Launched by the African Development Bank, the Fashionomics Africa initiative aims to highlight the skills demonstrated by African fashion designers through the infusion of culture and heritage in their designs says Amel Hamza, Acting Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society. The initiative has launched the second online sustainable fashion contest for African designers.

Launched in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program, Parsons School of Design, BPCM and the Ellen McArthur Foundation, the contest mentors new branding packages and other support for winning African designers. To participate in this contest, African fashion brands need to pursue environment-friendly measures and adopt sustainability and circular economy principles in their operations. Winners of the ‘best sustainable design’ contest will be given a cash prize of $3,000 along with other prizes. Two other finalists will win $1,500 cash prize each in addition to other incentives.

Promoting circularity at fundamental levels

Aimed at encouraging a more sustainable shift in consumer practices, the competition will celebrate African fashion brands changing the way fashion is produced, bought, consumed and recycled. It will promote circularity at the most fundamental level, adds Hamza.

Targeted at young African textile, apparel and accessories entrepreneurs above 18 years, the competition will applaud their sustainable designs produced within the last five years. It will focus on their products and sustainable business models and highlight their environment-friendly and innovative initiatives. It will also emphasize on the materials used by these products, their design and production process and shipping methods.

Access to media insiders and industry experts

The competition will be judged by a five-person panel representing the African Development Bank. The panel will announce the three finalists by March 2022. The entries of these finalists will be posted on the Fashionomics Africa digital marketplace and mobile application for public vote.

Besides the cash prize, the winning fashion brand will also be given a certificate and an opportunity to participate in online events and share insights on the key sustainability challenges faced by the industry, The brand will also gain an access to media insiders and industry experts, and will be able to mentor and network with competition collaborators.

Encouraging economic development in member states

An African Development Bank initiative, Fashionomics Africa focuses on increasing Africa’s participation in the global textile and fashion industry value chains. Its initiator, the African Development Bank Group(AfDB) is one of Africa’s premium development finance institution. It includes three entities, namely: African Development Bank (AfDB), African Development Fund (ADF), Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). Having offices in 37 African countries, the AfDB also has an international office in Japan. It encourages the economic development and social progress in 54 regional member states

India’s largest company Reliance Industries (RIL), has launched a new fabric technology that enables activation of the biometric biodegradation process.

Known as R|Elan™ EcoGold with CiCLO®, the technology offers a biological solution to environment related issues. It reduces the accumulation of textile waste in landfills and other related conditions.

Offering numerous everlasting benefits to customers, the R|Elan™ range of fabrics are infused with latest technologies. They offer consumers next-generation fabrics n sync with the latest fashion trends. The fabrics help reduce the impact of unrecycled textiles on the environment by enabling microbes break down these textiles. These textiles are converted into basic elements like carbon dioxide, water, minerals, etc.

The technology is certified by Oeko-Tex Eco Passport, notes Alastair Drew, Intrinsic Advanced Materials, R|Elan™ EcoGold will give global apparel access to eco-friendly fibers that can be used to make garments that will meet the needs of conscious consumers, he adds.

Through the Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB) project, Bangladesh has made around 3,630 garments export-oriented (RMG) factories available on the website. The MiB project is being funded by the Laudes Foundation and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, coordinated by BRAC and implemented by the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) of Brac University (BracU). Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) are the strategic partners of the project.

The project facilities sorting of website data by brands, products, certifications, export countries, etc. It aims to provide the most accurate and latest industry updates to stakeholders to enhance their efficiency, productivity, accountability, and transparency.

In its third quarter ended January 02, 2022, globally renowned outerwear brand Canada Goose, registered a 26.2 per cent rise in sales. As per an Apparel Resources report, known for its parkas and jackets, the brand’s non-parka revenues surged by 74.9 per cent. Its global online revenues grew 28.1 per cent while direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenues grew to Can$ 445.4 million from Can$299.4 million. Most of this increase was driven by higher sales from existing retail stores, complemented by online growth and retail expansion.

The brand’s DTC revenue in Mainland China surged 35.1 per cent while its wholesale revenues declined to Can$ 136.7 million this quarter. Gross profit grew 66.8 per cent to Can$ 413.8 million from Can$ 316.4 million in Q3’ 21. Canada Goose has lowered total revenue guidance in the current quarter from Can$ 1.090 billion to Can$ 1.105 billion, compared to previous guidance in the range of Can$ 1.125 billion to Can$ 1.175 billion. The decision was driven by the brand’s lower than expected revenue and retail traffic in APAC and EMEA in the current quarter.

