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Lululemon has emerged as one of greatest retail survivors of the COVID-19 crisis by posting an operating surplus in the first quarter while almost all of its apparel contemporaries were bleeding.
The brand’s net revenue decreased by 17 per cent while it reported $32.8 million income from operations in the quarter to May 3, down 75 percent on the same period last year, but an outlier in the industry.
Though COVID-19 forced the closure of all of its company-operated stores in North America and Europe, its direct-to-consumer revenue soared 70 percent on a constant-currency basis as the company targeted housebound consumers eager to buy comfortable exercise wear in place of their normal office attire. Direct to consumer net revenue represented 54 percent of total sales compared to 26.8 percent for the first quarter of last year.
Authentic Brands is teaming with mall landlords Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties to purchase the troubled retailer JC Penney, which filed for bankruptcy on May 15.
JCPenney has already pledged to close 150 of its 800-plus stores. It would be the second deal this year for the Mall Owners-Authentic team, which bailed Forever 21 out of bankruptcy earlier this year. According to several sources, Authentic and Simon are also looking at Brooks Brothers Inc. on a joint bid that would be part of a potential bankruptcy filing.
The current Authentic Brands portfolio is a mix of licensed fashion brands and retail. The fashion brands range from Elvis Presley to Frye to Fredericks of Hollywood. The retail brands include Forever 21, Aeropostale and Barneys. The JCP deal would put the buying team in two of the toughest areas of retailing in any time period: department stores and malls.
Spanish-based fashion retailer Mango has set up a new, automated distribution centre to serve both its online and physical store business. Designed and built by TGW Logistics Group, the centre enables Mango to prepare its entire product range in one central hub located near Barcelona, consolidating its supply chain.
The multichannel retailer has grown its business substantially in recent years, with a presence in 110 countries and over 15,000 employees. It has 2,200 stores and also offers its range of clothing, footwear, bags, and accessories to customers online.
The new distribution centre serves its global business efficiently, with the aim of optimising delivery times and reducing logistics costs. To begin with, cartons are received in containers or on pallets at the inbound zone, which move on to the storage and order preparation zone which has a capacity of 850,000 cartons and 44 aisles.
Daily orders are then prepared in cartons for flat garments and accessories in the picking zone, which contains eight toting stations and a Stingray shuttle system. This shuttle system has 14 aisles with 13 levels each that supply mono-reference cartons to TGW picking workstations.
In absence of any recovery workers in the Philippines textiles, apparel and leather goods industries fear losing their jobs in the next six months. Over 20,000 workers have been laid-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 10 June, the clothing and textile industry tripartite council met to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the textile and garment sector in the Philippines. The massive job displacement, loss of income and reduction of working hours due to lack and cancellation of orders are pressing issues.
According to employers’ organization Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, more than 30 percent of employees at their member companies have been retrenched due to factory closures as many contracts and orders have been canceled and financial liquidity is running low.
Unions are demanding that the government and employers come up with immediate and appropriate measures to prevent more job losses and preserve workers’ income. Income support and assistance to the affected workers needs to be extended by the government, especially for those who remain temporary unemployed.
The unions also stress that safety and health protocols need to observed to ensure a safe workplace.
Though British Wool has guaranteed wool producers that it would continue to take wool from registered producers, their payments would not arrive until May 2021. The UK Wool sector is experiencing significant price reductions due to decreased demand across the world. The British Wool Marketing Board has around 9 million kg of unsold wool stock out of a total 2019/20 clip of 27m kg of wool to sell.
British Wool had earlier applied for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) from the government. But the board’s application was turned down as they were considered an ‘arms-length’ body of government.
British Wool has therefore, requested the government to treat it as a private sector business owned by its producers. It also requested the government to set up a strong wool marketing wool that would guarantee that all is wool is collected. It also urged consumers to recognize the value of wool products including the environmental benefits of clothes made from natural fibers and their thermal value.
KV Srinivasan, Chairman, Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) has urged the government to include cotton yarn under the 3 per cent Interest Equalisation Scheme. He also requested the government to cover cotton yarn and cotton fabrics under the present RoSCTL (Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies) Scheme and the much-awaited Refund of Duties and Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) Scheme.
He says, these schemes reimburse all duties and taxes incurred during the production process and support the maxim of “export of goods and not taxes”. It would also enhance the overall competitiveness of the textile industry and give a fillip to India becoming a hub of fabric and yarn production to serve both the domestic and export markets.
