Several renowned brands in the US are reopening stores as lockdown rules are relaxed. After Columbia and Hudson’s Bay announced reopening of stores early, athletic apparel retailer Lululemon is slowly reopening its stores and welcoming the shoppers. The retailer reopened over 150 stores across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand on 21 May, around 200 more stores are all set to reopen over a period of next two weeks. It is ensuring all local Government and public health authority guidelines and instructions are followed while reopening the stores in a phased manner.

TJX, which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls, too has reopened over 1,600 stores across the globe. While, the brand has reopened its stores fully or partially in 25 US states, in other countries such as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the stores are fully operational. Stores in the UK are still closed.

TJX will also reopen stores in phased manner following all social distancing protocols. The brand hopes to reopen majority of its stores by the end of June.

Organised by Informa Markets Fashion, the Magic Las Vegas Marketplace—which also houses other key trade events like the Project, Sourcing and Micam Americas shows—will be postponed from its original dates of August 17-19 to September 29-October 1.

Taking place at the Las Vegas Convention center, the format of the events will honor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s health and safety guidelines for social distancing and sanitation, the group said in a statement. While the events have historically taken place in August to respect the industry’s buying cycles, the decision to postpone the show aligns with the continued uncertainty being felt across the country with regard to retail’s reopening.

The decision may benefit wary attendees who aren’t quite ready to leave the safety of their homes for a crowded convention center just yet. A recently released report from IBM shows that three-quarters of consumers are unlikely to attend a conference or trade show this year due to the risks associated with highly attended in-person events.

In September, the event will be held with a new, more considerate layout. Separate, intimate micro-markets will take place within the same venue to make way for social distancing guidelines, crowd-control measures and cleaning protocols. While the fashion community is undoubtedly eager to connect, and brands have devoted valuable time and effort to the logistics surrounding the show, the decision to postpone is in everyone’s best interest, according to Nancy Walsh, president of Informa Fashion Markets. The group will review the situation on an ongoing basis, she said.

The group is also investing in advanced digital solutions to support brands and retailers preparing for the spring and summer markets. These virtual events and initiatives will complement the keystone physical trade shows.

Around 419 RMG factories in Bangladesh have remained closed for the last two months as the global buyers halted placing orders.

Of these 419 factories, nearly one hundred units went for permanent closure and the rest are waiting for work orders to resume production. Production in 348 member factories of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association and 71 factories registered with the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association had remained suspended since the last week of March.

Of the 348 factories, 91 are located in Gazipur, 79 at Ashulia in Dhaka, 70 in Narayanganj, 67 in Chattogram and 40 units are located in the Dhaka city. BKMEA leaders said that 71 of their member factories had remained closed for the last two months due to lack of work orders and a few of them went for permanent closure.

The country’s apparel sectors’ trade bodies on March 25 announced production closure in the RMG factories in line with the general holidays announced by the government to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The factory owners started reopening the factories from April 26 with the consent from the government amid the surge of infection of coronavirus. According to BGMEA data, a total of 1,150 member factories of the trade body reported that the global buyers cancelled orders worth $3.18 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Amazon plans to take over collapsed US department-store giant JC Penney in a move that could redefine the nature of US retailing. The retailer has a team of senior management and consultants at JC Penney’s Texas headquarters going through the numbers and the store portfolio.

And while JC Penney is planning to permanently shutter 245 of its 846 stores across the country as part of a restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Amazon may take over as much as the entire fleet.

The Seattle-based company already dominates the US e-commerce market with a market share of around 49 percent. Small businesses across the US reportedly sell some 4000 items every minute on the platform.

However, as a digital-native company, Amazon has very little physical presence in the form of brick-and-mortar stores. It bought the upmarket Whole Foods grocery chain in 2017 which it has now expanded to 500 stores in the US and it also developed a high-tech, small-format hybrid grocery-convenience store model called Amazon Go which now numbers 26 outlets.

Apparel chain Gap Inc is speeding the rollout of robots in its warehouses for assembling online orders in order to limit human contact during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gap reached a deal early this year to more than triple the number of item-picking robots it uses to 106 by the fall. Then the pandemic struck North America, forcing the company to close all its stores in the region, including those of Banana Republic, Old Navy and other brands. Meanwhile, its warehouses faced more web orders and fewer staff to fulfill them because of social distancing rules Gap had put in place.

Though sourcing parts in time for the eight-foot-tall robotic stations was not simple or cheap, the venture-backed startup was able to deploy 10 of them to Gap's warehouse near Nashville, Tennessee and 20 near Columbus, Ohio, with plans to finish the rollout to four of Gap's five U.S. facilities by July, months ahead of schedule, he said.

Each of these machines handles work typically performed by four people, Kuntz said. Neither the deal to triple the number of robots, nor the expedited installations have been previously reported.

