Levi Strauss & Co. has undertaken a series of leadership moves designed to streamline decision-making and consolidate accountability for core business growth drivers. The company has established a new strategy and analytics organization, elevating the importance of data and analytics and pairing it with strategy to shape the future. This reflects the company’s belief that it has an untapped competitive advantage in unleashing the power of data and analytics. The company is currently recruiting for an executive to lead this organization.

Expansion of its retail network along with the emergence of digital has increasingly given the company a direct relationship with consumers — one that did not exist when the company was exclusively a wholesaler. A consolidated product, innovation and supply chain organization has been created. This new organization combines the key product functions of design, merchandising, product development and planning into a single team and integrates supply chain into the consumer journey.

Over the past six years, the company has returned to profitable growth through a strategic focus on building brand energy, driving product innovation and establishing market solutions around the world. Its brands are more relevant and are more connected to popular culture than they have been in decades.

The Woolmark Company TexSelect Award will be presented on September 20, 2018 at Première Vision Designs, Paris. The awards will be judged by Natasha Lenart, Fabric and Knitwear Development Manager at Victoria Beckham, and Eda Karadogan, International Luxury Fabrics Manufacturer, Ipeki. Established in 2011, The Woolmark Company TexSelect Award recognises design excellence in fabrics created with 60 per cent or more Merino wool, whether presented as printed, woven, knitted and/or mixed media fabric.

The award will be presented at the TexSelect village. The winner will receive £1,000, in addition to ongoing support from The Woolmark Company and opportunities to learn about developments, innovations and the supply chain for wool. In addition, The Woolmark Company will sponsor a dedicated presence for the winner at Intertextile Shanghai on September 27-29, 2018.

Spain’s Inditex SA plans to sell Zara and other brands online anywhere in the world within two years. The goal implies doubling Inditex’s global footprint, as it now has stores in 96 countries and e-commerce in about half of those. The retailer is setting the goal amid growing investor concern about stronger competition from upstart rivals and as web sales threatens to erode profit margins. Morgan Stanley analysts have warned the company that its rankings have dropped from great to good while Credit Suisse stated its growing shift to online sales isn’t as beneficial as traditional store expansion. Inditex shares have dropped 14 percent this year. E-commerce is the source of 10 percent of its sales, having grown more than 40 percent last year.

Hennes & Mauritz AB, Inditex’s ailing rival, aims to add online sales in all its brick-and-mortar markets eventually, and expand in other countries as well. The H&M chain has e-commerce in about 50 markets and stores in about 70.

India’s imports of readymade garments from Bangladesh grew 56 per cent during July-November 2017 over the same period previous year. Knitted apparel imports from Bangladesh rose 69 per cent, while women’s apparel imports grew 51 per cent.

In the pre-GST era, import of garments from Bangladesh attracted a countervailing duty and education cess. However, in the post-GST scenario, there is no cost of import of garments from Bangladesh. This unilateral duty-free market access given to Bangladesh facilitates the entry of Chinese textiles into India. Textile raw material from China comes to India via Bangladesh, which has a free-trade agreement with India. Duty free fabric from China goes to Bangladesh, gets converted and lands into India at zero duty.

China is said to be selling organic fibers. The industry in India wants to develop and promote its cotton fiber as green fiber which is manufactured through environment friendly methods and zero discharge processes. Trade bodies, which expect textile imports from Bangladesh to rise further, want India to introduce a rule of origin for duty free imports. Competition from China is forcing some businesses, such as polyester production facilities, to run idle, leading to job losses.

Almost 50 per cent clothing accessories and apparel made in Bangladesh are made with Chinese fibers.

Hyosung hopes to have a bigger presence of its spandex brand Creora in the global denim market. The Korean company has introduced a collection of denim-use functional fabric applying Creora eco-soft, Creora Fit2 (denim spandex with high power), MIPAN aqua-X (cool touch functional yarn), and askin (cool touch polyester yarn) technologies.

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. The company has a partnership with French textile mill Sofileta. This mill has the capability to integrate fabric and fiber technology to develop leading edge products. And Hyosung can strengthen its presence in the European market.

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. The company has a global network of more than 36 subsidiaries and international offices around the world. Creora is produced in facilities around the world, including Korea, China, Vietnam, Turkey and Brazil. The company is also investing in testing and analysis, which include capabilities in circular and warp knitting, weaving, core spinning and yarn covering.

Leather World will be held in France from September 17 to 20. The theme is leather and the event will cover a fresh segment of fashion and accessories. Around 80 companies are expected at the first edition of the show, with exhibitors from Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Mexico and South Africa. On display will be products ranging from raw materials to finished leather goods. Exhibitors will present a large display of fake fur, exotic leather, tanneries, finished and semi-finished leather, accessories, luggage, furniture and more. New materials, such as vegan leather or synthetic fur, are included.

Leather World is all about materials, leather in all forms and also flexible materials like fake fur and vegan leather. The event has an increased focus on finished products and will offer visitors a wide variety of choices for accessorising their collections. The event enables importers and exporters to gather together and share new trends.