Texprocil also urged the government to release all the pending claims under ROSL and RoSCTL to exporters of made-ups and garments. All these measures will help exporters of cotton textiles sustain exports, which in turn enable consumption of cotton which has been procured and stocked by the Cotton Corporation of India in very large quantities.
Data released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows, textile exports in the country plunged by 53 per cent last month to $758 million, against the $1.62 billion logged in May 2019, while apparel exports fell by 66 per cent to $1.27 billion ($3.15 billion) as economies across the globe reeled under the pandemic. Export of cotton yarn and fabrics slipped 47 per cent to $465 million in May while those of readymade garment shipments dropped by 66 per cent to $517 million.
Similarly, textile exports in the first two months of this fiscal decreased by 68 per cent to $991 million while that of apparel decreased by 78 per cent to $643 million.
The autumn edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics (ISAF) will continue to support the industry growth with a diverse product offering from China, Asia and around the world. The fair will be held from September 23-25 September at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. International opportunities are reason for the success of IASF’s as one of the industry’s biggest events and a trusted platform that attracts leading suppliers and buyers each year according to past exhibitors. It is the best platform to access the Chinese and global market, feels Kiichiro Kobayashi, Manager of Fibers & Textiles Marketing Departmenit at Asahi Kasei Corporation, Japan.
With exhibitors covering the entire product spectrum, buyers can source from distinct country and region pavilions and product zones according to their needs and diversify their supply chains. Exhibitors and visitors can also benefit from the exhibition’s fringe program events that will offer latest market trends. The Intertextile Directions Trend Forum and the Fabrics China Trend Forum will present international and domestic Autumn/Winter 2021-22 apparel fabric trends, while product presentations, seminars and panel discussions will allow industry players to share their expertise while providing networking opportunities to devise new solutions for the industry to recover together.
ISAF – Autumn Edition 2020 will be held concurrently with Yarn Expo Autumn, CHIC and PH Value to create sourcing synergy. The fair is co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK); the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Textile Information Centre.
Meridian Specialty Yarn Group, Inc. (MSYG) has launched polyester yarns processed with CiCLO technology. This technology allows polyester fibers to break down in landfills and the ocean at rates comparable to a natural fiber like wool.
Yarns with CiCLO technology are also available to manufacturers of medical PPE for use making medical gowns, lab coats, medical setting curtains and other medical textiles typically made from polyester. These yarns can be treated with antimicrobials proven effective at reducing exposure to viral infections and have the same beauty, wear-ability, durability, functionality, and performance characteristics consumers expect from polyester.
The yarns are currently being processed in the United States in MSYG’s new manufacturing plant in Valdese, North Carolina. The facility, which opened in July 2019, is he most modern and up to date dyehouse in the US and equal to, or better than, any other yarn dyeing operation worldwide.
According to MSYG, the plant has been engineered to use dramatically less water and power than comparable textile operations and generates much less effluent as a by-product of the dyeing and drying process.
LVMH-owned luxury fashion house of Givenchy has appointed designer Matthew M Williams, the 34-year-old founder of luxury streetwear-inspired label 1017 ALYX 9SM, as its new art director. Williams will succeed Clare Waight Keller after her exit in April, and will present his first collection in Paris this October.
The appointment of Williams will further push Givenchy in a streetwear direction, though he joins the luxury couture house during a period of turbulence for the fashion industry. Williams will join the label during a moment of profound societal change, during which consumers are questioning how all the institutions they interact with are actively fighting discrimination. He will likely be expected to deliver the types of collections that drive customers to queue up to shop, but on a much larger scale than he has operated before.
Givenchy, a couture house with a rich history, has major expectations for future growth. Its parent company LVMH hopes the label to grow like Dior with revenue exceeding €2 billion ($2.14 billion).
Cotton USA has signed new licensees with two Western European firms, I Cotoni di Albini and Bugatti. These licenses cover the equivalent of 2,088 bales of US cotton. I Cotoni di Albini, a company of the Albini group, specialises in the production of high-end yarns. Owing to its partnership with Cotton USA, Supima, and Oritain, I Cotoni di Albini can offer 100 per cent traceable US cotton. Incepted in 1876 in Italy, the Albini group’s ambition is to create the most beautiful fabrics in the world.
Bugatti, a German mid-market men’s, and women’s brand, is licensed for a line of US cotton-rich men trousers. Established in 1947, the company employs more than 1,000 people in Germany. In 2019, the company generated sales worth $250 million and export share was 44 per cent. The group’s main export are to Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Russia. Bugatti has 327 points-of-sale in Germany and 600 in its export markets.
