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Spinnova has carried out financing and ownership arrangements that will ensure the next phase in the company’s growth story. Developing a sustainable textile fiber, Spinnova will ramp up its pilot factory in Finland this year. Spinnova has joint product development underway with various other partners. The fiber innovation has raised wide interest from global textile brands out of which many which have committed to challenging sustainability goals.
Thanks to the financers, starting the pilot factory and the product development work are moving full speed ahead. Licensing the technology now being developed in Finland is its most likely future business model, so piloting the technology concept on an industrial scale is now the company’s main priority.
Spinnova’s process uses wood and waste stream based fibers instead of cotton, replacing the toxic viscose process. It sees sustainable businesses as a great opportunity to make good investments while making the world a better place for our children.
Spinnova’s majority shareholder is Brazilian cellulose company Fibria, which invested €5 million into the company in 2017. The development of the Spinova fiber has surpassed expectations. Spinnova’s ownership base has also changed. VTT Ventures, which helped the company’s early steps, has given up its ownership. VTT has been replaced with two new investors.
Used clothes imported from the US and other developed countries are posing a challenge to Africa's clothing industries. Textile manufacturers are struggling with issues like: smuggling, poor patronage and low purchasing power while capacity for apparel production remains low.
For many micro and small businesses who deal in clothing and apparels, secondhand clothes from developed countries dominate their stalls. With consumers' purchasing power declining, secondhand clothes have become attractive for the low-income group.
Nigeria used to be the largest textile hub in Sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa. Nigeria represented 63 per cent of the textile capacity in the West African sub-region. The number of textile and garment factories has fallen from 175 in the mid 1990s to less than 25 in 2010.
Nigerian clothes are not as good as secondhand clothes and fade faster. Consumers would like to buy new clothing but are constrained by paucity of funds. The real threat is not the secondhand clothes but the grey market which imitates local brands and also sells below production costs of local producers. Brands can’t meet up with the kind of price this market offers because of their high cost of production. But there are opportunities waiting to be harnessed in the mass market that seeks quality readymade clothes in various sizes at cheap prices.
London Fashion Week will be held from September 20 to 23. The four days will see designer catwalks, industry talks, designer shopping and consumer experiences. Around 14,000 visitors are expected to witness the ultimate fashion experience with curated shopping galleries from over 150 international and British brands, catwalk shows, industry talks and style presentations. Visitors can gain an insight into the fashion industry. It also gives designer brands the opportunity to meet and build direct relationships with new customers.
British fashion designer Liam Hodges will collaborate with Low Heat to launch an exclusive collection of merchandise available for purchase. Low Heat is a channel for local and international artists to share their music and experiment with new creative ideas. The fashion week will present autumn/winter ’18 collections from Mother of Pearl. Designer Katherine Hamnett will also present a catwalk collection.
Model, activist and body positive ambassador Charli Howard will discuss body positivity and image in the fashion industry and self-care in the digital age. Glamour’s fashion director at large Alexandra Fullerton will explore opportunities in visual roles in fashion, from set design to art direction with a panel of industry insiders. Niomi Smart will discuss the power of digital influence.
ISPO Munich will be held from February 3 to 6, 2019. It will feature leading textile innovations. Ten different sectors will be featured, including base and second layer, to membrane and coatings, insulation, trims and accessories.
With the popularity of ISPO Textrends continuing to grow from participants as well as visitors, two new areas have been highlighted for the fall/winter 20/21 edition. Performance Finishes has been developed to highlight the development in this sector from chemical finishing companies. More brands are looking to using layering technology in their fabrics. Through the latest scientific developments many functional factors can be added to a fabric through finishing.
Natural Generation has been incorporated with growing demand for natural fabrics along with performance. Sustainability having gained ground across the entire textile chain, natural tendency focus on the benefits that natural fibers can bring to the sports and outdoors markets. Applications to this new sector must have a minimum of 80 per cent natural ingredients as the proprietary fiber.
Awardees at ISPO Textrends are automatically included into the seasonal Trend Book with photos of the winning products combined with direct contact info and full descriptions. The seasonal trend book has proven to be an essential sourcing tool, with the contents of ISPO Textrends available at your fingertips 365 days a year.
Fashion’s best-kept secret is its criminal waste. Luxury brands would rather destroy their unsold stock than offer discounts. Tons of unsold stocks in mint condition are destroyed every year by brands. Reasons could be to keep the demand high and supply low; to ensure that nothing goes into the discount market, and to maintain the exclusivity and mystique associated with their brands.
Every sort of luxury product—from watches to perfumes and bags--has been destroyed. And since fashion cycles are increasingly getting shorter, due to the alarming regularity with which fashion weeks are hosted, there is a lot of excess stock to destroy. Impairment of inventories are done because of product obsolescence (end of season collection, approaching date of expiry etc.) or lack of sales prospects.
Some brands dump their products by holding private sales for their employees and journalists covering luxury. Once that is done, they just burn the rest of the merchandise. Rather than destroying, one way out for brands is a drop in production. Another way is to design products that can be recycled, with a focus on creativity and innovation to avoid unsustainable practices. Curtailing excess production and large-scale destruction are two crucial issues that the luxury industry will have to think about a lot more seriously.
