Genderless clothing for babies and children under the age of 12 has caught on in the US. Millennial parents appear to be more open-minded when it comes to gender and prefer to give their children more clothing options in different colors and styles, without being constrained by their gender.

Primary, founded in 2015, is a gender-neutral children’s wear brand. The brand uses its Instagram page, where it has 66,400 followers, to showcase all of its styles and colors, modeled on both boys and girls. Primary also encourages customers to post photos of their children wearing Primary and to tag them with #yesprimary for a chance to be featured on the brand’s page or in future marketing efforts. So far this year, the brand has been racking up major waitlists for new items. Around Valentine’s Day, there was a 6,000-plus waitlist for Primary’s rainbow heart pajamas, and this spring it saw a 4,000-plus waitlist for its raincoat. A big part of Primary’s success in the gender-neutral space comes from the fact that it’s been selling customers on genderless clothes since launch. Contemporary fashion brand Cos launched a line of children’s clothing for the first time, which came with a collection of genderless baby clothing. Children’s retailer Nununu has partnered with Céline Dion to create a gender-neutral line.

Cambodia’s exports to Europe could see a huge decline if the European Union suspends Everything But Arms (EBA) trade preferences for the country. If EBA is withdrawn, tariffs on garment, footwear, and bicycle products will increase 12 per cent, 16 per cent and ten per cent respectively. The EU has already imposed tariffs on Cambodia’s milled rice.

The EU is a major trading partner for Cambodia, particularly for garments and footwear. As a least developed country, all of Cambodia’s exports to the EU, except arms and ammunition, have faced zero per cent tariff since 2001. Cambodia’s exports to the EU account for more than one-third of Cambodia’s total exports. In any case Cambodia has already taken measures to counteract the possible withdrawal of the EBA. The measures include cutting production and export costs to support local manufacturers and exporters. The measures are aimed at reducing operating costs for producers and exporters by about 400 million dollars a year.

The garment and footwear industry is one of the pillars of Cambodia’s economy. The sector has helped improve labor standards and workers’ living conditions, reduce poverty and promote sustainable growth. Cambodia’s garment sector employs some 7,00,000 workers, whose jobs could be in question if EBA is pulled.

Unitech Texmech is a market leader in spinning rings. Unitech rings are finely designed products designed to spin yarn from any kind of fibers like cotton, polyester, acrylic, wool, flex, blends, etc. Unitech offers a wide range of rings to cater to the varied needs of the industry and offer a lifetime of three to eight years depending on the count, speed and fiber characteristics. The K1 ring has excellent wear resistant properties and is tougher than coated rings. It is ideal for spinning fine and super fine counts, compact yarns, dyed yarns as well as yarns made from highly abrasive fibers. The QC ring is an economically priced product with the salient features of coated rings. The ring is suitable for spinning yarns from all types of fibers and is a true value for money black ring. The Ultima ring is a product with a unique surface coating, especially suitable for machines running at very high speeds, elite and compact spinning systems. A very hard and thin microfilm of atomic coating is given, to ensure superior gliding and wear resisting properties at high speeds.

Set up in 1976, this Indian company is engaged in the design, development and manufacture of precision components and systems for the textile, engineering and automobile sectors. Unitech will exhibit at ITMA 2019.

Competitive labor costs and preferential policies can help Vietnam become an ideal destination for investors in the garment and textile sector. The country can expand its market share globally, taking advantage of free trade agreements to become a manufacturer to the world’s established brands. Such agreements play an important role in helping Vietnam move up the value chain in the garment and textile industry. FDI companies have so far invested about 17.5 billion dollars in the industry. An increasing number of international buyers are sourcing products from Vietnam because supply chains for locally made products have improved and the country has joined more free trade agreements. In addition participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership will benefit the country in the long term, helping the garment and textile sector expand market share in Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia and many other countries.

The EU is the second largest export market for Vietnam’s garment and textile sector, with more than 40 per cent tariffs applied to garment and textile products expected to be reduced to zero per cent when the free trade agreement takes effect. Orders are expected to shift from China to Vietnam due to the ongoing US-China trade war.

Nepal is building garment processing zones and inviting investors to submit applications to install production plants at the zones. A special economic zone (SEZ) will come up in each of the seven provinces. The product specific industrial zones are expected to make the production process cost effective and help boost exports of Nepali readymade clothes. The mandatory export provision has been reduced from 75 per cent to 60 per cent to ensure sustainability of the firms inside the SEZs while 40 per cent of their production will be allowed to be sold in the domestic market.

The country’s earnings from readymade garment exports in the eight months of the current fiscal year grew 4.6 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. There are 52 readymade garment factories operating in Nepal with an annual production capacity of seven million pieces. Nepal was shipping 87 per cent of its readymade garment production to the US till 2002. Following a dip in exports to the US, Europe emerged as a major buyer of Nepali readymade garments. The readymade garment industry collapsed after the Multi Fiber Agreement expired in January 2005, which provided duty-free access for Nepali garments to the US. More than 85 per cent of the garment factories have shut down since then.

