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The workers of both the factories of Zara and Primark have protested against the management for sacking them on pretext of the global crisis. The workers even complained of poor sanitary conditions in the factory as well as rude language used by supervisors. The workers of Huabo Times factory also sent a separate letter to Primark requesting for the reinstatement of workers.
Several garment workers in Myanmar, who make clothes for retail bigwigs like Zara and Primark, came in for rude shock when they were sacked days after they had formed a union.
Days after registering for the union, around 100 garment workers of Huabo Times factory were sacked by the management. Those sacked were either union members or their supporters.
Shockingly, in less than 4 days all the sacked workers were replaced by 200 non-union workers from another factory – putting a question mark on management’s justification of laying off workers due to coronavirus crisis.
New Zealand start-up Aviro recently claimed to have developed the the world’s first clothing effective against the novel coronavirus. What initially started as a solution for women working in rest homes during the lockdown was developed into a product to fight the virus. The fabric used in the clothing range is treated with a chemical that destroys the virus.
The clothing was developed by Jamie Hunt, who founded Australasian sportswear brand 2XU and is the brain behind Aviro.
During the lockdown, Jamie's daughter discussed her difficulties in her daily routine as a healthcare worker that includes washing clothes, disinfecting shoes and running to the shower, according to New Zealand media reports.
In just two months, Jamie used his contacts to create a range of clothes and masks sprayed with a special virus-killing layer. The technology was first created in 2011 by Swiss company Hei-Q. It works to draw viruses to the surface and then breaks them open, destroying them in the process.
The virus pops open, breaks up and quickly gets destroyed, according to HeiQ chief executive officer Carlo Centonze.
The product has been tested at independent labs to prove the fabric lives up to the claim of being effective after 30 washes.
Style Group, a producer of blinds, has launched two highly innovative fabrics to fight against COVID-19.
The United Kingdom-based company -- which has production plants in Spain, the Netherlands and Romania -- generates fabrics for the home, business and hotel industry.
It has launched a new line of cloth technologies which are made up of Antivaltex -- a new cloth that kills corona type viruses in the very contact, and Aircleantex -- a cloth that transforms ultraviolet light and purifies the air.
Coimbatore-headquartered denim fabric manufacturing major KG Denim has introduced a rechargeable chlorinated- finish smart technology fabric called ‘BioRefresh’.
The fabric was developed in-house; our technology enables the fabric to repeatedly absorb chlorine from commonly available detergents like Rin Ala to disinfect the fabric and remains effective up to 80 washes. The products antimicrobial and antiviral power is renewed with every bleach wash, during normal laundry processes.”
The chlorine on the surface of the fabric has been found “not harmful” and “will pass skin sensitivity tests”. Tests have shown that the effect on the fabric lasts up to two weeks.
Surface contamination is a major cause for transmission of infectious diseases. Textiles are a good media for the growth of bacteria, fungi and viruses, albeit under humidity and warmth. It is not only important to kill these microbes, but destroy them at a faster rate to avoid the transmission.
BioRefresh products are recommended for use in hospitals, schools, canteen and food packaging industry. The company is in the process of patenting both the technology and trademark.
The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO) and the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands (CNV) recently signed a statement on joint initiative to address COVID-19 impact on workers and businesses of the textile-garment and leather- footwear-handbag industries in Vietnam.
The organisations called for building an agenda and a road map involving social partners wishing to join hands to overcome the crisis and develop sustainable and prosperous industries.
They recommended investing in strategic partnerships and promoting social dialogue that suits the context in Vietnam and international labour standards, according to Vietnamese media reports.
According to VGCL Vice president Ngo Duy Hieu, the pandemic has affected employment in these sectors, with more than a million of the 4.3 million employees turning jobless while the rest have worked at only 50-60 per cent of their capacity, thereby decreasing their incomes.
In 2020, the export turnover of the textile-garment industry is forecast to drop by $8.5 billion while that of the leather-footwear-handbag sector may fall by $5.5 billion. Due to COVID-19, shipments to the European Union alone by both industries are projected to decrease by nearly $5 billion this year.
With millions of Americans becoming unemployed, the market for second-hand clothing is growing in the country. Recent data by the Commerce Department indicates second hand clothes retail platforms in the country continued to record robust sales as consumers became increasingly price-conscious. ThredUp’s recent annual report also revealed that from mid-March to the end of May, its weekly gross transaction volume grew by 20 per cent compared to the same time period last year. From mid-April to mid-May, Poshmark too experienced a 50 per cent increase in clothing and accessories sales compared to the previous year while the traffic on Depop’s platform increased by 100 per cent year-over-year in April.
