Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Textiles, recently launched the much awaited “Comprehensive Scheme for the Development of Knitting & Knitwear Sector (CSDKKS) with various components under PowerTex India”.

The scheme will help to promote knitting and knitwear sector and thereby achieve the inclusive growth in the country. It will also enhance the sector’s contribution to the nation building as knitting and knitwear sector is one of the major segments of the entire textile value chain and contributes about 27 per cent of the total cloth production and about 15 per cent of knitted fabric is being exported besides export of knitted apparel.

The main clusters to benefit from this announcement are Tirupur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kanpur and NCR.

Australia and Indonesia will soon sign a free trade agreement.This is expected to increase the value of the trade between the two countries.

For Indonesia, trade agreements with partner countries can increase the export value and increase market share. With such agreements in place Indonesia expects its exports of textile and textile products to increase three-fold. The cooperation agreement with Japan has helped increase Indonesia’s exports. Up to now lack of market access has been a constraint for the textile industry. Meanwhile, textile products from neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, can enter with a zero per cent import duty.

The trade deal has been eight years in the making and is expected to benefit Australian grain growers with Indonesia agreeing to import 5,00,000 tons of grain tariff free. The agreement should also benefit the Australian education sector, with universities and vocational training providers being given the green light to set up shop in Indonesia.

Indonesia wants greater access for Indonesians to work in Australia as well as support for its crude palm oil industry.

"This evolution in men’s shopping habits can be credited to the changes in their behavior. Men now seek novelty in their clothes. Also, they now themselves prefer to shop for their clothes rather than asking woman to do so. Today, male shoppers are more inclined to buy clothes that go beyond mere practical purchases. Social media is driving their interest in fashion especially amongst the younger consumers. Cockpit USA, known for its military-inspired outerwear, gets a lot of people coming in from social media."

Move over Eve, its Adam’s time now. Even as women’s fashion continue to garner bulk of attention, stores and brands are paying more attention to men’s fashion. First Insight recently conducted a study to identify the differences between male and female shoppers, and see how their purchasing patterns have changed, particularly over the past year. Its report, ‘The Rise of the New Male Power Shopper’, found men are shopping more than women both online and in stores.

Men’s shopping dominated by offline stores

The report states men’s online purchases this year increased from 38 to 41 per cent. They are shopping mainly at traditional retailers. So, 25 per cent of men are reporting shopping six or more times a month in the traditional retail channels, like Kohl’s, JC Penney, Macy’s, etc, compared to only 15 per cent women shopping at these channels six or more times a month.

As per Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor survey, over two-thirds of all men shop online just as often or more as in past years. This compares to 62 per cent women who shop as much or more. Additionally, 46 per cent men shop in malls just as often or more as they have in past years which is markedly more than women, where 39 per cent shop as much and 13 per cent shop more.

The findings by Monitor research also indicate male shoppers shop in chain stores as often or more than women. The trend also holds for specialty stores. However, women shopped as much or more than men at mass merchants and off-price stores.

Social media drives change

This evolution in men’s shopping habits can be credited to the changes in their behavior. Men now seek novelty in their clothes. Also, they now themselves prefer to shop for their clothes rather than asking woman to do so. Today, male shoppers are more inclined to buy clothes that go beyond mere practical purchases. Social media is driving their interest in fashion especially amongst the younger consumers. Cockpit USA, known for its military-inspired outerwear, gets a lot of people coming in from social media.

Technology makes shopping easy

Besides catering to men both online and in-store, First Insight found voice command devices can help sell products to men who are technology-centric. Nearly half of all male respondents (47 per cent) report owning a smart speaker like Amazon Echo/Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomePod. This marks a 113 percent increase from last year (22 percent). By comparison, only 36 percent of women reported currently owning a smart speaker.

The Monitor research shows 43 per cent men used a digital assistant to order products, versus 35 per cent women. Additionally, more men than women use apparel brand and retailer apps on their smartphones or computers to shop for clothes. As more men leverage these technologies and online tools to find the best prices, it’s time to stop looking at fashion as a female-dominated activity.

"The legendary British denim brand, Pepe Jeans, has formed a new partnership with Dua Lipa, one of the most successful musical artists and style icons of her generation. According to this partnership, Dua Lipa will star in the Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for Pepe Jeans. The inaugural campaign is photographed by David Sims, the British photographer who has worked on the imagery of titles of leading global fashion publications including Vogue, The Face and i-D."

