Many multinational clothing brands, which source billions of dollars worth of garment from Bangladesh, have contacted BGMEA to open their outlets in the country with a burgeoning economy. The BGMEA on its part plans to urge the government to make it mandatory for all global brands to source all the garment items from local manufacturers if they want to open retail outlets here.

However, a number of foreign retailers have recently complained that the complex local tariff structure is holding them back. For instance, a French company has to pay 130 per cent customs duty for many of the garments and shoes it imports, even for those made in Bangladesh. The tariff structure and the process the company follows to remain compliant in Bangladesh are restricting it to offer a reasonable price-quality ratio and support its endeavour to protect the environment, according to the letter. Over the past 10 years, the company has opened 60 big-box stores in India and over 50 per cent of the items it sells in the Indian stores are ‘Made in India.’

A footwear supplier and a tent supplier of an European company located inside the export processing zone in Chattogram have already received regulatory approval to sell 10 per cent of last year’s unsold inventory to the local market. This allows the company to reduce the price of our items by approximately 50 per cent and make them accessible to more Bangladeshi sportspeople. The company plans to seek BGMEA’s support for research and find legal possibilities to get similar permissions for its garment suppliers.

H&M’s online sales increased 30 per cent in 2019 thanks to a strategy of integrating online and in-store experiences. Over the past couple of years, the fashion retailer has been slowing down its physical store expansion strategy. Profit has been negatively affected by a weak sales development in the physical stores of the H&M brand. H&M has a physical store presence in 71 markets worldwide, but it only sells online in 47 of those, four of which were added in 2018. This suggests that improving its online presence has been a real focus for H&M. The threat from rival retailers, both online and offline, is partly responsible for H&M’s change of strategy. Over the last ten to fifteen years H&M and other fast-fashion brands have enjoyed great success in the fashion sector thanks to trend-led products, a speedy production process and large store networks. Now, the disruption is happening online, and H&M has been relatively slow to adapt.

Mobile is especially important, as H&M’s target market of under 25s are heavy mobile users. H&M only started selling online in 2010. Apparently the retailer was slow to see the opportunity that e-commerce presented, or else thought that its store network was enough to see off online competition.

Following a meeting with Thorsten Bargfrede, Head of Political, Trade and Communications Section of the delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and Maldives and EU representatives, Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister of Industry, Export, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Aviation, claimed that the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus tax concessions to Sri Lanka will continue until 2023 and there would be no change to the related observation process.

GSP+ tax concession is mostly granted to the garment industry in the country and 60 percent of Sri Lanka’s garment exports go to EU member countries. The garment industry represents about 43 per cent of the country’s total exports and earns around $5 billion to the country annually. Noting that EU investors were keen on investing in Sri Lanka, Bargfrede requested for a resumption of flight services by the Sri Lankan Airlines to EU countries.

The hosiery industry in Ludhiana, Punjab has taken a big hit because of policies adopted by successive governments. Demonetisation and shoddy implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the present central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi added to the woes initiated by the earlier Manmohan Singh led UPA government that allowed free access to 46 textile items for Bangladesh. The adverse impact on the 12, 000 hosiery units has been deepened by the shutdown of Kashmir, with a major impact on sales in the Valley.

Since August last year, very few Ludhiana made sweaters, pullovers, caps, jackets, gloves and blankets have made their way into Kashmir. Dozens of units have shut down on account of the fall in demand. This has led to unemployment and despair among the former employees. This cut in production has led to a cut in the income of those in the professions of packaging, local and outstation transportation of produce.

Meanwhile, the provision of duty free access to hosiery items from Bangladesh continues to play havoc with the hosiery manufacturers in Ludhiana. Misusing these incentives many Indian traders have opened export units in Bangladesh. However, quite a large number of these items are not manufactured in Bangladesh but in China, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The recent plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) appointed several new officers in the Standing Committee for the coming year. They include: Maha Zakaria of Egypt as Chair, Selman Kurt of Turkey as First Vice Chair and Anshul Sharma of India as Second Vice Chair respectively. The Standing Committee meets in Washington, DC, at the ICAC Secretariat’s offices or a member’s embassy, every two months to receive updates on the ICAC’s activities.

According to ICAC Executive Director Kai Hughes, With Zakaria serving as Chair of the Standing Committee, the ICAC is well positioned to continue improving its strategic initiatives — adding value for members, increasing the effectiveness of our communications, increasing demand for cotton and forming partnerships with key industry organisations. The experience she gained while serving as Chair ad interim during the second half of 2019 will serve her well. The appointment of Selman Kurt and Anshul Sharma as the First Vice Chair and Second Vice Chair, respectively will also benefit the committee.

Bardot plans to close almost 60 stores across Australia. The brand employs 800 people at its stores across the country. The move comes after poor performance of the company’s brick and mortar outlets, despite promising activity in other segments. The brand has recently expanded into the US and Europe. In the last five years, business has grown significantly offshore and capitalised on its Australian heritage by distributing through high-profile international department stores.

