FW
If spring/summer 2020 runways are to go by, trendy tights have caught the attention of many designers across the globe. British designer Richard Quinn has launched a new range of tights decorated with brash florals to match the prints on his gowns. The mania of logo is also rife with labels like Gucci, Saks Potts and Fendi splattering their signage on tights this season.
High price and environmental concerns lead to boycott
However, one of the disadvantages of investing in these extortionate stockings is their price tags often far exceed their price-per-wear. As these tights are worn only a handful of times before being either torn to shreds or dumped in landfills, they have become a huge cause of concern for environmentalists. Campaigners like Extinction Rebellion and the Environmental Audit Committee conducted an inquiry into fast fashion last year and decided to boycott fast fashion and fur, shirking tights under the radar. Made from greenhouse gas emitting nylon, tights are like the single-use plastic of the textile industry. They are incredibly difficult to recycle and are often dumped into landfills.
Opting for eco-friendly tights
However, many hosiery manufactures are now producing eco-friendly tights. One such manufacturer, Clayton makes tights made of a mixture of yarns. It combines both
recycled nylon and micro encapsulation technology that contains aloe vera, retinol and vitamin E. These yarns are sold from its family’s yarn business in England.
Another company, TLC runs a recycling program that encourages customers to return their tights so they can be melted down and their elastane content can be put into long-life plastic products, such as car components. Other brands like Swedish Stockings use recycled polyamide, bio-cotton and cashmere for their hosiery, in addition to producing it in zero-waste production facilities. Luxury hosiery label Wolford launched a range of stockings made from nylon waste and recycled ocean fishnets. The brand now aims to expand its sustainable range. However, it is skeptical as to whether eco-friendly tights can also be classified as being luxurious.
Innerwear brand Heist also produces durable tights. The brand recently set a series of sustainable goals to hit by 2020, which include reducing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions. Additionally, the brand also plans to launch its first pair of tights made from recycled materials. For this, it will adopt sustainable technologies, such as Roica Eco Smart elastane, a Japanese engineered innovation and Fulgar Q-NOVA®, a sustainable Nylon 6.6 made in Italy and created from raw material from production waste.
Durable tights to deal with extra costs
However, as these brands charge more for their products, consumers have to shoulder the burden of extra costs for apparels that are not sustainable. To overcome this, Marks & Spencer introduced ladder resist tights in 2007 that are extra durable, come in high deniers and are among the brand's bestselling items. The hosiery industry needs to revamp. Though a few select labels have made a definite start towards it, but there is still a long way to go to see tangible change across the high street and hesitant luxury brands.
The $48.3-billion Aditya Birla Group’s leading fashion ingredient brand Liva recently inaugurated a state- of- the- art Liva Accredited Partner Forum (LAPF) Studio in Jaipur in association with Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR). This is the fourth such Studio after NOIDA, New York and Tirupur.
LAPF Studios act as a one-stop customer experience centre for innovation, technical, product and marketing solutions. The Jaipur Studio will display a collection of more than 2000 fabric innovations of Viscose, Modal & and Excel.
Technical specifications, uniqueness of the fabric and marketing details will be available in wide variety including Woven, Knitted and Flat Knitted fabrics. LIVA’s seasonal collection specially designed by its in-house designers will also be showcased in the Studio to service global buyers.
The studio was launched in the presence Rajiv Dewan, President, Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR), Navin Advani, Vice President, Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR), Rajeev Gopal, Global Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Pulp and Fibre Business, Aditya Birla Group and Manohar Samuel, Sr. President, Marketing and Business Development, Birla Cellulose,
Gopal, said, “We at LIVA have always been the pioneers of change in the industry and yet again have proved the same through the launch of this Studio which is beneficial for Jaipur Cluster”.
Dewan, said, “We see LAPF Studio as a platform for fuelling business growth for the Jaipur cluster. We look forward for innovations in fabric and Liva seasonal collection”.
YKK has launched a new Natulon ocean sourced collection of zippers made from ocean bound plastic. The premium collection of zippers is made from plastic waste that has been collected within 50 kilometres of the coastline of Sri Lanka. YKK is Japan’s leading manufacturer of zippers. Natulon ocean sourced collection will debut at ISPO Munich from January 26-29, 2020 in Munich, Germany, and at the Outdoor Retailer + Snow show from January 29-31, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. The zippers will be available for purchase in Spring 2020, the company said in a press release.
