Burberry has launched its Autumn/Winter 2022 campaign that captures the power of community.Highlighting the collection’s theme of belonging under the bright LA sun, the campaign uses bold images and film to harness the power of self-expression to forge togetherness.

Building upon the brand’s code of duality, the campaign studies different identities. It features elevated studio shots for the womenswear collection and candid outdoors shots for the menswear collection

Riccardo Tisci, Chief Creative Officer, Burberry reconnects with photography duo and friends of the brand Inez and Vinoodh to further explore his avant-garde approach to the house, whilst stylist LottaVolkova brings definition and a new perspective to the attitudes expressed throughout the collections.

Offering a playful twist on tradition in a reconstruction of heritage, the classic women’s trench is recreated as a voluminous strapless gown with signature details, whilst car coats are enlivened with chain-link elements. Across womenswear, waxed cotton coats and field jackets are presented alongside vintage-inspired floral lace corset tops in candy pink and red with matching pleated skirts, black leather bodysuits and skirts. The Lola bag also features in the campaign, celebrating the heritage of the brand and its founder Thomas Burberry.

The Indian Government has issued a notification to ease the metrology (packaged commodities) rules for inner garments and hosiery products. It gave consumers the liberty to touch and feel the product before purchasing. However, trial of the garments will not be practical due to hygienic considerations.

The notification gives a clear definition of a ‘loose’ garment as one sold loose or open at the point of sale in such manner that the consumer can inspect the product before buying.

The Federation of Hosiery Manufacturers Association (FOHMA) has been representing to the concerned ministries for years on this issue. It argued that garments by their very nature can be seen, touched, felt, and even tried in some products, and hence they should not be included in the ambit of a “packaged” commodity, where the consumer buys the product in a sealed condition without having the opportunity to see, examine, or test the communicated parameters.

Organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and sponsored by Create Hong Kong* (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Centerstage will be held from September 09 to 11, 2022.

Sophia Chong, Executive Director, HKTDC, says, this year's event will focus on the theme of ‘Inclusion and Diversity’ with an emphasis on authentic self-expression, projecting a common goal of enabling everyone to express their bold imagination through beauty and aesthetics. The three-day event will feature 20 fashion shows and showcase the latest collections of more than 230 brands from 15 countries and regions. A series of digital experiences have been added in 2022, amplifying the enjoyment of this iconic event.

The opening show, Centrestage Elites will feature Hong Kong and Japanese brands DEMO and Children of the discordance - both chosen by Fashion Asia Hong Kong as among the 10 Asian Designers to Watch in 2020. Derek Chan will launch the latest 2023 spring/summer collection of his gender-neutral fashion label DEMO together with co-founder Mite Chan. At the same time, Japanese designer Hideaki Shikama, founder of young fashion label Children of the discordance will be showcasing his collection in Hong Kong for the first time. The show will be live streamed through the CENTRESTAGE fair website and social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram).

The Fashion Hong Kong Runway Show will feature six Hong Kong brands presenting their 2023 spring/summer collections. A series of "Brand Collection Shows" and "Designer Collection Shows" will be launched over the three days of the event. The former will feature a number of renowned Hong Kong fashion brands while the latter will showcase the best works from different fashion designers. In addition, this year's Centrestage will welcome the participation of Fashion Farm Foundation (FFF), which works to promote Hong Kong fashion design.

The global protective clothing market is likely to grow at 6.3 per cent CAGR to reach $13.72 billion by 2030

As per a Textile Today report, North America will command the regional market with the largest share growing at a CAGR of 5.7 per cent during the forecast period. Oil & gas, construction & manufacturing, healthcare/medical, firefighting & law enforcement, and mining are among the industries whose demand for thermal protective clothing has increased in North America.

Asia-Pacific will hold the second-largest share of $4.38 billion, growing with the highest CAGR of 7 per cent during the forecast period. Construction and building is Asia-Pacific’s most rapidly expanding industry, particularly in China and India. During the forecast period, expanding industries such as building and construction, oil and gas, mining, and automotive will boost demand for protective clothing.

Bangladesh’s kidswear exports to the US grew by 20 per cent in H1 2022 to reach $153.30 million.

Kidswear exports from Bangladesh have been on a growth course of late and the USis one of its largest export destinations.

Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee, Director, BGMEA says, the US’s clothing import and retail sales grew significantly since the middle of 2021. During COVID-19, people had to stay at home for a long period. So after the lockdown, they shopped more. This led to a huge growth in retail sales and imports of the USA in previous months

Datafrom the US-based agency Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) shows, US imported $81.58 billion worth of apparel from the world whereas their import from Bangladesh was $7.14 billion.

US’s imports from Bangladesh increased by 36.69 per cent whereas their global import grew by 27.36 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year 2020. Also during the first 6 months of 2022, US’ imports from Bangladesh increased by 60.30 per cent compared to the same period of 2021 while their global apparel import grew by 40.14 per cent, Oishee adds,

As per the latest data released by OTEXA, US imported $1.40 billion worth of kidswear in the period. Its kidswear sourcing grew by 26.54 per cent Y-o-Y.

Spiraling yarn prices have rendered nearly one-third of existing garment and industrial processing units in Tiruppur idle, as business for these units has become largely unviable. In fact, many units are idle for many months with most of them getting outsourced orders from major garment exporters. Exporters from this knitwear hub, are unable to deliver orders from abroad and they fear this could lead to losing out to completion and orders moving elsewhere.

