The European Commission has come up with an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials. The plan aims to develop resilient value chains for EU industrial ecosystems; reduce dependency on primary critical raw materials through circular use of re-sources, sustainable products and innovation; strengthen domestic sourcing of raw materials in the EU; diversify sourcing from third countries and remove distortions to international trade, fully respecting the EU’s international obligations.

To achieve these objectives, the Commission outlines 10 concrete actions. First, it plans to establish a European Raw Materials Alliance to focus on the most pressing needs, increase EU resilience in the rare earth and magnet value chains. The Commission plans to collaborate with member states and regions to identify mining and processing projects that can be operational by 2025. Its special focus will be on coal-mining regions and other regions in transition, with special attention to expertise and skills relevant for mining, extraction and processing of raw materials.

The plans is to promote the use of earth-observation program Copernicus to improve resource exploration, operations and post-closure environmental management. It will also develop sustainable financing criteria for the mining and extractive sectors by the end of 2021. It will map the potential of secondary critical raw materials from EU stocks and wastes to identify viable recovery projects by 2022.

The Commission will develop strategic international partnerships to secure the supply of critical raw materials not found in Europe. Pilot partnerships with Canada, interested countries in Africa and the EU’s neighborhood will start as of 2021. In these and other factors of international cooperation, the Commission will promote sustainable and responsible mining practices and transparency.

Emporio Armani will hold its spring/summer 2021 show, dubbed “Building Dialogues,” digitally as a special video airing on September 24 on a dedicated mini site, Emporioarmani-buildingdialogues.com, on the brand’s social networks and on Italy’s Camera della Moda’s platform.

In the video, filmed at the company headquarters on, the Emporio Armani collection will be worn by models as well as young actors, singers, dancers and figures from industries connected to the brand’s community, but no additional details were provided at press time. The coed Giorgio Armani spring show, dubbed “Timeless Thoughts,” will be broadcast for the first time on television, airing on September 26, on prime time on Italy’s La7 channel, as well as on Armani.com, on the brand’s social networks and on the Italian Chamber of Fashion’s platform.

Milan Fashion Week, dedicated to both women’s and men’s collections, is slated to run Sept. 22 to 28, blending digital events with around 28 physical shows.

Apparel imports by the US fell by 32 percent to $6 billion in value terms in July compared to a year earlier, according to the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA). Companies imported 30.68 percent less apparel in the first seven months of the year–a period that began with the still-raging US China trade war, Chinese New Year factory closing and the global coronavirus pandemic–for a value of $33.88 billion compared to $48.87 billion for the same period in 2019, according to OTEXA.

The greatest impact has been on China, which posted a 49.34 percent year-to-date decline through July to retain its position as the top supplier with $7.35 billion worth of goods imported. In July, 50 percent less apparel, or $1.58 billion worth, was imported to the U.S. from China compared to a year earlier.

Apparel imports from Vietnam declined by 11.06 percent for the seven-month period to $6.94 billion and were down 11 percent in July compared to a year earlier to $1.29 billion. However, Vietnam did post a 2.9 percent volume increase to 393.29 million square meter equivalents (SME).

Bangladesh didn’t fare much better, with year-to-date imports down 18.54 percent to $2.91 billion and year-over-year shipments off 11 percent to $436.34 million.

Cambodia was the only country among the top 10 suppliers to register increases in year-to-date and year-over-year imports to the U.S. For the year through July, imports from Cambodia rose 6.13 percent to $1.54 billion and were up 19.2 percent in the month compared to a year earlier to $292.67 million.

Apparel imports from Ethiopia rose 24.1 percent to $20.4 million and shipments from Myanmar increased 9.8 percent to $29.89 million.

A new report released today by international environmental organization Stand.earth provides brands with an extensive guide to tackle climate pollution in the supply chain. The report, titled Fashion forward: A roadmap to fossil-free fashion, outlines the steps the industry must take to get a handle on its rapidly growing carbon footprint, through a combination of renewable energy, better materials, and greener shipping.

The report details the dramatic addition of new coal power plants that are being planned in Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, and Turkey — all major supply chain countries for the fashion industry — as well as the connection between the rapid increase in the use of polyester fabric and the explosion of fracking in the U.S.

