Global textile powerhouse Welspun India has collaborated with digital innovation and technology implementation firm Stycheco to deploy the BeProduct platform and to revitalize its international design, development, and production processes.

A part of the Welspun Group, Welspun India is one of India's fastest-growing conglomerates. With more than 25,000 employees, a presence in more than 50 countries, and a ‘farm to shelf’ model of vertical integration that runs from design to drop shipping. Welspun has a broad product footprint covering bed, bath and flooring categories. In textiles, Welspun produces under license for household names in Asia, Europe, and North America, delivers to major global retailers, and oversees cutting-edge manufacturing worldwide.

The group has embarked on a company-wide digital transformation project that spans from sales and marketing to sourcing. Its partnership with Stychecho and BeProduct quickly became a vital part of that digital transformation for its textile business. The company’s goal is to connect with customers and consumers through the collaboration with technology.

As it plans for more e-commerce growth in coming years, Walmart is building large private label brands competing with the likes of Target and Amazon. As per Women’s Wear Daily in recent years, Walmart has built a roster of private label brands and elevated lines through a combination of acquisitions, high-profile collaborations and its own creative push.

Currently, the retailer courts a shifting demographic of shoppers online and has sought to refine its apparel mix in recent years to strike a balance between basics and more fashion-forward styles. The brands that Walmart has added to its platform include Levi’s, Champion and Jordache, as well as the private lines. It now has 13 general merchandise private brands that qualify as billion-dollar brands, and that three of its apparel lines are $2 billion brands.

Competition from Amazon, and the receding importance of once prevalent fashion staple brands including Old Navy, may have pushed retailers like Walmart and Target to try to capture some of that market and boost their e-commerce infrastructure, said Jessica Ramírez, Jane Hali & Associates. In its Q4 earnings this month, Walmart expects its global e-commerce sales to surpass $100 billion in the next couple of years.

The Textiles Ministry has sought details from the Commerce Ministry on the rate of reimbursement they will be entitled to under the new Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme. The Commerce Ministry announced new scheme, RoDTEP, from January 1, 2021 to compensate exporters for input taxes not reimbursed under existing schemes.

It also withdrew the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) scheme as it was ruled as a banned export subsidy by a WTO panel since the reimbursement rates were not calculated strictly on the basis of input taxes paid. As the outlay for RoDTEP is set to be much lower than the over 50,000 crore allocated for the MEIS, there are expected to be cuts in reimbursement rates.

Earlier, garments and made-ups exporters believed reimbursement rates that were fixed at around 6 per cent of the value of exports of garments and around 8 per cent for made-ups would remain the same under RoDTEP. However, now they are not sure.

As per Master card Spending Plus, apparel sales in the US declined in January though this decline was the smallest year-on-year since the pandemic hit sales in March 2020. However, sales at department stores grew by 1.5 per cent, marking a first positive month since December 2019. The hardware and furnishing sector witnessed highest growth.

According to Business of Fashion, the growth in department stores could be attributed to redemptions in holiday gift-cards and returns of in-person gifts. These stores performed better in the Southwest and on the West Coast due to the weather conditions and COVID restrictions weighing on East Coast retail.

Total retail sales, excluding cars and gasoline, rose by 9.2 percent last month from a year earlier. Online sales grew by 62.1 percent. The estimates are 95 percent correlated with the official retail sales figures the Commerce Department will release later this month

After two years of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) blocking traders from using forex to import textiles, Nigeria’s cotton market has witnessed a marginal rebound. Data from USDA analyzed by Premium Times shows, cotton production and consumption rose 7.5 per cent in volume in 2020 after a decline in 2019. In 2019, Nigeria’s cotton production stood at 920,000 metric tonne while consumption stood at 805,000 metric tonne. In 2020, a year after, this surged to 1.6 million metric tonne and 989,000 metric tonne.

As per Anibe Achimugu, President, National Cotton Farmers Association of Nigeria, forex restriction on textile imports was a game-changer for the industry. The ban increased demand for Nigeria’s cotton, which meant farmers now have a market for their produce.

Cotton is produced mostly in Zamfara, Katsina, Borno, Kano, Adamawa, and Bauchi States. The Central Bank also provided soft loans to cotton farmers. This year alone, almost 130,000 cotton farmers benefited from the bank’s anchor borrowers program.

