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A total of 71.95 per cent of share capital were represented at the 47. Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) of Oerlikon via the authority that was granted by shareholders to the Independent Proxy, Proxy Voting Services GmbH. Shareholders did not attend the AGM in person in line with the ordinance from the Federal Council of Switzerland in the fight against the coronavirus. Following the instructions given to the Independent Proxy, all resolutions were approved by a large majority, including the maximum aggregate total compensation of the Board for their term of office (AGM 2020 to AGM 2021), the maximum aggregate fixed compensation of the Executive Committee (EC) for the period July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 and the retrospective variable compensation of the EC for 2019, as well as the dividend payout of CHF 1.00 per share for 2019.
Prof. Dr. Michael Süss was reelected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mrs. Irina Matveeva was elected as a new member of the Board, while Paul Adams, Geoffery Merszei, Alexey V. Moskov, Gerhard Pegam and Dr. Suzanne Thoma were all reelected as members of the Board. Furthermore, shareholders approved the reelection of Prof. Dr. Michael Süss, Paul Adams, Alexey V. Moskov, Gerhard Pegam und Dr. Suzanne Thoma as members of the Human Resource Committee. All elected Board members will serve a one-year term.
Oerlikon engineers materials, equipment and surfaces and provides expert services to enable customers to have high-performance products and systems with extended lifespans. Drawing on its key technological competencies and strong financial foundation, the Group is sustaining mid-term growth by addressing attractive growth markets, securing structural growth and expanding through targeted mergers and acquisitions. A leading global technology and engineering Group, Oerlikon operates its business in two Segments – Surface Solutions and Manmade Fibers – and has a global footprint of more than 11 100 employees at 182 locations in 37 countries. In 2019, Oerlikon generated CHF 2.6 billion in sales and invested more than CHF 120 million in R&D.
Klaus Maitre, a veteran of the nonwovens and textile industry for five decades, passed away on March 25, 2020 at the age of 81.
Maitre immigrated to the U.S. in 1963 after receiving his Master’s and Bachelor’s Degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of North Rhine Westphalia in Aachen, Germany. His career included working as Divisional Vice President for the former Standard Coosa-Thatcher Company, a textile company, before joining the U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary of Dilo Systems Group as Executive Vice President. Maitre served at Dilo for over 25 years before retiring and starting his own consultancy, The Sigma Group, LLC.
Maitre served on INDA Conference Planning Committees offering his expertise and vision to help guide programs and content. He maintained a strong presence through his time at Dilo at INDA conferences and expositions for over 20 years.His interests outside the nonwovens industry included a deep appreciation and love of history, soccer, and he was also a life-long Carolina Panthers’ football fan.
INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, serves hundreds of member companies in the nonwovens/engineered fabrics industry in global commerce. Since 1968, INDA events have helped members connect, learn, innovate and develop their businesses. INDA educational courses, market data, test methods, consultancy and issue advocacy help members succeed by providing them the information they need to better plan and execute their business strategies. For more information, visit www.inda.org, or download the INDA mobile app for immediate updates.
With fashion industry hit the hardest by COVID-19, Moda Operandi has decided to close its men’s business. It had ventured into men’s business in June 2018 dealing in men’s apparels, footwear and accessories both through its trunk show model and in season. However, the company plans to keep its men’s team on through the second quarter so as to wind down the business.
It is undoubtedly the outcome of the impact of COVID-19 on fashion industry that the Moda Operandi has decided to shut down men’s division. It plans to focus on its core business that revolves around women’s fashion, fine jewelry and home products.
Analysts’ reports released last year state that the sales of high-end goods could decline between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in 2020 in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic.
RBC Europe underlined that around half of luxury sales in the continent come from tourists, compared with 80 per cent to 90 per cent domestic sales in the Americas that is likely to continue even when lockdowns ease up.
Further, it projects that aspirational luxury spending might be affected as younger consumers – specifically talking about millennials and Gen Z that together account for about a third of luxury shoppers – are more prone to the economic fallout.
