Australia has partnered the International Labor Organization to improve working conditions, empower women and boost the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry.

The partnership has been strengthened by the re-commitment of funds for Better Work Bangladesh as part of Australia’s ongoing partnership with ILO. Australia has been supporting BWB since 2016 and today the program reaches 4,85,708 workers in 210 factories who work with 22 international brands.

Australia is committed to fund this program until June 2020 as a demonstration of support for industrial safety, labor law governance and women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh. Australia’s ongoing support for the Better Work Bangladesh program drives important changes in workplace safety in the garment industry. Better Work has made measurable impacts on the lives of millions of workers and their families. It aims at uniting multiple stakeholders, promoting decent work for all and helping the garment industry in Bangladesh thrive. Australia is an important trading partner of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s products enjoy duty-free market access to Australia. Two-way export and import linkages are the key elements in the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Australia. Garments are the main export items while other products that are performing strong in Australian markets include ceramics, pharmaceuticals and leather goods.

Amina Razvi is executive director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). She has assumed day-to-day leadership of the coalition and has responsibility for its global operations. Razvi has worked at the SAC since 2015. Prior to her new role, she served as vice president of membership and then as interim executive director. Under Razvi’s previous position, the SAC strategically expanded its global presence and impact, increasing membership from 135 to more than 250, and expanding the Higg index customer base from approximately 1,800 to more than 13,000 global users. Amina’s vision, exceptional accomplishments and leadership capabilities are expected to drive SAC into the future and drive measurable impact reductions. An experienced industry professional, Amina possesses a unique combination of knowledge and vision to scale the work of the SAC and engage with members and stakeholders globally as SAC transforms the apparel, footwear and textile industry through the development and use of the Higg index.

SAC is an association representing the apparel, footwear and textile industry in sustainability. SAC members collaborate to develop the Higg index, a standardized suite of tools to assess environmental and social value chain impacts for the purpose of driving performance improvements and addressing the industry’s greatest sustainability challenges.

T-shirts are being made in Andhra Pradesh from organic cotton cultivated by tribals. The project has been taken up by a NGO, Regenerate the Environment Society and Economy through Textiles (Reset). The T-shirts are made with the cotton in garment factories based at Tirupur and Coimbatore. The cotton is raised in 26 villages. In all 18 tons of cotton are collected from the 230 farmers by cultivating it in 250 acres. The regenerative cotton is produced using climate resilient techniques and carbon farming. The entire Reset ecosystem involves farmers, ginners, spinners, knitters, dyers and garment workers. As many as 30,000 of these T-shirts are being worn by 8000 participants at an electronic dance music festival in Belgium, July 19 to 29.

Farmers are persuaded not to use chemical pesticides and herbicides and synthetic fertilisers. The unisex T-shirts are made with carefully chosen fabrics and print dyes that are not harmful to humans and the eco-system. Reset plans to involve more farmers and achieve a target of 62,500 acres and 15,000 farmers in the coming five years. The aim is to create the world’s first regenerative cotton value chain by imbibing the principles of ethical production and calling for conscious consumption, setting in motion a self-sustaining system.

Spinning mills in Andhra Pradesh are cutting down their yarn production of. Reason: a decline in exports and rising production costs. China has been a major importer of cotton for several years but during the last two years China has been gradually lowering its imports from India. Domestic demand has also slackened due to stiff competition. So mills have no option other than to reduce production.

There are over 120 spinning mills in the state. Yet another factor is the increase of minimum support price offered to farmers. In an effort to bail out cotton farmers, the support price has been raised by 25 per cent. As a result, millers are forced to buy cotton at a much higher rate. Finally, the delay in the release of power subsidies has forced some millers to shut down. Millers hope the power subsidies are released soon.

Indian yarn is known around the world for its fine quality and is preferred by European and American retailers. The US-China trade war has come in the way of export of Indian yarn and, with the US placing curbs on production in China, domestic spinning mills have started to feel the pinch.

US fashion brands, importers, wholesalers, retailers are cautious about the business outlook, their sourcing prospects and trade policy. They are less optimistic about the five-year outlook for the US fashion industry. The trade war with China has increased their cost of doing business. But US buyers hesitate to shift their sourcing from China, since China does not have a near competitor in terms of the variety of products it can make. Bangladesh is not as attractive as many of its competitors regarding speed to market, flexibility and agility, and risk of compliance. Bangladesh’s strengths are restricted to cotton trousers and cotton shirts. These products have accounted for nearly 60 per cent of total US apparel imports from Bangladesh in the past ten years.

Bangladesh will face tough competition in coming days given its increasing unit value in recent past and price reduction by China. Unit price from Bangladesh grew at the highest rate among all other producing countries during 2018 to May 2019.

At the same time 80 per cent of fashion brands and retailers of the United States having business with Bangladesh have expressed their interest in expanding sourcing from the country in the next two years.

