Bestseller's Jack & Jones has launched a new line of jeans made from recycled cotton-rich waste fibre, Infinna, which is an eco-friendly alternative to virgin cotton.

Infinna from Infinited Fiber Company (IFC), is a textile fiber made from recycled cotton-rich waste and is free of harmful chemicals. The resulting fabric is of premium quality, versatile, and has a soft feel that is indistinguishable from cotton. Moreover, it can be recycled repeatedly without losing its quality or performance.

Infinna is a circular superfiber created from textile waste, making it an eco-friendly alternative to virgin cotton. It is completely biodegradable and contains no microplastics, making it a sustainable choice for the future of fashion. By incorporating Infinna into their products, Bestseller and Jack & Jones are reducing their reliance on virgin cotton and diverting textile waste from landfills, thereby reducing their carbon footprint.

As the fashion industry comes under growing pressure to address its environmental impact, Bestseller and Jack & Jones are setting an inspiring example by embracing new materials and technologies that promote sustainability.

Bestseller's investment arm FWD was among the new investors in IFC's recent financing round, and this investment has secured a multi-year sales agreement with IFC for Bestseller.

The 22nd China Hangzhou Chemical Fiber Forum, hosted by CCFGroup, held a high-end roundtable discussion about the future development of the polyester and refining and chemical industry.

The discussion included seven guests from major companies in the industry. Topics included the logic of refineries adjusting ratios, the economic balance of oil products and aromatics, the price difference between PX and naphtha, industrial profit distribution, industry competition and the tight supply of PTA.

It was discussed that refineries need to adjust product structures according to the principle of refinement. It was emphasized that PX does not necessarily drive the production of PTA. During the forum experts forecasted a rise in the operating rate and a fall in stocks in the second quarter due to the low oil product inventories in the United States and China.

PVH Corp has signed an agreement for biorecycling and joins a fiber-to-fiber consortium that has been founded with On, Patagonia, PUMA, and Salomon. The consortium, aims to test and enhance biological recycling technology on their own products, using Carbios’ biorecycling process at an industrial scale.

Carbios, a French company committed to accelerating the transition of the textile industry towards a circular economy, The ultimate goal of the partnership is to prove fiber-to-fiber closed circularity.

During the two-year collaboration, Carbios and its partners will work together to deliver the biological recycling of polyester items at an industrial-scale, including thorough sorting and dismantling technologies for complex textile waste. Carbios has developed a unique and sustainable technology that uses highly selective enzymes to recycle blended feedstocks, reducing the extensive sorting required by current thermomechanical recycling methods.

Globally, only 13% of textile waste is currently recycled and mainly in lower quality applications such as padding, insulation, or rags. The remaining 87% is destined for landfill or incineration. Consortium members will supply feedstock in the form of apparel, underwear, footwear, and sportswear to work on improving textile recycling technologies.

In 2023, a new line for textile PET waste will be operational at Carbios’ demonstration facility through the "LIFE Cycle of PET" project, co-funded by the European Union. This move is in anticipation of future regulations, such as the mandatory separate collection of textile waste in Europe from 1 January 2025.

The partnership between Carbios and PVH signifies the textile industry's continued commitment towards circularity and sustainability. With innovative technology and collaboration, the industry can move towards a more sustainable future, reducing waste and preserving natural resources.

The European Commission has initiated an anti-dumping proceeding targeting certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.78 deciliters per gram or higher, originating in China.

While the investigation is expected to have limited impact on Chinese PET bottle enterprises, the uneven export volume of these products from China to the EU means that some provinces may be more affected than others.

According to China Customs, the country exported approximately 4.52 million tons of PET bottle chips in 2022, with less than 360,000 tons being exported to the EU, which accounts for only 8.8% of China's total exports. However, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces account for more than 60% of the total export volume to the EU, with Zhejiang Province exporting around 120,000 tons and Jiangsu Province exporting around 90,000 tons in 2022, making them the most vulnerable to the anti-dumping investigation.

Nevertheless, Chinese companies still have opportunities to gain market share from other countries and regions as the supply cannot be restored immediately in the short term.

The fact that the $2.5 trillion fashion industry is contributing towards 10 per cent of carbon emissions and 20 per cent of waste water effluence is well known. What is news however is, the sector is responding to seriously contributing to decreasing its polluting presence and working towards sustainable production? The dateline for discussions and ideas has been crossed as immediate action is the need of hour.

The global textile sector can no longer operate in its customary linear way using huge amounts of non-renewable resources to produce apparel that have a short lifecycle as trends keep changing, filling landfills with unsustainable amount of wasted garments and incinerating discarded ones. It is apparent that no thought was given to reducing waste, recycling fibres and exploring resources that were not denuding the planet. Environmentalists and scientists are trying to show governments and masses the writing on the wall for the planet, the high-profile fashion sector has been thrown directly under a glaring spotlight.