For its 2020 Conscious Fashion Report, global fashion search platform Lyst examined online searches for more than 100 million shoppers worldwide from February 2019 to February 2020. While online searches for women’s sustainable fashion continue to outpace men’s across the globe, Lyst’s data shows that consumers are searching for sustainable items that fit into their on-the-go metropolitan lifestyles.
As the home of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit and sustainable apparel brands like Knowledge Cotton Apparel and By Signe, it should come as no surprise that Denmark has seen the biggest year-on-year growth in searches for sustainable fashion, with searches rising by 114 percent. The highest percentage of searches, the report noted, are coming from Copenhagen.
In particular, Danish consumers are investing in eco-friendly denim—a trend that emphasizes the growing awareness around organic cotton, sustainable finishing and garments offering durability and longevity.
Berlin is proving to be the hotspot for sustainable fashion in Germany, where searches for sustainable fashion grew 53 percent year-over-year. While Berliners are seeking ‘faux fur coats’ and “vegan leather jackets,’ searches in the rest of Germany skew toward practical items like parkas and sneakers, Lyst reported.
Perhaps boosted by Inditex’s pledge to use responsibly sourced fabrics by 2025, searches for sustainable fashion in Spain have more than doubled. Lyst’s data shows consumers are searching for eco-friendly sweaters and vegan products. Searches indicate that B Corp-certified fashion brand Ecoalf is a current favorite as well as Patagonia and Stella McCartney.
French consumers are seeking leather alternatives. In France, where searches for sustainable fashion increased 50 percent, Lyst reported that the most-searched terms are “vegan Dr Martens boots” and “vegan Veja sneakers.” Consumers are also searching for faux leather trousers—a trend inspired by the runway.
Function and sustainable fashion go hand in hand in Canada, where consumers are searching for eco-friendly parkas and jeans.
In Italy, where Lyst reports a 20 percent uptick in sustainable fashion searches, ‘eco fur’ and “recycled fashion” are keywords to watch. Shoppers from the Lombardi region are the ones who drive the highest number of eco-friendly fashion searches, though Lyst’s data was compiled before the area was stuck with COVID-19.
Dresses lead searches for sustainable fashion in the UK Fashion searches including the keyword “organic” are currently trending in the UK and are up 19 percent month-on-month, Lyst reported. “Second-hand” and “vegan” are also popular keywords among British shoppers.
And Russian consumers are warming up to sustainable fashion. With Moscow generating the highest number of searches in the country, searches increased 14 percent year-over-year. Russian customers are especially interested in organic cotton T-shirts and vegan leather boots.
Tencel has launched a site dedicated to its 2020 Earth Month campaign with brand partners in home and apparel.
The site launched April 3 to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It will highlight one of Tencel’s brand partners and their work to support environmental responsibility.
Home brands taking part include Bearaby, Farm to Home, West Elm, Molecule, QE Home and The Company Store. Apparel partners include Athleta, Bella Dahl, Bleusalt, BN3TH, Boyish, Calitas Intimates, Closed, Eileen Fisher, Guess, Hanky Panky, Kings of Indigo, Lucky Brand, Mara Hoffman, Mavi, Metawear, MeUndies, Orvis, Paperlabel, Patagonia, Triarchy and Yes.
Each brand is focused on working to decrease their environmental impact, and their use of Tencel fibers part of the effort. The initiatives range from reducing water usage in their production process, working only with low impact fibers, ingredients, and materials, and supporting incredible environmental causes, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
PVH Corp, one of the world’s largest apparel companies, has completed the sale of its Speedo North America business to Pentland Group, parent company of the Speedo brand, for $170 million cash, subject to a working capital adjustment. The proceeds from the transaction will further bolster PVH’s core balance sheet strength and add to its liquidity position that stands now at over $1.3 billion in cash and available borrowings.
Pentland Group, which also owns the Berghaus, Canterbury, Ellesse and SeaVees brands, acquired Speedo in 1991 and directly and through partnership with licensees like PVH has since developed it into the world’s leading performance swimwear brand. Pentland will now operate the Speedo businesses worldwide.