The legendary British denim brand, Pepe Jeans, has formed a new partnership with Dua Lipa, one of the most successful musical artists and style icons of her generation. According to this partnership, Dua Lipa will star in the Spring/Summer 2019 campaign for Pepe Jeans.

The inaugural campaign is photographed by David Sims, the British photographer who has worked on the imagery of titles of leading global fashion publications including Vogue, The Face and i-D.

Celebrating the brand’s heritage

The campaign celebrates the heritage of Pepe Jeans, one of the first British brands to bring a distinct fashion perspective to the world of denim in 1973. In this campaign Dua Lipa is photographed in black and white wearing a range of classic denim pieces. An emphasis on strength, natural beauty and the timeless appeal of denim takes precedent in both the campaign and the collection itself.

Both Dua Lipa and Pepe Jeans are perfectly fit for each other as both were born in London and are symbols of idiosyncratic British style. Long before joining Pepe Jeans, Dua Lipa was a fan of the brand’s advertising campaigns as a teenager.

A fashion icon for millions

Taking the music world by storm at the age of 23, Dua Lipa has become a fashion icon for her millions of fans. She released her self-titled debut album ‘Dua Lipa’ in 2017, which made history by being nominated for five categories at the 2018 Brit Awards - the first female to receive so many nominations. She was awarded ‘Best British Female Solo Artist’ and ‘Best British Breakthrough Act’. For the last two years, Dua Lipa has also been the most streamed female artist in the world.

The music video for her hit single ‘New Rules, her anthem for female empowerment, gained more than a billion views on YouTube, making her the youngest female artist to hit this target Her. ‘One Kiss’ Dua’s collaboration with Calvin Harris became the biggest selling single of 2018 in the UK and old over 40 million singles and over 3.4 million albums worldwide. Dua also won two Grammy awards for “Best New Artist” and “Best Dance Recording” with Silk City for their massive hit “Electricity” at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards and the award for “Best British Single” for her track “One Kiss”, with Calvin Harris at the 2019 Brit Awards.

Inspired by the London culture

Incepted in 1973, Pepe Jeans remains devoted to its pledge to create most exciting denim-led fashion on the planet. Inspired by the diversity and unique eclecticism, the extraordinary melting pot and mix of cultures that defines the city of London, continues to inspire Pepe Jeans’ denim, women, men and junior collections.

Nike has been ranked by Brand Finance as the most valuable apparel brand in the world this year. The US sportswear label’s dominance in the rankings has been cemented over the course of the last year through a high-impact marketing strategy responsible for the likes of the brand’s controversial Dream Crazy ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. The repercussions of this campaign made front-page news as some US fans reacted negatively to the move but the weekend following the ad’s launch saw Nike’s sales soar.

Brand Finance is a brand valuation and strategy consultant. In second place in the consultancy’s ranking is Spanish fast-fashion retailer Zara. Zara supplants H&M which has seen a 16 per cent decrease in its brand value since last year and has now fallen to fourth place. Zara’s integrated store and e-commerce model has helped the brand gain access to 106 new national markets, while H&M has continued to struggle with increasing levels of unsold inventory.

In third place this year is Nike’s rival, German sportswear label Adidas. The European label also took a chunk out of Nike’s North American market but, given the current distance between the two brands’ values, its US-based competitor seems fairly secure in its leadership.

Other big winners in this year’s top ten include Cartier, shooting into fifth place, and Louis Vuitton, which held onto sixth place.

White Milano was held in Italy from, February 22 to 25, 2019. The women’s wear apparel and accessories show registered a good attendance. It counted 25,256 visitors between buyers and insiders. Buyers grew 2.3 per cent, with those from abroad up 6.8 per cent, and the Italian ones registering a 1.4 per cent increase.

The show’s selection offered a balanced brand mix including some new areas. The ‘Give A Fok-Us’ hub was dedicated to sustainable innovation. Another hub explored the relationship between fashion and nature and between fashion and society through an emotional and interactive path format, in which the visitor was given a chance to gain a deeper insight into sustainability, innovation, traceability of the product and a circular economy. The path presented within the hub was based upon three interactive phases that ended up with a vast room and installation presenting some of most significant examples of Italian sustainable textile and fiber manufacturers.

The Knit Lab section was dedicated to knitwear and its related creative variations. Further enriching the area was the installation by Paris Essex, in which knitwear was turned into a raw material for leading-edge creations. The dynamism of this show is the upshot of a successful combination of scouting activity and new exhibiting hubs.

