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Fortum and Metsa have collaborated with Business Finland to create a R&D programme with pulp fibre from renewable and sustainable sources as its node. The four-year programme, called ExpandFibre, aims to develop ground-breaking technologies and smart business concepts required to convert straw and wood pulp fibre into novel bioproducts, like textile fibres.
The R&D programme has been granted €20 million from Business Finland. ExpandFibre will be part of a global innovation ecosystem. The ExpandFibre partners Fortum and Metsä want to encourage members of the ecosystem to significantly accelerate their efforts within the circular bioeconomy. Members of the ecosystem can apply for financing from Business Finland or from the EU, according to a press release by Metsa.
ExpandFibre is a unique collaboration scheme to be launched during the summer of 2020 and extending until August 2024. The programme focuses on seven research themes which include textiles, biocomposites, packaging materials, other new fibre products, hemicellulose, lignin, and sourcing and fractionation of straw.
The value chains of interest to the ExpandFibre programme are all based on renewable and sustainable raw materials, namely straw and Northern wood. Importantly, ExpandFibre is challenging other actors of related value chains to accelerate their efforts in building a world-leading innovation ecosystem together and, subsequently, enabling new bioproducts and green businesses to reach commercial maturity.
The second iteration of Kingpins24 set for June 23-24, will provide the denim industry with a fresh set of digital content to help navigate—and establish—the new normal.
The digital trade show, presented by The NPD Group, just announced its program and lineup of speakers, which will include “Godfather of Denim” Adriano Goldschmied, Kingpins founder Andrew Olah, and United Nations Office for Partnerships chief of office Lucie Brigham, among others representing different aspects of the denim industry.
Highlights include “Circularity in Design,” an expert panel scheduled for June 23 at 10:00 a.m. EDT with Conscious Fashion Campaign founder Kerry Bannigan, Calik Denim product development engineer Cem Ozan Sari, Orta Anadolu sustainability specialist Sebla Onder, and denim designer and consultant Malin Ekengren.
Another expert panel will look at the future of Cradle to Cradle fabrics, and feature Artistic Milliners CEO Omer Ahmed, G-Star Raw sustainability expert Adriana Galijasevic, Cradle to Cradle vice president for strategy and development Christina Raab, and Rivet editor Angela Velasquez, on June 23. The Kingpins24 event will also feature interviews with designers, including Trinidad Garcia III of Trinidad3 Jeans and Rivet on June 24.
On June 25, Denim Dudes’ Amy Leverton will present the complete Fall/Winter 2021 Kingpins Denim Trend Forecast.
IKEA and its research and design lab SPACE10 have launched EverydayExperiments.com.
The explorative, surprising and playful experiments can be perceived on the platform, that demonstrates how homes can be experienced in extraordinary ways through the means of technology. Conducted by some of the world’s most innovative design and technology studios, the experiments focus on AI, machine learning, augmented reality and spatial intelligence.
Technology is quickly becoming a vital part of the IKEA customer experience and home furnishing offer. Being a values-driven brand, IKEA focuses on people and planet. As it enters a new digital era, it is also exploring new ways to create a better everyday life at home, while protecting people’s privacy.
Leading German circular knitting machine builder, Terrot reports that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chemnitz headquartered company is forging ahead with its R&D activities, whilst supporting its customers.
In spite of limited travel activities Terrot keeps the contact to clients and its ability to act by 100 per cent. In a direct cooperation with clients and external partners, the company is testing new technical features and puts them into practice. In addition to its core business, Terrot is also continuing with the production of mouth-nose masks. Together with regional and international partners, the company is producing high quality masks according to customer requirements
New research from global animal protection organisation Four Paws finds that the fashion industry falls short between what they say and what is delivered, with only 21 per cent of brands tracing even a portion of the animal derived materials for animal welfare. To raise awareness and recognition of these fundamental issues, Four Paws has developed the world’s first Animal Welfare in Fashion Report.
This report is based on a study of 77 leading Australian and global brands, with the majority owned by nine of the world’s top 20 publicly listed fashion companies which have an estimated market value of over US$550 billion. The FOUR PAWS Animal Welfare in Fashion Report assesses the extent to which companies are addressing animal welfare risks in their supply chains, with a focus on four key spotlight issues of material consideration – wool, down, exotic leather and fur.
Using analytical rigour and evidence-based research, the report highlights the risks of animal-based supply chains in fashion, to animals and brands and retailers.
Luxury brand Chanel’s 2020 revenues and profit would be significantly hit by COVID-19
Like rivals, Chanel had to shut shops across the globe and idle manufacturing sites as the virus first emerged in the sector’s key market of China and then spread to the rest of the world.
Some 85 per cent of the group’s stores have now reopened and it has seen sales rebound in China - by over 100 per ce nt in some weeks. Shoppers were returning in Paris, Milan and Berlin, he said.
Chanel, which still expects to turn a profit this year, is reducing advertising and promotions by more than a quarter, cutting production and has cancelled or transformed some events like fashion shows this year, including by streaming them online.
Chanel would forgo dividend payments in 2020, Blondiaux added. These payouts largely go to Chanel’s billionaire owners, brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, and almost doubled in 2019.
The European Union (EU) dwindled both volume-wise and value-wise in its apparel imports during January-March 2020 period. The imports fell in the aftermath of the COVID-19 in Europe.
