The turnover of Italian fashion industry rose 2.8 per cent in 2018. Including textiles, leather and shoes, sales were up 2.3 per cent year on year. Exports continue to gain in importance for the sector. Exports accounted for over 75 per cent of sales. Apparel is the most important segment, accounting for 40.5 per cent of total revenues, followed by leather wear (20.9 per cent) and eyewear (16.2 per cent). The fastest growing segment is jewelry, with an annual average growth rate of 13.3 per cent. Italy’s fashion industry has grown by three per cent on an average every year in the last decade. Its annual revenues account for around four per cent of Italy’s gross domestic output. But the fashion industry’s revenues increased by just 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, held back by trade tensions between the United States and China.

Fifteen out of the 43 European fashion giants are Italian. Luxottica and Prada stand out in particular, ranking seventh and fourteenth respectively in European rankings by total sales. The distance between the top 15 and the rest of the pack is narrowing, leading to a roughly equal distribution between leaders and followers in terms of net profits.

Over 280 exhibitors are showcasing their textile technologies at the 20th ZheJiang International Trade Fair For Textile and Garment Industry (ZhejiangTex 2019) being held at Yiwu International Expo Centre, Zhejiang, China.

The show, under the theme of “Smart Textile and Garment Technology - Smart Life Style”, is showcasing innovative textile machinery and top-notch manufacturing technologies. There are three thematic zones featured in ZhejiangTex 2019 this year: knitting and hosiery machinery, sewing and automatic garment machinery and digital printing technology & application.

This year Chemtax will introduce its green zero emission system in ZhejiangTex 2019. Chemtax provides a range of manufacturing solutions for producing green textile with the themes such as zero release, ERP + intelligent production and anhydrous textile dyeing.

Walmart Inc, Target Corp and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc will face a lawsuit for selling linen falsely labeled “100 per cent Egyptian Cotton” or “100 per cent Long-Staple Egyptian cotton” despite being suspicious of their origin. A recent decision by US District Judge Vincent Briccetti in White Plains, New York, addressed claims that consumers nationwide overpaid for mislabeled cotton produced by an Indian textile company, Welspun India.

In a 39-page decision, Briccetti said consumers may pursue breach of warranty and negligent misrepresentation claims against the retailers and a U.S. unit of Welspun, and fraud claims against the Welspun unit. He dismissed fraud claims against the retailers because there was no “strong inference of fraudulent intent.”

According to the complaint, the retailers sold Welspun’s “Egyptian” cotton well into 2016 even though Target and Bed Bath & Beyond had known for several months, and Walmart had known as early as 2008, that the cotton was mislabeled. The cotton was sold under the Fieldcrest, Royal Velvet, Better Homes and Gardens, Canopy, Crowning Touch and Perfect Touch brands

Sue Bolton is the president of the Society of Dyers and Colorists (SDC). She will promote the benefits of SDC membership, education and qualifications, particularly that of the chartered colorist. This will promulgate a better use of the best available technology by the coloration industry, leading to a reduced environmental impact. She has a bachelor of technology degree in color chemistry and color technology. She joined Marks & Spencer as a graduate recruit. Her first role was as laboratory technologist, testing textiles, among many things, for color fastness and physical performance. Since 2006 she has chaired a working group on safety of children’s clothing. From 2012-2017, Sue was chairman of ISO TC 38 SC1, the international standards committee for color fastness of textiles.

SDC is the outstanding provider of color education, offering a range of internationally recognised color courses and qualifications. Its mission is to educate the changing world in the science of color. Founded in 1884, SDC became a registered charity in 1962 and was awarded a Royal Charter in 1963. The SDC remains the only organisation in the world able to award the chartered colorist status. SDC works globally with worldwide membership and is a center for networking and community engagement among the coloration industry.

Mango’s consumption of water, energy and chemicals has been reduced through the introduction of Jeanologia’s Ecowash technology and through the incorporation of the Better Cotton Initiative in garments, which encourages the use of sustainable cotton farming techniques, while additionally guaranteeing workers’ health and safety.

Almost 38 per cent of Mango’s jeans collection has sustainable characteristics and this figure is expected to increase to over 50 per cent for the coming season. The Spanish fashion brand’s Committed 2019 collection, a capsule first introduced by the brand in 2017, is made up of a selection of environmentally-committed designs using recycled fabrics and sustainable fibers such as BCI certified cotton, Greencel, and Tencel Lyocell.

Mango opened in 1984. They are two stages in the history of the company. In the first, from 1984 to 1995, Mango gradually gained a greater knowledge of the business and consolidated the product and store concept, and implemented the Just in Time philosophy in the distribution area, obtaining a certain critical mass on the Spanish market. In the second stage, from 1996 to the present, it has reinforced the values of the team and increased investment in a new concept of complete logistics based on speed, information, and technology.

