Huntsman Textile Effects has introduced a wash fast disperse dye. Terasil Blue W is designed to meet all major requirements for high performance sportswear and athleisure wear and leads to savings of water, energy and costs for mills. This dye is not sensitive to reduction. This leads to higher reproducibility, right first-time results and operational excellence. With cutting-edge disperse dye technology at its heart, Terasil Blue W has been developed by Huntsman Textile Effects to provide the leading solution for meeting the industry’s wash fastness requirements. Terasil Blue W offers an attractive shade and a high build-up for deep blues, which stay vibrant. The Terasil Blue W breakthrough technology raises the benchmark of wash fastness in the industry, helping mills overcome the challenges of dyeing polyester and its blends, while achieving production efficiency and sustainability.

Huntsman Textile Effects is the leading global provider of high-quality dyes, chemicals and digital inks to the textile and related industries. Huntsman is committed to an environmentally and economically sustainable textile value chain through its range of high-performance products. The demand for polyester and manmade fibers is booming as sports and athleisure apparel markets expand rapidly around the world. At the same time, brands, consumers and mills are increasingly focused on sustainability and performance resulting in raising demand for optimization of the costly, time consuming and resource intensive polyester dyeing process.

Oil price fluctuations affect all links of fashion’s value chain: fibers, transportation and consumption. The fashion sector depends on oil throughout its value chain. Logistics is one of the links of fashion’s value chain that’s dependent on oil. Fashion globalization, both in its sourcing and its distribution, forces the sector to build a transportation network by land, sea and air. In fact, most fashion exports move by boat, where petrol is the main fuel.

If the oil price war continues, one of the direct repercussions will be on the price of textile fibers derived from it, such as polyester, one of the most used fashion raw materials, or nylon, also derived from black gold. Polyester production has been increasing in recent years. Its production tripled between 2000 and 2017. Nylon production has also increased although its use in fashion is more residual.

The collapse of petrol is the result of a decision by Saudi Arabia, the greatest producer of crude oil in the world, to offer its oil at massive discounts. Price war in the oil market will also have a potential impact on the consumer’s spending power. The forecast for the oil market is even more pessimistic than in November 2014, when a similar price war began, as it adds to the significant collapse of oil demand due to the coronavirus.

Baldwin has launched a non-contact precision spray fabric finishing system. With extensive sustainability benefits, unprecedented tracking and process control, and industry 4.0 integration, TexCoat G4 provides consistently high-quality fabric finishing, with no chemistry waste, as well as minimal water and energy consumption. The innovative non-contact spray technology eliminates chemistry dilution in wet-on-wet processes. TexCoat G4 consistently and uniformly sprays chemistry across the fabric surface and applies it only where needed, on one or both sides of the fabric. Customers can expect no bath contamination during the finishing process, as well as minimal downtime during changeovers, which are made easy with recipe management that includes automated chemistry and coverage selection.

TexCoat G4 also enhances sustainability by wasting no chemistry during color, fabric, or chemistry changeovers, and because only the required chemistry volume is applied to the fabric, wet pick-up levels can be reduced by up to 50 per cent, leading to 50 per cent less water and energy consumption. Furthermore, in single-side applications, drying steps can be eliminated for various textiles, including those that are back-coated and laminated, thereby streamlining and simplifying the production process.

Baldwin is a manufacturer of innovative process-automation equipment and consumables for the printing, packaging, textile, plastic film extrusion, and corrugated industries.

Bangladesh and India have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries in kidswear export to USA in January 2020. As recent reports by OTEXA reveal, USA imported US $ 237.14 million worth kidswear in January and grew by 1.23 per cent on Y-o-Y basis. India massively surged by 27.17 per cent in its kidswear exports to USA, while Bangladesh grew by a huge 44.76 per cent.

India shipped kidswear worth US $ 33.59 million to USA in January 2020 as against US $ 26.41 million worth of shipment in January 2019. On the other hand, Bangladesh escalated its kidswear export to US $ 30.05 million from US $ 20.76 million a year earlier.

Vietnam shipped kidswear to USA worth US $ 31.32 million during the same time, which is 10.19 per cent higher than January 2019. Seeing the data, it’s clear that India surpassed the export value of Vietnam in kidswear export, while Bangladesh almost narrowed the gap with this 2nd top RMG exporter to USA. Indonesia also steered its kidswear export to USA in January which was down till December by 20.78 per cent. Revenue that Indonesia earned in this category was US $ 9.72 per cent, growing at 12.93 per cent rate on Y-o-Y basis.

