The US has introduced a new integrated data collection, measurement, and verification procedure for the cotton industry. Its objective is to document US cotton production practices and their environmental impact. The data will benchmark farmer gains towards the industry’s sustainability goals of 2025 as well as provide the global textile supply chain additional assurances that the cotton is produced in a responsible manner.

A pilot program will be fully implemented for the 2020 cotton crop year. Practising growers will have to adopt data tools that allow quantitative measurement of sustainability metrics like FieldPrint Platform, a pioneering assessment framework along with a self-assessment checklist.

US cotton is already among the most sustainably produced in the world. Though US cotton growers continue to embrace new technologies and management techniques that reduce impact and increase yield, the trust protocol is meant to address that need with a tangible and transparent snapshot of US cotton growing practices and the gains resulting from them. For the next decade and beyond, US cotton producers and industry organizations are setting new environmental targets to keep pushing the frontier of sustainability and leading the worldwide effort in responsible cotton production. Target areas and goals are established using science-based evaluations, including key performance indicators for producing each pound of cotton and pathways to achieve them.

Uniqlo’s June sales have grown 26.9 per cent. The June performance was helped by much heavier visitor traffic to the company shops and its webstore. The average purchase per customer was also higher than the year as a whole.

Uniqlo brands itself as LifeWear, as opposed to fast fashion, emphasizing functionality and lifestyle. Uniqlo wants to be known as an important and influential player in the fashion industry. It wants to be Japan’s answer to Zara or H&M. Meanwhile Uniqlo plans to double its number of stores in Southeast Asia and Oceania to about 400 by 2022. The emphasis is on standalone suburban stores meant to extend the brand's reach beyond shopping malls. Standalone suburban locations were key to the chain’s growth in Japan. The Japanese retailer aims to triple revenue generated in the region in the year ending August 2022. That would mark a faster rate of growth than for Uniqlo overall, which expects revenue to double over the same period. Besides Thailand, Uniqlo’s presence in the Asean region covers Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The brand has two stores in Thailand. More are planned for other southeast Asian markets. The next promising countries are the Philippines and Malaysia.

According to the data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) indicated that the country’s textile exports declined by 0.09 per cent to $12.315 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.

This decline came amid a massive slump in exports of non-value added segments including raw cotton which declined by 67.19pc to $18.876 million, cotton yarn by 16 per cent to $1.048 billion, and cotton cloth 3.65 per cent to $1.94 billion.

On the other hand, value-added segment posted a 5 per cent growth during the cumulative period as exports of knitwear grew by 9 per cent to $2.45bn, bed wear by 2 per cent to $2.08 billion, readymade by 4per cent to $2.44bn whereas exports in the towels fell by 1per cent to $731million and tents and canvas by 3 per cent to $78 million.

Skechers has been declared women’s brand of the year at the Drapers Footwear Awards. The brand stood out from the competition as it drives growth through constant innovation and consistent marketing. This is the third time Skechers has been recognized by Drapers. The Drapers Footwear Awards acknowledge outstanding performance and innovation among retailers, brands and individuals.

Skechers has always been a strong and in-demand brand for women. Skechers started as a men's brand and now offers shoes for women and children. It also has men’s and women’s street wear. The men's collection has trainers, sandals, boots and shoes for every occasion, whether one is out playing sports, walking or needs some casual shoes with style. The brand is known for stylish footwear that doesn't compromise on comfort. The UK is the brand’s largest market in Europe and continues to grow year on year. Skechers offers two distinct footwear categories: lifestyle with comfort-focused, trend-right product for men, women and children, and Skechers Performance for elite athletes and sports enthusiasts. Celebrity product endorsees for Skechers' collections include actress Kelly Brook, multi-award winning singer Camila Cabello, boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard, and baseball slugger David Big Papi Ortiz.

Prym Fashion has launched eco-friendly snaps. The snaps, available in EcoWhite or EcoGreen, offer earth-friendly solutions for sportswear, outdoor performance apparel and children’s and babies’ wear manufacturers. The EcoWhite snaps are made from recycled water bottles to eliminate the use of crude oil used in the production of virgin products, a process that also diverts single use plastic from the waste stream. A single water bottle can produce 13 snaps. The EcoGreen snap is green in color but also green because it is sourced from plant materials, such as potato starch. As a result, this snap is both biodegradable and recyclable. An EcoBlue snap is on the horizon, which will source recycled ocean plastic for production.

The fashion industry is well-known for wasteful practices in manufacturing, including excessive water consumption and chemical run-off. Smaller details such as snaps can have a large manufacturing and waste impact as do larger fashion components. Today’s consumers expect brands to offer products that are completely sustainable, including the fabric and the trim. As brands and retailers in the textile industry continue to raise their sustainability goals, details like trim will become increasingly important. Prym Fashion is committed to making snaps that make a difference.

