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In compliance with the permission given by the concerned authorities, Vardhman Textiles has started partial operations in its spinning units situated in the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Vardhman Textiles has got permission from concerned authorities in Punjab for resumption of manufacturing operations of its spinning units situated at Malerkotla and Ludhiana subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.
Similar permission has been received from authorities in Madhya Pradesh for resumption of operations of its spinning units situated at Mandideep and Satlapur.
Further, the district magistrate, Solan (Himachal Pradesh) has also given a general permission to the textile units, having in-campus worker colonies, to start operations subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.
Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh is optimistic tone for the iconic jeans manufacturer post-COVID-19 pandemic, given the company’s underlying financial condition. Due to the shutdowns, Levi Strauss is taking steps to prepare for the future by repatriating struggling franchises, upgrading locations and picking up new employees in a hobbled job market. Levi Strauss is also using current consumer habits in China, where the disease originated in the Hubei province, as a model for how to resume business in the United States when given the all-clear.
The brand has focused on building out its direct-to-consumer business, which is vital in a world where department stores are closing down in droves. Levi Strauss’ direct-to-consumer operations account for more than 40 per cent of uts total business, up from 30 per cent five years ago. It’s met by other brands like Nike who have been cutting out the middle man by building their own storefronts and online outfits to reach consumers.
True Religion Apparel Inc has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time in less than three years, becoming another corporate casualty of the COVID-19 outbreak that has ravaged the retail sector. In a court filing, the embattled denim retailer said it would have preferred to wait out the current period of lockdowns and instability in financial markets but simply could not afford to do so.
More than 95 per cent of Americans are now under ‘stay-at-home’ or "shelter-in-place" orders and retailers across the country have been forced to shutter stores to help contain the spread of the virus. While public health experts say the steps are working to control the contagion, the restrictions have strangled the US economy and sparked widespread production cuts, layoffs and projections of a severe recession.
Chief Executive Michael Buckley said True Religion's largest lenders ABL and Term Loan were providing fresh capital to the company to reorganize under Chapter 11. True Religion listed $100 million to $500 million in assets and liabilities in the court filing dated April 13.
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently hinted that some relaxations may be allowed after April 20 to resume business activities, manufacturers and exporters at Tirupur garment cluster in Chennai are skeptical about reopening their factories. Raja M Shanmugam, President of Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA), says the current cause of worry is the rising number of patients in Tirupur. The PM has clearly said relaxation may be allowed from April 20 in places that are not virus hotspots but after Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirupur districts have reported the highest number of patients in the state. Shanmugam says, if exporters are not allowed to run factories, then they will suffer massive losses and it will take years for us to recover from it.
Tirupur Exporters Association has recently also written to the Central and state governments to allow the textile cluster to reopen, so that they can send samples to clients in the US and Europe, and retain export orders for Spring/Summer collection. Otherwise, they will lose their export customers forever to countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where factories are still functional.
Trade shows giant Hyve Group is considering the possibility of equity fundraise. The move could come as the firm’s business continues to be hit by the pandemic. Hyve, which organises key shows such as Pure London and Moda, had to postpone a number of events and it’s still unclear how successful rescheduled trade shows will be.
The options under review include possibly raising more cash by issuing shares. That’s an approach that has been taken by several firms, including both Asos and Joules. Meanwhile others, like Next, have sought to raise cash via selling and leasing back assets such as head office buildings and distribution hubs.
Hyve continues to be engaged in constructive dialogue with the group's lenders in relation to covenant headroom and facility flexibility and has already secured a waiver of the June 2020 covenant tests under its debt facilities.
PG Denim has launched a new capsule collection “Fuck Bacteria” which focuses on a product that arouses emotions, originality and uniqueness. Unlike the latest collections, PG Denim wants to create a new era in the fashion market, a product that follows the fundamentals of sustainability , starting from the creation of fabrics certificated by GOTS and BCI, DTOX and OEKO TEX, dyeing in Indigo with low water consumption, using chemical products which allow ozone finishing to avoid the use of water.
