A new study by menswear brand LabFresh names Europe as the capital of fashion waste as it produces around 465,925 tons of textile waste each year which is equal to 7.7 kg for each of its 60 million people. Of this, just over 10 per cent is recycled while 81.8 per cent of its waste is incinerated or sent to landfill. Based on a metric of textiles wasted and how they’re disposed of combined with each country’s clothing spend and yearly export of second hand clothes, Italy, Portugal, Austria and the UK emerged as the worst offenders for unsustainable clothing habits.

Meanwhile, Hungary, Poland, Ireland and France came out as the most sustainable, throwing little away, buying less and giving pre-worn clothes away as hand-me-downs where possible. According to Eurostat figures used in LabFresh’s study, despite less waste in total, an average Belgian disposed of 14.8 kg of clothes in 2016.

In pure volumes, Finland topped by wasting 14,934kg of clothing. On the other hand, Spain wasted the least amount of clothes at 2.1kg per person. The study further noted that Austrians spent the most on clothes, with the average person in Austria spending around £1080 (€1264) per year.

The 15 countries in the study disposed of more than two million tonne of fabrics between them in 2016, with almost a quarter of the total was incinerated – a carbon intensive process. But more 57.1 per cent of all clothes thrown away ended up in landfill, taking up space for years to come and allowing greenhouse gases and chemicals to filter into surrounding air and soil.

Textile Exchange has produced a new tool called the Material Change Index. This aims at pushing apparel and home furnishings companies further toward sustainability. It enables participating companies to measure, manage and integrate a preferred fiber and materials strategy into their business. The index was created in part through the voluntary participation of more than 170 companies. The MCI family of indices tracks progress across cotton, polyester, nylon, manmade cellulosics, down, wool, material circularity and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The index launch comes at a pivotal moment for the fashion industry, which has been under increased scrutiny for its environmental and social impacts. One reason is that the fashion industry’s sprawling supply chains stitch together a wide range of sectors and concerns, including agriculture, chemicals, energy, forestry, oil and gas, retail and transportation. And in each of those lies a range of extraction, energy, emissions and waste challenges, as well as a variety of social issues, from animal welfare to the rights of indigenous cultures.

Textile Exchange has been working for nearly two decades to bring visibility into the industry’s supply chain and along the way has taken on an increasingly broad portfolio — from cotton to additional materials, and from organic to other means of growing and producing sustainable textiles.

India International Leather Fair will be held in Chennai, January 31 to February 3, 2020. The event aims at giving international buyers a chance to view products and trends in India. Alround 14 Indian brands will showcase footwear, handbags, and leather clothing on the runway which will be tailor made for the fashion show. The aim will be to win contracts to supply global brands. The event will see British footwear and leather goods brand Clarks participate for the first time.

The trade show has run for the last 35 years. The US-China trade war offers huge opportunities to Indian leather exporters to raise shipments to the United States. India is making efforts to boost leather exports. Despite the global economic slowdown, production and employment in the leather sector have increased. Also this is the only industry where exports of value-added products are almost five times more than the import of inputs/components/accessories and capital goods. The industry is undertaking a multi-pronged approach including product and market diversification, attracting investments, increasing capacities and also developing skills of workers so as to increase its global market share in the coming years. Currently, Europe accounts for about 70 per cent of leather exports from India.

At its recent editions of Texworld USA and Apparel Sourcing, exhibitors showcased new bio-based sources for fibers that help the industry to move the industry closer to circularity.

Texworld USA’s Innovation Spotlight showcased new innovations in bio-synthetics, smart textiles, and circular design solutions. The Re:Source Library offered sustainable textile sourcing and supply chain consulting where established fibers and fabrics evolved to meet the demands of circular and sustainable design needs. Participants in the spotlight included Dr. Luke Haverhal, CEO of Natural Fiber Welding; Mike Savarie, sustainability enterprise catalyst at Hemp Black; Daniel Mota Pinto, assistant director at Scoop, and Ericka Gutierrez, manager of business development and marketing for North America at Lenzing Group.

The show also focused on the origin of raw materials which for most companies includes pre- and post-consumer textile waste, particularly cotton, such as Lenzing’s Refibra technology by Tencel, which involves upcycling cotton scraps from garment production, and Natural Fiber Welding’s processing of recycled cotton yarn for reuse and additive products.

