Net sales of New York-based G-III Apparel Group increased 10 per cent to $3.08 billion over the previous year. Net income for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2019, more than doubled reaching $138.1 million, or $2.75 per diluted share, compared to $62.1 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, in the prior year.

The company forecasts net sales will grow approximately $3.28 billion and net income will be in the range $162.0 mllion and $167.0 million, or between $3.18 and $3.28 per diluted share, iin fiscal 2020. 

Morris Goldfarb, Chairman and CEO attributed this growth to its five global power brands -- DKNY, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld -- in conjunction with DKNY and Donna Karan products being created and developed in-house for the last full-year. The group’s sales have flourished since acquiring the DKNY and Donna Karan brands from LVMH in 2016, seeing double-digit growth. 

Bremen Cotton Exchange says estimates of water used in cotton farming are exaggerated. It says the majority of cotton is irrigated by rain water and that cotton is able to grow in especially dry climates. It is commonly assumed that between 10,000 and 17,000 liters of water are necessary to produce one kilogram of cotton. Bremen Cotton Exchange is out to dispute such claims which are found on the internet, in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, as well as on social media. The cotton exchange says false information is being reproduced. It points to recent global research by the International Cotton Advisory Committee which shows that producing one kilogram of ginned cotton requires on an average only 1,214 liters of artificial irrigation water worldwide, that 41.3 per cent of the total volume of cotton production does not require artificial irrigation and that 55 per cent of the global cotton growing area is irrigated exclusively by rain.

In recent years, cotton producers in many countries have used modern irrigation systems, which have led to a huge increase in the efficiency of water use. Thus, it is now possible to produce significantly more cotton using less water using computer-controlled sensor technology.

The value of Vietnam’s leather and footwear exports in 2018 was up 8.3 per cent. The industry has targeted growth rate of 10 per cent export value this year.

Vietnam exports a billion pairs of shoes every year and is the second largest leather and footwear exporter in the world. The footwear industry’s export revenue from CPTPP members is expected to increase by 10 to 15 per cent in 2019 because of the high reduction in tariffs and other regulations in CPTPP that became effective in Vietnam earlier this year. Vietnam signed free trade agreements with many CPTPP member countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. The localisation rate in the industry has increased rapidly, reaching 50 per cent. With this rate, rules of origin under commitments of the agreements are not a big obstacle to domestic footwear enterprises in enjoying preferential tariffs.

Vietnam’s leather and footwear industry is expanding its export markets. The industry is using new technologies and environmentally-friendly materials to increase shares in fastidious markets. Global demand for leather and footwear in recent years has reached about 23 billion pairs. Shoes are mainly produced in 10 countries, including China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.

PVH Corp owned brand Tommy Hilfiger, launched the second edition of the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge. This global program supports entrepreneurial start-up and scale-up stage businesses to develop solutions that promote inclusive and positive change in fashion. After a successful first year, the company is excited to continue to work on identifying opportunities that support the advancement of the fashion industry.

Businesses interested in this initiative can submit their project proposals focusing on inclusive fashion. These applicants will be narrowed down to six finalists over a multi-stage four-month process. They will be invited to develop their project plans with the support of a team of dedicated Tommy Hilfiger subject-matter experts at the Campus of the Future in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They will pitch their finalised concepts at the global Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge Final Event in early 2020, where a prestigious jury panel will award €150,000 among two winners to support their ventures. 

The winners will also receive a year-long mentorship with Tommy Hilfiger’s experts globally as well as INSEAD experts, in addition to a place on the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program (ISEP). An additional €10,000 will be awarded to the finalist who wins the “Audience Favorite Vote”.

Target has joined the CanopyStyle initiative which is gaining serious industry traction among partners. As a new signatory, Target will work closely with its vendors, suppliers and other partners to understand the origin of viscose and other raw materials it uses and to improve the sustainability of forests where the timber in those products was grown.

The company will improve feedstock for future viscose production by using cellulosic materials that have been responsibly sourced. The US-based retailer aims to outlaw the use of pulp for viscose from endangered and ancient forests from its supply chain by 2020.

Canopy notes that viscose production is slated to have doubled between 2013 and 2020 and pulp production for packaging is slated to increase than 100 per cent by 2030, from 2.3 billion trees per year to 5 billion trees. Canopy also notes that marketing for all forest derived products as being equally ‘renewable’ and ‘sustainable’ – regardless of whether it originates from carbon and species rich ancient and endangered forests, or sustainably managed second growth forests is steadily on the rise.

