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M&S’ UK sales fell 2.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis and 2.7 per cent in total. International sales too fell, although the large size of drop was mainly due to the sale of its Hong Kong business to its franchise partner and the closure of stores in loss-making markets. Factoring those out, international revenue was down only 1.4 per cent. Reducing consumer confidence, mild weather, Black Friday, and widespread discounting by competitors made November a very challenging trading period for the company.
Improvements to its online proposition and operations helped it to mitigate lower footfall to stores resulting from, in part, the increasing pace of change in the store estate. Women’s wear online growth significantly outperformed, driven by areas including dresses and knitwear. Stock that went into its clearance sale was down around 25 per cent, as a result of a planned reduction in stock levels.
The company is still in the early stages of far-reaching changes in range, style, customer focus and channel mix. Its objective is to reshape its buy, deliver market leading value and focus on stylish and wearable wardrobe must-haves as it grows the business with family-aged customers seeking style, quality and value.
The Kingpins New York show, originally scheduled for June 8-9, 2019 will be rescheduled for June 12-13, 2019. Additionally, Kingpins Transformers, the seminar series focused on sustainable innovation, will be moved to June 11, 2019 to coincide with the trade show. New York Denim Days—the annual consumer-facing denim festival—will be held on its originally scheduled dates, June 08-09, 2019.
The new dates also give vendors an extra week between Denim Premiere Vision’s roving show concept which will relocated from London to Milan from May 28-29, 2019. The next edition of Kingpins will take place in Amsterdam April 10-11, 2019
Hemp may become a huge factor in the US textile market as more and more people are becoming interested in using it as a fiber. Like bamboo fiber, hemp is known for a porosity and strength that make it great for breathable outdoor wear.
Hemp fiber is hypoallergenic and thermo-regulating, besides being stronger and longer lasting than most other natural fibers. It also has the ability to filter harmful UV rays up to SPF 15 and can be manipulated during manufacturing to increase that range.
Beyond benefits to the wearer, the planet could benefit from the hemp market as well. Hemp needs little rainfall, is drought-resistant and restores nitrogen levels and neutralizes pH levels in soil. Hemp’s performance features are innate to the fiber and brought to the surface during production rather than added as a treatment or finish. Hemp provides these benefits without contributing to microplastic pollution that result from washing and abrasion of synthetic fabrics.
Hemp is already a favorite among designers who use sustainability as a selling point for their collections. Thanks to innovations in production, hemp can be used to create a variety of fabrications. If hemp is abundant by 2022, it will be a crucial factor in its popularity in the US apparel market.
The Gujarat government has announced a support scheme spanning the entire textile value chain. Named ‘Scheme for Assistance to Strengthen Specific Sectors in the Textile Value Chain’, it will be operative upto December 31, 2023. The scheme provides financial assistance through credit-linked interest subsidy of 6 per cent for MSME and 4-6 per cent for large enterprises with an upper ceiling of Rs 20 crore per annum. A separate scheme for subsidy in power tariff allows up to Rs3 per unit for weaving and Rs 2 per unit for other eligible segments.
The scheme for assistance in compliance of energy, water and environment conservation covers all existing units in operation for more than three years. The scheme provides 20 per cent assistance on the cost of machinery with a ceiling of Rs 30 lakh and 50 per cent assistance for audit fees with a limit of Rs 1 lakh.
For technology upgradation and modernisation in textile value chain, the scheme provides one-time financial assistance of up to 50 per cent of the cost with a limit of Rs 25 lakh.
The State government has also extended support for setting up textile parks with financial assistance of up to 25 per cent of capital expenditure on common facilities and infrastructure with a limit of Rs15 crore. The park will also get financial assistance to create hostel facilities within park with minimum 100 workers domiciled in Gujarat.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in its 32nd meeting, doubled the exemption threshold limit of textile players from the existing Rs 2 million to Rs 4 million effective April 1, 2019. For the north eastern states, the threshold has been doubled to Rs 2 million from Rs 1 million. This decision will help the small and medium sized businesses and will encourage growth in the textiles sector.
The GST Council has also raised the existing composition scheme turnover threshold from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore for the financial year 2019-20. Businesses under the scheme will now pay tax on a quarterly basis but returns will have to be filed annually. The increase in threshold is set to boost domestic textile sector, said a senior industry official.
Invista’s latest legwear trends feature advanced fiber technology and offer a valuable source of inspiration for coverers, knitters, brands and retailers planning their legwear collections. Each of the looks in Invista’s exclusive capsule collection showcases a different fiber innovation that has been carefully selected for its ability to bring each trend to life, satisfy an unmet consumer need, and add value to legwear collections.