Performance Days will be held in Germany on November 13 and 14, 2019. The trade fair for functional fabrics and accessories for the sport and fashion sector has long been committed to sustainability. This is evidenced by several recent focus topics, which have included subjects like recycling, biodegradability, responsible use of water in textile production, and renewable functional materials such as wool. The trade fair itself will be generally more sustainable. A comprehensive overall concept is designed to avoid unnecessary waste, for example, generated from disposable products. Performance Days has taken up the promotion of sustainable development in the industry. In the past it stimulated exhibitors to create new developments. It now looks forward to guiding fabric manufacturers in the right direction and inspiring yet more innovation. And the show has the leverage to make a difference in the entire value chain.

The topic of sustainability will highlight 24 of the most innovative sustainable fabrics, each accompanied by a comprehensive explanation. Performance Days will host the first international sustainability conference for the textiles industry and, in particular, for the sportswear sector. International guests will explore all aspects of sustainability in an exciting and entertaining lecture and discussion series, introducing them to the audience of trade professionals.

Concerned about increasing imports from Bangladesh, the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), an association of more than 560 textile establishments with a combined turnover of over Rs 40,000 crore has sought the help of the central government in getting supply contracts from Indian retailers and brands.

The companies are worried that the increasing imports of readymade garments might hurt them in the local market even as they grapple with tepid growth in exports. They believe that Indian clusters can better serve the sourcing needs of both Western and Indian brands than products sourced from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year Pakistan’s textile exports grew 19 per cent in quantity and three per cent in value.

Incentives will be provided to the textile sector to boost value-added exports. The aim is to boost value-added textile exports to 30 billion dollars over the next five years. The aim is to increase exports, boost the domestic economy, accelerate industrialisation and create job opportunities. The six major sub-sectors of the textile sector, including spinning, weaving, processing, printing, garment manufacturing, and yarn manufacturing, are expected to benefit by adopting value addition and modern techniques. The special energy package will continue for the five zero-rated sectors. The drawback of local taxes and levies scheme will continue for the five zero-rated sectors. Exporters of textile products will be entitled to free-on-board value of their enhanced exports on an incremental basis if exports increase more than ten per cent over the previous year’s exports.

Financing under the subsidized export finance scheme and long-term financing facility will be increased. A five per cent customs duty will be applied on raw cotton imports from July 2019. Support price will also be announced for raw cotton based on export parity.

Hyosung has developed a new high-performance elastane creora called ActiFit. This has been engineered for all types and levels of endurance sportswear. It is designed to provide longer-lasting durability, higher levels of UV and chlorine resistance and better shape and recovery required of cycling, swimming, triathlon and adventure racing apparel. The elastane has been developed to offer athletes the best multi-sport apparel for all levels of sports, from yoga and gym to swim, cycling, triathlon and adventure racing and an increased wearer experience, comfort and confidence. It allows the wearer to focus on their sport and not what they’re wearing. People want both fashion and function. This trend has led outdoor brands to make fashionable outerwear designed for commuters and fashion brands to add function to daily wear – and even luxury-fashion apparel. It also led Hyosung to create its new Creora ActiFit spandex.

Hyosung is a Korean fiber and yarn company. Hyosung is the largest elastane producer in the world and first developed its own process for manufacturing spandex in 1992. Creora is a brand belonging to Hyosung. Hyosung offers a broad range of high quality, competitively-priced fiber technologies throughout the global apparel value chain. The spandex range includes: Creora dyeable spandex, Creora black spandex and Creora fresh spandex.

Hard luxury goods are growing at 10 to 12 per cent, says a new study. The luxury goods market is segmented into soft luxury goods and hard luxury goods. Soft luxury goods includes designer apparel and leather goods such as handbags. Hard luxury goods comprises jewelry and premium watches.

North America and Europe have the highest market share of the hard luxury goods market. But the Asia Pacific is expected to account for the fastest CAGR growth as compared to other regions. Among the countries in the Asia Pacific, China is expected to be the most lucrative market, followed by Japan. India is also expected to show healthy growth. In the Asean region Singapore is expected to be the most dominant market. The rising growth for hard luxury goods in Singapore is supported by new entrants in jewelry brands and rising sales of watches. Thailand and Malaysia are also prominent contributors to the revenue of the hard luxury good market in the Asean region followed by Indonesia and the Philippines.

Luxury goods comprise products which are quite expensive and the target is consumers who belong to the premium class. The market for luxury goods consist of three types of end consumers, children up to 12 years, teenagers belonging to the age group of 13 to 19 years and adults.