China dipped enormously by 43.68 per cent due to Coronavirus outbreak in January as it declared lockdown in most of the provinces which prevented Chinese factories to achieve on-time shipment. China could export kidswear to USA just worth US $ 56.53 million in the first month of 2020 as compared to US $ 100.37 million in the same month of 2019.

For the fourth quarter American Eagle Outfitters’ revenue increased by six per cent. Comparable sales decreased three per cent in the quarter compared to a three per cent increase last year. Gross profit decreased five per cent in the quarter compared to the same quarter prior year. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased slightly.

For the full year, revenue grew seven per cent. American Eagle comparable sales were up slightly compared to a five per cent increase last year. Gross profit in the year increased two per cent. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased five per cent. Operating income decreased from last year.

American Eagle Outfitters is a specialty retailer offering on-trend clothing and personal care products. Though the company faced some challenges in 2019, it made good progress on its strategic growth pillars, posting record revenues. It saw strong customer engagement and positive traffic across brands and channels. American Eagle saw growth in its signature jeans and bottoms categories. Looking ahead, the company is focused on areas of underperformance and strengthening profit margins. Product improvements, inventory management and gaining efficiencies are top priorities. Its healthy brands and strong balance sheet position it well to compete in today’s market.

For years, Coats has had a robust approach to sustainability and 2019 saw progress made in the first year of its new strategy. Coats has set ambitious goals to deliver by 2022 as it continues pioneering toward a more sustainable future. Coats is the world’s leading industrial thread company. It enters 2020 as a lean and agile organisation, having delivered significant positive strategic change through 2019. This was a year of continued growth in profits and cash, despite a market backdrop which saw lower than normal growth in retail sales of apparel and footwear, and temporary softness in some of the industrial end-markets. In apparel and footwear, this meant taking a bigger market share by delivering high quality products with world class levels of speed, customer service and support. However growth was impacted by slower demand for zips and trims due to certain in-year fashion trends and conscious low margin product rationalization as well as the impact of tail market exits and other customer/product portfolio rationalisation actions. Coats is well placed to take advantage of the fast-paced and rapidly changing modern world by capturing the many opportunities. In Bangladesh Coats is the first company which offers garment factories recycled thread. The company uses plastic bottles to make chips, which are then converted into plastic threads.

Adidas saw its business in the greater China area drop by about 85 per cent year on year in the period since Chinese New Year. The German sportswear maker expects first-quarter sales to drop significantly in greater China due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). China accounts for 20 per cent of Adidas’ sales. The brand sells its products from about 12,000 stores in China, most of them franchises, about 500 of its own stores. Almost a fifth of its shoes and apparel are produced in China. But now, Adidas has cancelled all shipments to wholesale partners in China and plans to clear excess inventory through its own channels during the rest of the year.

Adidas has forecasted currency-neutral sales to increase by between six per cent and eight per cent for the full year and for its operating margin to rise by between 10.5 per cent and 11.8 per cent. It remains fully confident about its future growth prospects due to its strong positioning in an attractive industry despite the temporary challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Fourth-quarter sales rose a currency-adjusted ten per cent. Currency-neutral sales grew 18 per cent in greater China, ten per cent in North America and 14 per cent in Europe.

Having 15 offices and 500 professional employees across India, IIGM is India’s leading technology and service provider. The company, which recently participated in the GTE exhibition, offers embroidery, CAD systems, sewing, automation or cutting. To this, the company recently added new products like exhaust fans, cooling systems, electrification for machines. Raghav Sharma, Director of the company expounds on its operations and the Indian market.

Being extremely price conscious, Indians prefer investing in something viable. “For that we are conscious of bringing in cost effective yet credible technology, as we increasingly realise the need to adopt new technologies and systems in Indian Textile space is real now. This can be practically calibrated through the various loan schemes available in the market to facilitate,” views Raghav Sharma, Director, IIGM.

Sharma believes that though the current US-China trade war is affecting business, things will get back to normal soon. “The current economy environment is tough. Yet, companies need to find business which is currently shifting from China to other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh though it has its own set of challenges,” he opines.

Amidst all this chaos, India retains its position. “Though we are not growing, our business is stable. One of the reasons we are not getting new orders is because we are not adopting new technologies or systems. A big price war among exporters is affecting our profit margins. We need to be more cost effective and adopt new technologies sooner than later,” Sharma states.

