As per Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the country’s exports of textile and garments, and leather shoes are likely to increase by 10.8 per cent to $40 billion. The association expects the US to remain the biggest importer, accounting for 42 percent of Vietnam’s total exports, followed by the EU (21.5 percent), Japan (19.5 percent), and the Republic of Korea (14 percent). Meanwhile, the Middle East will be a new market of Vietnamese garment and textiles.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam’s exports of garment-textiles and leather shoes increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year during January-July 2019 to $18.34 billion. This growth was mainly spurred by the growth of foreign-invested businesses in the country.

Production of garment and textiles registered a robust growth on account of the signing of new-generation free trade agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

The country witnessed a robust growth in several of its key markets including the US with export revenue of over $7 billion, the CPTPP market with $2.5 billion, EU $1.95 billion and the Republic of Korea with $1.4 billion.The country also produced around 161.4 million pairs of shoes during the seven-month period, increasing by 7.1 percent from the same time last year. Exports of footwear rose by 13.8 percent to an estimated $10.4 billion.

As Global Fashion Week vitality index, China Fashion Week ranks sixth among top 10 fashion weeks globally, with Paris, New York and London in top 3. The fashion week moved up one spot since last year, when the index was launched. It registered an outstanding performance in search popularity on social media, and its performance in boosting commercial circle consumption also soared. It will run from Oct 25-Nov 02, 2019 in Beijing.

The ranking by Shanghai-based China Economic Information Service, a subsidiary of Xinhua News Agency, was based on a number of indexes such as media influence, radiometric level of commercial circles like the percentage of high-income consumers, the number of participating brands and activity numbers.

"The growing hazards of fast fashion are forcing many brands to incorporate sustainability initiatives in their operations. A recent example of this is Zara, which introduced a sustainability pledge. However, the brand produces around 450 million garments a year besides releasing 500 new designs every week, about 20,000 a year. This makes its adherence to sustainability difficult."

The growing hazards of fast fashion are forcing many brands to incorporate sustainability initiatives in their operations. A recent example of this is Zara, which introduced a sustainability pledge. However, the brand produces around 450 million garments a year besides releasing 500 new designs every week, about 20,000 a year. This makes its adherence to sustainability difficult.

The model of fast-fashion business is antithesis to sustainability. Even though many fast fashion companies uphold recycling of garments, they do not have required capabilities to recycle their garments at the scale needed at the current production rates. Many fast fashion companies advocate the use of sustainable fabrics. However, these fabrics require a tremendous amount of energy and natural resources to produce which prevents them from being 100 per cent sustainable.

Need-based production to boost sustainability

Small brands try to be sustainable by producing lesser clothes. They use strategies like producing made-to-order, to curtail waste. Clothe designs are of high quality to ensure longevity. Small brands also follow the ‘anti-fashion calendar’ by producing only when required as against large companies that produce clothes in bulk. So, if large corporate retailers aim to adopt sustainability they need to rework their entire business culture.

Even though corporate brands and retailers provide statistics about their environmental impact reductions within their supply chains, these reports are voluntary and not verified externally. Their method for measuring improvements is also not consistent or standardised.

A brand can’t claim to be sustainable just by using sustainable materials. It still has to deal with issues like cheap costs and speedy production which can lead to labor exploitation. It can’t urge consumers to consume responsibly as this would ultimately affect its bottomline. It can therefore, provide repair or tailoring services which will encourage consumers to use their clothes for a longer period.

To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including the 2C global temperature target, the fashion industry must change their outlook towards sourcing, manufacturing and distributing clothes.

Miniso is forging partnerships with manufacturers to make India one of its supply hubs. In the two years since its launch in India, the Japanese value retailer has opened 110 stores across 41 cities. The plan is to open about 70 stores this year. Miniso will purchase products in India and export to other countries. India will be the second biggest purchase country for Miniso. Some makeup and textile products are already being exported from India though right now these are on a small scale. Going forward it will invest in India from retail to sourcing.

Miniso is known for low-cost products such as mobile phone accessories, handbags, storage boxes, stationery, perfumes etc. As a result, it has opened in top cities, and Tier II markets such as Jalandhar, Kanpur, Howrah etc. Miniso updates products every seven days and targets intelligent consumer product chains. Worldwide Miniso is in some 2,600 stores in 60 countries including India, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. Miniso strives to provide consumers with smarter, simpler and stylish products. It takes product structure optimization and product management as its priority, with designs from Japan, Korea, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Aditya Birla Retail and Fashion (ABFRL) plans to expand operations in the ethnic wear market of India. The retailer, which recently acquired the Jaypore and Shantanu and Nikhil labels, is set to expand these two brands by adding stand-alone stores over the next few months.

Both brands are expected to help ABFRL expand its reach in the country’s growing ethnic wear market where it has a limited presence as it largely sells men’s and women’s formal wear through its existing brands. Its fashion departmental store chain Pantaloons, on the other hand, sells women’s ethnic wear but largely mass market brands.

The retailer will set up 5-8 more stores of Jaypore in the next t 6 to 12 months. The label will mark its entry into the premium ethnic side of the market. Besides, ABFRL will also launch an affordable range of clothing under the Shantanu & Nikhil brand. The company is currently working with the brand to launch a prêt line which will be more accessible and scalable and can travel to many more markets. It will also have a wider distribution in offline markets.