The completion of the Speedo North America acquisition, during these uncertain times, demonstrates the company’s long-term commitment to the business and its passion for building a truly global brand. This acquisition will allow it to offer our customers a stronger global brand proposition when demand resumes.
The Textile Clothing & Footwear Industry Council of Fiji has urged the government to arrange with the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) to deal with COVID-19 effects. This is the same deal announced for workers in the hospitality sector who have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut.
The minister for economy and attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had announced recently that Fijian workers in the hospitality sector who have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut since February 1 can access an initial $1,000 from their FNPF accounts, with additional funds to be considered as the situation unfolds further, according to a report in a Fijian newspaper.
The council directly employs 7,000 Fijians and 80 per cent of the employees are women. Garment factories that have closed recently include Lyndhurst Ltd, Danam Fiji and Nagsun Apparel, while Intimate Apparel Ltd in Vatuwaqa will operate for another month.
According to India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), the nationwide lockdown in India is likely to impact the textiles sector both in terms of demand and supply and the EBITDA might drop by least 15 per cent in 2020-21 across the industry portfolio, a report said.
While India's dependency on imports is limited, it is dependent on exports and hence, the return of demand from the key markets including the US, the UK, the UAE and China is critical. The EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) will drop at least 15 per cent in FY21 across its textile portfolio, the report said.
Further, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to continue to impact the global textile production and supply chains and thereby textile product prices. The Indian textiles industry has taken a major hit because most of Indian yarn exports are to China, it added.
The agency estimates India's exports will be substantially hit till the first half of FY21, which had already reduced by more than 40 per cent till January 2020 due to the US-China trade war. Meanwhile, it revealed that cotton prices continued to soften in February 2020, due to lower export demand and squeezed domestic consumption. They fell to Rs 111 per kg in February 2020, compared to Rs 118 in the same month in 2019, on account of reduced offtake by mill owners, which are facing the heat of excess production and supply disruptions amid the spread of COVID-19.
However, the Cotton Corporation of India continues to hold up the stock (40 per cent of total arrivals) and would maintain the current prices over the short term. While in the long term, a higher uncertainty regarding the duration of lockdown would be negative for the prices and pressure the liquidity of cotton spinners who are holding a cotton inventory of three to four months.
Primark has established a fund to cover the wages component of orders that have been cancelled. The company asked suppliers to stop production as it already had some £1.6 billion of paid-for stock in stores, depots, and in transit. All of this stock has been paid for under its normal 30-day payment terms.
On top of that, extended payment terms have been offered to suppliers to enable Primark to take and pay for further stock ready for shipment. This is despite the fact that nothing can be sold while the stores remain closed. In addition, Primark is concerned about the impact of workers engaged in production on further orders that Primark will now not be taking – that is, goods in production that were due for shipment in the month following cancellation of orders.
Accordingly, Primark has announced that it will fund payment of the wages that relate to this product, taking into account adjustments for government support packages provided in each country. This action will cover orders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
In consultation with external stakeholders, the Primark ethical trade team will explore mechanisms to ensure that this money reaches workers. Additionally, over the past two weeks, Primark has been working closely with the United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) in order to collaborate with governments, international financial institutions, development banks and others in a position to make available medium and longer-term financing to pay the wages and benefits of workers along with economic support to the garment industry.
Eurovet, the organizer of shows such as Interfilière Paris, has rescheduled its summer events to September due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has also decided to postpone The Paris Fashion Week, in present exceptional circumstances.
Interfilière Paris and Riviera will be held alongside Who’s Next in early September to support the relaunch of the industry. In these events, suppliers of materials and textile accessories for Lingerie, Swim and Sport will come together while swimwear and lingerie brands will present their new collections at the Riviera show, the event for late-season orders.
Through this, Eurovet aims to allow international industry stakeholders to meet, exchange ideas and build the future. The organiser is committed to working with all players involved in order to accelerate this reboot together, once the industry emerges from this crisis.