In the first 10 months of the current fiscal Pakistan’s knitwear exports rose 8.7 per cent. Bedwear exports increased 2.4 per cent. Exports of readymade garments rose 3.2 per cent. The value-added sector showed some improvement during the period owing to measures like rupee devaluation, which boosted outbound shipments. The currency continued to lose its value against the dollar, encouraging exports on improved margins. Last year alone, the currency fell 20 per cent. The weak currency however increased the cost of doing business and particularly catalysed energy costs.

In April, textile exports were up around five per cent over the previous month. But, the monthly textile exports remained In July to April, exports of knitwear, bedwear and readymade garments, in terms of quantity, also increased 15.8 per cent, 10.11 per cent and 29 per cent year on year. Exports of cotton cloth however, fell 2.7 per cent. Cotton yarn exports declined 15.7 per cent. Raw cotton exports slid 67.2 per cent. Food exports declined 4.1 percent year-on-year to $3.8 billion during the period under review. Rice exports increased 1.42 per cent year on year. Exports of manufactured goods remained flat. Exports of petroleum and coal soared 24.4 per cent.

Prodigy Textiles, the subsidiary of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, the leading developer of spider silk based fibers, has acquired the company’s factory in Vietnam. The company is retrofitting the nearly 50,000 sq ft facility to produce its game changing recombinant spider silk materials. This facility was selected based on its optimal layout and existing infrastructure.

The company has outlined an aggressive timeline for commissioning the factory. It expects to deliver the first batch of its recombinant spider silk thread, from this factory to one of its strategic market channel partners in the third or fourth quarter.

Kraig Biocraft Laboratoriesis a fully reporting biotechnology company focused on the commercialisation of new textiles and high performance fibers including spider silks. As the leading developer of genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies, Kraig Biocraft has been able to achieve a series of scientific breakthroughs in the area of spider silk technology.

C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity, Lifestyle And Sustainable Synergy) shared the smartest textile and material innovations available at Copenhagen Fashion Summit, May 15 to 16, 2019.

C.L.A.S.S. showcased examples of some of the most sustainably responsible innovations available on the market today, empowering the next generation of designers as well as those from leading design houses, and providing them the chance to experience firsthand how they might work toward a circular design economy. Key members of the C.L.A.S.S. team had the chance to share valuable insights gleaned from over 12 years of research and development within this area, helping provide visitors including new designers, start-ups, and established designers with everything needed to make smart choices that work vertically through the supply chain from merchandising right through to consumer facing communication campaigns. From trends, new R&D concepts, and the latest buzzwords, C.L.A.S.S. had it covered. Visitors accessed the C.L.A.S.S. e-commerce textile collection, where new designers and start-ups could purchase sustainably responsible fabric options.

The overall C.L.A.S.S. education program is targeted particularly at new designers, start-up brands, and those working across fashion supply chains and looks at how to actively foster responsible innovation, how to devise appropriate strategies to implement them, and most importantly how to communicate them in a way that makes sense and appeals to the modern consumer.

As per the annual BrandZ ranking by British multinational advertising and public relations company WPP and its data analytics unit Kantar, Amazon has almost doubled its brand value to $316 billion. Alibaba emerged as the second most valuable retail brand. The value of Amazon brand increased by 91 per cent, while Alibaba's rose by 48 per cent to $131 billion. The ranking combines financial performance with consumer surveys in more than 50 countries, according to global newswires.

Both Alibaba and Amazon are growing partly because of their activity outside retailing. Alibaba took second place from McDonald's even though the brand value of the world's biggest fast food chain grew 18 per cent to $130 billion as it offered healthier menus and more environmentally friendly packaging. Rising environmental concerns about fast fashion have weighed on the brand values of Inditex's Zara, which declined by 10 per cent to $23 billion, and H&M, which declined by 39 per cent to $6.4 billion.

The Clean Clothes Campaign’s new country report for Romania reveals that the country’s garment industry has been suffering from a dramatic labor shortage as its working conditions are infamously bad. The report analyses extensive research investigations spanning the past six years, with a special focus on 2017-2018. For more than a decade, Romania’s garment industry has been suffering from a dramatic labor shortage as the working conditions in the country are very bad.

Workers regard the industry’s extremely low wages as the most serious problem. The average wage within regular working hours of interviewed workers was as low as 14 percent of a living wage. Contrary to the law, the salary within regular working hours was very often below the statutory minimum wage – which itself only constitutes a mere 17 percent of a living wage. According to workers, non-payment of the legal minimum wage for regular working hours is the norm. Many workers report that they are forced to take out loans to deal with everyday expenses like heating costs in winter.

Almost half a million people work in Romania’s fashion industry – making this the biggest workforce in this sector in Europe. The main export destinations for clothing ‘Made in Romania’ are Italy, the UK, Spain, France, Germany, and Belgium.