Apparel groups in the US apparel have requested US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) department to block imports of China-made textile and apparel products as they are being made by forced labor in the Xinjiang region. If approved, this order can affect US textile and clothing imports worth millions of dollars from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Known as the Withhold Release Order (WRO), it would mandate goods to be re-exported or destroyed if CBP determines they were made with forced labor. Barring the use of any Xinjiang cotton in clothing shipped to the US would be an escalation of US actions expressing disapproval of forced labor and other human rights abuses in the region.

The US Commerce Department has already shortlisted around 50 Chinese operations on its Entity List for their involvement in unfair practices. Additionally, the US State Department has accused the Chinese government of engaging in forced labor by detaining over a million Uygurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in the XUAR.

New legislation to ban sourcing from XUAR

As per the US Agriculture Department, China grows almost 85 per cent of its cotton in Xinjiang, a coalition of union and activist group also estimates about one fifth of all cotton garments sold in the world contain Xinjiang cotton or yarn. The cotton, yarn and fabric produced in Uygur are also used by other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to make clothing.

According to the activist groups, all brands including Adidas, H&M, Lacoste, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Zara use cotton and yarn produced by factories employing forced labor in the region. Therefore, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate have introduced a new law mandating corporations to prove that their products sourced from the XUAR are not made with forced labor.

A risky move

In addition, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and several Uygur rights and anti-slavery groups have directed CBP to issue a regional WRO on cotton procured from Xinjiang. In their petition, the AFL-CIO and the other groups said, a regional WRO would compel China to either continue the persecution of the Uygur people or lose contracts worth billions of dollars from US companies and others.

However, monitoring imports worth tens of billions of dollars would be a massive task for the CBP, and require it trace the supply chain of goods that arrive in the US. As per the trade data from the US International Trade Commission, US’ exports of cotton-related products to China rose by 62 per cent in the first seven months of the year, and 206 per cent in July alone. If the US bans China’s textile products, China would retaliate by stopping imports of US cotton, leading to disastrous effects results.

American firms are already stuck due to the Treasury Department’s recent sanctioning of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) as they have shipped hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cotton harvesting machinery to the region, often through XPCC-linked dealerships. These companies have to extricate themselves from their dealings with the XPCC by September 30 or risk being banned.

Wrangler, a global icon in jeanswear and casual apparel, aims join the Jean Redesign Project to develop a new jeans range from regeneratively grown cotton. The Jeans Redesign project see’s over 50 brands embrace the principles of circular economy to ensure positive impacts for the environment, society and the health of those working in its industry.

The guidelines establish the minimum requirements for the durability, material health, recyclability and traceability of denim jeans. As defined by the EMF, one of the key principles of circular economy is the regeneration of natural systems. The principle aligns with Wrangler’s aim to source 100 percent sustainably grown cotton by 2025.

To be considered for inclusion in the Wrangler Retro® Premium “Regenerative Jean” collection, Wrangler is asking farmers to submit documented evidence of improved soil health and environmental benefits resulting from their adoption of regenerative agricultural systems.

In addition to signing onto the Jeans Redesign, the brand joined EMF’s Make Fashion Circular, which drives collaboration between apparel industry leaders to ensure clothes are made from safe and renewable materials, new business models increase their use, and old clothes are turned into new.

A MBLM study ranked Nike, on top for brand intimacy in the apparel space. Other brands that rounded out the top 10 aare: Levi’s, Victoria’s Secret, The North Face, Under Armour, Adidas, Gap, American Eagle, Puma and Ralph Lauren.

Nike topped the list for the fourth time with a combination of dominance of products, inspirational and emotionally oriented communities and focus on current social issues. Apparel, as a whole, remained a mid-ranking industry, which indicates there continue to be opportunities to build more meaningful customer relationships.

Overall, the apparel industry ranked seventh of the 15 industries whose brands were surveyed based on emotions. The top industries, in order, were media and entertainment, automotive, tech and telecom, retail, consumer goods, fast food and apparel.

The survey analyzed responses from 6,200 consumers and 56,000 brand evaluations across 15 industries in the U.S., Mexico and UAE.

London Fashion Week will be held as per schedule despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson introducing a new set of tight social distancing measures due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. Over 30 physical events will be held as a part of the London Fashion Week, scheduled from September 18-22, 2020. Burberry will live stream its show to the public on September 17, 2020 while other events will be held on one-to-one appointment basis or as small salon shows.

Organizer British Fashion Council is working closely with designers to ensure backstage venues, hair and makeup, seating and events programming is in line with government social distancing measures. It also hosted a webinar outlining the rules for all designers doing physical events. Anything that is posted about the collection on the official London Fashion Week website has been approved by the government and can still go ahead.

J Crew has officially concluded Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and has Anchorage Capital Group as its new majority owner. Looking forward, the company aims to focus on three core pillars: delivering a focused selection of iconic, timeless products; elevating brand experience to deepen relationship with customers; and prioritizing frictionless shopping. It remains committed to serving the changing life and style of today’s multifaceted consumer and to delivering long term, sustainable results.

Following its exit from bankruptcy, J. Crew has a new capitalization structure that includes a $400 million term loan due 2027 provided by Anchorage, as well as GSO Capital Partners LP and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, among others. The specialty retailer also has access to a new $400 million asset-based loan credit facility due 2025.