Whether it’s warming or cooling technology, enhanced comfort or compression to energize tired legs, consumers can depend on Invista’s innovations to deliver lasting performance wear after wear and wash after wash. Showy, sensual and sensational legwear designs are on offer that feature rock steady styling and dramatic don’t mess with me attitude fit for the dance floor.
One look features blocks of stripes that highlight ribbed areas of graduated compression provided by Lycra Energize technology. In order to keep the wearer cool, dry and comfortable, Coolmax technology has also been used.
Major fashion brands Kate Spade and Michael Kors recently upgraded their second-generation smartwatches that feature NFC capabilities to add payment capabilities. Kate Spade is launching the Scallop Smartwatch 2, its second touchscreen smartwatch that will include features like NFC payments, a GPS, and a heart rate monitor — all of which its first smartwatch did not include.
The watch runs on Google's Wear OS, its operating system for wearable devices, allowing users to access Google Pay, Google Assistant, and Google Fit. Michael Kors launched the Access Sofie 2.0, which offers NFC payment capabilities through Google Pay, a heart rate monitor, and a GPS.
Wearable payments are poised to take off in the US, but firms can take several steps to push adoption. Business Insider Intelligence expects US consumers to spend $3.5 billion on wearables by 2023. But some consumers are hesitant to buy payments-specific wearables, but would be interested in contactless payments that are integrated into existing devices, according to a Barclaycard study. Integrating payment functionality into an everyday watch, rather than making a wearable band specifically for payments, can appeal to consumers.
Sharply increasing its offer this year at Texworld Paris, an international trade show for fashion, which takes place from February 11-14, 2019, Turkey will present about a hundred exhibitors, with a selection of finely made knits, cotton, embroidery and lace.
The Turkish offer will spread over more than 2,300 sq, mt. Knitwear specialists will include Gencörme Tekstil, which offers fancy knit fabrics, wool, woolen material, viscose, pes, lurex, linen, cotton, acrylic fibres and jacquard. Also exhibiting will be Isil Tekstil, which will display plain dyed and printed knitted fabrics made of cotton, viscose, Modal, Tencel, linen, polyester, polyamide with or without elastane. Migiboy Tekstil will offer knitting, jersey, weaving, printing, cotton, wool, knitted, prints, linen/hemp, functional fabrics, knit fabrics and yarns. Özen Mensucat will offer all kind of knitted fabrics – fine gauge, silk blends, wool blends, mixed fibres, and more.
Cotton specialists include ATA Kumas Tekstil, offering cotton, cotton EA, cotton mix, knit, prints, wool blends, laminated, coated, jaquard woven and knitted fabrics; and Bordo Tekstil, a BCI and GOTS certified company that offers high-end finished fabrics with special blends: organic cotton, recycled cotton and polyester, cotton blends, jersey, fleece, recycled fibres, viscose, and bamboo. In the embroidery/lace segment, Filetul Tekstil will offer raschel and circular knitting, jacquard pleated fabric and wrap knitting, from all kind of yarns and fancy yarns.
Held twice a year at Paris – Le Bourget, Texworld, with around 1,000 exhibitors, offers professional buyers from all over the world a rich variety of products from basics to creative high-end fabrics of excellent quality.
J Crew has a denim recycling program. The brand offers cash toward a new pair of jeans for every pair brought in. Any pair of jeans can be turned in, not just pairs purchased at J Crew.
This denim recycling program allows J Crew to help customers dispose of waste responsibly by giving their jeans a new life in the form of housing insulation and keeping them out of landfills.
J Crew has a reputation for constant sales and the heavy movement of product, which can be a signal of an overproduction problem. Its denim recycling efforts are in line with a trend running through the fashion industry toward minimizing the amount of waste and excess material introduced into circulation. Fashion consumers have become more aware of the problem of wasted excess clothing. Brands typically struggle with accurately gauging exactly how much product they will need to make, and so they produce far too much of it, much of which goes unsold or is thrown out soon after being worn.
J Crew’s denim recycling program is generous. $20 per pair of jeans, even those not from the brand, is a significant investment in taking some of the excess product that might otherwise end up in a landfill out of circulation and putting it toward a good cause.
A recent poll in Britian indicated six in 10 people are willing to spend upto 5 per cent more on clothing if garment workers are paid the so-called "fair living wage" that would allow them to cover the basic needs of their families. However, according to an opinion poll by Ipsos MORI, over two-thirds of consumers found it difficult to know if these brands have high ethical standards, while less than a fifth would trust information on sustainability provided by clothing companies.
The poll based on interviews with 7,700 adults across seven nations from Britain and France to the United States - found that consumers considered luxury brands to be no better than budget or high-street retailers when it came to sustainability.
About 6 per cent of respondents associated Italian label Gucci and budget chain Primark with having sustainable supply chains, the poll, commissioned by the Changing Markets Foundation and the Clean Clothes Campaign, stated.