India’s cotton imports from the US rose over threefold, from March 2019 to April 2019. The main reason is high domestic prices and short supply. A sudden rise in domestic cotton prices has led mills and traders to import the natural fiber. Indian cotton is currently being sold three or four cents per pound higher than the comparable variety in the international market. Imported cotton appears to be attractive due to better yarn realisation, productivity and quality. Mills in south and north India are finding imports to be much cheaper than buying locally and spending huge amounts on transportation from Gujarat or Maharashtra. They don’t have logistic expenses. Rampant adulteration and contamination are also discouraging mills from sourcing cotton locally. A fall in output because of a drought in almost 40 per cent of the country has led to a short supply in the domestic market.

Imports are expected to rise 70 per cent in the current year. So far, India has signed import deals for around 1.8 million bales in the current year. Of this, 8,00,000 million bales to 9,00,000 million bales have already been shipped, and the remaining quantum is likely to shipped between May and July. Imports are also taking place from Africa.

Circle Economy has partnered with Fashion for Good to accelerate re-commerce and rental business models in the apparel industry. Through this partnership, Circle Economy and Fashion for Good will establish a global network of over 50 front-running solution providers and innovators, brands, and rental and re-commerce experts to exchange insights and tangible solutions to move the apparel industry towards circular business models that can create a positive impact for people and the environment. The project will work with six brands on a circular innovation process that will help them design and launch these new types of business model pilots by 2021.

Re-commerce, rental, and leasing offer commercial opportunities for brands to innovate their business model while optimising the useful life of clothes to their full potential and reducing the overall impact of the industry. The past two decades have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of times clothes are worn. Coupled with a shift toward fast fashion, average consumers today buy 60 per cent more items than they did 15 years ago and wear them for half as long. Seventy per cent of closets usually go unworn and it is estimated that 33 per cent of women wear items as little as five times before disposing of them.

Canton Fair was held in China from April 15 to May 5, 2019. It showcased nearly 5,000 exhibitors from the textiles and garments to shoes, cases and bags, recreational products, medicine and healthcare products and food. One such exhibitor was Hebei Bailixin, China’s leading home textile manufacturer, which exports to 34 countries and regions in southeast Asia, Europe, North America and Japan.

In addition to showcasing Chinese manufacturing, the fair introduced leading international brands into the Chinese market. The fair featured Gohar Textiles and Cotton Empire from Pakistan, the century-old houseware brand R L Khanna and Shiv Shakti Exports from India, and companies from the Turkish textile and apparel center Denizli.

Facing pressure from uncertainties related to global trade and stricter import standards, Chinese companies are making constant efforts in innovation and improvement of product performances. In response to an expanding market and the continuously evolving specialist tastes of consumers, top Chinese textile and garments companies are not only offering high-quality products but also actively pursuing customisation and the development of new techniques. Exports of Chinese garments, toys and seven additional labor-intensive products in the first quarter of 2019 increased 6.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Brands like Nike, Adidas, and Levi Strauss have expressed concern over the labor and human rights situation in Cambodia. They want the garment sector in Cambodia to adopt labor standards set by the International Labor Organisation. The European Union has voiced similar concerns. In February, the European Commission launched the process that could lead to the suspension of Cambodia’s preferential access to the European Union market under the Everything But Arms trade scheme. The EU is concerned about democratic setbacks in the country, including the dissolution of the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, in 2017. In January, US senators introduced the Cambodian Trade Act of 2019, which would require the US to review the preferential trade treatment Cambodia receives under the Generalised System of Preferences scheme.

Exports of garments, footwear, and travel goods account for more than one-third of Cambodia’s total gross domestic product. The country has about 1,200 garment and footwear factories, employing approximately 8,00,000 Cambodians – 80 per cent of whom are women. Cambodia pays the fifth highest minimum wage in Asean. The number of underage workers in the garment sector has seen a sharp decline, from 74 cases in 2014 to 10 cases as of last year.

Denimsandjeans India will be held in Bangalore on July 17 and 18, 2019. The event aims to discuss the changing patterns of denim business, the problems being faced by the industry and their solutions. A panel discussion will discuss the change in pricing, sourcing, quality, geographical influences, margins and sale strategies. Senior representatives of the denim supply chain companies will participate in the discussion and share their views.

Inflation has been rising globally and price of most consumer goods have increased in the same proportion. However, when it comes to a pair of jeans, prices have been going down over a period of time. One of the objectives of the panel discussion is to identify the root cause of this problem and why in the past decade the denim industry failed to align with the fundamentals of inflation and how it has affected the business so far.

This is the third edition of the event. The first edition was a great success and witnessed phenomenal attendance throughout the show. With over 1,800 visitors from all major brands, retailers, buying houses etc. in India and some from overseas, it was probably the best aggregation of the denim industry in India in a very long time.