Circular knitting machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie has developed machines focused on sports. The MJ 3.2 E is an electronic single jersey machine that specialises in the production of mesh and body mapping structures, both of which are very much in demand for sports and athleisure fashion wear. The OVJA 1.1 EETT’s focus is on the manufacture of shoe upper fabrics and sports outerwear. It combines double electronics and bidirectional transfer selection and can knit an almost infinite variety of patterns, including hole structures. It can also knit multi-colored spacer fabrics. The OVJA 2.4 EM makes a special contribution toward optimal post-sport regeneration. This new member of the OVJA family is the most productive machine in the market for the manufacture of mattress cover fabrics.

An established machine with new features is the Spinit 3.0 E. This now also processes polyester, is capable of a higher working speed and is linked to the knitlink digital platform makes the spinning and knitting machine an even more attractive proposition. The knitlink platform allows the recording and evaluation of machine data. New service offers such as remote service and a more efficient collaboration via mixed reality glasses are also part of the package just like a web shop.

Global shipment of new short-staple spindles and open-end rotors increased 1.5 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in 2018. The number of shipped draw-texturing spindles rose by 50 per cent and deliveries of shuttle-less looms improved by 39 per cent. Shipments of long-staple spindles, circular knitting machines and electronic flat knitting machines decreased 27 per cent, four per cent and 20 per cent respectively.

Most of the new short-staple spindles were shipped to Asia and Oceania. The most dynamic destinations recorded in 2018 were Korea, Turkey, Vietnam and Egypt with increases of 834 per cent, 306 per cent, 290 per cent and 285 per cent respectively. The six largest investors in the short-staple segment were China, India, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

China, the world’s largest investor in open-end rotors, increased its investments by seven per cent in 2018. The main destination for shuttle-less looms in 2018 was Asia and Oceania with 93 per cent of all worldwide deliveries. Almost 92 per cent of all water-jet looms, 83 per cent of all rapier/projectile looms and 99 per cent of all air-jet looms went to that region. The main investors were China and India in all the three categories.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has collaborated with Turkey’s textile brand, K1vanç Tekstil, to manufacture and market R|Elan™ GreenGold, a sustainable and innovative fabric 2.0, to leading apparel brands and consumers across the world. R|Elan GreenGold, made from recycled PET, substantially reduces emission of greenhouse gases. The fabric is being made from pre-dyed fibers and doesn’t need much water. It uses bio-fuels and is one of the few recycled brands that provides end-to-end traceability throughout the supply chain, right from PET bottles to fibres.

Besides manufacturing and marketing R|Elan™ GreenGold fabrics, K1vanç will also distribute Recron® GreenGold fibres to spinners, yarn manufactures and knitters across Turkey. This arrangement will enable RIL and K1vanç to offer the best quality eco-friendly textile solutions to brands and retailers, sourcing their requirements from Turkey, to meet the ever-growing demand of environment-friendly apparels.

Manufacturing excellence of K1vanç will be further enhanced by the high quality GreenGold fibres, as well as by the support of RIL’s efficient technical team. K1vanç Tekstil is known worldwide for its professional work ethics. It caters to major European and American fashion brands and retailers. Vertically integrated across spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing and finishing, K1vanç produces 18 million meters of blended fabrics per annum. Its yield comprises a wide range of blends straddling polyester, cotton, viscose, linen, tencel, modal and wool, and is lapped up by leading global brands engaged in making formal and casual wear apparels for both men and women.

Volcom, the men’s, women’s and children’s brand known for its skater influences has adopted sustainable production methods in its new collection “Water Aware.” The collection uses a water-saving wash and finishing process that saves an average 13 liters of water for each pair of jeans. It also uses conservation techniques initiated by Levi’s “Open Source: Water Innovation Guide besides laser technology, which can eliminate thousands of chemical formulations from the finishing process. It also eliminates the use of pumice stones in the wash process, resulting in cleaner waste and less water and energy usage—a technique Neuw Denim recently began using in its Zero collection.

These sustainable methods are just one part of the brand’s Eco-True initiatives, which include a Fair Labor Association accreditation and the introduction of more sustainable materials.

The Water Aware line is part of its Fall ’19 collection and includes men’s, women’s and children’s jeans in slim, modern, skinny, regular and leggings fits.

Wingfly Textile has a wide range of wholesale selvedge denim fabrics in its collection. The company supplies fabrics that are the best in style and quality and are also durable. One can stitch these denim fabrics to wear jeans in different styles, including straight jeans, skinny jeans, motorbike jeans and others. This includes selvedge skinny jeans fabric, slub denim fabric and stretch selvedge denim fabric. Wingfly has classic denim fabric in indigo color for men. With white and red selvedge, the fabric is made of cotton and spandex materials. The fabric is popular because of the new fashion of selvedge denim clothing.

Wingfly is also a large supplier of slub denim fabric that is primarily used for stitching motorcycle denims. The rope dyed fabric looks extra stylish. The fabric is comparatively thicker and can serve the purpose of a thick layer on the human skin to protect it in case of a fall or a mishap. Available in indigo color, the denim fabric flaunts a white/blue/white selvedge made of 100 per cent cotton. The denim fabric is available in the company’s stock for delivery throughout the year. However, one can also request for a sample yardage before placing a wholesale order.