Other materials in the showcase included Brrr’s embedded technology, which uses recycled polymers like post-consumer polyester chips and post-consumer nylon resin to spin recycled polyester and nylon yarns. Scoop’s Musgo was also featured, which incorporates optical fibers for wearable technology.

Similar biomaterials in textiles include Piñatex, a company based in the Philippines that is using pineapple leaf fibers to make its materials, and Italian firm Orange Fiber, which is using orange peels to make a cellulose-based fiber and materials.

Eurovet is pleased to inform the lastest development as the company signed a partnership with the CHINA KNITTING BRANDS INNOVATION DESIGN WEEK (CKIW) to transfer our Interfilière Hong-Kong fair side by side to them next April, 9th to 11th, 2020 at the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This is a crucial step Eurovet is making to take forward the connect with the rapid developments in the China market and which will enable us to work with a Chinese partner duly implemented within the Chinese body fashion industry and to forge a closer and more long-term relationship with them and their supportive associations.

With over 15 years of experience in organizing our trade fair in Shanghai, we are confident that exhibitors and visitors will benefit from the synergies of the collaboration of the two fairs, creating this way the best common tool to serve the needs of the fabric makers, the manufacturers, the brands and the consumers in this modern and global age, in Shenzhen now, and in Shanghai next 24 and 25 of September 2020 with the common launch of the Shanghai Lingerie and Swimwear brand show, side by side to Interfilière Shanghai.

Sportswear Pro 2020 is a new international exhibition dedicated exclusively to customised and on-demand sportswear manufacturing. From sample design and automated digital workflows, to innovative materials and integrated wearable technologies, the exhibition will present sustainable, faster and leaner production solutions to sports and activewear brands and manufacturers.

Taking place on March 24th to 27th at Feria de Madrid, Sportswear Pro is an opportunity for you to see the latest technologies and innovations available on the market.

The event is co-located with FESPA Global Print Expo - Europe’s largest speciality and wide format print exhibition European Sign Expo - The leading event for non-printed signage & visual communications.

Confirmed exhibiting brands include Gemini CAD Systems, MACPI, FK Group SPA, EFI Reggiani, Crea Solution, ZSK Stickmaschinen, Seit Elettronica, Pattern Room Sales, Caron Technology, Tajima amongst many others.

Numero Uno introduces an individualistic capsule collection of denim jackets- ‘Roar me Loud‘. Coming from the conventional style but a must have for us all are Denim jackets. With the ever-spiraling trends in the fashion industry, the denim group has always transcended the vogue elements with their wise formulae and have eternally been in high demand.

This season Numero Uno, India’s only indigenously manufactured denim label brings back the street style look for the fashionable hybrids. This capsule collection has a very distinctive approach, which is all about self-expression, speaking your mind, standing tall in the crowd and creating your own kind. Depicting personal thoughts into ideas to wearing it unapologetically, has been the sole idea behind this collection. Characteristics like fearless attitude, integrity and acceptance of one’s own flaws outline the essence of each piece.

Designs from patch to artwork, fringes to taping, and these denim jackets look sturdy and chic. These reflect a stylish self-expression that is a sure-fire way to make a statement and a definite head turner. Pair them with blue rugged jeans or wear them effortlessly with your joggs for a style statement.

Numero Uno, one of India’s first indigenously manufactured denim labels, was incorporated in 1987 by Hi Fashion Clothing Co., the Flagship brand of Numero Uno Clothing Ltd. Over the years, Numero Uno Jeanswear has transformed into a dynamic and perceptive label for the youth. Today, it has the privilege of being one of the few power brands that fuses international trends, innovative fabrics, washes, treatments and accessible pricing.

Kering is widely appreciated for its efforts and actions among a small number of high-performing companies out of thousands that were scored. The Group’s determination to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and help develop a low-carbon economy have been highlighted. Focusing on becoming more energy efficient in the Group’s operations, these efforts has led to the reduction of 30% carbon intensity in the Group’s stores since 2015.

CDP’s annual environmental disclosure and scoring process is widely recognized as the gold standard of corporate environmental transparency. In 2019, over 525 investors with over US$96 trillion in assets and 125 major purchasers with US$3.6 trillion in procurement spend requested companies to disclose data on environmental impacts, risks and opportunities through CDP’s platform and over 8,400 responded.

