With Old Navy separating into a standalone company, Gap plans to retain its brand name. The other brands of the company including Gap are: Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City will remain under Gap. Banana Republic is upper middle-class fashion, Athleta is female athleisure and Hill City is men’s performance lifestyle.

This split was done following the realization that Old Navy’s business model and customers had increasingly diverged from Gap’s other brands over time. Nancy Green is president and chief creative officer of Old Navy. Gap has been growing at an average annual rate of 3.4 per cent over the last three years. This growth has been driven almost completely by Old Navy, which contributed more than 95 per cent of the revenue growth over this period. Old Navy’s strong revenue growth coupled with a lower tax rate helped the company’s net income margin expand from 4.4 per cent in 2016 to over six per cent in 2018.

However, Gap’s iconic brand, Gap Global, has continued to struggle. The brand’s revenues over the last three years have fallen at an average annual rate of 5.4 per cent. Gap Global’s contribution to total revenue has gone down from more than 35 per cent in 2016 to about 31 per cent in 2018.

H&M’s Laboratory project and COS have partnered with The Renewal Workshop to make a ‘first of its kind’ collection, consisting of former unsellable clothing that has been mended and brought back to the assortment. The pieces of this collection have been sourced from the COS supply chain or returned by customers and the selected items have been carefully mended and cleaned by The Renewal Workshop making them suitable to sell again.

This new initiative is part of H&M’s overall aim of becoming fully circular and the company said it selected its partner carefully with the cleaning process for the items in this collection, using “state-of-the-art waterless technology, which saves water and leaves no water contaminated.

And there’s a data element to all this too as impact-data collected from a third party, will give it the chance “to see exactly how much water, Co2, and energy we save by rescuing these products and making this collection. This information will also be displayed publicly in the stores where the collection will be sold.

Guess has launched Guess Sport, a sports brand. The new collection includes best of styles for women and men and features T-shirts, bodysuits, sweatshirts, biker shorts, sweatpants, undergarments and a lot more. The products are being showcased in forest green, purple and heather grey shades.

Denim brand Guess has stores in 34 of the top 60 cities in China, and 90 per cent are directly operated. Guess is taking action to mitigate potential tariffs, from cost sharing with its suppliers to shifting sourcing to other countries. The company is raising prices if the product can deliver and offsetting cost increases with other cost-saving initiatives. Guess has developed a new capsule collection for men and women, with sustainable materials and manufacturing processes. The denim in the collection is produced with advanced technology that uses on an average about 30 per cent less water per garment and reduces chemical use throughout the production. Guess had a sale of its vintage pieces in the US. The collection spanned jeans, denim jackets, leather jackets, T-shirts and sweatshirts for both men and women. Shoppers were able to have dead-stock vintage T-shirts from the ’80s and ’90s Guess archives customized in store, using archival graphics to create bespoke vintage pieces.

G-Star Raw plans to join the UN Climate Change Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. Launched in 2018, the charter outlines a plan for the fashion industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. It draws on science-based targets outlined in the Paris Agreement, and enforces signatories to prioritize energy efficiency, renewable energy and low carbon materials and logistics.

Signing on to the charter, G-Star commits to reduce the total emissions in its own operations as well as its value chain by 30 percent. G-Star is the latest to join the initiative, alongside VF Corp, Levi Strauss & Co., Gap, H&M, Guess and others.

For 30 years, G-Star has been focused on sustainability by designing for circularity, using raw material and more. Recently, it offset its greenhouse gas logistics emissions by using DHL’s Express GoGreen climate neutral service, a green logistics solution. By signing this charter and working with other leading brands, the company will be able to boost its impact.

Fifth Avenue, New York City, once famous for luxury retailers is now making way for active wear brands. Brands including Asics, Lululemon and Adidas have sizable retail spaces along Fifth Avenue. Adidas opened in late 2016, followed by Asics in late 2017. Lululemon has a 20,000 sq ft space. Nike has opened a six-floor, 68,000 sq ft flagship. Puma has opened a 18,000 sq ft store. With larger spaces come more opportunities to engage customers not only to shop but also feel to like they are living the brand lifestyle. More space allows brands to curate in different ways based on new product releases.

Not only are active wear brands flocking to Fifth Avenue, they’re bringing a new approach to the large stores. They’re paying attention on how to infuse technology into the shopping experience. While former tenants focused on bright window displays meant to draw in shoppers, the new tenants are looking to engage shoppers through tech. Nike’s flagship is packed with technology designed to improve the shopper’s experience. Customers can use the NikePlus app to scan a code on any in-store mannequins to see all the items on that mannequin. From there, the customer can request any of those items to be sent to a fitting room, and check for other colors and sizes in stock. Shoppers can also utilize instant checkout at one of the many stations throughout the store. Using the Nike app, customers scan their items and pay using their phones.

