American Eagle’s comparable sales in the latest quarter fell six per cent from a year ago. The brand’s priorities are adjusting its assortments and rightsizing inventory.

Other retailers including Walmart, Target, Gap and Kohl’s face similar problems with bloated inventories. Target has had to resort to deep discounting to get rid of excess inventory when its quarterly profit fell 90 per cent. Walmart has employed similarly aggressive markdowns to move items like clothing out of stores, which has led to a significant cut in profit expectations.Gap and Kohl’s, meanwhile, are looking to avoid some markdowns with a pack-and-hold strategy for certain items, which allows them to reserve excess inventory until demand rises.

Inventories pile up

To clear products off shelves in the meantime, retailers including Macy’s and Nordstrom have turned to markdowns that are cutting into profits. Nordstrom had to go in for deeper discounts than expected and it could take a couple of quarters for the company to properly readjust. The department store operator in August had reported stronger sales for its second quarter, but slashed its financial forecast for the year citing a glut of inventory and slowing demand later in the quarter. Macy’s has also slashed its revenue and earnings forecast for the year because of weakening apparel sales over the quarter as the consumer faces higher costs on essential goods, particularly grocery. The company has taken the markdowns necessary to help clear inventory.

The way forward

The industry is working to figure out the type of items people want coming out of the pandemic, while also facing softening demand as inflation squeezes budgets.By 2023, retailers might be able to adjust more quickly to demand as the supply chain normalizes. But for now companies are struggling to adjust their offerings.

White Milano will be held in Italy, September 22 to 25, 2022. Some 400 brands are expected to reach out to some 28,000 buyers. Sustainability will play a key role within the show which will be hosting a selection of players, talks and events.

Companies will be given support to evaluate their emissions and increase their transparency levels among partners and clients of the value chain. Materials, technologies, zero waste production, customization and treatments that are increasingly less impactful on the environment will be given importance in an immersive and experiential version aimed at better involvement of industry players and the end consumer.

Among participating companies are Dyloan, a leader in innovative technologies and solutions for the fashion world according to principles of sustainability and transparency, Fulgar, an international leader in the market of manmade fibers, entirely made in Italy, specializing in the production of sustainable and responsible fibers, Tencel, a key manufacturer of cellulose fiber of vegetable origin, YKK, the global closure specialist that has set clear goals in climate change, protection of water resources and materials, management of chemical agents and respect for people.

Key players will discuss important topics such as digital passport, green washing, materials and technologies innovations, regenerative agriculture and new frontiers of retail.

Trident’s production of bath linen tumbled 37 per cent in August 2022 compared to August 2021.

Production of bed linen slipped 37 per cent. Production of yarn slumped 41 per cent. Production of paper declined 13 percent but production of chemicals rose one per cent.

Consolidated net profit declined 37 per cent in the first quarter but net sales rose 13 per cent.

Trident is a vertically integrated textile (yarn, bath and bed linen) and paper (wheat straw-based) manufacturer and is one of the largest players in the home textile space in India. It currently has around 400 points-of-sales across the country and plans to further expand its retail presence by doubling its point-of-sales next year. Trident believes in offering innovative solutions and delivering high-quality value-added products to customers. Trident is expanding spinning capacity at its Madhya Pradesh plant. The project will help strengthen Trident’s existing home textile business and further expand its market presence. Trident’s existing capacity is 5,43,744 spindles and 6,464 rotors, and the current capacity utilisation is 99 per cent. Trident has planned for small maintenance capex in the form of de-bottlenecking and upgradation of capacities. The company is committed to embark inclusive growth for all its stakeholders and continuing to excel in future.

Sales at Tod’s rose by 17 per cent in the first half of the year. Revenues fell by 19 per cent in Greater China due to Covid restrictions.

The Italian fashion group would focus on distribution network efficiency and on digital with the aim of increasing like-for-like and higher-margin turnover.

In the first half of 2022 revenues of the Italian fashion and luxury industry went up by 25 per cent. This includes textiles, leather goods, apparel, footwear, jewelry, beauty products and eyewear. These positive results are partly explained by the price hikes introduced to compensate for the increase in energy and raw material costs. Real revenue has grown by over 18 per cent above the level recorded before the 2008 financial crisis.

Italian companies are currently reaping sizeable benefits from the depreciation of the euro against the dollar, and their exports have grown significantly towards all countries, with the exception of Russia and Hong Kong. Between January 2022 and May 2022, Italian fashion exports increased by 21.9 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. For the first five months of 2022, Italian fashion sales to the USwent up by 59 per cent, South Korea 34 per cent, Spain 31 per cent, France 25 per cent and Germany 20 per cent. Exports to the UK went up by 22 per cent.