For fashion brands looking to eliminate fossil fuels from the supply chain and get a handle on their rapidly growing climate pollution, the report gives several recommendations like eliminating coal and transition to a renewable-powered supply chain by 2030; forming partnerships with suppliers to embrace sharing capital costs; and advocating with suppliers to block new investment in coal and demand clean energy policies to green electric grids and transportation infrastructure.

Brands must commit to sourcing lower carbon and longer lasting materials, while also steadily phasing out fossil fuel-based plastic fabrics like polyester. They must reduce the climate impacts of how clothing is shipped around the world by supporting short-term solutions like slowing ships and eliminating dirty fuels, while also advocating for a long-term decarbonization strategy by the end of the decade.

To showcase new functional fibers and eco-friendly solutions, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the foremost non-profit, semi-governmental trade promotion organization in the country, hosted the Taiwan Excellence Functional Fabric Online Press Conference on August 25, featuring five of the industry’s functional fabrics leaders.

The presenters included Singtex Industrial Co., Ltd.; Sun Own Industrial Co., Ltd. (ATUNAS); Asiatic Fiber Corporation; Toung Loong Textile MFG. Co., Ltd.; and BenQ Materials Corporation.

Singtex, one of Taiwan’s most prominent fabric manufacturers, introduced its AIRMEM™ COLORSHELL coffee bio-jacket to the audience, made from recycled coffee grounds and bottles. The jacket uses microporous membrane technology that is not only windproof, waterproof and oil repellent but is also designed to provide excellent moisture vapor permeability to keep the wearer dry and warm.

Sun Own, a sporting goods manufacturer that sells products under the ATUNAS brand name, presented two collections, including its Supercooling and Pretty Skin Light shirt collections, which are UPF 50+ resistant and can block 70 percent of infrared and harmful UV Rays, as well as its iRoller foam roller.

Textiles firm Asiatic Fiber Corporation is using conductive fiber to create a smarter lifestyle, showcasing its iQmax Wearable Smart Textiles, which combine textiles and wearable devices to give massages for pain and discomfort and activate and stimulate muscles during workouts.

Yarn Dye, the flagship product of Toung Loong, obtains color before any fabrics are made and can be applied on stripes, checks, plaids and special pattern fabrics. Alpha Yarn maintains the property of draw-textured yarn, which is fully drawn, polyester multifilament yarn with soft crimp, while still offering better coverage, better bulkiness and is more long-lasting.

The third yarn, Springfil®, is a comfort stretch yarn made from a special texturizing process that doesn’t stick to skin when you sweat.

The last presenter at the event, BenQ Materials Corp., a manufacturer specializing in material science, introduced Xpore, an eco-sustainable, waterproof and breathable textile technology that can be used for raincoats and jackets.

In response to the pandemic, Indorama Ventures Public Company (IVL), a global chemical company, is transforming post-consumer PET bottles into much-needed PPE suits. The PPE suits have been donated to local hospitals in need of equipment to protect local medical personnel working to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand.

Initiated by Less Plastic Thailand in May this year, the “Separate PET Bottles to Help Doctors” project brings together a range of local partners and their stakeholders to complete the end-to-end waste separation and PPE production process. Under the project, approximately 360,000 PET bottles have been recycled and converted into high-quality yarn at IVL's recycling facilities in Nakhon Pathom and Rayong, and later cut to produce more than 16,000 PPE suits. The project aims to deliver these protective suits to over 200 hospitals nationwide by August 2020 to protect medical personnel from COVID-19 infection during the performance of their duties.

HSBC Thailand, the country’s first commercial bank, participated as a PET collection point, encouraging all staff to donate empty drinking bottles to the cause.

The global export of home textiles increased 1.89 per cent to $95,725.27 million in the year 2019 compared to export of $93,952.83 million in 2017. However, total exports declined 2.66 per cent in 2019 over the previous year, according to data from TexPro. The export is expected to move up to $98,350.54 million in 2022 with a rate of 2.74 per cent from 2019, says Fiber2Fashion’s market analysis tool Texpro.