Spinning mills in Bangladesh are contributing remarkably to the growth of the readymade garment industry of the country. The spinning industry of Bangladesh with 12.50 million spindles is capable of meeting 95 per cent of the yarn demand of the garment sector. Wovens, sweaters and home textiles are mostly based on imported fabrics and yarns, and the spinning industry can meet 40 per cent of their yarn requirements. Bangladesh’s knit and denim garment sector has already developed a very strong backward linkage industry -- spinning-knitting/weaving-dyeing and finishing -- which are mostly made with cotton and cotton blends of different kinds. The cost of cotton is 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the total cost of a spinning mill. Last year Bangladesh, the biggest importer of cotton in the world, imported 7.20 million bales of cotton.

Spinning is a power hungry industry that mostly depends on captive gas generators. It is important for the industry to be assured of uninterrupted power at reasonable cost in the long run. The spinning industry of the country is more than four decades old. But foreigners dominate top positions in mills. Employing overseas persons not only drains out foreign currency but also results in unemployment and frustration for local professionals and technicians.

Future Possibilities, based in the UK, is a platform built by Soorty that travels the world to build dialogue between different layers of supply chain. It presents innovations in manufacturing solutions and technology in a language that will relate to the end customer. The platform is working to carry the sustainability conversation forward, to make it more consumer-facing. It has hosted brands (sustainability departments or denim development teams), schools (designers of the future), NGOs that are working to make sustainable fashion not a choice but the regular way of the industry, collaborative platforms that move fashion forward, and also Soorty’s communication partners who have influence on individuals about the decisions they make and the options they have.

Future Possibilities involves various stages of experiences that engage its audience. The primary one is Soorty’s cotton to garment table which showcases each and every stage of production. The customer/visitor is always surprised to see that there are so many steps involved, that there is so much effort going on at the backstage, and no matter how much it is interrelated with technology, there is still a lot of human touch going on. The second step is Soorty’s denim curiosity table, which shows different responsible materials and manufacturing methods that can be involved in Soorty’s denim production.

Nilit has launched Sensil®, a softer, stronger and more durable version of nylon which provides odor, temperature and moisture management  What truly makes Sensil® different is the degree to which Nilit is working with brands to help them find the factories and mills that can make their product using Nilit yarns. The company had never worked directly with brands before but it saw the need for greater transparency and trust.

Nilit is helping the brands overcome supply chain challenges. Its collaboration with the yoga brand, Avocado helps it to present an exciting product for the end customer. It helps those brands that may have been priced out of premium fibers in the past to find partners willing to help them find cost-effective means for bringing their collections to life.

Further, the company has created a robust marketing program that allows brands to connect to the customer through educational, marketing, and event experiences. Sensil®’s goal is to create a relationship between all supply chain participants and a feedback pipeline from the retailer and consumer upstream. 

Next total group sales are up 2.5 per cent. Finance sales rose 12.1 per cent. Group pre-tax profit was down 0.4 per cent on last year. Retail profit fell 21 per cent but online profit was up 13.8 per cent while profit after tax dipped slightly. The group expects profits to marginally decline by around 1.1 per cent in the current financial year. The company remains committed to third-party label business. While that means it sells brands that compete with its own label, it recognises that customers will go online and will find those other brands somewhere else, so it would rather it finds them via Next than via its competitors.

For the year, Next full-price sales in retail stores fell by 7.9 per cent. Its retail store sales dropped from a year earlier, while online sales rose. This is particularly significant because online sales are now almost as big as those through retail stores and chances are that by next year, they will be bigger. Last year saw it negotiating a rent reduction of 29 per cent on the leases that it renewed and further reductions on leases renewed in the previous year. It expects similar cuts this year too.

North America-based apparel brands and retailers recently launched a new platform, ‘Nirapon’, to oversee the ongoing safety, training and helpline efforts at the Alliance-listed garment factories. A total of 21 global apparel brands with more than a dozen of former Alliance-signatory members, including Gap, Walmart, JC Penny and VF, have joined the locally-managed organisation with the commitment to sustaining the culture of factory safety in Bangladesh. 

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety had shut down its operations in the readymade garment (RMG) sector here as its transitional period ended on December 31. Some 29 apparel companies formed the platform in 2013 immediately after the Rana Plaza disaster to improve the workplace safety in the RMG industry. 

Nirapon will monitor the factories from which its member brands source to verify that they continue to meet the National Action Plan harmonised standards for structural, fire, and electrical safety, have implemented standardised training programmes focused on worker safety and continue to make the helpline service, Amader Kotha, available to their factory workers

 Nirapon would serve as a single point of contact between its members and the factories on these issues and would also focus on building local capacity to manage fire and building safety to sustain the investments in worker safety that have been made to date.