According to the latest data from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA), imports of blue denim apparel declined by 32.19 percent in value to $1.69 billion in the year to date through August. This was a bit better than the 35.26 percent year-to-year decline in the seven months through July.

Cambodia and Vietnam continued to be the only major suppliers on the plus side of the ledger. Jeans imports from Vietnam increased by 1.51 percent to $230.19 million in the first eight months of 2020, while Cambodia’s shipments were up 23.2 percent to $89.03 million.

Denim apparel imports from Bangladesh declined by 8.46 percent to $333.55 million in the period while Mexico’s imports fell by 50.89 percent to $274.45 million. Both countries trimmed their year-to-date losses in August from the prior month.

China’s plummeting market share continued, dropping to the No. 4 supplier in value behind Vietnam. Jeans imports from China were down by 60.21 percent in the eight-month period, slightly better than the 63.23 percent decline a month earlier, to $205.94 million.

The rest of the Top 10 suppliers showed moderate improvement in the month, but shipments remained significantly down for the year. Imports from Pakistan were down by 16.44 percent to $142.79 million, Egypt’s were off by 38.2 percent to $71.94 million, Nicaragua’s have fallen by 31.12 percent to $55.7 million, Sri Lanka’s have dipped by 17.49 percent to $31.06 million and Lesotho’s have decreased by 12.47 percent to $31.79 million.

ITM 2021, one of the world’s largest exhibitions of textile machinery, will introduce latest innovations at TÜYAP Fair and Congress Center between June 22 and 26.

Despite the impact of the economic slowdown, the world’s largest textile machinery manufacturers have shown that they trust the market in Turkey by maintaining or even expanding their booth spaces at the ITM 2021 exhibition.

Many domestic and international ITM participants have announced their preparations through press releases for ITM 2021 Many of these firms opine that Turkey continues to be one of the most important countries for businesses looking for new markets and growth opportunities in this devastating period. The fact that the Turkish textile industry demonstrated the whole world that it is a reliable and robust supplier despite the economic instability experienced during the pandemic period has a great impact on this success.

ITM 2021 Exhibition, which will be one of the biggest gatherings of the machinery industry of the world textile after the pandemic period, will crown this success. Company officials, who will have the opportunity to observe rapidly changing technological innovations on-site, will direct their investments by integrating these developments into their production.

Though the pandemic has led to a 45 per cent dip in luxury sales, it has also given the $2.5 trillion global fashion industry an opportunity to tap the potential of digital shows in a post-COVID world. Last month, New York Fashion Week held it first online presentation while the London Fashion Week also live-streamed some of its collections. However, the Indian fashion industry has stuck to the digital space for now. The recent India Couture Week (ICW) was India’s first fully virtual fashion show with pre-made shoots featuring models in designer wedding wear in a sanitized environment. Starting October 21, the Lakme Fashion Week will also be held on a specially designed virtual platform.

Lowers carbon footprint and costs

Indeed digital shows might not offer the charm and glamour of physical ones but they help the industry achieve its long desired target of reducing carbon footprint. A report by fashion technology firm ORDRE and Carbon Trust highlights, every year, the fashion industry contributes 241,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the environment. It is responsible for almost 10 per cent of annual global carbon emissions. One of biggest reasons for environmental pollution is constant air travel by fashion industry professionals, points out sustainability experts. Digital shows restrict air travel hence, they have a lower carbon footprint. Digital shows require a huge energy-consuming infrastructure in the form of massive servers, computers and laptop. Yet, they are greener than physical shows and do not contribute to greenhouse gases.

Sunil Sethi, President, Fashion Design Council of India feels, lower environmental cost of digital fashion weeks is like an icing on the cake as it prevents organizers from discarding sets after the show. In fact, the FDCI recently held its first digital version of India Couture Week where top designers like Falguni and Shane Peacock presented their bridal collection.

Sole focus on product

Another advantage of digital shows is their sole focus on the product, points out Sanjay Garg, Raw Mango, which will present a collection of handwoven textiles at the upcoming LFW. The collection fuses the simplicity of embroidery with the luxury of bandhani.