Regeneration rather than creation

Giulio Bonazzi, Chairman and CEO, Aquafil Group recently stated in an interview with Mint, there isn’t really a need to invest and spend time on creating new products as the sector already has one too many. The way forward is to dive deep into studying existing material and using them innovatively to reduce emissions and effluence during production and recycling them over and over again. He says, if the textile sector pulls its weight together and focuses on regeneration, a significant amount of resource extraction would end. It would also mean less and less items would head towards landfills and incinerators and that research and development would be a leading part in generating circularity.

As potable water gets scarcer, there is simply no excuse for the textile manufacturing sector to contribute towards large levels of water pollution. The standards to reduce textile pollution is focus on avoiding the use or discharge of alkyllphenol-ethoxylates and minimum use of organic solvents. Also, avoiding non-degradable surfactants and spinning oils in washing and scouring processes. Pad batch-dyeing is recommended as it is an effective method and use of natural and azo free dyes and use of organic fibres.

Indian textile industry greening itself

India’ textile and apparel industry, which has a four per cent share of the global trade, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent annually to reach $190 billion by 2026. Spurred on by massive domestic and foreign demand, the industry is a top source of employment and attracts a lot of investment. However, this burgeoning industry has high reliance on coal and natural gas to supply electricity and heat, which adds to its also increasing carbon footprint. The Indian Ministry of Textiles has signed a cooperation agreement between the United Nations’ Environment Programme and the Cotton Corporation of India to ensure circularity and mainstream sustainability in the supply chain - innovative materials, using safe dyes, reducing water and energy consumption, treating waste material and ensuring a greater focus on reducing, reusing and recycling.

Similarly, textile producing nations Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan have jointly decided to work on reducing pollution from the textile sector and a $43million initiative will support this endeavor to help these four nations streamline their production towards a more sustainable manufacturing process. The United Nations has played a key role in not only providing the development fund but also sustainable technology.

Buying pre-loved clothes from foreign lands, particularly from South Korea and Japan, is not a new phenomenon in Indonesia. South Korean and Japanese street fashion has always been popular with young Indonesians, which led to a robust parallel sector thriving in Jakarta and other cities. However, this practice has been detrimental to local garment manufacturers who cannot meet the trends, quality and prices that smuggled pre-loved clothes offer. In theory, this is an illegal sector as the local government’s trade ministry imposed a complete ban in 2015. However, the ban has not dented business due to lax policing of street markets, many secret entry points spread over the vast archipelago nation and most importantly a huge demand.

Spotlight on clothes smugglers

Illegal clothes import is valued at around $1.2 billion and 300,000 tons per year. As per Customs and Excise Directorate General, illegal import of used clothing made its way to Indonesia through five main harbors: Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Tanjung Emas in Semarang, Belawan in North Sumatra, and Cikarang in West Java. The clothes are being smuggled into Indonesia under labeled undeclared goods. Smugglers also mix smuggled clothes within large consignment of lawfully imported goods, knowing that custom authorities will not be bothered to check entire consignments. They also ship used clothes to small ports that lack customs checks, bribing local officials. Another tactic is to send used clothes to neighboring Timor Leste before smuggling them to Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and other areas. Since February 2023, the Customs and Excise Directorate General’s office has tied up with local police forces across these notorious areas and conducted 44 raids, busting 234 illegal operations.

Local manufacturers ready to replace smuggled clothing

The law enforcement authority’s seriousness has gone down well with Redma Gita Wiraswasta, Chairman, Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association or APSyFI. She feels illicit imports severely damage the domestic apparel industry and prevents the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the sector. She hopes if these successful operations can decrease illegal imports, Indonesia can easily substitute the import with domestic products, can create new jobs for 500,000 people and such actions would make up for Indonesia’s sluggish apparel export.

Indonesian Garment and Accessories Suppliers Association (APGAI) Chairwoman Poppy Dharsono says domestic producers are ready to fill the demand currently met by smuggled apparel, particularly by providing items rejected by stores with high quality standards. Manufacturers are ready to sell rejected goods in their warehouses at large discounts. Dharsono also states, with this becoming an established practice, smuggled clothing sector will fade away naturally as consumers would be able to buy new clothes at a cheaper rate than used ones. The revenue generated by apparel market amounts to $22.05 billion in 2023 and represents a huge opportunity for local manufacturers as they can capture larger amounts from this revenue. According to Statista, Indonesian apparel market is expected to grow annually by 4.33 per cent until 2027.

Destryoing smuggled clothes

Recently, Teten Masduki, Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises held a public campaign on March 28, 2023, in Jakarta where 7,300 bales of seized foreign second hand clothes valued at $ 5.3 million were destroyed. Masduki hopes this signals Indonesian government’s seriousness in cracking down on smugglers and ending this practice that has for a long time hurt the Indonesian fashion SMEs.

China's textile equipment production is rapidly becoming self-sufficient, with the country producing more than 80% of its textile equipment, according to the China National Textile and Apparel Council.

The council revealed that the localization rate of key components for high-end textile equipment has surpassed 50%, indicating China's growing ability to produce high-quality equipment with locally-made components.

