North American textile maker Vidalia Denim has entered into a strategic relationship with Lubrizol a supplier of stretch fibers. Both companies will work closely to maximize the performance and eco-friendly attributes of Lubrizol’s X4zol-J elastomeric fiber in Vidalia’s production of denim fabrics.

Vidalia Denim It uses e3 sustainable cotton exclusively in its operations, the first such operation in the world. Its cotton will be sourced from across the US farm belt from farmers enrolled in the e3 sustainable cotton program. Vidalia will offer its customers complete transparency of leading grower sustainability practices.

Lubrizol, represents a key element in the evolution of denim products. With this partnership Vidalia will incorporate Lubrizol’s X4zol-J’s technology into its denim fabrics. In fact, X4zol-J has already been adopted by many strategic global denim brands.

Lubrizol’s collaboration with Vidalia will enable brands to work locally in North America to deliver high performance fabrics that consumers love, with even greater sustainability benefits. This alone takes miles and months out of the supply chain. Plus, the powerful combination of X4zol-J’s favorable material and recyclability profile along with Vidalia’s sustainable manufacturing processes will help brands achieve lower scores using Higg Index tools available through the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

Brooks Brothers has collaborated with ORS to introduce an end-to-end AI-based retail program. The US apparel brand aims at staying fresh and relevant in a constantly changing industry. The ORS Group is an enterprise software supplier. This makes Brooks Brothers the first fashion merchandiser across the world to fully integrate AI across its business chain.

The brand will use the platform’s algorithm and AI to get insights throughout its value chain which will help the label to enhance and modify decision making for the betterment of the business. The partnership will boost the retailer’s Buy Anything, Get it Anywhere (BAGA) platform that performs the fulfilment across its outlets in the US.

With the help of ORS, Brooks Brothers will be able to form an extremely sensitive and responsive digital supply chain to control stock in real-time and to modify work end-to-end. It is a disruptive solution for automated omnichannel fulfilment to help the label build a better customer experience and maximize sales opportunities.

The apparel retailer has also launched a cloud-based platform that offers a hassle-free omni channel shopping experience. Brooks Brothers currently operates 280 stores in the US and over 700 worldwide, featuring high-end, classic family fashion, well-suited to both men and women.

The Union Textile Ministry is working on a way to harmonise export incentives with the World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines. The ministry currently offers incentives of 2 to 4 per cent under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). In addition, it also offers production incentives such as interest subvention and the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme. These incentives have been challenged at the WTO by the American government. One contention of critics is that India’s $3 trillion economy is quite unlike those of smaller countries in this region, such as Bangladesh, Vietnam or Pakistan, that require external incentives to compete in global markets. A WTO committee is reportedly examining the issue.

The Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) under the ministry of commerce has engaged consultancy firm, Ikdhvaj Advisers, to study alternative schemes which could be recommended. A committee has been formed for this whose study will cover the entire value chain in the sector.

A survey in the UK has found most consumers aged 18 to 35 purchase garments they never wear. This highlights the growing issue of mass waste in the fashion industry due to the new generation’s insatiable appetite for the latest trends.

More alarming, consumers also say they have no interest in quality, long lasting clothing and instead prefer to buy cheaper clothes that only last one season. Twelve per cent consumers confirm they choose to throw clothes away rather than recycling them, with only 60 per cent of those who do recycle saying they buy second clothes – highlighting a peculiar gap in the buying and disposal habits of fashion customers.

In general consumers like the idea of wearing sustainable clothing but would not pay more than a certain amount for a sustainable garment. Recycling is not only good for the consumer who can purchase clothes more affordably but also massively reduces the environmental impact of clothes and lessens the personal fashion footprint.

Fashion waste is on a whole new level and it’s down to the consumer to do something about this. With the new tech generation there are so many more ways to recycle clothes, not just through charity shops but also through second hand selling apps.

Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has demanded immediate release of funds for payment of outstanding Duty Drawback of Taxes claims to achieve sustainable growth through enhanced exports. The textile industry has a capacity to add further $5 billion in textile exports and generate 500,000 new jobs in two years.

Commenting on the prevailing situation, chairman PTEA Khurram Mukhtar said cash flow crunch has squeezed the financial streams and textile exporters are facing hardship to fulfill their export commitments. Rs16 billion was approved by the previous government for payment of DDT claims but this could not be released and the outstanding amount in this regard has accumulated to Rs35 billion, he said.

Moreover, huge amount of custom rebate claims amounting to Rs 10 billion has also been stuck. Textile industry contributes 8 percent of national GDP remained a low priority area for the policy makers and the sector has not been given deserving importance. Resultantly, a meager growth of 0.41 percent has been witnessed in textile exports in July to October 2018-19 as compared to previous year which reflects non-seriousness of the Government towards the largest manufacturing industry.