EU imported € 19.58 billion worth of garments in the first quarter of 2020, falling by 11.46 per cent on the yearly note. While the import volumes plunged by 12.69 per cent, the unit values (per kg of the garments) escalated by 1.41 per cent to € 18.72.
The Chinese shipment to EU tumbled by18.69 per cent in Q1 ’20 and clocked € 5.16 billion revenue. Volume-wise, China exported 282.52 million kg of garments to EU only to see 20.81 per cent downfall on Y-o-Y basis.
Unit values of the Chinese shipment surged by 2.69 per cent and stood at € 18.27 in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period.
Bangladesh’s fall in its apparel shipment to EU was comparatively less. The country exported € 4.27 billion worth of garments to EU, noting 10.63 per cent fall, while volumes declined by 10.33 per cent in Q1 ’20.
Interestingly, Bangladesh stayed ahead of China in terms of values of knitted garment exports to EU. Chinese export in knitted segment was € 2.34 billion (down 16.75 per cent), while Bangladesh was marginally ahead with € 2.37 billion (down 9.11 per cent) worth of shipment.
In woven clothing, China was far ahead of Bangladesh with € 2.81 billion (down 20.23 per cent) worth of shipment to EU, while latter could manage to ship just € 1.90 billion (down 12.46 per cent) worth of woven garments to its largest export destination.
Turkey’s growth too decelerated by 11.02 per cent in shipment values and 12.41 per cent in volumes. The country shipped 98 million kg of garments to EU worth € 2.311 billion.
India and Vietnam too noted fall in their respective apparel exports to EU. Vietnam plunged substantially by 11.35 per cent to clock € 780.82 million from its RMG shipment to EU, while volumes shipment stood at just 30.61 million kg in Q1 ’20, falling 12.65 per cent from a year earlier.
India’s fall was significant both in volumes (down 18.39 per cent) and values (down 19.77 per cent). The country shipped 57.49 million kg of garments to EU in Jan.-Mar. ’20 period worth € 1.18 billion.
The major fall was reported in the month of March when EU declined by 19.20 per cent in volume terms due to drastic fall in the Chinese shipment. The import values also fell by 21.40 per cent, while UVR reduced by 2.60 per cent.
Chinese shipments tumbled by 33.20 per cent in volume terms in March on Y-o-Y, while the values were down by 28.47 per cent. The fall in shipments from rest of the world was much lower to that of China both in volumes (down 14.86 per cent) and in values (down 19.37 per cent) in the month of March.
April data is likely to reflect further collapse in EU’s import of clothing as the European countries were under lockdown after the massive spread of COVID-19.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), to benefit from tax slashes in the EVFTA, Vietnamese textiles and garment industry must source materials from Vietnam or the EU, and the cutting and sewing processes must take place in either, too. The EVFTA also allows materials sourced from South Korea, with which the EU and Vietnam have an FTA, to be eligible for tax incentives.
Still, VitaJean was not qualified for preferential tariffs as it mainly sources materials from Taiwan and mainland China. If the company sourced materials from elsewhere, it would face another challenge in quality and design. For example, Thai materials generally do not have versatile design and quality like those from China. It is also difficult to import materials from Thailand than China due to higher logistics costs and slower delivery times.
On the same note, Garmex Saigon Corporation is going to be in a tough position once the EVFTA comes into force as it will not meet the EVFTA’s fabric-forward rules because it mainly relies on Chinese materials. At present, the EU market accounts for 40 per cent of the company’s export revenue.
British clothing label Superdry is set to quit the Mainland China market after five years of mounting losse.
Superdry launched in China in September 2015 with a catwalk show at the British embassy in Beijing. In partnership with Trendy International Group which has around 3000 stores on the mainland, Superdry originally planned to open two to five stores in the first year. Each of the two companies pledged to invest £9 million each over 10 years to develop the brand.
Since April 1, about 90 per cent of Superdry China employees, from store roles to head office, have been under pressure to take unpaid leave, while management and directors have accepted a 25-per-cent salary reduction.
Textile and apparel companies recorded worst sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 leading to a slew of bankruptcies and severe declines for manufacturers. Fibers firms Lenzing and Unifi saw their quarterly revenues decline on soft demand and weak pricing, causing profits to tumble. In the case of Unifi, its net loss grew 264 percent to $41.1 million.
For basics apparel manufacturers like Gildan Activewear and Hanesbrands that own most of their own production, sales were down 26.4 percent for the former and 11.9 percent for the latter, but earnings nosedived more than 100 percent and profit margins suffered. For Hanesbrands, which like many companies pivoted a share of production to personal protective equipment, earnings fell 109.7 percent to a net loss of $7.87 million.
For jeans mavens Kontoor Brands and Levi Strauss, revenue declines were less dramatic–Levi’s actually pulled off a 5 percent gain–but earnings tumbled, again with the exception of Levi’s, which posted a 4 percent increase. Wrangler and Lee parent Kontoor Brands saw earnings fall 118 percent to a net loss of $2.71 million, while earnings at VF declined a staggering 475.6 percent to a net loss of $483.8 million.
Specialized brands saw an equally unfortunate fate. Columbia Sportswear’s sales in the quarter were down 13 percent, but net income decelerated 99.7 percent to $200,000. Puma’s sales fell a slight 1.3 percent, but the sneaker-driven athletic company saw earnings decline 62 percent to $39.2 million.