China's textile and clothing exports have seen a stable growth in 2022, with data from the council indicating an export volume of 323.3 billion U.S. dollars. With China's increasing self-sufficiency in textile equipment production, the country is poised to solidify its position as a global leader in the textile and clothing industry.

The Chinese government has made significant investments in the textile and apparel industry, which has been a significant contributor to the country's economy for decades. The industry's focus on localization is also in line with the government's efforts to boost domestic innovation and production.

Industry analysts believe that China's growing self-sufficiency in textile equipment production will reduce the country's reliance on imported machinery and components, thereby strengthening the industry's resilience to global supply chain disruptions. Additionally, it is expected to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers in global markets.

The localization of high-end textile equipment components and China's increasing self-sufficiency in textile equipment production are significant developments in the country's textile and apparel industry.

The council is committed to guiding and supporting relevant companies in the industry to integrate upstream and downstream industrial chain resources, improve technological bottlenecks, and enhance the overall level of the textile machinery industry.

India is unlikely to impose anti-dumping duty (ADD) on viscose staple fibre (VSF) from Indonesia due to concerns that it could exacerbate the shortage of the key raw material for the textile industry.

In December 2022, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended a duty of $0.512/kg on VSF imports as part of an initiative to enhance the quality of textiles. However, about a dozen Members of Parliament recently wrote to finance minister, arguing that the proposed duty would raise the import price of viscose fibre by up to INR40 per kg.

The government has not announced the duty, and the period where the decision was expected to come is now over. So, anti-dumping duty on VSF is unlikely.

The proposed imposition of the duty on VSF would have been a setback for the domestic textile manufacturers, who were already facing the prospect of trade disruptions, lower competitiveness, and economic losses. Domestic VSF demand was 700,000 tonnes in the financial year, while the availability was only 540,000 tonnes. The anonymous source further added that while the government is focusing on quality, it is also looking to maintain the availability of raw material.

VSF duty was recommended to improve the quality of the product, but it is not expected to be imposed anymore, considering there is tough competition in sourcing.

Bangladesh has urged the European Union (EU) to consider textile threshold criteria for the country in the newly proposed GSP provisions. The plea was made by a delegation led during a visit to the European Parliament, in Brussels.

At the meeting, bilateral trade, LDC graduation, the proposed EU GSP scheme for 2024-2034, challenges, and preparedness to address them and the continuation of the development momentum of Bangladesh were discussed. The delegation stressed the significance of the EU's continued support for Bangladesh's smooth LDC graduation, and urged the international organization to extend the transition period from three years to six years.

The presentation made expressed thhat Bangladesh had greatly benefited from LDC-specific trade preferences under the generalised system of preferences (GSP) scheme. The readymade garment (RMG) industry has made a significant contribution to the socioeconomic development of Bangladesh, especially poverty alleviation through employment creation and empowerment of women, who make up 60 percent of the total apparel workforce.

Under the proposed provisions, Bangladesh is likely to qualify for GSP+ after its LDC graduation, but the specified EU "safeguards" would exclude the country's clothing exports from any tariff preferences. As a result, Bangladesh's apparel sector would not benefit from the GSP+ facility and would lose competitiveness in the EU market, which would hurt the RMG sector and millions of lives who depend on the industry for their livelihood.

The delegation hoped that the EU would consider the issues and continue to support Bangladesh so that the momentum behind the country's economic growth continues after LDC graduation.

Bangladesh is eager to ensure that it maintains its economic momentum and that the RMG sector continues to contribute to the country's development journey.

The Indian government has announced a new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) that will come into effect on April 1, 2023. Unlike previous policies, this one will be an open policy without any closing period. It will provide continuity in all schemes and offer flexibility to address various issues as they arise, making it more exporter-friendly.

The extension of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 until March 31, 2023, was due to the prolonged lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Indian economy. With the new policy, the government hopes to provide a boost to the country's exports.

Government's decision to continue the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme and the Special Advance Authorization Scheme for the textiles and clothing industry, as been applauded. This move will help the industry to bridge the gap in the supply-demand of textile machinery and raw materials, which are heavily dependent on imports. Additionally, the policy will allow for the import of speciality raw materials that are not manufactured in India, thereby enhancing the industry's global competitiveness.

Another significant feature of the policy is the Amnesty Scheme, which settles unfulfilled obligations under the Advance Authorization Scheme and EPCG Scheme, capping interest to 100%, excluding additional and special additional duty from the export obligation, waiving penalty, and other measures would greatly benefit the textiles and clothing industry, particularly the spinning sector, by relieving them of long-pending disputes and problems.

The policy's focus on increasing exports and reducing the risk of forex rate volatility by enabling money transactions in Indian Rupee with certain countries and the policy's efforts to decentralize export promotion activities by making each district an export hub with e-commerce and inclusive growth initiatives have also been appreciated, as this move would greatly benefit the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) exporters, which account for over 80% of the textiles and clothing value chain.