Heidi O’Neill is the new president of Nike Direct which handles the digital initiatives. In her new role, O’Neill will be responsible for all Nike digital products, services and member experiences, as well as lead Nike Direct through the next transformative and digitally-led era.

O’Neill, a 20-year Nike veteran, has held senior management roles across the company, including her current role. She has also held positions of increasing responsibility, including VP of US apparel; VP, general manager of Nike’s women’s category, and VP, general manager of Nike stores globally.

She began her career at Nike as a marketing director in apparel. Prior to joining Nike, O’Neill held roles at Levi Strauss. She is a founding board member of the Nike School Innovation Fund.

Adam Sussman, previously Nike’s chief digital officer, will assume an expanded role to become VP, general manager, Nike Direct digital and geographies. Sussman will continue to oversee Nike digital and the consumer vision for digital products, experiences, services and capabilities across the marketplace, while taking on management responsibility of the four key Nike direct geographies. Sussman will report to O’Neill.

Nike, based in the US, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities.

Apparel Summit of the Americas was held in Honduras from November 27 to 29, 2018. The who’s who of US active wear brands had assembled -- 250 executives from 125 organizations. Business was closed, joint ventures were initiated and mergers were negotiated during the event.

Honduras is the number one country of origin for US imports of cotton T-shirts and sweatshirts. The new strategic textile investments in Honduras are focused on manmade knits, adding to the region’s importance in the growing active wear category.

Honduras is attracting lots of foreign investments, creating thousands of new jobs, improving infrastructure and ports, enhancing education, building safe, affordable housing, generating stable renewable energy and above all else increasing the capacity for apparel production in the Americas.

The existing textile and apparel industry infrastructure in Honduras has outstanding conditions for investment and expansion opportunities. There are 18 industrial parks that together have a construction area of more than 1.8 million sq. mt., and advantages like availability of airports, ports, highways, telephones, water and electrical supply, customs paperwork, low working costs, machinery and logistics. The textile and apparel industry has the capacity of biomass production as well as wastewater management technologies allowing high productivity in a sustainable manner.

A meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is being held from December 2 to 6, 2018, Côte d'Ivoire. The theme is: ‘Cotton Challenges: Smart and Sustainable Solutions.’ The event is focused on technologies being developed to assist small-scale farmers, particularly in Africa. Examples of innovative new technologies are being featured, including self-driving harvesters and artificial intelligence, as well as a live display of a flying drone.

The key message from the event is doubtless robots and artificial intelligence are eliminating jobs and putting people out of work in many of the world’s industries. In some less developed countries, however, high-tech solutions are being created to perform agricultural tasks for which human labor is either too expensive or simply not available. Cutting-edge technologies are focusing on new ways to enhance cotton cultivation throughout the growth cycle.

Formed in 1939, the ICAC is an association of cotton producing, consuming and trading countries. It acts as a catalyst for change by helping member countries maintain a healthy world cotton economy; provides transparency to the world cotton market by serving as a clearinghouse for technical information on cotton production; and serves as a forum for discussing cotton issues of international significance.

UKFT is working on the new £5.4m Future Fashion Factory project to develop advanced digital and textile technologies that will increase competitiveness and productivity in the design and production of luxury fashion, led by the University of Leeds alongside project partners including Burberry, Royal College of Arts, Wools of New Zealand, Wooltex UK and the British Fashion Council (BFC). The industry-led collaborative research project links the textile design and manufacturing centres within the Leeds City Region with the creative design and retail centre of London.

It brings together expertise from ten core industry partners, with many more forming a wider network spanning design, manufacturing and retail in the UK. The project involves collaboration with the Universities of Leeds, Huddersfield and the Royal College of Art as well as the Centre for Textile Excellence in Yorkshire.

Adam Mansell, CEO, UKFT will lead the project, spearheading the drive to increase productivity, shrink design process lead times, lower costs, and importantly, reduce waste.

By 2019 China will overtake the US as the world’s largest fashion market. Many luxury labels already depend heavily on Chinese customers, who have for some time been the world’s biggest buyers of luxury goods. The wealth of China’s nearly 1.4 billion people is rapidly multiplying, creating legions of new consumers with disposable income to spend on things such as sports, entertainment, and of course, clothes and shoes.

It’s shaping the way the fashion industry operates. Italian label Ermenegildo Zegna, for example, now looks to China, not the US, as the place where it tests new products before deciding whether to roll them out around the world. Sports brands such as Nike and Adidas are investing heavily in their Chinese businesses, as the growing middle class has more leisure time and money to devote to exercise and fitness.

Under a moderate scenario of growth, China is expected to add a number of consumers and spending power roughly equivalent to Germany’s current economy by 2025. China is poised to reach a milestone that signals how the rebalancing of economic power in the world is reshaping industries with it. There is an ascendance of young shoppers and policies are encouraging shopping.