FW
Sports apparel brand Lacoste has developed new men’s clothing and accessories line in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. The line will feature limited edition collections that reflect the graphic legacy of legendary Olympic Games. For the first edition, Lacoste has chosen to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the Olympic Winter Games Grenoble 1968 and the Olympic Games Mexico City 1968.
The IOC and Lacoste collaboration, to continue until 2020, will develop a collection each season. This will initially be sold, starting this summer, in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and the UK.
IOC got into this licensing agreement with Lacoste to further connect people with Olympic history and legacy. The Olympic Heritage Collection is being developed by the IOC as one of its three global licensing core programs and it centers on past Olympic Games, lifestyle and high-end products with limited editions aiming to connect the audience with Olympic history through the art and design of previous editions. The target is thus not the typical Olympic spectator and fan, but rather Olympic enthusiasts or anyone who would like to own a piece of Olympic history. Additional collections are being developed and will be launched soon.
Lacoste was founded by tennis player and entrepreneur René Lacoste, Olympic medalist in 1924.
In 2017, Italian textile machinery production rose eight per cent while exports grew seven per cent. Production benefitted from growing demand abroad for Italian machinery, and the recovery of Italy’s domestic market, mainly due to the boost generated by fiscal incentives for digitalization of companies.
Italian textile machinery manufacturers are entering partnerships with technology suppliers. This is seen as an essential component in providing solutions to the needs of fast fashion and increasingly more significant e-commerce retail channels. The entire textile industry is going digital. However, digitalization of production processes requires a whole new set of skills and consequently new training solutions. So the industry is strengthening links with educational institutions. Having a dialogue with schools will ensure our needs are met in professional terms, created by the new digital context and the ensuing opportunities young people can seize upon in sectors such as textile machinery production, in which Italy plays a pre-eminent role in providing excellence worldwide.
The Italian textile machinery industry represents an industrial sector comprising around 300 manufacturers (employing close to 12,000 people), with exports amounting to more than 84 per cent of total sales. Creativity, sustainable technology, reliability and quality are the characteristics that have made Italy a global leader in manufacturing textile machinery.
Heimtextil & Ambiente, to be held in New Delhi, June 27 to 29, 2018, will display India’s heritage art and crafts. A pavilion will highlight traditionally crafted products with a contemporary touch in miniature painting, terracotta, cane and bamboo arts, wood craving and wood inlay, bidri craft, mithila painting, wood craving, brass engraving and pottery.
Creating the perfect combination of Indian and international designs, the platform will also host companies from China, Indonesia, Switzerland and Thailand and international speakers from France and Finland to throw light on lifestyle trends through co-relation with Indian design due to the growing influence of India through the emergence of successful Indian designers and brands internationally.
The fair will host top manufacturers and suppliers of the home textile and interior décor industry with more than 100 companies participating from India, China, Indonesia, Switzerland and Thailand. Companies from Thailand will present their stunning collections in dining, living, giving and home furnishing segments at this three day fair in New Delhi.
Heimtextil & Ambiente are the world’s largest trade fair brands for the home textiles and consumer goods sector which set the trend barometer globally. In India, the sister fairs Heimtextil India & Ambiente India present the first-look of the new season’s collections for the Indian market offering inspiring product designs, live design sessions and experience zones.
The C&A Foundation has announced $1.5 million to fund five circular fashion initiatives worldwide to bridge the gap in implementing circular business models throughout the global apparel value chain. These initiatives include: Creative Circular Economy Business Models: London Waste and Recycling Board and QSA Partners, The Circular Activation Project: Circle Economy, Circular Leap Asia Program: Forum for the Future, Market Makers: World Resources Institute and WRAP Love Every Fiber of Your Being: MADE-BY and Global Action Plan.
These five initiatives will form a learning network where project teams will not only connect with each other as well as share lessons and methodologies. The new partners will complement other industry efforts around a circular fashion industry that include Fashion for Good, Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular, and Global Fashion Agenda’s 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment.
Cotton prices are headed towards historic highs. Reasons include overall trade volatility, a lower production forecast and China’s uncertain policies. Global cotton market was volatile over the past month, with values for most benchmark prices moving higher in the second half of May.
Values for the July New York futures contracts surged to 95 cents a pound of late from levels near 84 cents a pound a month ago. Values for the December New York futures contracts rose more sharply than those for July–to 93 cents a pound from 80 cents in early May. The A Index, an average of global spot prices, also climbed. The largest changes to harvest expectations have been for China, Pakistan, Australia and Brazil.