Ethisphere has for the third successive year ranked VF Corporation among the most ethical companies in the world. The Ethisphere Institute is a global leader which brings together leading companies across the world to define and promote best practices for ethics and compliance. What makes the recognition noteworthy is that VF is one of the only two apparel companies to be honored among the 128 honorees from 21 countries and 50 industries.

VF is the parent company of brands like Vans, Lee, Timberland, The North Face and Wrangler. VF, based in the US, is an apparel, footwear, and accessory company and has more than 1,500 owned and operated retail locations around the world across its brand portfolio. The company’s Responsible Sourcing program is a global collaborative approach to sourcing products responsibly including collaborating with industry partners and multi-stakeholder organizations across 50 countries.

VF is executing well against its 2021 growth plan and continuing on its journey to reshape the portfolio and transform VF into a purpose-led, performance driven, consumer-centric organization focused on and committed to delivering superior returns to shareholders. First quarter results were strong, driven by continued broad based acceleration across its core brands and platforms.

Many fashion retailers in the US seem to be permanently on discount. Among the forces that have contributed to this state of affairs is a fundamental shift in the relationship between supply and demand, spurred by the spread of e-commerce, social media, and the new shopper behavior they’ve encouraged.

The issue of endless discounting is a big one for brands. It cost them some $300 billion last year. It squeezes their margins, and over time, chips away at their cachet. In the past, fashion was largely a supply-led market, meaning, brands and retailers put the products they wanted into stores, on schedules they chose. Consumers then bought up what was available at the shops they had access to.

But then the internet came along. Consumers today can shop anywhere. A steady stream of images and products in their social feeds drives a ravenous desire for new products. Demand, not supply, has become the controlling force.

This change has put brands in the position of always trying to keep up with an appetite for newness, but many still haven’t figured out how to do it efficiently. Often the long lead times of their supply chains mean they still have to produce huge amounts of clothing months in advance to fill their shops, leaving them guessing far ahead of time what shoppers will want, and not always accurately. They can get stuck with large and costly amounts of overstock.

Exporters in Tirupur want the Centre to extend integrated goods and services tax (IGST) exemption period for import of capital goods under Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme beyond March 31, 2019, for another two years.They want the exemption for import of inputs under the advance authorisation scheme too.

Post GST rollout, exporters have sought the exemption. Considering the needs of the sector, the centre had been extending the exemption term, phase-wise (for six months’ period each), since July 1, 2017. The current phase ends on March 31, 2019.

The garment sector in Tirupur, comprising mostly of medium and small units, is upgrading operations to improve the quality of garments and increase productivity, in keeping with the growing demands of buyers. Several units in Tirupur are increasingly expressing concerns over the imposition of IGST beyond March 2019 as they fear the tax amount paid for importing capital goods would not be adjusted. The units are confused whether to place orders with machinery suppliers by presuming that the exemption period would continue beyond March 2019 or to wait for further clarification.

Tirupur, India’s leading knitwear exporter contributes around 50 per cent of the country’s knitwear exports. Around 20,000 production units – including micro, small and medium scale enterprises – function in Tirupur, employing nearly seven lakh people directly.

Key and influencing brands are using Roica premium stretch fabrics. Aeance was created as a brand that merges ready-to-wear with technical apparel. The brand’s values are timeless minimalism, substance and understated luxury. Aeance is committed to creating garments with the least possible impact on the environment and has set up a supply chain focusing on eco-sustainability and ethical responsibility.

Daquini founded in 2012 helps women bridge the gap between how they feel and how they think they look when they are working out. The brand’s first choice in fabrics is Sofileta with its luxurious technical fabrics with Roica V550 premium stretch.

Erin Snow creates chemically safe, circularly designed, socially fair luxury performance apparel. The Teri pant is Erin Snow’s most innovative and highly anticipated pant to date. Teri is made from the finest bluesign approved Schoeller four-way stretch fabric containing Roica V550 premium stretch sustainable fiber. The pant is insulated with PrimaLoft Gold Luxe and repels water and dirt without PFCs, thanks to Schoeller’s ecorepel bio finishing while giving maximum freedom of movement.

Sita provides women with an all-new luxury concept of timeless foundational apparel. The newly-created made in Italy Sitatech fabric takes on instant appeal with nanotechnology fibers and Roica CF, a yarn with an active smart odor neutralizer property.