Indistinguishable from zippers made of virgin polyester, Natulon ocean sourced offers the same strength, durability, and functionality as conventional zippers. At the same time, Natulon ocean sourced is helping YKK achieve its goal of further reducing carbon emissions in its manufacturing processes. Globally, YKK has achieved an 8 per cent reduction in carbon emissions since 2013 at its production sites.
YKK’s collection of sustainable trims is aimed at reducing carbon emissions, toxic chemicals, and water use. In addition to Natulon ocean sourced, the collection features the GreenRise zipper, the first in the industry to use plant-based polyester, thereby achieving a 30 per cent reduction in petroleum usage, YKK’s organic cotton zippers, and YKK’s original Natulon zipper, which recycles approximately 3,600 plastic bottles (29 g/bottle) per 10,000 zippers (60 cm length). Also included in the collection are zippers made using YKK’s Eco-Dye dyeing technology, which has completely eliminated the usage of water in the dyeing process, and environmentally friendly snaps and buttons made using Acro-Plating, a new plating technology that uses fewer resources to manufacture and does not use harmful plating chemicals.
The Union Textiles Ministry plans to reduce hank yarn obligation. The government has already partially eased the challenges related to hank yarn obligation, which the industry has been facing from the last two decades. The hank yarn obligation is a mechanism to ensure adequate availability of hank yarn to handloom weavers at reasonable prices. The existing norms prescribe that every producer of yarn who packs yarn for civil consumption shall pack at least 30 per cent of yarn in hank form on quarterly basis. In the textile industry, a hank is a coiled or wrapped unit of yarn or twine (as opposed to both other objects like thread or rope as well as other forms such as in a ball, cone, bobbin, spool, among others). The industry is demanding that the obligation should be reduced in the 10-20 per cent range.
The ministry is actively pursuing with the finance ministry on the inverted duty structure. In the textile industry, there is high duty on raw material compared to the finished product. The ministry also urged Texprocil to hand-hold small firms to become mid-sized companies.
The Textiles Minister inaugurated the TEXPROCIL Awards Function which celebrated the achievements of textile industrialists. Smriti Zubin Irani, Textile Minister suggested that inta-industry problems should be solved at industry level only without the involvement of ministry. She also urged TEXPROCIL and CCI and Skill development ministry to pursue skilling farmers for mechanised farming.
TEXPROCIL, the first Export Promotion Council set up in India in 1954 and responsible for promoting exports of cotton textile celebrated the achievements of its member exporters at the Annual Awards function. The Council is a one point stop for those who wish to source textiles from India. It has 3000 members who are engaged in the exports of cotton textiles including yarns, fabrics and home textiles including made ups.
Every year the Council recognises the role played by exporters by giving out awards in different categories. This year, the Council distributed 58 awards in 32 different categories, including the coveted Platinum trophy for the highest global exports. Recognising the role played by MSME units in India and given that the growth of MSMEs is one of the many thrust areas of the government, TEXPROCIL has also instituted an Award for the highest employment generated by MSME Units which went to Ken Enterprises Pvt Ltd and Gupta International.
To be held from January 21 to 22, 2019 at the Altman Building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking district, the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) will host a two-day event dedicated to sustainable advancements in textiles, featuring two full days of information-packed panels led by notable industry leaders. Established in 1958, the government-adjacent group has been dedicated to promoting trade and investment between Japan and countries around the globe. JETRO’s focus has been helping small to medium-sized Japanese businesses maximize their export potential globally by unlocking new opportunities.
The discussions at next week’s show will center around fashion’s devastating impact on the environment, and explore ways in which the global textile industry can mitigate its role in climate change by perusing supply chain advancements and incorporating innovative new materials. Issues like managing water waste, improving chemical dye profiles and inefficiencies on the factory floor will be explored throughout talks with leading industry experts.
The show’s second day will feature Angela Kramer, senior manager of fabric research and development at 3.1. Phillip Lim; Björn Bengtsson, chief merchandising officer at men’s shirting brand Untuckit LLC and adjunct professor at Parsons; and Katsu Kawasaki, founder of SynZenbe and Katsu New York.
