Spain has rejected China's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" initiative that seeks to better link Asia and Europe. The multi-billion-dollar initiative, unveiled by Xi in 2013, aims to link the continents through a network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks. Beijing plans to develop the network through 65 countries representing an estimated 60 percent of the world's population and a third of its economic output. So far, around 70 countries have signed an MoU pledging their interest in the project. In Europe, countries such as Poland and Greece have signed but the project has created considerable anxiety that it masks an attempted Beijing influence grab.

SEAMS has launched its first ever Sewn Products Reshoring Award. Eligibility for this award includes production reshoring from offshore back to the United States or represent new production that has taken market share from imports between January 1, 2014, and January 31, 2019. The awards will be given in three industry categories including cut-and-sew manufacturers; brands/OEMS/vertical retailers; and textile providers.

Reshoring is the practice of transferring offshore business operations or sourcing back to the United States, and includes new or significantly increased production in the United States of product previously imported. The Made-in-America movement is focused on increasing production in the United States to strengthen the economy and bring jobs back. The SEAMS organisation drives this trend with a membership of the leading US brands, manufacturers and retailers in the sewn products industry.

Leading festival of fashion Pure London has collaborated with the Conscious Fashion Campaign (CFC) supported by the United Nations Office for Partnerships at the February 2019 show. A dedicated installation, located within the Conscious section, will highlight fashion brands that are working to end poverty, protect the planet, practice sustainability, and raise awareness through meaningful philanthropic and customer engagement initiatives in an effort to transform our world through fashion.

United Nations representatives will take part in the Pure London Content Programme of seminars to discuss and address the key issues facing the fashion industry and the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Pure London introduced its Conscious section for ethical and sustainable brands last season and joined forces with the United Nations to launch the Power of One campaign, to support the Sustainable Development Goals with individual pledges aimed at collectively creating change.

Cambodia has strong ties to the EU, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the former’s garment exports. However, Cambodia’s economy could see possible downside risks due to the cancellation of the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme. It could severely affect trade, investor sentiment, and the overall economy followed by a possible sovereign rating downgrade.

A rating downgrade would dampen the confidence of future investors, and raise the cost of financing for Cambodia in future. Loss of preferential access to key export markets could hamper exports and foreign direct investment, and dent confidence.

The risk would be exacerbated if countries like Australia and Canada also review their existing trade agreements with Cambodia in response to political and human right concerns.

The preferential trade status is an important element underpinning the success of the garment industry in Cambodia. As the single largest formal employer, it provides over 6,00,000 jobs in more than 500 export factories with production amounting to 30 per cent of the gross domestic product and over 70 per cent of exports.

In addition concerns about credit quality, external funding, rising concentration in real estate and unregulated lending by developers, and growing systemic importance of micro finance institutions continue to pose risks to financial and macroeconomic stability.

Addressing the CITI Global Textiles Conclave 2018, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has called for modernisation of textile industry by proving requited skill, investment and market to recapture India’s past glory in the textiles sector. With the world moving towards 4th industrial revolution based on cyber physical systems, Naidu urged the Indian textile industry to take lead in industry 4.0 in view of the distinct advantage enjoyed by us in the IT sector. He called upon the textile industry to fully tap the potential of IoT cloud, artificial intelligence and big data and analytics.

He also urged the industry to establish textile industry 4.0 learning factory in all major clusters adopting ‘Hub and Spokes’ model with hub focusing on advance training and spokes focusing on basic training. Accountability and transparency, ethics in business and standards in products need to be maintained to sustain in the global competitive scenario. Naidu also stressed on the need to give major thrust to skill development, upgradation and use of digital technology and adoption of lean manufacturing systems to remain globally competitive.

H&M is nowhere near ensuring a living wage for workers who make H&M clothes. Hundreds of thousands of workers sewing H&M clothes cannot feed their families, send their children to school, see a doctor when they need one, or cover other basic needs.

The continued failure by H&M to ensure a living wage exposes women garment workers to risks of violence in numerous ways. Workers in parts of H&M’s vast supply chain have been speaking up about their working conditions and expressing solidarity. Workers in Bulgaria earn less than one-tenth of an estimated living wage.