According to Sharma, GST implementation has made the domestic market more organised. “Business in MBOs is picking up as people are spending on apparel and fashion. Exports have stabilized. However, the industry has a long way to go in terms of compliance to global industry standards,” he says.

The European textiles and clothing sector cares about circularity of its products; for several years already, the industry is re-inventing itself to offer solutions that are workable and make a sustainable impact. That’s why Euratex welcomes the new Circular Economy Action Plan, released by the European Commission, as it reflects many proposals developed by our industry. At the same time, this Action Plan is just the starting point for developing a more focused strategy, which must take into account the specific challenges of our sector. Euratex has already developed its own comprehensive strategy, including specific recommendations and workable solutions.

Euratex welcomes the plan as it sets the foundations to change the way products are made, the way waste is managed, and the way people consume. The Action Plan wants to be as comprehensive as possible, involving all the actors in the value chain, citizens, Members States and local realities. The EU needs now to set the conditions to remove structural barriers, address or prevent market failures and bring harmonised solutions across the European single market. Essentially, the EU needs to create a European market for reuse of textile material and such an objective can be achieved with the upcoming Strategy for Textiles. 

For the textile and apparel industry, the Circular Economy Action Plan is not a “wake-up call” because companies have been doing a lot for the past years. They invested money in research and innovation and came up with a wide range of solutions. They, though, faced a lot of challenges that prevent such solutions to enter a broader market.

Therefore, Euratex is asking the European Commission to focus on the following points:

• 99% of the textile and apparel industry is composed by SMEs. The EU needs to take into consideration their specificities. In particular, SMEs lack fund to upscale their products and solutions, plus they need a legislative framework which is not burdensome. Remove barriers, not create new ones.

• Companies need a territory that can deal with the whole circularity process. A company, which produces textiles by recycling used clothes or other fibers, should have a textile recycling facility in the vicinity, not 250km away. Euratex welcomes the proposal of the European Commission to provide guidance to achieve high levels of separate collection of textile waste by 2025. It must be done in a well-organized manner, so to avoid tons of waste textile waiting to be processed.

• Green Public Procurement will increase demand allowing business to invest in circularity. In 2015, public procurement accounted for 13.1 % of the GDP in the EU, this means that almost €1.923 bln were spent by public bodies purchasing goods or services. That is a formidable leverage which Member States can use to boost closed-loop productions, promote scale economies which lower costs and proactively drive changes. Authorities can then choose high quality and durable products, reward low-impact manufacturing processes, and favour products designed with recycled or biobased/biodegradable materials.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), representing the full spectrum US textiles from fiber through finished sewn products, has welcomed the Trump administration’s proposals on an economic stimulus package to gird the economy against the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. However, the organization urged officials to reject any attempts by importers to remove China 301 tariffs on finished products as part of any relief package.

“The president has outlined the need for a broad economic stimulus package that would include various tax incentives to help impacted industries and workers. We support the administration’s efforts to bolster the economy as a response to the coronavirus outbreak, while opposing add-ons to any stimulus package designed to exploit the crisis,” said NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas.

“Any push by importers and retailers to take advantage of the situation and press for removing China 301 tariffs on finished consumer goods—a penalty imposed by the administration in a separate investigation of China’s illegal intellectual property (IP) abuses—should be rejected immediately,” she said. “Tariff breaks on finished products will only pad the pockets of retailers that have long benefitted from China’s trade abuses, and ultimately will not be passed on to the consumer,” Glas said.

“Granting importers a tariff break would essentially let China off the hook for systemic IP violations that have displaced U.S. workers and undermined U.S. leverage in negotiating a phase two agreement,” Glas continued.

As a part of Phase One deal with China, the administration reduced duties on finished apparel and textile products implemented on Sept.1 from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. “NCTO has strongly supported applying tariffs on finished products as a key negotiating leverage but opposes keeping tariffs in place on certain inputs that are not made in the US such as select dyes, chemicals and textile machinery. NCTO has long-argued tariffs on these inputs hurt domestic competitiveness for US textile manufacturers,” Glas said.

Finished apparel, home furnishings and other made-up textile goods equate to 93.5 percent of US imports from China in the sector; while fiber, yarn, and fabric imports from China only represent 6.5 percent, according to government data.