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UK brand Primark, the fashion retailer owned by AB Foods does not plan to leverage the British government scheme, eschewing a bonus of about $38 million, to pay employers for bringing back staff from furlough. The company removed employees from government employment support schemes in the UK and Europe in line with the reopening of majority stores. The company believes it should not be necessary therefore, to apply for payment under the Bonus scheme on current circumstances.
The bonus scheme, which could cost up to £9 billion if employers brought back all nine million people who have been on furlough, also applies retroactively. The retailer had closed all its stores in March when the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe intensified, costing it about £650 million in net sales a month. It paid 68,000 of its staff members who were furloughed from government aid. It has since reopened stores, including sites in Britain last month, where around 30,000 employees were furloughed.
Pakistan plans to give tax incentives to any global brand that opens an office in the country. The country is exporting sanitizers and PPEs to the US and plans to graduate to medical and electromagnetic products soon. Abdul Razak Dawood, Trade Advisor, Prime Minister of Pakistan said exports of masks and other protective gear by the country have increased and the textile sector is witnessing an increase in orders.
The country’s textile exports had dropped by 7 per cent in the year ended in June. However, supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic enabled it to secure its first sportswear order from Hugo Boss AG, said Ijaz Akhtar Khokhar, Chief Coordinator, Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Additionally, rupees’ depreciation — by more than 50 per cent since late 2017 — has made the country’s shipments competitive globally. The country has received an order for the export of microwave ovens for the first time and hopes to soon progress to exporting other engineering products.
Next Retail has becomes the latest licensee of Cotton USA in Europe. The largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, Next has around 500 stores and a strong online business reaching 70 countries, as well as 185 overseas stores in 31 countries. The retailer will label 1.75 million men’s T-shirts made of 100 per cent US cotton, representing the equivalent of approximately 2,200 bales.
US cotton’s sustainability program and a transparent supply chain led Next to commit to joining the Cotton USA licensing program. The retailer is committed to responsible sourcing and building full transparency to trace the raw materials they use back to source, as part of its 2025 Responsible Sourcing Strategy.
Next Retail is part of the Next Group which has an annual revenue of $5.4 billion. Next’s aim is to meet its customers’ expectations by providing exciting, beautifully designed, excellent quality clothing.
Gap Inc, owner of the Old Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic and Gap brands, has assured it will work collaboratively with vendors to compensate them in full for finished goods and goods in production that were canceled or subject to pack and hold. The company has extended payment terms on certain orders. It is also providing low cost financing to its vendor partners besides working with its banking partners to increase the amount of funds available within the program.
In June Gap had announced it had cancelled less than 3 per cent purchase orders by value for finished garments and garments in production, and was working with vendors to utilize uncut raw materials for future seasons. Earlier this year the Workers Rights Consortium’s (WRC) COVID-19 tracker had criticized Gap for cancelling its orders, imposing sizable discounts on some orders, related to storage charges; and its extension of payment terms for some orders, without the provision of adequate low-cost financing to affected suppliers.
WRC noted that the apparel giant’s supplier finance program commands sufficient lending capital to address supplier needs that may arise as a result of the delayed payments.
BGMEA has refuted allegations of by the Guardian blaming Bangladesh garment factories of sacking dozens of pregnant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to that, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) strongly disproved the report titled ‘We are on our own’: Bangladesh’s pregnant garment workers face the sack workers’ in the Guardian.
BGMEA said the report is not procedurally correct since it is based only on remarks from labor activists, and there is no regards for the RMG industry to assess and appreciate the huge efforts the apparel industry has made to guard employments of millions by upholding all safety precautions and hygiene standards.
BGMEA alleged the report quotes misleading figures and provocative statements appealing that, RMG manufacturers are using COVID-19 as a justification to eliminate ‘undesirable’ workers, whereas the complete situation tells a different story.
BGMEA also refuted the report’s claim that during lockdown hundreds of thousands of workers were not paid for work they had already done. The wage payment for the month of April, May and June was centrally coordinated by the government of Bangladesh, as PM of Bangladesh kindly extended timely support to the garment industry to digitally pay wages of the workers on time to keep the industry afloat.
Also, the RMG sector remunerated $539 million to workers who did not work for 25 days in April and partially May.
BGMEA also sought Guardian’s help to track the buyers from the UK and persuade them to reconsider their decisions to cancel orders.
A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC says, India can double its apparel exports in three years by implementing free trade agreements with the US, UK, European Union, Australia and Canada. Currently, the Indian apparel industry has a duty disadvantage of 9.6 per cent in the EU market as compared with competitors like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Hence, there is an urgent need to have a level playing field in terms of market access and margin of preference in our biggest global market and to rectify the distortion that we are suffering, Sakthivel said.
He added that an agreement with the US will have a significant impact on India’s apparel exports to America as the average tariff in the US is 12.5 per cent, and the peak tariff on certain items like man-made fiber based apparel, which India is promoting, is 28 per cent. The US is India’s major destination for apparel exports with over 27 per cent share. The council also pleaded for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Canada and Australia.