In addition to operating its core J Crew brand, the company owns the Madewell brand, which it had hoped to spin off. However, the company pulled the plug on a planned initial public offering in March as the economic landscape quickly took a nosedive. The financial restructuring converted over $1.6 billion of secured debt into equity in the reorganized company.

The American apparel retailer became the first national retailer to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection in the wake of the pandemic under its former parent company Chinos Holdings.

The European Union and European governments aim to work multilaterally to end transnational companies' operations with suppliers in China's Uighur region. Across the continent legislators, government officials, the media, academics, and non-governmental organizations have expressed their dissatisfaction. Europeans are questioning their governments about forced sterilizations, organ harvesting, and trade with China. They are also calling for action on the issue of Uighur forced labor where Europe can make a definitive impact.

Several well-sourced reports have exposed the stain of Uighur forced labor, including research from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). A recent CSIS briefing noted apparel and footwear as being the leading exports from the Uighur region with a combined value of $6.3billion, representing over 35 percent of total exports.

On July 23, a coalition of over 250 organizations urged leading brands and retailers to ensure that they do not support or benefit from the pervasive and extensive forced labor of the Uighur population and other Turkic and Muslim-majority peoples. In response, Adidas and Lacoste agreed to cut ties with implicated suppliers and subcontractors.

According to OTEXA stats, import of denim apparels by the US picked up 58.67 per cent to value $309.79 per cent in July ’20 over June ’20. However, on Y-o-Y basis in July ’20, imports has declined 24.38 per cent, whereas they declined by 35.26 per cent in terms of YTD figures, which stood at $1.39 billion during the January-July ’20 period.

YTD data suggests China’s denim apparel shipments to US dropped by 63.23 per cent to $169.82 million in July as against $461.88 million in the January-July ’19 period.

Bangladesh became the top denim apparel exporting country to the US as it shipped denim apparels worth $64.13 million in July ’20. However, on Y-o-Y basis, Bangladesh’s exports declined by 16.98 per cent to $254.27 million.

Vietnam’s apparel shipments increased by 55.08 per cent to $49.16 million in July’20 as against in $31.70 million in June ’20. In YTD figures, the country saw a marginal surge of 0.14 per cent on Y-o-Y basis to clock $192.72 million from its denim apparel shipment to the US.

The Cambodian government has decided to increase the minimum wage for garment and footwear industry workers by $2 to $192 per month for 2021. Earlier, the National Council on Minimum Wage (NCMW) had approved $190 minimum wage for 2021, marking no increase over 2020, following sensitive negotiations in which unions requested a raise of nearly $12, and employers asked for a cut of $17. The government then decided to add a $2 raise, which will take effect on January 1.

This year’s minimum wage increase is the smallest since the wage went unchanged from 2010 to 2013. It affects about 800,000 workers from more than 1,000 factories in the textile, garment, and footwear industries. Union leaders held an internal meeting on August 28 to choose their desired minimum wage raise, agreeing on $11.59, which is similar to their requests made in previous years and amounts to a 6.1 percent raise. An employer representative said that the party would wait until the final day to put forth its suggested figure. Nang Sothy, Vice President, Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations, said, the employers may continue to struggle in 2021 as it has been difficult for them to attract investors.

This year was an especially difficult to negotiate the minimum wage because of the combination of the Covid-19 crisis and the cuts due to the EBA. The reduction in the tariff scheme affects 20 percent of Cambodia’s garment and footwear exports to the EU, worth nearly $1.2 billion annually, according to the European Commission.

Canada’s RMG imports grew 53.93 per cent in July’20. The country imported $870.24 million worth of apparels in July ’20 as compared to $565.33 million in the preceding month. However, the country’s RMG imports declined 28.63 per cent to $4.23 billion on YTD basis.

All major Asian countries benefitted from demand recovery in Canada. On month-on-month basis, China registered 93.96 per cent growth in July ’20 shipment over June ’20. Shipments by India grew 33.87 per cent in July ’20 over June ’20 to $16.67 million. However, the country fell by around 50 per cent in its yearly shipment in July ’20 and by over 39 per cent in the YTD. In YTD, though Bangladesh suffered around 41 per cent loss from 2019 export level, the country upped its shipment by a whopping 80.52 per cent in July ’20 over June ’20 to $84.88 million.

African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Action Coalition has urged US House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade to resist extending AGOA’s apparel preferences to beneficiaries beyond those originally intended. The coalition states, proposed changes to the US Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) threaten to vitiate key provisions of the Act that has been the cornerstone of US economic engagement with the nations of Africa since the past 20 years.

If adopted when GSP is renewed, these changes would cause gratuitous hardship in a region already reeling from the impact of COVID-19. Also they would also severely damage Africa’s standing in as a strategic development and trade partner and would hand global competitors, China in particular, a massive free win, said the coalition.

From its inception, GSP has specifically excluded preferential treatment for textiles and apparel. This has given US policy makers a powerful tool to advance US goals and interests by granting exceptions designed to help selected trading partners to attract investment in their textile and clothing sectors in order to fight destabilizing poverty and grow as markets for US goods and services, it added.