Bardot opened 25 years ago as a women’s fashion brand. It is a coquettish, sensual, and sophisticated brand. Each piece has a perfect balance of femininity and naughtiness. The line features jaw-dropping dresses and tops. Over the next two months, Bardot’s retail network will shrink to just 14. Despite double-digit growth in online sales, Bardot’s retail stores in Australia have had to compete in a highly cluttered and increasingly discount-driven market. Bardot joins a growing list of fashion brands that are facing troubled waters in Australia, including Karen Millen, Ed Harry and Roger David.

The year gone by was a tough one for Australian retailers. Australian consumers have kept their cash close over the last year, leading the retail sector to broadly suffer considerable declines in sales.

As the per recent SLAEA data, Sri Lanka’s apparel exports grew by 2.8 percent to $459 million in November 2019 due to an increase in production capacity and re-routing of supply chains amid the US-China trade war. Its total apparel exports from January to November 2019 grew by 5.8 percent to $4.85 billion.

Sri Lanka’s total apparel exports to the EU grew by 10.99 percent to $191.0 million in November 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. The total exports to EU from January to November in 2019 grew by 5.7 per cent to $2.03 billion. These exports increased on account of the continued leverage of GSP Plus preferential tariff benefits and market certainty with Brexit coming to a conclusion.

However, the country’s exports to the US declined by 4.8 per cent to $208 million in November 2019. This decline was mainly on account of a continuous slowdown in sales of Victoria Secret, which is a large customer of Sri Lanka. Victoria’s Secret posted a 7 percent fall in same-store sales in the US and Canada in the third quarter ending November 02. Its parent company L Brands posted a loss of $0.91 per share, dragged down by Victoria’s Secret’s performance.

Premium was held in Germany, January 14 to 16, 2020. This is an European business platform for women’s and men’s contemporary fashion. Sustainability and bright colors, be it metallics, fluorescents or lively hues, characterized the offer of many sportswear and denim brands for fall/winter 2020-21.

Denham presented its newly launched collaboration with Candiani Denim using a special bio-cotton denim added with plant-based biodegradable stretch fibers. The outer jacket brand Refrigiwear also aims to take a more sustainable direction and did it by launching a capsule collection of sustainable jackets made with hazardous-chemical-free Limonta fabrics produced according to reduced environmental impact production cycles. The brand also uses sustainable paddings such as Sorona, Thermore and microflock. When delivered to stores they hang on recycled plastic hangers and are wrapped up in biodegradable material envelops.

Loads of bright and lively colors and metallic hues are the real must of the season. Among the companies that played with metallics and lucid surfaces were Canadian Classics, Invicta, Bomboogie and Refrigiwear. Opting for fluorescent yellows and acid greens was Colmar, which also offered lots of different clashing color mixes in the same jacket. Also hot are teddy bear effect jackets–either used for inner linings (as Colmar did) or as cuddling jackets.

Denim Première Vision will have take place in Berlin from November 24 to 25, 2020. The trade show is international both in terms of its exhibitors and visitors. Exhibitors and visitors will be presented an environment rich with inspiration and business opportunities. Berlin was chosen as it is at a crossroads of cultures. From Berlin the show aims at attracting more countries, especially in Northern Europe like, Sweden and Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and Eastern European countries such as, the Czech Republic. By setting up in Berlin, Denim Premiere Vision is taking a step forward in exploring the denim industry today and tomorrow.

Berlin has a rich history and is open to different subcultures and identities. It is cosmopolitan, technological, contemporary and strongly focused on eco-responsibility. The city is a unique mix of creativity, art, music and history. The Berlin fashion industry boasts 2,800 registered companies, including 800 designer labels–from high-end to street wear brands–and a broad array of eco-responsible collections. It also hosts 60 annual events, which bring together over 70,000 professionals. And, also important, it hosts eleven fashion and design schools therefore ensuring a constant injection of fresh ideas.

Despite recording impressive growth figures in recent years, Vietnam’s textile and apparel sector has failed to become deeply involved in the global supply chain. Most domestic businesses in the sector outsource to foreign businesses. Although the nation has recorded a trade surplus in yarn and garments, it has suffered a hefty trade deficit in fabric and fiber. Domestic fabrics meet less than 50 per cent of the sector’s demand, forcing the country to import huge amounts of fabrics every year. Yarn output over the last 20 years has grown 12-fold. Local firms during 2019 produced over 2.5 million tons of yarn, of which exports reached more than 1.5 million tons, while fabric output also soared by six times. In spite of these strong figures, products supporting the garment and textile sector failed to meet demand, especially garment products for exports. The supporting industry has been unable to produce fabrics and raw materials that meet requirements regarding quality and diversification of goods.

If Vietnam is unable to meet the goods origin requirements under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, then it will face challenges when it comes to enjoying the preferential treatment from these free trade agreements.