Founded in 1957, Canada Goose sells a variety of jackets, parkas, vests, hats, gloves, shells and other garments through various sale channels,

China's Shein is expanding its Singapore office after making a Singapore firm its de facto holding company, according to a report by Reuters,

Starting in 2008 in Nanjing, Sheinde-registered its main business last year. Singapore-registered Roadget Business Pte, which lists Xu and three others as its representatives, has been the legal entity operating Shein's global website, Singapore filings show.

Roadget also now owns Guangzhou Shein International Import & Export Co as well as Shein's trademarks that were transferred from Hong Kong's Zoetop Business Co, which had been involved in intellectual property disputes with global brands. In addition, Shein's company profile page on LinkedIn shows Singapore as its headquarters.

Shein, which was valued at about $50 billion in early 2021, produces clothing in China to sell online in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company aims to quadruple the number of its Singapore employees to around 200 by the year's end

It is currently advertising for government relations associates as well as for staff for human resources, marketing and IT. It is expanding its Singapore offices to support the firm's growth in the Southeast Asian market.

Despite fierce competition, Shein has become one of the world's largest fast fashion marketplaces by targeting the social media-savvy "Gen Z" generation, making heavy use of influencers and discount codes.

Validating a projection made by Apparel Resources in 2020, OTEXA says, India will surpass Indonesia in apparel exports over the next decade. India’s garment exports surpassed Indonesia’s shipments for the first time in 2021, as per an Apparel Resources report. During the year, India exports garments worth $4.19 to the US while Indonesia shipped apparels worth $4.14 billion.

India’s apparel exports remained buoyant all through 2021, helped by strong orders and revival of global retail industry. Apparel exports to the US grew 36.92 per cent during the year, leading amongst the top five apparel export destinations to the country. It was followed by Bangladesh whose exports surged 36.70 per cent, China which recorded a 29.40 per cent rise in exports, Indonesia with an export surge of 17.92 per cent and Vietnam with export rise of 14.33 per cent. India’s positive performance in its top apparel export market resulted in the country’s apparel exports to the US growing by 24 per cent y-o-y to $15.21 billion.

Strong foreign demand, higher input costs for farmers and prolonged drought in Texas is leading to surge in cotton plantings by the US. This surge was a result of cotton futures in New York touching a decade high of 44 per cent during January-end over the last year. The growth on stock exchange was driven by projections for a second global deficit.

In this season beginning August 1, cotton planting by US farmers are projected to rise by 7.3 per cent to 12 million acre from the previous year, according to the National Cotton Council’s planting-intentions survey released Sunday.

Increase in cotton planting is also being driven by tighter cotton supplies and high demand for textiles in the global markets including China, India and Mexico. Global cotton consumption is also projected to surge by 2.8 per cent this year, as shown by data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Australia is expected to export cotton worth $3.5 billion this year, says Michael Murray, General Manager, Cotton Australia. In all the country will produce 5 million cotton bales this season. As per a Textile Focus report, the surge in Australia’s cotton exports this year will be a result of excellent seasonal circumstances returning to several drought-affected producing areas, as well as robust worldwide pricing of around $840 per bale. Australian cotton exports shifted shipments to other markets when the sector was involved in the fight of Chinese trade concerns in 2020, and exports to the important market virtually ended, according to Pete Jonhson, Cotton Analyst. Cotton prices were also pushed to the second levels worldwide due to COVID-related supply chain delays. Local producers benefited from the high prices by bagging new supply contracts, adds Stuart Armitage, Cotton Grower, Cecil Plains.

The Union government has extended the application date for the PLI Scheme for the Textile Sector to February 28, 2022. The earlier deadline for submission of the application form was February 14, 2022. The extension in application date is due to some issues related to the HSN code for technical textiles that need to be resolved. Until now, around 80 companies have registered for the scheme while 46 have submitted draft application forms.

The PLI scheme for textiles sector was approved by the government with an outlay of Rs 10,683 crore. It will promote production of MMF apparel, MMF fabrics and other products of technical textiles over a period of five years. The scheme was launched by the government on January 01, 2022. It aims to expand India’s MMFs and technical textiles’ value chain and help India gain a dominant status in the global textile trade.

In 2021, Bangladesh emerged the largest exporter of denim garments to the US for the second consecutive year, as per the latest OTEXA report. The value of Bangladesh’s denim garments exports to the country surged 42.25 per cent y-o-y to $798.42 million from $561.29 million in 2020.

Latest OTEXA data estimates, the US’ imports from Bangladesh increased by 31.36 per cent to $3.68 billion in 2021. Imports from other countries like Mexico grew by 39.60 per cent in value to $654.57 million while that from Vietnam grew to $402.29 million in 2021.

Pakistan’s exports of denim garments surged by 54.60 per cent to $389.76 million compared to the previous year. China’s exports of denim apparels grew to $387.91 million during the year.