A number private equity companies are reportedly keen to take a stake in the venerable footwear retailer Clarks which is seeking new funds. Promiment amongst them are OpCapita, which previously owned the Comet electrical goods chain and US-based buyout firm Sycamore Partners. Any deal with the company is expected to generate around £100 million to £150 million to invest in the business that has survived for around two centuries so far, having been founded in 1825. If it’s to make it through a third century, still-new CEO Giorgio Presca wants to drive through major change, including the closure of unprofitable stores.
His ‘Made to Last’ strategy will include the loss of 900 jobs, although 200 news ones will be added. Suzanne McKenna, a former head of intimates brand Triumph, will join as the new managing director of Clarks next month. The firm recently reorganized itself via three business units, one of which is the Clarks operation. The others are Clarks Originals and Collection by Clarks/Cloudsteppers by Clarks.
The company has involved three accountancy firms in its restructuring plans, KPMG for advising the family shareholders, Deloitte to work with the management team and PwC taken on by a syndicate of its lenders.
As soon as Messe Frankfurt celebrates its 780-year anniversary, it will be getting straight back to business: following a global lockdown lasting multiple months, Messe Frankfurt is once again holding trade fairs. It all kicks off with Intertextile Shenzhen Apparel Fabrics on 15 July 2020 in China. The trade fair is part of a network of some 50 international textile events in Messe Frankfurt’s portfolio, which has included Frankfurt Fashion Week since June. Trade fairs are also resuming business in Germany – in strict compliance with an extensive protection and hygiene concept. Smaller events are already underway on the Frankfurt exhibition grounds, and trade fairs will be joining them soon: Nordstil will be leading the way in Hamburg in September, followed by the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Replacement dates have also been planned in 2020 for many of the Group's postponed events worldwide.
Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Messe Frankfurt: “We are delighted that our events will once again be serving as platforms for personal interaction. Our resumption of event operations worldwide demonstrates Messe Frankfurt’s flexibility in responding to challenges. We are able to offer our customers around the world the platforms they need – regionally, nationally, at a European level and globally – while satisfying today's new local regulations and requirements. The past 780 years have demonstrated time and again just how important trade fairs are for promoting economic recovery in times of crisis, and our customers have been making it clear to us that face-to-face encounters and dialogue are irreplaceable.”
A look at history shows that trade fairs, as mirrors of the economy, are repeatedly confronted with crises. Even back in 1635, for example, Frankfurt’s Spring Fair had to be cancelled on account of fallout from the Thirty Years’ War and an outbreak of the bubonic plague in Frankfurt. Already, the measures taken to help thwart the spread of disease included border closures, health certificates, passport systems, entry and exit checks and quarantines. Trade fairs’ central role in economic development was clear even then. No sooner had the First World War ended than plans began for the International Import Fair in October 1919 and the Spring Fair in 1920. 95 percent of the exhibition grounds were destroyed during the Second World War, and their immediate reconstruction sent a clear signal about Frankfurt’s importance as a trade fair centre. Trade fair operations resumed with the Frankfurt Fair in October 1948, relying in part on provisional lightweight constructions, tents and open-air spaces.
One of the largest denim industries in Brazil, Vicunha launched an app to get closer to consumers during the quarantine period.
The solution was developed in 2018, but the pandemic instance led it to gain more prominence, besides updates. According to the brand’s commercial director, German Alejandro, the app offers another communication and sales channel, offering greater proximity to consumers.With the proximity to the sales team, customers can ask for product pilotage, as well as request purchase or an exclusive development almost in real-time.
But besides that, the app also shows other aspects of Vicunha, such as sustainability. The ‘sustainability button’ brings our manufacturing, social, partnership, sustainable products, certifications, programs, projects and movements”, explains German. The “V.Products” area shows more than 250 options of Denim and Denim Colour fabrics, with a gallery of photos and videos that offer a faithful vision of the fall, elasticity and construction of the fabrics.
The V.Space platform works in three languages and is available on App Store and Google Play. The app is a digital catalog and an information hub for doing business and sharing knowledge.
Phong Phu International (PPJ), one of the leading textile producers, garment manufacturers and exporters in Vietnam, is optimizing spare capacity with the help of FastReactPlan, Coats Digital’s world class fashion production planning and control software application.
Harnessing the power of online communication and collaboration platforms to effectively deliver software and training, Coats Digital and PPJ have collaborated to deliver an initiative that is critical for the industry.
With a mutual ambition to win the industry re-start, Coats Digital and PPJ have successfully navigated the challenges of COVID-19 to maintain the pace of a digitization journey which is critical for the recovery and sustainable growth. This has enabled the completion of a project to digitize best practice production planning and control processes, from master planning across multiple factories to detailed line and machine level planning of complex denim manufacturing processes.
