As per QaziJamil Islam, Managing Director, Lotto Sport Italia, the ongoing pandemic has been a blessing for the company as it enjoyed increased sales in Bangladesh during the past several months following a boom in the demand for low-cost, non-leather footwear products. The global outbreak had forced Lotto Bangladesh to shut down its operations on March 23, three days ahead of a two-month nationwide lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, reports the Daily Star.

At the time, Lotto employed nearly 1,300 people at its local production facility and since then Islam has recruited another 700 workers at a new facility to increase production and meet the growing demand.

When the lockdown was eventually lifted on May 30, many people took up jogging and other physical activities which led to the increased demand for low-cost washable footwear, in an effort improve their immune systems," Islam told The Daily star in a recent interview.

This led to the increased demand for low-cost washable footwear, he added. Lotto, which has 100 retail outlets and about 100 franchisee shops across the country, then took this opportunity to expand its market share.

The Italian sportswear brand even started producing face masks considering the demand for such items amid the current health crisis. Islam now plans to set up another factory in Tongi, where various sportswear such as jerseys and track suits will be produced.

H&M Group has launched a new multi-brand paper packaging system that’s reusable and recyclable. As per Fashion Network, the new bags are made of certified paper that can be made to be as protective of the products as plastic is. And once opened, the bags are recyclable as the company aims to cut down on the overall level of waste produced. 

The company’s distribution centres in the UK, Netherlands, Sweden, China, Russia and Australia have been testing sustainable solutions for millions of packages.  It is currently diving deep into digital and said the fact that e-commerce is increasing worldwide is driving large amounts of plastic waste, so there’s “an increased need to find new solutions for more sustainable packaging”.

Much of the packaging used to fulfil online deliveries is plastic-based and the majority of it ends up in landfill sites or, even worse, the oceans.

So far, the new packaging has been introduced to customers at Cos, Arket, Monki and Weekday. The H&M brand has started to implement it in selected markets, and it will be rolled out more widely at the brand in the months ahead. The &Other Stories brand will also be added to the programearly next year.

Messe Frankfurt has rescheduled the 2021 edition of international home textiles expo Heimtextil to May 04-07, 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.

Traditionally held each January, the event will take place concurrently with Techtextil and Texprocess.

Roughly 1,600 companies have expressed interest in exhibiting at the next Heimtextil, an international trade fair for home and contract textiles with more than 2,700 exhibitors and roughly 67,000 trade visitors. The trade fair serves as a business and information platform for manufacturers, retailers and designers from around the world. International exhibitors present their products to a wide trade audience on the Messe Frankfurt exhibition grounds. As the first marketing and ordering event of the year, Heimtextil showcases new home and contract textiles. By presenting bed, bath and table linens as well as floor and window coverings, upholstery and sun protection systems, Heimtextil covers the entire home and household textiles portfolio from across the globe.

Techtextil and Texprocess will also boast registration figures with over 85 and 65 percent respectively of the exhibition space already having been reserved.

As per reports, Nike plans to capitalize on its quick recovery to drive further investments.

The brand plans to focus on women's, apparel, digital and the Jordan brand. In apparel, the company's maternity line, which launched in September, saw a 100 per centsellthrough of tights in its first two days. The retailer also expanded its extended sizing into the kids category this quarter.

Its inventory is back to healthy levels though gross margin decreased 90 basis points to 43.1 per cent through efforts to reduce excess inventory.

Nike Digital now makes up 25 per cent of the North America business and the Nike mobile app grew 20 per cent in the quarter. The retailer has added 70 million new Nike members globally since the pandemic began and that buying member growth is outpacing new and active member growth.

The retailer also plans to open between 150 and 200 small-format stores in North America due to the strategy and is focusing its footprint on technology-driven concepts like Nike Live and Nike Rise. It is creating online to offline capabilities, like buy online, pick up in-store throughout its network.