This show’s exhibitors encompass some of Japan’s leading design studios, denim mills, weavers, silk manufacturers, organic cotton manufacturers and purveyors of traditional Japanese embroidered textiles.
India is unlikely to be directly affected by the recent US-China trade deal signed as the country gained little from the almost two-year old trade war between the two trading giants. But, if the hard-negotiated pact goes beyond the first phase and is implemented in spirit by both nations, India could benefit from an overall improvement in sentiments and performance of world trade. However, there are some, who argue that India seems to lack the competitive strength to take advantage of a global turnaround.
Moreover, as per the pact, tariffs on $120 billion worth of goods would be halved, but much of the higher duties on about $360 billion of Chinese exports to the US and more than $100 billion of US exports to China would stay. China has also committed to increase its purchases in manufacturing, services, agriculture and energy from 2017 levels by $200 billion over two years and that could include $ 50 billion worth of agricultural goods a year. But that should also not be a reason for worry for India’s exporters. India and China have been in talks since the trade war started for increased purchases by Beijing of commodities such as soybean which it had been mostly buying from the US. But it did not actually result in much increase in exports from India. So, a resumption of farm goods purchases by China from the US is not likely to hurt India.
Instead of spinning off its Old Navy brand, Gap Inc aims to operate the brand in a more rigorous and transformational manner that empowers its growth. The company expects the brand’s full-year 2019 profit to be ‘moderately above’ its previous projection of $1.70 to $1.75 a share because of “better-than-anticipated promotional levels over the holiday period.
Founded in 1969 in San Francisco, Gap rose to prominence as a denim emporium selling jeans from Levi Strauss & Co., another Bay Area institution. It helped pioneer the vertical integration of retail and started producing its own branded goods. By the 1990s it had transformed into a fashion juggernaut, jumping on the khaki-pants trend and building up robust secondary brands in Banana Republic and Old Navy.
But struggles started in the middle of the next decade as mall traffic declined and operational issues cropped up. One of the most famous missteps came in 2010, when the company unveiled a new Gap logo. Some shoppers complained, so it reverted to the old logo just a week later.
A new research by sustainable fashion brand Labfresh ranks Italy as the worst textile polluter in Europe with the UK coming not far behind in fourth place. The study gathered data on a range of indicators, including the total amount of textile waste, spending on new clothing per person, and yearly exports of worn clothing, to rank European nations based on the sustainability of their fashion industries.
Italy was branded the biggest polluter, with the country producing 466 tonne of textile waste every year. Italians also spend a proportionately large amount on new clothing each year, at £920 per person.
The UK came in as the fourth worst offender, although its total textile waste is less than half that of Italy, at 206 tonne per year. Brits spend a similar annual sum on clothing to their Italian counterparts, at £980 - despite the country's GDP per capita being 25 per cent higher. In contrast, a Mediterranean nation also produces the least textile waste, with Spain discarding just under 99 tonnes of textiles a year. That's 2.1kg per person, compared to the UK's 3.1kg.
Of the 3.1kg of annual textile waste each Briton produces, only 0.3kg are recycled and 0.4kg are reused. However, 0.8kg are incinerated and 1.7kg are disposed of in landfill.Only Austrians spend more a year on clothes than Brits, totalling £1,082 per person. The study also looks at where the clothing industry has the greatest share of gross domestic product (GDP). The UK came in third, at 3.1 per cent. Portugal claimed first place, at 4.1 per cent.
Purchased by Canadian company Gilden Activewear in 2017, fashion retailer American Apparel is planning to make a comeback in the retail market. The company landed in bankruptcy court in 2015 and in 2016. At its peak, the fashion retailer was synonymous with made-in-LA hipster cool and provocative advertising. It was known for manufacturing its products in Los Angeles and paying workers a proper wage in an industry known for poor working conditions.
However, allegations of sexual harassment surfaced around its founder Dov Charney, and people started to wonder if American Apparel’s overtly sexualized image went too far. In 2014, the board of American Apparel ousted Charney. The board also asked its CEO Jan Rogers Kniffen to voluntarily step down and relinquish control over his 27 per cent ownership stake in the company, or be forcibly removed. Using old, discredited allegations to terminate Kniffen, the company embarked on a well-financed media campaign to discredit his track record as a successful executive and entrepreneur.