The “Climate A List” comprises companies from around the world that have been identified as demonstrating a superior approach to climate change mitigation, only 2% of companies achieved an A score. For the 2nd year in a row, Kering is the only Luxury group to be included in this list.

“Our inclusion, once again, on the 2019 CDP Climate Change ‘A List’ reflects our continuous efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and rewards our recent decision to offset all our remaining emissions to support the conservation of biodiversity around the world.” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of international institutional affairs of Kering. “We are proud to be recognized as one of the top companies when it comes to take action to fight climate change and will persevere to meet our 2025 target of a 50% carbon footprint reduction.”

A global Luxury group, Kering manages the development of a series of renowned Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods, Jewelry and Watches: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux, as well as Kering Eyewear.

"Viewed as both an opportunity and threat, digital transformation enables manufacturers to save time and costs by enabling them to manufacture small quantities of products profitably. However, it also leads to a loss of human touch in fashion design and garment making. Digital transformation is necessary to deal with sustainability pressures that currently face the fashion industry. As natural resources are dwindling, the cost of raw materials and carbon and financial costs of manual garment sampling and shipping back and forth from manufacturers in Asia to Europe and the US is also increasing. The only way to meet this growing consumer demand is to digitise and streamline manual processes."

Viewed as both an opportunity and threat, digital transformation enables manufacturers to save time and costs by enabling them to manufacture small quantities of products profitably. However, it also leads to a loss of human touch in fashion design and garment making. Digital transformation is necessary to deal with sustainability pressures that currently face the fashion industry. As natural resources are dwindling, the cost of raw materials and carbon and financial costs of manual garment sampling and shipping back and forth from manufacturers in Asia to Europe and the US is also increasing. The only way to meet this growing consumer demand is to digitise and streamline manual processes.

Lack of creativity slowing digitisation’s progress

However, the progress of digital transformation in fashion has been slow as digital design is based on CAD/CAM solutions, which are not creative enough to empower designers. The solutions that are currently in trend such as CLO3D are driven by technical specifications that do not bridge the gap between creative design and product creation.

Secondly, solutions providers present the same tools to fashion as they do to automotive, aerospace and architecture. They ask the designers to drop their manual designs and techniques in favor of a mouse and keyboard instead of plugging their creativity seamless into the supply chain.

New talents, data analysis, digitisation to ensure good returns

To fasttrack digital transformation in fashion, brands need to hire new talent graduating from fashion colleges with 3D design skills and an appetite for creative digital design in place of traditional methods of fashion design. These new recruits should be appointed alongside the current crop of designers and tasked with developing the next collections collaboratively, to leverage both approaches. Their designs should be integrated with the actual designs and development of products.

The top three solutions that promise good return on investments for fashion retailers include data analytics solutions, consumer engagement and the digital avatar the use of CGI to be able to have digital experiences around the products. A potential future direction that the fashion industry can adopt is to implement digitised fashion illustration at the first stage to connect it to 3D CAD/CAM software and equipment for on-demand manufacturing, then eventually the digital product presentation tools at the consumer end.

3D digital design is still notably absent from the curriculums of top fashion colleges as the preference for hand-drawing and painstaking manual design techniques still dominates amongst senior designers and creative directors. However, a new generation of designers is emerging who are exploring 3D digital designs through online tutorials and forums in place of being taught formally at university. Bucking the tradition of fashion college education, these designers are redefining the future of fashion.

Apparel manufacturers and exporters can no longer avail of the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). The decision is expected to hit their cash flows and bottom line.

Under MEIS, garment and made-up firms were receiving four per cent of the free on board value of exports as incentives. MEIS has been scrapped retrospectively since March 2019. Apparel exporters have already booked orders by exact costing and they say if they had known they were not going to get the incentive, they would have acted differently. As it is the decision is expected to lead to losses and cash flow issues because between March to December whatever has been shipped will not get the MEIS benefits.

Also, the rebate on state and central taxes and levies has been compared with rebate on stare levies, creating a lot of confusion. And finally bringing in DGFT for correcting disbursal of benefits is expected to create problems. There is a special one-time additional ad hoc incentive of up to one per cent of free on board value for exports of apparel and made-ups with a cap of Rs 600 crores to offset the difference between the new rebate on state and central taxes and levies and the previous rebate on state levies plus MEIS from March 7, 2019 to December 31, 2019.