11 to 14, 2019, will showcase 30 years of men’s wear from 1989 to the present. The exhibition will display clothes of designers who breathed life into special events at Pitti Uomo between 1989 and 2019 along with a selection of garments coming from 110 brands exhibiting at the show, with their special presentations, have also characterised this period of time. The show will recount the history and evolution of men’s wear and the fashion talents from the international contemporary scene together with the experiences of leading men’s wear entrepreneurs. Each room will feature pages of an oversized book that presents its contents. Page after page, the exhibition will trace in a pop-up format the different currents present in men’s fashion thanks to the presentations of numerous Pitti Uomo special guests.

Published and distributed worldwide by Marsilio Editore and designed by Studio Lenthal, the book will feature pieces by Angelo Flaccavento, Antonio Mancinelli, Frédéric Martin-Bernard, Suzy Menkes, Serena Tibaldi and Olivier Saillard with commentary by Giorgia Cantarini and photography by Astra Marina Cabras.

Many men and also women who have transformed men’s clothing into creative works have passed through Italy.

Factory activity has contracted across Asia and Europe due to the escalating trade war between the US and China. A world recession is feared. The trade war has damped automotive demand. Higher trade tariffs may take their toll on global commerce and further dent business and consumer sentiment, leading to job losses and delays in investment decisions. The outlook remains grim as output growth slips, factory prices stall and businesses get pessimistic on production. The trade war has not only become a technology war but also a broad-based business war.

Central banks in Australia and India are expected to cut rates this week, with others around the world seen following suit in the coming weeks and months. While US manufacturing is expected to grow steadily, the global malaise is expected to eventually feed back into the US economy. In Britain, the Brexit stockpiling boom of early 2019 gave way last month to the steepest downturn in British manufacturing in almost three years as new orders dried up, boding ill for economic growth in the second quarter. The euro zone economy is under pressure.

America’s new tariff threats against Mexico have also contributed to global recession fears, with stock markets tumbling around the world.

Three years after key regulatory and labor changes were put in place, India’s textile and apparel exports have declined from 2014 to 2018 while imports have increased. Particularly hit has been the apparel sector, where the time taken by the industry to adjust to the Goods and Services Tax regime, downward revision of export incentives, and a credit squeeze faced by small and medium scale enterprises have pushed production downwards. India’s apparel exports fell by 1.2 per cent in fiscal year ’19 from fiscal ’18, which in turn was four per cent lower than the previous year. Even the share of apparel exports in the country’s total textile exports fell from 51 per cent in fiscal ’17 to 45 per cent in fiscal ’19. The fall is attributed to the ever tightening pressure on export markets by higher shipments from low-cost competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam.

The recent slowdown in global demand has also increased competition in the markets which has coincided with taxation changes in India. Barring a few months, apparel exports have been continuously declining since October 2017, mainly due to stiff competition, slowdown and discontinuation of certain export incentives. There was a six per cent to seven per cent impact on costs, which hurt profitability of garment makers.

British heritage brand Hunter, founded in 1856 and widely known for its rain boots, posted a record revenue for last year. The company owes its success to a smart collaboration strategy and a diversified product offering. In the past year, Hunter has increased the number of collaborations it has done and expanded the variety of its partners along with adding several new categories.

The brand has also expanded its offerings in the last year within newer categories including apparel and beach totes, both launched in the last five years. Sales in both the apparel and bag categories grew by 50 per cent in the last year. The US is Hunter’s largest market and its sales there have grown 13 per cent year over year. Sales in Asia have also grown by 13 per cent.

Hunter has redesigned its e-commerce offerings and focused on selling more direct-to-consumer. Over the last two years, the brand has revamped its online store with more editorial content, more detailed sizing info, curated online concept shops and a reinvigorated e-mail strategy that more aggressively follows up with consumers who shop online. Through the work it has done with its own e-commerce and dialogue with customers via experiential activations and brand partnerships, it has been able to succeed.

The US has ended trade concessions for India under GSP. India calls the decision discriminatory, arbitrary, and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India, which is a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges. Turkey has also been stripped of its GSP trade concessions. Punitive tariff hikes will be imposed on imports from Mexico over its leniency toward immigrants from Central America.

The US is on a mission to end the massive trade deficits and has imposed or hopes to impose higher tariffs on imports from several countries while involved in a trade war with China.

India came under the GSP program in 1975. The program is limited to certain categories like apparel and footwear with the aim of alleviating poverty by promoting exports by poor craftspeople and artisans in those sectors. In retaliation for the US raising tariffs of steel and aluminium imports from India, India has threatened to increase duties on agricultural products like walnuts, apples and other fruits imported from the US. The US dairy industry says India’s sanitary and phytosanitary requirements are unscientific and so exporting to India is difficult. According to Indian laws imports should not come from cows that have been given cannibalised feed that includes offal or other meat products. India provides unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries that meet the criteria.

Entrepreneurs in Egypt are creating sustainable and ethical fashion solutions. Norhan El Sakkout founder of Saqhoute believes fashion should focus on producing quality products. Her products are priced higher than fast fashion products but her designs are versatile and long-lasting. El Sakkout believes in paying a fair wage to the people who produce her clothes. Although the minimum wage is common for workers in Egypt, El Sakkout prefers to pay above-market rates. El Sakkout tries to source locally produced natural fabrics, but she is not always successful. As a result, she often relies on using blended fabrics, which is also important for supporting local craftsmanship.

Similarly, Josline El Kholy, co-founder of Jozee Boutique, an ethical fashion brand, believes companies are ultimately responsible for informing their customers about products. El Kholy, who founded the brand with her husband, Ezzeldine Moukhtar, works with men and women across Egypt to produce bespoke embroidery on their clothing. She believes in partnering with employees. Employees work at their own pace, in their own homes. It’s more like a collaboration instead of an employer-employee relationship.

Fast fashion is plagued by ethical issues, including the treatment of garment factory workers. Its effect on the environment — from the disposal of cheap apparel to the pollution of natural resources — is also a growing cause for concern.