Compared to traditional thrift stores or the first wave of resale sites like eBay, digitally-native resale sites like Depop, Poshmark, and ThredUp offer more of a social experience. For instance, Poshmark hosted in-person meetups for sellers. It also added a Stories feature, similar to Instagram’s and Snapchat’s, to its app in April. That has been a benefit during the stay at home orders, when people were spending more time online.
However, one challenge that all of the secondhand apparel sites are facing right now is that items are taking longer to ship — which can turn away first-time customers if their items take too long to arrive. Unlike some other resale sites, ThredUp sellers don’t directly ship items to buyers — they instead ship them to ThredUp warehouses, where the company cleans and inspects items before making them available for purchase on its website. Hence it takes ThredUp longer to process items thanks to social distancing and stricter cleaning measures that it has implemented in its warehouses.
Abdul • Jun 16, 12:59 PM Facing severe shortage of skilled workers, textile mills in Surat, Gujarat are offering daily wages to laborers. Recently, Yajuvendra Dubey, a textile mill worker from Bihar was offered daily wages by his textile mill in Pandesara GIDC Surat. Similarly workers in over 40 textile mills located in Sachin and Pandesara GIDC areas have switched to daily wage payment looking into the demand of workers who stayed back and are facing financial crunch.
As per estimate, out of total two lakh workers, only 30,000 have decided to stay back in Surat. Textile mills that have resumed work in the city are running at less than 30 per cent capacity. Most of them are engaged in completing pending orders only without any fresh orders. According to Binay Agarwal, a textile mill owner in Sachin GIDC, these mills will have continue paying daily wages to workers until workers who have relocated to their villages return.
Pakistan’s cotton production during marketing year (Aug/Jul) 2020/21 is forecasted to be 1.37 million tons. This year, the area under cotton cultivation in the country is projected to decline by 12 per cent to 2.2 million hectares (MHA), due to a shift to other remunerable crops like corn, rice, and sugarcane. Cotton yield is expected to recover from the last year as only core cotton farmers will utilize their experiences to enhance productivity. The yield for marketing year 2020-21 is projected at 623 kg per hectare, 8 percent higher than the current year’s estimate of 575 kg per hectare.
In marketing year 2019/20 production, Pakistan produced 1.4million ton of cotton which was 13 percent lower than the previous year’s production of 1.65 million ton. The key factors that result in lowering of this production included extremely high temperatures during the critical month of September 2019, which hampered the development of fruiting bodies, severe attacks of whitefly and pink boll worms, and lower seed cotton prices.
Indian leather manufacturers and traders have urged the government to impose an anti-dumping duty on Chinese footwear to decrease the amount of cheap imports and make Indian businesses more competitive. The leather industry has also demanded an increase in import duty on chemicals used in the leather treatment process. Leather businesses have demanded increase in import duty on chemicals imported from China including basic chrome sulphate and sodium sulphide from the current rate of 8.2 per cent to 35 per cent.
Numerous Indian industries have also urged their customers to boycott Chinese goods in order to boost Indian manufacturing in the wake of lockdown and following border tensions between India and China. The Confederation of All India Traders has also been vocal about boycotting Chinese products, claiming that Chinese imports are costing Indian workers their jobs.
According to the Council of Leather Exports, a large number of Indian factories that manufactured the chemicals used to treat leather have closed down as they were unable compete with Chinese imports. China also manufactures a far greater volume of footwear than India and Chinese footwear exports to India have risen in recent years as India’s annual footwear consumption has increased.
Athletic apparel and footwear powerhouse JD Sports has bought back the assets of its adventured-oriented Go Outdoors for £56.5 million ($70.7 million), putting the outdoor retailer into administration. As a part of the administration process, JD Sports will soon begin restructuring the unit. The onset of COVID-19 pandemic made future viability of Go Outdoors “materially uncertain” as it was forced to shut 67 stores on March 23. Hence, JD Sports’ board of directors decided it was not in the best interest of the company and its shareholders to provide continued financial support to Go Outdoors in its existing form.
A company statement states, the terms of the present property leases Go Outdoors had been locked in were extremely inflexible. Leases have an average remaining expiration period of approximately 10 years with rent prices that can either go up or stay the same, but never go down, which is designed to protect the landlord from unforeseen market circumstances. Many of the leases are fixed at rates above inflation regardless of the market rent in the stores’ locations.
With the company put into administration, its Peter Cowgill, Executive Chairman looks forward to have positive conversations with landlords and agreeing to new flexible lease contracts to reflect the widely reported challenges of reduced consumer footfall.