The decree limits cotton trading to specified collection points. Farmers are allowed to get the highest possible price through auctions, and the prices will be set according to international cotton prices and the comparative advantage of Egyptian cotton. The decree also links all the collection points electronically to ensure transparency, with a consideration for applying the new system through new collection points in some governorates as a pilot version to avoid any problems in the future.

Cotton production system will be improved and its uses diversified in the domestic industry. The new system is expected to restore the position of Egyptian cotton globally and maintain confidence in it. Egypt is keen on developing and supporting the textile sector as well as planting and selling Egyptian cotton. The country plans to restore the status of Egyptian cotton globally. Funds have been allocated to maximise the added value of Egyptian cotton as part of a plan to improve this sector. Between September and November 2018, Egyptian cotton exports increased 45.1 per cent compared to the same period of 2017.

Egyptian cotton is recognized as the most recognized luxury cotton brand in the USA and globally. People who are able to name a cotton brand cite Egyptian cotton.

The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) welcomes the changes made in the FDI rules under single brand retail. Local sourcing norms will be eased for FDI in single-brand retail sector.

CMAI says the eased FDI rules will provide greater flexibility to global fashion brands, improve the retail landscape of India, increase investments, and eventually employment in the country. However, CMAI is concerned that this could possibly affect garment manufacturing in the country. The eased rules will provide greater liberty to brands to source globally depending mainly on the cost competitiveness. This might result in brands’ limiting their sourcing requirement to only 30 per cent in blocks of five years from India, including sourcing for exports. CMAI feels in such a scenario, it is important that these sourcing clauses are closely monitored to ensure that sourcing from India is continuously increasing so as to be sync with the make in India drive. Currently, the FDI policy on single-brand retail trade provides for a 30 per cent local sourcing preferably from micro, small and medium enterprises, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen where the FDI exceeds 51 per cent.

India’s FDI inflows in 2018-19 marked a six per cent growth over the previous year. The gains will be further consolidated in order to make India a more attractive FDI destination.

Apparel Textile Sourcing Canada (ATSC) was held August 19 to 21, 2019. This edition saw over 300 international supplier exhibits from 25 countries and Canada’s most comprehensive industry conference, featuring a leading roster of business and industry heavy hitters who shared their insights, market intelligence and fashion business-building inspiration. Thousands of representatives from the Canadian apparel and textile industry – from designers and brands, to retailers, e-commerce sellers, importers and buying offices – were out in full force at the show in search of trade policy updates, future market directions, and new opportunities for international trade and sustainable global sourcing. The show delivered more than 300 international supplier exhibits, representatives from 25 countries and Canada’s most comprehensive industry conference, featuring a leading roster of business and industry heavy hitters who shared their insights, market intelligence and fashion business-building inspiration. ATSC enables industry players to make international business connections, network and get educated on navigating the new realities of the world’s sourcing ecosystem without having to leave their home turf.

Speakers held forth on topics like working with alternative sourcing channels and overseas factories, to sustainable sourcing and business practices, to launching and building a successful brand. Other topics were how to successfully launch a fashion line, tips and tricks to drive website traffic and boost online sales, emerging technologies that change the way consumers interact with brands, strategies and tactics for e-commerce, new digital shopping channels, experiential retail, sustainable solutions, the critical role of social media in the world of fashion, how to successfully working with a manufacturer and best advice to cost merchandise for maximum sales success.

Ecuador wants to promote the use of corozo among Indian textile manufacturers. Corozo is a material grown in the Amazon and Ecuador is an exporter to the world, promoting its use as a sustainable clothing trend. Corozo is harvested naturally and used as a popular material for buttons and embellishments. Corozo is a 100 per cent natural product which is similar in consistency to a hard resin. It is often referred to as vegetable ivory. At a microscopic level, corozo is made up of very tightly wound organic fibers which give it excellent durability and scratch resistance. Its porous nature allows colors to penetrate deep into the surface which makes it an excellent material for dyeing. Corozo is also well known for its elegant natural grain, a unique pattern that, much like a fingerprint, ensures no two buttons are exactly alike.

Sustainable fashion and green clothing are driving consumer trends. The global fashion industry produces 20 per cent global water waste and ten per cent of global carbon emissions—more than all international flights and maritime shipping. Apart from returning to natural dyes, organic fabrics and traditional modes of manufacturing, the use of eco-friendly products for accessorizing and embellishments will go a long way in making fashion truly green and sustainable.

Researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to develop an innovative, environment-friendly processes to make adiponitrile (ADN)—the main precursor to nylon 6,6— to greatly improve the efficiency of organic electrosynthesis.

Miguel Modestino, a Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at New York University, and doctoral student Daniela Blanco tweaked how electrical current is delivered to catalytic electrodes and then applied artificial intelligence (AI) to further optimise the reaction. By doing so they achieved a 30 per cent improvement in ADN production

The findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences could have major implications since the team targets one of the largest organic electrosynthesis processes in the chemical industry: the electrohydrodimerisation of acrylonitrile (AN) to ADN.