The European leather goods trade represents 18 per cent of the global exchange. France, Spain, Italy, the UK and Germany are Europe's largest leather importers. Exports of leather goods from Asia and Oceania to Europe constitute 20 per cent of the global exchange. The EU imports 26 per cent of the global import of leather goods, 29.4 per cent of the global production of leather clothes and accessories, and 22.4 per cent of the global import of shoes.

The Cambodian Labour Confederation will propose $211.94 as the new minimum wage for garment workers during this month’s negotiations. CLC made the announcement after a meeting between various unions which touched upon criteria that included cost of living, inflation, productivity, competitiveness and profitability. As per Far Sal, President, National Trade Union Coalition $211.94 is a reasonable figure to propose during negotiations as the figure leaves a lot of scope for compromise. The minimum wage for garment workers rose to $170 this year, about a 10 percent increase from $153 in 2017.

Prime Minister Hun Sen recently stated an unreasonable increase in minimum wage could drive companies to bankruptcy and out of the country. He had proposed increasing wages to $168.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), the leading apex industry associations of the textile & clothing industry in India, is launching an innovation contest ‘Innotex 2018’ to create an innovation ecosystem in textiles and clothing. The contest will cover areas of design, method, cost, process and product in any sector from ginning to garment. Only Indian nationals living in India or abroad either individually or in a group of four can participate. Further, innovations older than April 1, 2017 will not be eligible and the last date for submitting the entries is September 20, 2018.

The final round of the contest will be held on November 27-28, 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi along with CITI Global Textiles Conclave 2018. Apart from cash prizes, winners will be rewarded with recognition on a credible platform and a market for the product.

Burberry will stop the practice of destroying unsaleable products, with immediate effect. The company will also no longer use real fur. Its Riccardo Tisci’s debut collection to be launched later this month will not have any real fur and the business will phase out existing real fur products.

Burberry formed a five year responsibility agency last year, which covers the entire footprint of its operations and also extends to the communities around it. The brand became a core partner of the Make Fashion Circular Initiative convened by the Ellen McArthur Foundation in May 2018. In the past year, it has created a unique partnership with sustainable luxury company Elvis & Kresse to transform 120 tonne of leather offcuts into new products over the next five years.

With growing economic prosperity, Asean consumers are spending more on fashion and lifestyle items. A Euromonitor International survey reveals, the region’s consumer expenditure on clothing and footwear amounted to $ 51.2 billion in 2017. Over the next five years, it is expected to grow on an average 7.3 per cent annually to reach $ 72.7 billion in 2022. According to HKTDC’s ASEAN Middle-income Consumer Survey, more than half respondents in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok are expected to spend more on fashion items in next two years. The distribution of fashion spending was: business attire (28 per cent), casual wear (26 per cent), shoes (22 per cent), accessories (12 per cent), travel goods and handbags (8 per cent), and spectacles (4 per cent).

Fashion distribution channels

Concept stores, department stores and multi-brand stores are dominant distribution channels for fashion in Asean. Aside from bricks-and-mortar retailers, e-commerce has quickly become an independent force in the fashion industry as well.

Concept stores:

Concept stores sell well-curated products matching that store’s special theme. They constantly seek unique items to add corresponding accessory labels to their product offerings.

Department Stores:

Department stores are an important fashion distribution channel in Malaysia. Major department store chains, such as Parkson and Metrojaya, continue to upgrade their product portfolios to include a wider selection of brands attractive to middle- and high-income consumers. In Thailand, Central Group has Central Department Store, Robinson Department Store and Zen, as well as managing Marks & Spencer and MUJI. The Mall Group operates The Mall department stores, Siam Paragon, The Emporium, and The EmQuartier.

Online Platforms

With just three per cent, e-commerce penetration in the Asean countries it is still only 3 per cent of total retail sales. The Asean fashion ecommerce market includes classified sites (Mudah and OLX), C2C (Tarad, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Shopee), B2C (Lazada, Zalora, MatahariMall) and brands’ own sites (H&M and Adidas). Retailers like Central Group and MAP Group, have also embraced e-tailing by creating their own online platforms.

Making inroads into the market

Luxury groups such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Chanel, Prada, and many more, usually enter the Asean market by opening self-owned flagship stores to ensure a total control of brand image. Sportswear brands, such as Nike or Adidas, mostly expand by means of franchising. Fast fashion brands, such as H&M, Zara, and Uniqlo open branded retail shops in major cities across Asean.

Upcoming fashion designers can also approach department stores with their portfolio or propose a joint promotion event, such as a trunk show. Large brands can choose to participate in large-scale iconic fashion shows in the region, such as the Bangkok International Fashion Fair and Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week. Smaller brands can showcase their collections in private fashion events organised by fashionista and public relations consultants. Partnering with a retailer to host a trunk show is another alternative.

Social media has become an essential tool for marketing, public relations, and customer service. Brands need to make sure that their social media content is timely, engaging, and relevant to their target market. They can also hire Influencers to gain immediate access to the right customers.