The global import value of home textiles was $64,876.16 million in 2017, which rose 5.64 per cent to $68,534.93 million in 2019 Total imports plunged 0.73 per cent in 2019 over the previous year and is expected to rise to $72,638.11 million in 2022 with a rate of 5.99 per cent from 2019.

China ($32,561.11 million), Turkey ($9,334.65 million), India ($6,873.76 million) and US ($6,244.21 million) were the key exporters of home textiles across the globe in 2019, together comprising 57.47 per cent of total export. These were followed by Pakistan ($4,117.56 million), Germany ($3,519.27 million) and Vietnam ($3,465.89 million).

From 2016 to 2019, the most notable rate of growth in terms of export value, amongst the main exporting countries, was attained by Turkey (19.63 per cent), China (10.11 per cent) and India (8.33 per cent).

US ($18,913.32 million), Germany ($5,437.93 million), Japan ($4,434.63 million), UK ($3,487.48 million) and France ($3,168.81 million) were the key importers of home textiles in the globe in 2019, together comprising 51.71 per cent of total import. These were followed by Netherlands ($2,455.82 million), Canada ($2,161.21 million) and Australia ($1,734.59 million).

From 2016 to 2019, the most notable rate of growth in terms of import value, amongst the main importing countries, was attained by US (13.75 per cent), Japan (11.28 per cent) and Germany (9.19 per cent).

Hemp Traders has launched a new line of hemp knit fabrics, that will produced and dyed in Los Angeles by Hemp Traders, which also manufactures hemp boards, twine, rope and webbing.

The Hemp Traders development came in the same week that Dallas-based Panda Biotech selected the Texas town of Wichita Falls to be the home of what it said will be the largest state-of-the-art industrial hemp processing center in the United States.

The Panda Texas Plains Hemp Gin will also be the first facility in the country to “cottonize” hemp fiber on a commercial scale for the U.S. textile industry, the company said. Panda Biotech has contracted for a 500,000-square-foot facility and surrounding 97-acre campus that was formerly the home of a General Motors assembly plant.

Hemp Traders will start by making three types of fabric–jersey for T-shirts, French Terry for sweatshirts and sweatpants, and rib knit for accessories and apparel. The first fabrics became available this week at HempTraders.com, with more available within the next two weeks.

Switzerland based premium brand FTC Cashmere has decided to work with Haelixa, a spin-off of the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), which has developed an innovative technology which uses DNA to mark and trace products.

FTC Cashmere is 100 per cent vertically integrated and Haelixa, as a neutral partner, provides additional physical proof of origin for the cashmere used, thus creating maximum transparency with regard to the entire value chain, FTC says.

This gives retailers and end consumers the necessary certainty regarding the origin of the material used. The information about the raw material used remains inseparably linked to product throughout the entire value chain. All cashmere raw material that comes from the company's own cashmere goat farms, used in FTC Cashmere products, is now marked with the Haelixa marker produced especially for FTC Cashmere. Starting Spring/Summer 2021, the first products made from the marked raw material will be available in stores and will be labelled with the ingredient label Marked & Traced by Haelixa.

The Haelixa marker is based on DNA and is dissolved in water and applied directly to the raw material. According to FTC, the DNA marker does not affect the product properties and the cashmere maintains its high quality. The marker is robust to withstand the different steps of industrial processing, such as spinning, dyeing and washing, FTC adds. At the same time, it is said to be harmless to humans and the environment, GMO-free, vegan and recognized by GOTS and OEKO-TEX 100.

British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced the provisional schedule for London Fashion Week (LFW) September 2020. The gender neutral showcase will run from September 17-22 2020 and include both digital activations on www.londonfashionweek.co.uk and physical events, adhering to Government guidelines on social distancing.

The schedule will host over 80 designers including 40 womenswear, 15 menswear, 20 menswear & womenswear and 5 accessories brands. There will be a total of 50 digital only activations, 21 physical and digital, 7 physical only and 3 designers who will activate through a physical evening event only.

This season, the schedule has been split into three sections and includes brands showing digitally, physically or both. All digital activations, will be accessible via www.londonfashionweek.co.uk.

The BFC worked very closely with DCMS to establish guidelines on social distancing to guarantee the safety of both the guests and those working at the physical events. LFW September 2020 will kick off with Burberry, hosting a livestream on September 17, 2020.