The digital space can redefine the fashion industry, opines Jaspreet Chandok, Head-Lifestyle Businesses, IMG Reliance. For instance, the virtual showroom in Lakme Fashion Week enables buyers and designers to interact. It also allows buyers to purchase clothes off the ramp after seeing them from any angle. Sethi believes, the future of fashion will be a mix of physical and digital events.

From 2014-2019, EU’s consumption of nonwoven fabrics recorded a relatively flat trend. The market attained maximum consumption level of $7.6 billion in 2018, before declining slightly in 2019. The figure reflects total revenues achieved by producers and importers excluding their logistics and retail marketing costs, and retailers' margins.

Germany tops with 21 per cent of global consumption

At 384,000, Germany remained the largest nonwoven fabric consumer in the European Union. The country accounted for 21 per cent of total volume of nonwoven fabrics consumed across the globe its consumption exceeded Poland’s 190,000 which is in second place. With a consumption of 182,000 tons, Italy ranked third in total consumption with a 10 per cent share.

From 2014 to 2019, the average volume of non-woven fabrics consumed by Germany grew at an annual rate of 4.2 per cent. Volume of non-woven fabrics consumed by Poland grew by 3 per cent while that by Italy grew by 8.2 per cent. In value terms, the largest nonwoven fabric consumers in the European Union were Germany with a consumption of $1.8 billion, Italy with $895 million consumption and France with a consumption of $685 million. All four countries accounted for 44 per cent consumption of the total market.

The highest levels of per capita consumption of nonwoven fabric in 2019 was registered in the Czech Republic followed by Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. The world average per capita consumption of nonwoven fabric was estimated at 3.52 kg per person.

Production increased 3.2 per cent in 2019

Production of nonwoven fabrics increased 3.2 per cent to 1.9 million tons in 2019. Volume of total output increased at an average annual rate of +1.2 per cent over the period from 2014 to 2019. The most prominent growth rate was recorded in 2016 with an increase of 7.2 per cent y-o-y. The total volume of production during the year increased to 2.1 million tons.

The countries that recorded the highest volumes of nonwoven fabric production in 2019 included Germany with production of 517,000 tonne, Italy with production of 367,000 tonne and the Czech Republic with production of 185,000 tonne. All these three countries accounted for 55 per cent of global production. The most notable rate of growth in terms of nonwoven fabric production, from 2014 to 2019, was attained by the Netherlands.

Imports increase for the sixth time

For the sixth year in a row, the European Union’s imports of nonwoven fabrics, increased by 3.8 per cent to 1.4 million tons in 2019. From 2014-2019, the total volume of these imports increased at an average annual rate of +3.4 per cent. However, their value dropped to $5.9 billion in 2019.

Germany, Poland, the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Spain were the largest importers of nonwoven fabrics in 2019. Together, these countries generated 78 per cent of total imports. From 2014-2019, the biggest increase in import volume was recorded by Romania while imports by other countries experienced modes growth.

In value terms, Germany emerged as the largest market for imported nonwoven fabrics in the European Union. It comprised 19 per cent of total imports. The second position in the ranking was achieved by Poland with a 9.3 per cent share of total imports. It was followed by the UK, with a 8.3 per cent share.

The value of Germany’s nonwoven fabric imports remained relatively stable over the period from 2014-2019. Other importing countries such as Poland and the UK recorded average annual growth rates of 3.4 per cent and -2.8 per cent annually.

Import prices drop by 5.7 per cent

The price of nonwoven fabric imports in 2019 in the European Union dropped by 5.7 per cent to $4,147 per tonne. In all, import prices from 2014-2019 showed a visible decline with the most prominent growth rate of 6 per cent recorded in 2018.

Import prices reached a peak at $4,635 per tonne in 2014; however, from 2015 to 2019, they failed to regain the momentum. The most notable rate of growth from 2014-2019 in terms of prices was attained by the Czech Republic, while the other leaders experienced mixed trends in the import price figures.