Prices of all kinds of cotton yarn have increased with prices of combed and semi-combed varieties reaching Rs 220-290 per kg in 2021. This led to cotton yarn mills increasing prices by Rs 30-40 per kg every month, from August 2021. Yarn prices across categories cross Rs 400 per kg in early 2022. Price hike resulted in a drop in production with exporters opting to buy yarn form mills, notes MP Muthurathinam, President, Tiruppur Exporters and Manufacturers Association. Domestic garment manufacturers also increased prices in North Indian market leading to distributors cutting back orders, he adds.

High prices make order negotiations difficult

Despite piling yarn stock, the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association asked members to stop production recently. This led to a reduction in industrial consumption of electricity from a monthly average of 5.5 crore units to 4.5 crore units. From 11,300 industrial processing units that consumed power through LT service in the city, they rose to 12,400 units in December 2021, as per a TANGEDCO official. However, power consumption did not increase proportionately. Power consumption dropped by one crore units from June 2021- June 2022.

High yarn prices are making it difficult for garment exporters to negotiate orders, says C Ramasamy, Proprietor, Harvey Exports. Stakeholders fear the industry cannot survive if the price of yarn continues at this level and this could lead to huge losses to exporters. Hence, most units are either shut or operating with minuscule workforce.

Loss of jobs for migrant workers

Drop in production has affected workers too. High yarn prices have made these units un-operational with most running in single shifts. This is impacting migrant workers employed in these units, points out N Sekar, AI TUC Banian Union, Tiruppur.

A few export and domestic garment companies have stopped recruiting migrant workers from North and Northeast India, informs Sekar. Hundreds of inter-district migrant workers from Pudukkottai, Dindigul, Madurai, and Tiruvannamalai have already left Tiruppur. Revenue records show, the garment industry in Tiruppur employs over 1.30 lakh laborers from other states.

Expanding its global clean electricity portfolio, the Lenzing Groupis transitioning its production site in Purwakarta to green electricity. The groupis the first fiber producer to set a target of halving its carbon emissions by 2030 and becoming climate neutral by 2050.. In Purwakarta, Lenzing is currently investing in the reduction of carbon emissions, as well as air and water emissions. Due to €100 million investment in this area, Lenzing is gradually transitioning its existing capacities for standard viscose to LenzingEcovero and Veocel branded specialty viscose.

Specialty fibres being Lenzing’s key strength, the company aims to generate more than 75 percent of its fibre revenue from the wood-based, biodegradable specialty fibres business under the Tencl, LenzingEcovero and Veocel brands by 2024. With the launch of the lyocell plant in Thailand in March 2022 and the investments in existing production sites in Indonesia and China, the share of specialty fibres in Lenzing’s fibre revenue is set to exceed the 75 per cent target by a significant margin as early as 2023.

After witnessing a decent start in January ’22, Japan’s apparel imports declined by 0.91 per cent to 2.88 billion kg in volume during H1’22. However, their value increased by 13.89 per cent Y-o-Y to $9.86 billion.

As per an Apparel Resources report, Japanese buyers continue to buy cautiously even in 2022 – a trend that has continued in the country since 2019.

The volume of apparels exports by China, India and Vietnam to Japan declined, while exports by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka increased in values and weight.

The value of apparel exports by China increased by 11.80 per cent Y-o-Y to $5.46 billion, which is nearly 55.37 per cent of the shipment value of Japan. The share of China was 59 per cent in the import values during January ’22.

The second top importing destination was Vietnam that grew by 11 per cent in its shipment on Y-o-Y basis to $1.47 billion.

Imports from Bangladesh increased by 31.30 per cent in value to $578.68 million in H1 ’22, while by volume they increased by 8.53 per cent. India contributed $135.21 million in Japanese apparel imports during H1 ’21.

Currently negligible Indian textiles and apparel export to Russiaare expected to grow multi-fold once both the countries set a mechanism to accept payments in local currency. The country’s central bank, The Reserve Bank of India is working on building a reference exchange rate framework between rupee and rouble.

Once the framework is established, RBI and Central Bank of Russia will announce customized common reference exchange rate on daily basis, on which importers and exporters can negotiate pricing of the products and payment transactions. This will promote bilateral trade in local currencies bypassing the US dollar.

While Russian banks will open accounts in Indian banks to deposit rouble, Indian banks will have to open account in Russia to deposit rupee, sources said.

Traditionally, India is exporter of textiles and apparel, while Russia imports them to meet its regular clothing needs.

Last year, India’s apparel export to Russia accounted for 0.46 per cent of India’s total apparel export of $14.472 billion compared to 30.44 per cent to the US and 13.27 per cent to the UAE.

India’s apparel export to Russia declined sharply due to COVID-19. The export declined to $57.674 million in 2020 from $75.326 million of 2019. India had shipped garments worth $66.394 million in 2021 while the export was recorded at $76.571 million in 2018 and $84.532 million in 2017.

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA)’s research project – “Green Machine” – was awarded with the 2022 R&D 100 Awards in the category of Process/Prototyping.

Established in 1963, the R&D 100 Awards is the only science and technology awards competition that recognizes new commercial products, technologies and materials for their technological significance that are available for sale or license.

The Green Machine provides a hydrothermal solution to separate and recycle cotton polyester blended textiles at scale. The process uses only heat, water and less than 15 per cent of a biodegradable chemical to selectively decompose cotton into cellulose powders, thereby enabling the separation of the polyester fibers from the blends. The separated fibers are ready for reuse, while the cellulose powders can be converted into regenerated cellulose fibers and a durable water-repellent finishing reagent, or transformed into superabsorbent polymer for agricultural application. In 2020, the first industrial scale Green Machine was set up in PT Kahatex (an established textile manufacturer) with a processing capacity of 1.5 tons per day. ISKOTM, one of the world's leading denim producers, signed a licensing agreement on the Green Machine in 2021.