Naveena Denim Mills has launched a new denim range made with Lycra’s Wraptech 2.0 tri-core technology fabric. The fabric combines the high stretch of Lycra fiber with the exceptional recovery and low shrinkage of Lycra T400 fiber. Wraptech 2.0 denim fabrics are adaptable to any silhouette, from the traditional five-pocket and dressed-up denim to rugged workwear jeans and comfortable work-from-home styles. They have excellent shape-retention and recovery along with a better elongation, recovery, and shrinkage compared to other fabrics with the same elasticity level. The fabrics stand up to the same washes and finishes of a traditional rigid fabric, without sacrificing the comfort of a stretch jean.

The fabrics also have superior stretch and recovery, allowing for a wider fit window. One jean can fit a range of shapes and sizes. They are more durable and maintain their shape and fit longer between washes. Established in Karachi, Pakistan in 2005, Naveena Denim Mills specialises in manufacturing premium yarn and denim fabrics, constantly seeking the ultimate union of form and function through creative engineering.

The government aims to make India self-reliant in silk in the next two years, said Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development at the inaugural session of the Karnataka Vastra Tek - Apparel & Textile Conclave. The conclave was organized by the Department of Handloom and Textiles, Government of Karnataka in association with FICCI Karnataka State Council

Irani said, Indian government dedicated Rs 2,000 crore for the development of silk under the Silk Samagra Program. She hoped the industry gives Karnataka ideas, proposals or initiatives to make India Aatmanirbhar in silk. Highlighting the importance of the handicrafts sector, Irani said the government distributed 'Pehchaan Cards' or identity cards to over 26,000 artisans in the state.

She also proposed a digital opportunity on lines of GoM portal for the marketing of artisans and weavers of Karnataka.

At a virtual meeting platform organized by AEPC, Sanjiv Ranjan, Indian Ambassador to Columbia said, the country offers huge business opportunities for apparel exporters particularly in fashion segment with domestic sales of about $7 billion AEPC had organized the virtual meeting platform titled 'India-Colombia Synergies in Apparel and Textiles', to explore export opportunities in the South American nation.

A Sakthivel, Chairman, AEPC said, India's apparel exports to Colombia is just 3 per cent of its global imports. This does not really reflect the real strength of the sector. He advised apparel exporters to focus on Colombia's fashion industry that accounts for 9.4 per cent of the country's industrial GDP and employs about 600,000 people. He informed participating Colombian brands and buyers that through its virtual platform, the council will work as a bridge between the Indian apparel exporters and Colombian apparel importers.

To grow its Connected Retail network, Europe’s leading fashion retailer, C&A plans to join Zalando, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion and lifestyle. Zolando has over 3,000 active stores, selling to millions of Zalando customers online.

In Germany, Zalando is adding Hermes as a second carrier option, to offer new store partners greater flexibility in the on-boarding process. Internationally, Connected Retail is adding its ninth market to the program. As of today, Austrian retailers can connect their stores to the platform and sell to millions of Zalando customers. Stores can easily connect their stock to the platform: Zalando provides the software to connect, online content, payment services, customer care and dedicated support through a personal account manager and many other services.

An integral part of Zalando’s platform strategy, Connected Retail has become part of the solution for retailers during the coronavirus crisis and is currently available for retailers in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Austria. Until the end of 2021, Zalando aims to grow its network of retail partners to over 6,000 active stores.

Rebecca F Dye, Maritime Commissioner, Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) assured Steve Lamar, President and CEO, American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) on issuing information demand orders to ocean carriers and marine terminal operators (MTOs) to determine if legal obligations related to detention and demurrage practices are being met.

Earlier this month Lamar urged FMC to take immediate steps to stem the surge in contract violations and the spike in detention and demurrage charges. Lamar said the association’s members are already battling a huge slump in demand that has led to store closings, furloughs, layoffs and bankruptcies. A convergence of issues has created unprecedented shipping problems and delays for beneficial cargo owners (BCOs), truckers, ports, terminals and carriers. The association’s members have had to pay unexpected and unplanned surcharges, premiums, and/or spot rates to get their cargo on ships. In addition, they faced a spike in detention and demurrage charges for situations completely out of their control.

The FMC orders are being issued under Dye’s authority as the Fact Finding Officer for ‘International Ocean Transportation Supply Chain Engagement.’ Targets of the orders will be ocean carriers operating in an alliance and calling the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, or the Port of New York & New Jersey. Marine terminal operators at those ports will also be subject to information demands. The demand orders will also require carriers and MTOs to provide information on their policies and practices related to container returns and container availability for exporters.