According to Garment Exporters & Manufacturers Association (GEMA), curbs in inter-state movement of vehicles and shortage of workers are making it difficult to for many apparel firms to execute their current orders. Even though buyers in US and Europe are asking for discount in prices, the revival in demand is a big respite for garment firms. Peak demand season usually gets over in May but now that shops are finally opening in key markets, supply orders have been extended.

Even as Home Ministry has allowed states to decide on inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, many state governments have taken a cautious approach and are reluctant in permitting free flow of transport. While the move is aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus, restricted public transport and passenger vehicles are impacting movement of workers.

This has forced many factory-owners and garment mills to operate at a limited capacity ranging from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. Return of migrant workers to their home states has created massive shortage of manpower in industrial clusters and zones.

Deckers Brands, a designer of innovative footwear and apparel, posted 4.9 per cent sales decline to $374.9 million in fourth quarter of FY20 ended on March 31, 2020 compared to sales of $394.1 million in same period prior year. The firm’s net income during the quarter was $16.0 million while its gross profit was $192.9 million ($203.3 million).

Sales for its UGG brand during the quarter decreased by 17.9 per cent to $196.3 million while sales of Sanuk brand declined by 57.8 per cent to $13.3 million. However, sales of its Hoka One One brand jumped by 51.8 per cent to $101.9 million and Teva brand grew 12.5 per cent to $59.6 million.

Wholesale net sales for the fourth quarter decreased by 2.9 per cent to $230.7 million its DTC sales dropped by 7.9 per cent to $144.2 million. Sales in the domestic market declined by 8.4 per cent to $230.8 million. Whereas sales in international sales grew by1.4 per cent to $144.1 million.

Marks & Spencer’s long-awaited move to add third-party clothing and home brands to its online and in store offer has been praised by industry insiders who also urged the retailer to capitalise on the chance to broaden its customer base.

M&S has long been fending off criticism that it should add third-party brands to its fashion offering. With the continued success of Next’s online marketplace launched in 2014, the high street stalwart has been behind the curve in enticing a younger shopper to its virtual and physical doors.

However, the recently the brand announced that that it plans to enlist the power of complementary fashion and home labels to “turbo-charge” M&S’s ecommerce channel and freshen up the retail offering in selected larger stores.

The retailer is already in commercial negotiations with a number of brands which will be introduced over the coming weeks and months. These will be across categories where M&S dominates, possibly lingerie or denim, and also sectors where it is lacking expertise or a stronghold in the market.

During Fashion Snoops’ ‘Making sustainability the new normal’ discussion last week, many fashion experts anticipated an industry-wide shift to conscious consumption in the post-pandemic world.

Panelists agreed that sustainability is no longer optional—it’s a concept that’s now vital to staying in business.

One of the main reasons for this is society’s newfound connection with nature. As the pandemic continues on, consumer spending is slowing. People are now staying indoors more than ever and reflecting inward, taking inventory of what they truly need. Experts believe this shift in perspective will likely translate in their future purchases.

According to Nia Silva, Fashion Snoops’ materials editor, now that society is opening its eyes to the interconnectedness of all things, the industry needs to respond accordingly and start “championing the rights of nature.

But according to the experts, there’s still more that needs to be done—and sizable change requires sizeable adoption. Panelists agreed that legislation would help motivate businesses to act more sustainably, as companies that fail to adopt sustainable practices often do so because of budget concerns.

Ashwin Chandran, Chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has stated that the extension of moratorium period of term loan for another three months i.e., upto August 31, 2020 has come as a sigh of relief for the ailing textiles and clothing industry. He stated that the MSME package announced by the Finance Minister on May 13, 2020 under ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ would benefit MSME segments and today’s RBI announcements would benefit the non-MSME industrial units to mitigate the financial crisis.

The deferment of interest on working capital, reduction of margin money for working capital and the relaxation of prudential financial norms are the welcoming features of the announcement made by RBI Governor. SIMA Chairman stated that the extension of the permissible period of pre & post-shipment export credits by three months and the time for remittances against normal imports from six months to 12 months would also greatly help the exporters and importers to ease their liquidity.

SIMA Chief has stated that the Indian textiles and clothing industry had been facing long drawn recession and demanding two year moratorium period for repayment of all term loans well before the COVID impact needs at least another seven months moratorium period i.e., upto March 31, 2021 to avoid large number of textile units from becoming sick and NPAs. He has stated that the international and domestic demand for textiles and clothing is likely to drop by 30 per cent with the existing lockdown condition during the current financial year. Ashwin pleaded with the government to allow one time debt restructuring for the textiles and clothing industry that would greatly help the mother industry that employ over 105 million people to prevent job losses and sustain the survival and revive from the unprecedented crisis.

SIMA Chairman has pointed out that though RBI has been making announcements, several banks are yet to extend the various benefits relating to interest rate reduction and additional working capital already announced by RBI on 27.3.2020. He has pleaded the Hon’ble Prime Minister to intervene in the matter, direct all the banks to extend the various benefits announced by RBI immediately so that the industry could tide over the COVID crisis.