Vietnam’s garment and textile sector earned $18 billion from exports, an 8.61 per cent year-on-year increase. The figure included $14.02 billion of clothing and $1.02 billion of fabrics, up 8.71 per cent and 29.9 per cent respectively.

According to VITAS, the number of orders in the first half of 2019 was equivalent to 70 per cent of the figure in the same period last year. In particular, consumption of yarn and raw materials faced many difficulties because the main export market China cut import volume. Meanwhile, garment products also experienced a drop in orders.

The US remained the biggest buyer, accounting for 47 per cent of total orders. It was followed by member states of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with 17 per cent, the EU at 13 per cent and South Korea with 9 per cent.

Meanwhile the country spent US$11.4 billion to import materials for garment and textile production in the first half of the year, up 5.6 per cent from the same period last year. Cotton imports reached $1.52 billion, fibre $1.23 billion, fabric $6.75 billion and auxiliary materials $1.89 billion.

Portugal’s textiles and apparel exports to the US in 2018 rose 11.25 per cent over 2017. There’s considerable added-value when sourcing in Portugal. Beyond quality and product innovation, manufacturers in the country are also known for flexibility and adaptability—which allows small-batch production, something the industry’s digitally-native brands, in particular, seek in their sourcing strategies. Portugal’s textile industry has exclusive products and is able to offer tradition and industrial knowhow at the textile level, with a capacity for constant renewal and resilience.

There is a strong network of partners in the textile cluster, excelling at innovation and sustainability. This regional network is part of what adds to the country’s flexibility. What’s more, as part of a strategic plan for the textile and apparel sector, Portugal has made pointed commitments in sustainability and digitization to be competitive. The increase of the production scale assisted by digital technologies allows flexibility in the Portuguese textile business model. Flexibility is among Portugal’s key competitive advantages. Besides that, the country is among global leaders of the private label, in what is an essential differentiator in the textile market. Portugal is bringing its competitive offerings to light at a time when sourcing has been upset over changing trade relations, and companies are looking for new places to manufacture product.

The next edition of World Fashion Convention will be held in Pakistan, November 12 to 13, 2019. This will attract global apparel industry leaders and is an unique fashion industry event, bringing the topics that matter and the speakers that count under one roof with both the supply and demand side of the fashion industry.

Previous editions were held in Istanbul, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Porto, Shanghai and Maastricht. This year, Pakistan was chosen as the host because it has a significant textiles and apparel industry and because the potential for further growth is large following an important improvement in the safety situation in the country. The convention draws on an average 300 delegates usually coming from over 20 countries.

The event is organized by the International Apparel Federation (IAF), the only global federation of its kind representing apparel associations from 60 countries, representing over 1,50,000 companies. The IAF convention caters to apparel industry leaders from across the supply chain, from all continents. The convention will show many inspiring examples of a smarter apparel supply chain. Top speakers from across the globe will cover the width of the supply chain, from raw materials to apparel sourcing and from production to retail trends. On top of that, the convention will provide an excellent opportunity to meet the global industry in one location.

American children with disabilities have clothing specially made for them.The aim is to make the clothing industry more inclusive of children with disabilities. These clothing have features such as sensory-friendly and wheelchair-friendly options. The product development teams take great care in thoughtfully designing features for ease and functionality.

Asos offers a rainbow tie-dyed waterproof jumpsuit engineered for those who use a wheelchair for mobility. The jumpsuit was designed with input from Chloe Ball-Hopkins, a Paralympian. Target has introduced such apparel to its assortment for toddlers as well as children with disabilities. Zappos has launched a similar line. Kohl’s will debut clothing for disabled children in its three biggest children’s brands.

Adaptive clothing, as it is called, can be very expensive, and Target keeps prices down by leveraging fabric that it has in production as well as making large quantities of clothing. Target also debuted Halloween costumes such as a princess costume that has a wheelchair cover that has a carriage-like appearance. The retailer took in insights from shoppers as well as organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind and Pageant of Hope, which has beauty pageants for children who have disabilities, when it launched its adaptive line.

The world economy will expand by just 3.3 per cent this year, says the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Global markets remain vulnerable to shocks in confidence or sentiment this year.

The main reason is the US’ trade battle with China. The US has imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, and China has responded in kind by targeting US exports. As well as reducing trade between the two countries, this has also damaged confidence and made companies worldwide more wary. Other problems include a surge in oil prices.

When oil prices rise, the economy takes a hit because firms and consumers have to pay more for the fuel and therefore have less cash to spend elsewhere. The European car market has stumbled, too, with sales slumping 7.9 per cent in June compared to a year earlier. Huge numbers of customers are abandoning diesel due to fears over the amount of pollution it causes. Car manufacturing is hugely important to the European economy. The damage done has been felt particularly keenly in Germany, where growth is expected to be just 0.5 per cent this year. In the developing world, the collapse of Venezuela's economy and a currency crisis in Turkey have also caused damage.