Ending stocks outside China are expected to increase in 2018-19, adding to the record volume estimated for 2017-18. This volume will serve as a buffer against rising Chinese import demand. The actual volume of stocks available for export to China, as well as the size of the increase in Chinese imports, can be expected to determine price levels in 2018-19 and beyond. Synthetic fiber prices have also spiked recently, but eased off a bit in May. Gasoline prices helped feed the rise in synthetics.
Polypropylene brand CoolVisions is a developer and manufacturer of revolutionary dyeable performance fiber. Now, it has an expanded range of fiber options, interpreted in innovative textiles from its global mill partners. The range of textile and apparel products featuring CoolVisions include: knits, wovens, denims, and insulation fill, giving brands and consumers a broad range of choices from a trusted component brand.
CoolVisions’ dyeable polypropylene is a modern performance fiber with inherent moisture management, thermal regulation, and resistance to water-based stains—without the use of additives or topical enhancements. This speeds the manufacturing process and lowers costs. Polypropylene has one of the lowest cradle-to-factory gate carbon footprint among synthetic fibers, and CoolVisions’ polypropylene fiber is Oeko-Tex certified.
This dyeable polypropylene fiber brand offers textile manufacturers and brand partners the tools to differentiate themselves and transform their business, creating products that resonate with today’s consumer. The CoolVision’s roster of dyeable polypropylene fiber includes Made in America cottony-soft staple; CoolVisions + Cotton, spun by Grupo Miro in Mexico; and WoolVisions, an intimate blend of CoolVisions dyeable polypropylene staple with merino wool, spun by Chia Her in Taiwan.
The US-China trade dispute deepened after China vowed to retaliate against President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports. As a result, the benchmark index of Chinese stocks fell by more than 3 per cent, other Asian share markets declined and US equity futures traded lower, while yen, gold and Treasuries climbed.
The US, by targeting goods that are finished in China but whose components are often sourced from neighboring South Korea, Japan and Taiwan and more, is likely to hurt the economies of America’s allies too. If these tariffs are implemented, they would increase the market price of Chinese imported goods, dampening sentiments and inflating market pressures.
In case of Chinese exports to the US weakening due to these tariffs, the government would likely seek to offset the growth impact with a combination of subsidies to support domestic demand and higher infrastructure investment.
The ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China will benefit Thailand and Asean member states to play a starring role in US supply chains. Asean will be a more attractive destination for FDI, particularly in high-tech sector. The main reason for optimism is that the US is moving forward with implementing its Indo-Pacific strategy, with free and open as core terminologies for the various bilateral relationships with the US in this region.
The strategy aim to strengthen economic cooperation between the US and Indo-Pacific nations while also allowing the US to support the region against potential coercion and loss of sovereignty. The strategy aims to further open sea lines of communication and airways, which are vital lifelines for many Asian economies. It’s estimated that 50 per cent of world trade goes through the Indo-Pacific along sea routes, particularly the South China Sea, where China has been intensifying its claims of sovereignty.
Though there will be some disruption in the course of the US adjusting its economic relationship with China, an adjustment that is long overdue and inevitable, in the immediate term, there is thus a huge opportunity embedded in the current strained economic relationship between the US and China.
Two major brands – Guess and The North Face–are establishing programs to keep goods out of landfills and increase the longevity of their products. The new programs are aimed at making contributions to the circular economy by recycling and reusing textile and apparel products. Guess is teaming up with I:Collect (I:CO), to launch a wardrobe recycling program. The program, called Resourced involves donating a minimum of five pieces of clothing or footwear to any local Guess, Factory, G by Guess or Marciano store in California. In return, customers will receive 15 per cent off on any purchase in-store or online until July 1, 2019. The aim of this program is to reduce textile waste and reate a circular fashion system where discarded clothing and shoes can be reprocessed.
The North Face recently rolled out The North Face Renewed collection of refurbished products. These renewed items are sourced from returned, defective or damaged apparel. They are thoroughly inspected, cleaned and refurbished to The North Face quality and performance standards. The North Face Renewed products will range from the brand’s Summit Series to the well-known Denali jackets and other popular collections. As the company is currently just piloting the program, Renewed is only offered online and not yet in stores.
Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed says nearly 300 green readymade garment (RMG) factories are under construction apart from the existing 67 factories. A total of 67 RMG factories have so far been certified as ‘green factories’ by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), and of them 17 factories are included as the platinum class. The commerce minister also informed that the world’s best seven factories out of the 10 certified by the USGBC are situated in Bangladesh.
He says there is no direct rule on green factory in Labour Law and Labour Rules. As per a compliance report (January 2017-December 2017) of the Factory and Organisation Inspection Directorate, the number of “A Grade” RMG factories are 436 and the “B Grade” are 228. The programmes for ensuring compliance by making the RMG factories environment-friendly and including them in ‘green factory concept’ gradually are underway.