Ikea’s entry into India has hit sales of some furniture makers. When brands like Ikea announce their launch, customers put their immediate purchases on hold and wait for the brand to make an entry. This process affects business for other players.
But they feel after the initial excitement and curiosity settles down, customers will streamline their buying preferences and many of their regular customers will return. In their bid to take on competition, domestic players have shifted their focus from price point strategy to material quality strategy.
Some furniture makers have managed to find a perfect solution to keep up with customer expectations. They are manufacturing a roll-pack mattress that can easily fit into the size of a TV box bringing the shipping cost down by 70 per cent. They hope to ship more products at a low cost across India and the waiting period is less than three days.
One startup has even opened an experiential center, where customers can go sleep for 30 minutes before buying the product. Another startup visits customers at their homes, which brands like Ikea may fail to do. This helps a brand understand customer expectations and build what customers want. The country’s furniture market is projected to cross $32 billion by 2019.
With emphasis placed on responsible manufacturing and sourcing, circular economy is the new eco buzz word. Traditional linear textile chain is having a shakeup and a growing element in circular economy products. Efficiency will be crucial to the survival of the sector throughout the entire textile chain, from clean ingredients, chip dyed yarns, innovative yarns that create interesting aspects with one dye bath, fabric that self heals when ripped and self launder.
The efficiency wave continues through to garment production, as textile manufacturers and brands collaborate in creating varying control and performance in panels within the fabric that eliminate seams. In a landscape of uncertainty on a geo and political level, consumers need reassurance, especially through an emotional reconnection to touch and through the use of color.
Laser finishing, waterless dyeing through to 24/7 freshness through anti-door ingredients all feature. Trailblazing smart fabrics will come through from personal thermal regulation systems to reflective features and e-textiles. Smarter fibers and finishes feature, but this also transfers through to product design, with engineered technictity and a reduction of the sewing process. Intelligent fabrics react and respond to different environments and protect the wearer. The traditional supply chain has been disrupted by B2C partnerships.
In fiscal 2018, Bangladesh’s readymade garment exports to India were up 115 per cent compared to exports in fiscal 2017. Of the total amount, earnings from knitwear products were 89.75 per cent higher than the same period a year ago. Earnings from woven products were up 124.79 per cent.
Also, since India has raised duties on clothing imports from China, this has opened an opportunity for Bangladesh readymade garment exporters. India has doubled import duty on about 328 textile and apparel products from China. As a non-traditional export destination, India is a potentially great market for Bangladesh. It is logical if India’s textile products imports from China decrease, Bangladesh can grab the space.
Since India has a large population and a growing middle-income group, there is scope for exports from Bangladesh to Indian markets to see a sharp rise. Bangladesh already enjoys duty and quota-free market access to Indian markets. Now Bangladesh manufacturers have to develop good relations with global retailers, who are opting to open outlets in India. Non-tariff barriers are a great challenge for Bangladesh in penetrating Indian markets.
In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh’s export earnings from the apparel sector were 8.76 per cent higher compared to previous year earnings.
Jahon Information Agency, Uzbekipaksanoat (Uzbek Silk Industry) Association and the Italian Silk Association will team up to establish an Italian industrial park in Uzbekistan. The park will house companies specialising in the processing of cocoons, the manufacture of silk products, as well as equipment and necessary components. The setting up of this park, according to experts, will increase the export of silk products to the European Union, as well as create new markets in European countries.
In addition, the association is negotiating with Turkish textile companies to produce new goods – silk carpets and the painting of silk fabrics. About 30 mills for the processing of cocoons are currently being modernised on the lines of integrated development of the silk industry until 2021, approved by the Uzbek Government. Eleven new specialized enterprises for deep processing of silkworm cocoons worth $83.2 million are also being organised.
The association also signed agreements As for the purchase of new equipment from such well-known companies as Van De Wiele, Picanol and Reggiani. As a result, it has planned to double the production of raw silk in three years and increase the figure to 3 thousand tonne per year. It also plans to increase the production of silk fabrics eightfold through the deep processing of raw materials.
Jeanologia has introduced the sustainable concept to the textile industry through two innovative collections, 5.Zero: Indigo & vintage and All blacks. The collection 5.Zero indigo & vintage, is inspired by the vintage of the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s and shows how, through the use of Jeanologia’s laser, it is possible to create wear and other effects from the era, saving water and considerably reducing the use of chemicals and energy.
All blacks showcases the benefits of eco-technology for developing finishes on black denim. Combining the use of laser and G2 ozone technology, Jeanologia enhances the white effect in the used area, avoiding the use of potassium permanganate spray.
The Spanish company is a pioneer in the development of sustainable technologies worldwide. The aim is to have zero discharge, zero manual scrapping, zero potassium permanganate spray, zero stone washing and zero bleach as the standard in the denim industry, improving appearance and product quality with a neutral cost.
The environmental footprint of all developments made at Jeanologia is analyzed using the EIM (Environmental Impact Measurement) software. This software, developed by the company, measures water, energy and chemical consumption. By doing so, it can be proved that all garments have a low environmental impact.