The collection will be developed on multiple fronts, using separate and unique technologies supplied by Rudolf. The first one is a microstructure covered with metallic silver that acts as an extraordinarily effective bacteriostatic. Many bacteria that cause infections and disagreeable odors, cannot adapt to fabrics that have been treated with silver ions. The product is the same one used in clinics and hospitals to prevent infections. This product has been designed for high resistance washing, both for domestic, industrial (over 100 cycles even at high temperatures) and dry cleaning. Inspired by Mother Nature’s work, the second technology (applied on the fabrics), guarantees high performance, fuornine-free water repellency, does not alter the fabrics “touch” and has an excellent resistance to washing and abrasion.
Apex exporters body FIEO recently revealed the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) do not have adequate liquidity to pay wages to their employees for the month of April as they are unable to conduct any business activity during the lockdown. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) reiterated that the government should immediately announce an incentive package and give permisssion for partial resumption of operations in manufacturing units.
FIEO also expressed disappointment on deferment of the decision to allow selective opening of the manufacturing sector, particularly export units. According to it, non-adherence to the delivery schedule for exports will result in cancellation, penalties and market loss, besides the business loss to enterprises.
Vietnamese garment companies have signed deals to export hundreds of millions of face masks to the US and the EU. Hanoi-based Garment 10 Jsc (Garco 10) has received orders for 400 million medical masks and 20 million cloth masks from buyers in the US and Germany.
TNG Investment and Trading Jsc in the northern Thai Nguyen Province have been exporting cloth masks to France, Belgium and Germany for almost a month. The company is now working on administrative procedures to gift 500 cloth masks to the New York Police Department. It is also planning to produce medical masks from mid-May since there is huge demand for them, he said.
Shifting from garments to masks allows them to keep production going and pay employees, somewhat mitigating the losses caused by canceled orders, which are estimated at over $470 million. Garco 10 CEO Than Duc Viet said mask exports account for almost 30 per cent of the company’s revenues this year. TNG also saw domestic sales rise 10 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, mostly from masks.
The Foreign Trade Agency said that Vietnam has the potential to become a major global mask exporter. It can make at least 200 million masks a month, and some producers have been able to make their own raw materials to reduce dependence on imports.
Bloomberg reports that JC Penney has approached consulting firm AlixPartners LLP as the US retailer looks at options for managing its debt. Brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to keep up with the shift to online shopping, and the crisis has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak which has forced them to shutter stores and furlough employees.
JC Penney has been in talks with lenders in recent weeks about its liquidity needs and negotiating a possible debt deal, the report said. The retailer had $3.72 billion in borrowings as of Feb. 1, its latest annual filing showed, with cash and cash equivalents of $386 million. Its 2019 sales fell 8 per cent to $10.72 billion from the previous year.
The company's combined credit score, which measures on a scale of 100 to 1 how likely a company is to default on its debts in the next year, was ‘1’, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, indicating it was expected to default.
Weekly sales data from H&M China shows that while stores are slowly recovering from the peak of the pandemic in Mainland China, there has clearly not been an immediate bounce back. H&M China’s sales declined by 79 per cent in week 10 despite 89 per cent of its stores in the country being open, raising the question whether this is a financially viable strategy in other affected markets due to the burden on operating costs.
Nearly all retailers have reopened stores but consumer propensity to spend is significantly higher than in mature retail markets such as the US and much of western Europe so we expect store reopening schedules and the recovery process to be longer than what we have witnessed in China.
According to Global Data, these retailers must start planning a recovery strategy for each country they operate in, taking into account consumer sentiment and confidence, the country’s financial stability, consumer propensity to spend on fashion, online penetration and the time in the season and promotional calendar.
Some retailers may need to consider whether consumer demand after the pandemic’s peak will be sufficient to warrant reopening all stores in any one market at once.