A wave of actions against poverty wages has hit H&M’s largest markets and production locations. There have been street actions and online campaigning in Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, USA, and Turkey, among others.

In Italy, actions have included a flash mob turning up in front of an H&M store in Milan during prime shopping time. In Germany, activists turned up in front of an H&M with a couch, blankets and other props to demonstrate that they are sitting around and waiting for H&M to fulfil the living wage promise.

AlgiKnit, a biomaterials company which is developing yarn spun from kelp, has received a$2.2 million series seed funds from Horizons Ventures. The funding aims to help the start-up in its manufacturing and commercialisation of bio-derived yarn.

AlgiKnit spins yarn from a combination of algae and plant biopolymers, primarily including kelp, one of the fastest growing organisms on earth. This seaweed absorbs the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate up to five times faster than land-based plants and improves marine habitats. By using a non-toxic wet-spinning process, the company aims to transform these biopolymers into a strong, hypoallergenic and compostable yarn. In theory, when products made from AlgiKnit’s yarn are worn out, they can be bio-recycled and reclaimed for the next generation of products.

Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm of Li Ka-shing, is a leading investor in some of the world’s most innovative companies and disruptive technologies including Facebook, Waze, Spotify, Siri, Improbable and Impossible Foods.

Azerbaijan with its favorable climate and soil is an ideal place for development of the cotton industry. The state aims to increase its cotton production up to 500,000 ton by 2022 from the current 260,000 ton. Azerbaijan is making every effort to develop the cotton industry and make it more productive. It has planted 132,000 hectare of cotton this year, which will be increased to 100,000 hectare.

The country, till date, has harvested 215, 000 tons of cotton. This year the average yield is 16 cent per hectare, which exceeds last year’s figure. Next year it plans to increase the yield. Its cotton production is mostly concentrated in Saatli, Bilasuvar, Barda, Aghjabadi and Sabirabad.

Azerbaijan, in early 2017, approved the State Program for 2017-2022 with an aim of strengthening measures directed at developing this sphere. The purpose of the State Program is to develop cotton growing, increase export potential in this sphere, ensure employment of the rural population and increase the production.

Bangladesh garment suppliers are being driven down pricewise by apparel brands and retailers. While unit price is going down by the season, prices of all materials and operation costs are going up.

Buyers raise the question of sustainability but don’t necessarily pay more for sustainably produced products. Some small brands do but not always the bigger ones. In a big company the ones dealing with CSR issues are not the ones placing orders. The ones placing orders don’t really care much as it is not their responsibility. So in larger brands, the left arm does not always know what the right arm is doing. So there is talk of sustainability but not about implementation costs.

The relationship between suppliers and brands is essentially unequal. If ever there were a buyers’ market, this is it. So manufacturer may be asked to change the styling, add trims or change the wash method of a garment but the buying team never wants to pay for these changes. Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter. If the country is to escape the race to the bottom it needs more specialisation, more added value, and more innovation which will lead to greater bargaining power with brands.

China provides huge subsidies to the cotton sector. The country supports cotton production by controlling cotton import volumes and values and by applying border protection measures based on quotas and sliding scale duties, with an effective tariff of 40 per cent on cotton imported without a quota.

Total direct subsidy payments provided to cotton producers in China, in addition to border protection support, were $2.4 billion in 2018 up from $2 billion in 2017. The increase is attributed to higher production during 2018, while the difference between the target and the market price remained almost unchanged. In addition to direct subsidies, border protection benefits are enjoyed by producers in China.

China also maintains a strategic reserve of cotton, serving as a national buffer stock. China releases cotton to the market from reserve through a system of auctions when there is a shortage, and replenishes the reserve in times of abundance, thus supporting prices. Since 2016, China restricted cotton imports by issuing only the tariff-rate-quota import quotas, with the objective of reducing government stocks. As a result of interventions and quotas, domestic cotton prices in China have exceeded international prices during the past three seasons.

In addition, growers are paid a subsidy for using high quality seeds, although small-holder farmers do not benefit significantly from this policy.